New England Divisional

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by JP1738

Genuine question for the guys that are getting there a day or two days early, what is the reason for that? I never ever get to a track a day early for these races, it's not worth whatever parking fee there is or the hassle of taking another day off work.

I get some guys don't like driving at night. It's easy for me to say being a young guy and driving all hours of the day and night routinely to get to the track, but I see no benefit from getting there that early unless you plan to test. When I go to Rockingham next month, I'll probably get there the morning of, maaayyybbee the night before, but well after they close the gate and are done testing.

The tracks have realized that the racers like are willing to pay a fee to park early and get some rest so it has become more normal and a revenue stream for the track owners

I used to think this way too when I was young. Work all day. Jump in the truck and drive most of the night. Maybe grab a few hours of sleep in the truck before the gates open. Then run all day Saturday with elimination rounds on Sunday. After a while I realized I could not be competitive against the guys that were fresh and rested. Once I started to get to the track a day ahead of time my driving and round winning ratio became a lot better. If its just a short drive like 3-4 hours I might attempt it.

[BKSG1198]

Not trying to be the voice of reasoning because I had this just happen a few weeks back at one of my events, people got there early, the event for Fri Night got rained out but the track owner and GM were nice enough to open the gates till 10pm to allow racers time to get in and parked but it was a $15 charge and I heard it from a few racers.

You do realize that because you get there early and the track is nice enough to allow you to come in and park, they need to man the ticket booths with employees who are not working for free...depending on the state you're in we all know the Min Wage is insane. I can say NH is one of the highest because it's actually a state that they get a lot of NHRA employees to come work because the Min Wage is sooo high...for those that don't know the NHRA employees are paid via the state you're in and what their MW is, so some states could be $7.50, others $15.00, so when they say Parking is open on Thursday that means to get there on Thursday, not Monday or Tuesday or if there is a Private T&T that you can get in an watch for free.

It's like having tickets for the Rolling Stones but you get there a day early while Metallica is playing, and you try to use the Rolling Stones tickets to get into the event because your already there.