Pits At Drag Strips
 

Since I am a Pit Snob I thought it would be fun and interesting to see racers thoughts about the various Pits in The Racing Drag Strips and their Conditions .
I I feel Las Vegas has the best Pits in The West all pavement and plenty of room, well organized. if a racer is pitted near the finish line their Race car can coast down towards the staging lanes a very gradual decline > Staging Lanes wide and marked well.

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I have to agree with you, the pits in Vegas are excellent.

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Since we camp at the rack and usually have the dog with us we prefer to park in the grass areas. Everyone has their own idea of what the pit should be like. I think the rest rooms are the most important thing that the track should have in clean sanitary condition. Then a good concession area and stands for the few remaining spectators that show up.
All of the division 2 tracks have pretty good facilities. Gainesville and SGMP are the best down here.

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There is no better pit area than Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH. It is paved and has electrical outlets in every spot. Now this isn't on both sides of the track, just the east side. If you are early enough for the divisional meet you can get a slice of blacktop. Obviously at the nationals us scrubs are kicked to the grass on the west side. I would like you to know that I'm biased because this is my home track.

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Your right on the no grass in Vegas. The desert at 110 degrees makes short work of grass when it rains once or twice a year. Shade, Nice M.H. with A/C or a cold beverage is the best part of the pits in Vegas.

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What tracks have electric hookups besides Summit?

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I'll speak for everyone Baytown sucks!!!!!!!!

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as does bandimere speedway

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SGMPhas some elect hookups. I think they charge about $100 for the weekend.

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You would think that Baytown could pave the pits with the money they got from insurance companies for storing all those flood cars

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Topeka has electric hookups, but very high $$$ for a weekends use.

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Back in the day, Englishtown was the best, by far. For all the right reasons.

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When they added the 4 wide they paved the entire pit area too and now the whole place is even nicer to drive on. Very smooth :) You would have loved it Don!

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Only if you on recycled asphalt. If you are on pavement it’s a fantastic place to race!


SRCA in Great Bend Ks has power for a very reasonable fee!

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Englishtown (before they closed to drags). All paved and if you got there early enough, you could get one of the few spots with electricity AND be near the restrooms.

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We would always stop at Home Depot for a couple of rolls of sod......Dogs gotta go too.

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I think it's terrible that class racers have to pit in the dirt anywhere. We did motorcycle road racing for years (at a sportsman level), and always had paved pits and access to 110-volt electrical outlets for tire warmers and such.

Then again, there were not that many people that hogged pit space- in 1993, we transported my open-class Superbike in the bed of a half-ton pickup, which also held a ramp, a 10x10' EZ-Up, a fuel jug, a folding table, a cooler, and a few folding chairs. We'd unload, and then go park our pickup somewhere else, to leave space for others. Our entire racing operation, including our family of three, our Yamaha TTR90E pit bike, and our 70-pound female lab mix, fit within a 10x10' footprint.

Air-conditioned 40' diesel pusher motorhomes, giant toy hauler trailers, awnings, covered golf carts, and multiple personal vehicles, consume an awful lot of pit space.

When I started drag racing cars in the '70s, I drove my race car to the strip, and my girlfriend and I slept in it. In the mid-'80s, I flat-towed it to the drag strip, and stowed the tow bar under my tow car to save pit space for others. In the late '80s, I towed it on a single-axle open trailer, and stowed the trailer ramps after unloading, to save pit space for others.

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Some of you guys are like whinny little women. Look in the pits at any event ( even bracket events) and all you see are MH's, toter homes, living qtr. trailers. The guys who have boxes all go any stay in motels. Take this from someone who started out flat towing
(14 yrs.). Graduated to an open trailer and when I started racing Stock I stayed in a TENT for 3 years. Got an enclosed in 2003 and made it into a comfy LQ ( car stayed outside under a car cover (tarped over in rainy weather) till I pulled the plug in 2010. So yeah, cry me a river about accomodations.

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GALOT has quite a few electrical hookups (50a), I think they're $25/day.

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I loved Vegas but there was only one drawback - no place for my dog to go potty. Norwalk is our home track and it is awesome as long as you are on the right side and they have grassy places for the pups. The new Dragway 42 is also a favorite.

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I'm late to the party. Started driving my bracket Mustang to the track TOWING a home built teardrop trailer (the set-up in my avatar) in 2015. Did this for two years before buying a real truck and open trailer. Will be going into my second year of sleeping in a TENT and waking up boxed in by toy haulers and MHs with people asking if I slept in that thing...

I'm 70, by the way. Or BTW, depending on what language you speak.

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I didn't see anyone crying about accommodations.

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Not sure what this thread has to do with whether or not you like to sleep in tents, pickup beds, on roof racks or whatever.

Don uses a crew cab and a tag trailer and stays in motels.
I believe he was commenting on the physical conditions of the pits where NHRA runs its national and divisional events.

I use a modest Class C motorhome, but in my way of thinking, for what NHRA charges for a nat'l, you shouldn't have to steam clean the the carpets of your m/h after one of their events.
Vegas, good , Fontana , good . Wild Horse, 50/50

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x2


.

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LOL, one of the tracks I bracket race at has oil mat lane running between dirt pit spaces, the best part is there is one porta toilet, with no back wall in it, from the toilet seat up. AND, the back of the porta john is facing, and only about two hundred feet from the road into the local airport. everybody is friendly, as you are standing there, they all honk and wave as they go by on the road. Also, lots of room for your doggy to do his thing as well.

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Norwalk by far.

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I have not been to many of the tracks mentioned but I have been to Norwalk which in my experience is in a league of its own.

This year on Hot Rod's Drag Week I will get to go to Atlanta, Darlington Charlotte and Bristol. However with less than 400 cars we will be on the asphalt, if there is any.

I think Brandimere would normally be a nice track but it sucks for a class racer during the national event there.

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RPR Baytown, sportsman parking is a sippy hole to say the least. Shame because Owner could take off spec concrete and asphalt giving sportsman racers decent pitting. But that must be a pipe dream...LOL

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Used to be a lot of complaining about the pits at the tracks on Long Island but not any more!!! :D

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I counted 23 different tracks I have raced at. These are the ones I liked.
Vegas =great asphalt
Tucson=great asphalt
Seattle = great under trees in grass/dirt

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I`m guessing its been a while since you raced at Seattle. Although the pits that were under the trees WAS great, the trees were cut down several years ago and taken from pit space to overflow tractor trailer parking. I suppose every National event track has good and bad pit spots, sometimes you just gotta work with what you are given.

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I agree with Frank, Englishtown all the way. I especially loved the little beach. How cool is a track with a little beach? E-town Rules

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Plus parking on concrete for around 500 cars.

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The choice of grass or pavement and showers.

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Every track hosting a divisional or national should have showers on the property.

I've spent many long weekends sleeping in the trailer at Chicago in July or Gateway in August, among others. Not a fun ride home!

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Trailer shower! Get one of those portable camping shower set ups and lay some plastic down at the back of the trailer, away with the stink!

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^^ this

Or the next alternative is the wash cloth and bucket method inside and wash the hair outside

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I think Maple Grove in D1 has a Nice Facility when it doesn't get flooded.
Choice of Pavement or Grass and the place is Always Groomed Nicely.

Englishtown was def nice for me cause it was a 30 minute tow and paved pits
was also nice.

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or the fact that they own a paving company

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Oh they did pave some areas.... Paved more spots for spectators to pay to park their motorhomes.