IHRA Farmington
 

MOCKSVILLE, N.C. - Both days of eliminations at the Summit Racing Equipment Pro-Am at Farmington Dragway have been postponed. The desire to begin racing at 10:00 a.m. this morning was met with the presence of the county sheriff's department and a threat to arrest track management if any race car engines were started before 12:00 noon. A reschedule date has not been determined at this time, but that decision should be made later this week. That information will be posted on the IHRA website as soon as it is available.


That is absolutely ridiculous that the county sheriff's department got involved to the point they threatened to arrest track management.
Why did the authorities even know they planned to start earlier? Unless there is a history of problems with theft at a race track or there is some sort of disturbance that requires they be called by management, police don't even have a place at the track. It is private property, so they should be denied access.

If I was the track owner/management, I would go to the county commission in an effort to get the issue straightened out. What is the harm starting before noon one or two weekends per year.

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

If there is a church rear by, it could be a noise issue.

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

I've never been to Farmington, so I am not sure if there is a church near by or not, but that is probably the reason.

The little bit of noise couldn't possibly be that bad especially of it only happened a few times a year.

What about all the people that tow for several hours to races like this. That is complete BS when a situation escalated to the police would arrest the management for that type of situation.

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

From the looks it appears that place brings healthy revenue into that hick town. Maybe the cops and town people should be reminded to never bite the hand that feeds or they'll be looking for work elsewhere.:mad:

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Chris, I couldn't agree more. But one has to pick his battles wisely. If it actually is a church, imagine the "public opinion" on a drag strip vs. a church argument.
If it's not a church (I.E. an unwinnable fight) , I think the sheriff dept should be reassigned to Syria..or even worse Detroit.

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There are a couple of church's pretty close to the track. The noon rule has been in place here for years...
Still don't like the cops threating... more of our gov't BS, federal all the way to local.
Sucks for all to tow and lose money and track to pay help, etc... everyone loses, except some local motels I guess.

Ken

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

Where I live we have a thing called respect.

We have Church services at the races too.

Maybe it's different where you live?

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First of all let me say, I was there, and theres a bit more to the story. Heavy rain soaked the place yesterday, there were still pulling rigs out as I was leaving and I don't mean one or two, There were 260 cars entered, on the grounds, the place was packed. Mud, red clay, just not a good situation. The staff cant control the weather,Everthing was done as it should have been. I am sure someone has pictures. They were trying to do the right thing,pay the fine and race. Three churches are with in 2 miles of the track. Sunday has a 12 start and a 7 pm stop curfue.has had for many years. Racer could not even unload there cars for mud. No one wonted to race in the mess that Mother nature unleasted.

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Regardless of the rain situation, why have a double event at a track that cannot start until noon on sunday, without qualifying. I did not attend for that reason. I would attend a lot of Div 9 races if it was all doubles, but they need to be complete races (at least one qualifier). I hope to attend the rescheduled event. If I wanted to sit around until noon I would attend LODRS events...LOL


Richard Preiser
SS/DM 161

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

It was just a bad situation with the pits. They did have a car or two crank I guess, this caused a problem. It was quickly rectified with no issue. We moved early, the car was already loaded. They simply could not get a great number of cars to the lanes, I was not going to run my car through the mud. Its all good, still love Farmington. We had a good time and ate really well...lol!

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

obama-law

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

As it was explained to me, the reason for the Sunday curfew is to prevent the disruption of church services. I can see why that would be illegal and it is a state law, not something unique to Farmington. What is somewhat unique to Farmington is there are churches close enough to the track to have their services disrupted by racing at the track.

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

X-2 Gump

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

The only thing that could have been done differently would have been to reschedule the race last Thursday knowing the forecast. That being said, the right thing was done because no one that was parked in the back field (mud bog) wanted to race. There was no way possible to get cars to the staging lanes. Tires w/ tread were having to be pulled out, slicks wouldn't have a chance. Good call on behalf of Farmington management and IHRA!

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Tracy I was told by track management they wanted to cancel on Thursday and were told they couldn't, they knew the place was wet and it doesn't hold water well with the forecast.

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This was on another site and posted by track operator/owner..........
First of all I would like to thank everyone that came out and supported this event. We knew going in to this weekend we were going to have to fight the weather but we didnt realize we were going to be up against the county also. We had a tremendous amount of rainfall yesterday that turned our back lot into a mud field. We were in the middle of trying to figure out the best way to get everyone out of the field when the sheriff for Davie county pulled in. He informed us that we were not aloud to start a race car prior to 12 noon due to a state statute for churches. The statute states you are not allowed to impede a church service with noise. We were told management would be arrested if we were to move forward with our plans to start at 10 am to try and get both races in. We asked if management was arrested could the event still continue as planned at 10 am and were told no they would keep arresting everyone until there was no one left to manage the race. At this point we realized there was no hope in completing both events between the 12 noon and 8 pm curfews we have, along with the mud situation everyone in the back field was dealing with. So we decided it was best to postpone the event until a later date. We know this decision will not be the best for everyone and we do apologize for that but we had to do what was best for the majority. We hope everyone can come back for the reschedule date which should be finalized later this week.

Cameron Manuel

Re: IHRA Farmington
 

Every year, I go to Hagerstown MD to put on a S/SS race weekend the first weekend in November (this will be nineteen straight years). H-Town has always had a noon start time on Sunday due to the church down the street (on US 40, you can see it from the track). Racers can unload, warm-up, tech, etc, but no racing til noon. In a smooth program, things only last six hours or so, so it's not a big deal. So, this is not totally uncommon. The part about arresting racers though is rather concerning.

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We've had to deal with the weather every race weekend in Division #9 since the season began. The management at Farmington did everything they could to complete both races today, but as Cameron mentioned above, it was an impossible task. A Davie County Sheriff's deputy was on the premises to enforce the Sunday Curfew Law, which by the way has been on the books a lot longer than anyone now in office. It sure is better than the alternative, which is throwing a permanent padlock on the gate and having to find another place to enjoy our sport.

The race(s) will be re-scheduled, and I hope I'm able to make the 600-mile round-trip to be there. It wasn't a total loss, I got a chance to visit with some old friends, made a few new one's, the 'wagon is still in one piece, and other than the mud I brought home, things are fine!

And yes, Brian is correct, we did eat GOOD! :D

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The statute states you are not allowed to impede a church service with noise.

That is a pretty broad statement that Law Enforcement thinks they can use.

It would seem to me that there should be some burden of proof upon law enforcement that the church service is actually being disrupted

My church is located on a busy highway. A new carwash is just across the road that has one of the loud blower dryers. You can hear it during some services. Also, when dump trucks, or a group of motorcycles go by, you can hear them. That is noise, but it really doesn't disrupt the church service.

At Hagerstown, the church is located past the track, so most of the noice travels the opposite direction from the church. There is also a housing development across the road, so the track planted trees along its road frontage to help block noise.