Parking - The Real Story

[Ed Wright]

I would differ with you on the cost of most compettive Super Stockers (not mine, I'm doing it on the cheap) versus most .90 cars, and race results don't list them ahead of the Super Stock and Stock cars. Doesn't take much money or talent, to put a big block Chevy on a stick and run eights. Takes even less to take a big block and run nines. Near zero to run tens.

The alky cars, I understand. They actully race heads up, fast guy wins. They come closer to putting butts in the bleachers than the rest of us.

[Pat Joffrion]

Ed,

I agree with that point. I know firsthand how much it costs to run even a slow super stocker.

Sally,

Linda and I were headed back to the track after a week home in Orange Beach. I stopped for a 6-car pileup right in front of us, avoiding hitting the truck in front of me. But a driver watching a cruise ship pull out of Mobile Bay hit us at full speed. I was knocked unconscious and taken by ambulance to the hospital. Linda and the pups got by with slight injuries, but I have been back and forth to doctors and therapy for a concussion, neck injury, and a torn right shoulder.

Linda has a pinched nerve in her back, but therapy seems to be helping. My short-term memory is getting better, but unfortunately, I still have a long-term debt on the racetrack which I can't seem to forget.

[63corvette]

Originally Posted by Pat Joffrion

Have you ever noticed how qualifying sheets start with the number 1 qualifier?
Have you ever noticed how most press releases give the qualifying sequence of:
Top Fuel
Funny Car
Pro Stock
Pro Stock Bike
Pro Mod
Top Alcohol Dragster
Top Alcohol Funny Car
Competition Eliminator
-----------------------------
Top Sportsman
Top Dragster
Super Comp
Super Gas
Super Street
Super Stock
Stock Eliminator

Have you ever noticed how the top-eight of the above sequence gets the best parking area at national events?
Have you ever noticed that the remaining bottom-seven pretty much follow in order for the rest of the parking area?
Have you any idea how much the cost of a racecar operation gets higher as you go up on the list? (well maybe not so for super street, but some would disagree)
Can you draw a reasonable conclusion that the more you spend on your race car, the better parking spot you get?
Have you ever noticed how at a charity event, the largest donors get to sit at the front, closest to the stage?
Why is that so when everybody at the charity event paid the same price for the banquet ticket? (and the biggest donors who put on the banquet probably got in for free)

The comments about parking remind me about something I was told over 50 years ago. I remember once, as an innocent young child, asking our domestic Mammy, why it was that her skin was black, but the bottoms of her feet were white? She simply replied, “It just be’s dat way.”

The bottoms of her feet and pit parking have one thing in common: IT JUST BE’S DAT WAY. Fifty years later, the translation is simply: IT IS WHAT IT IS. Let the big boys have their concrete and asphalt. I always had more fun parking in the grass. Besides, my beer bottles don’t break when they fall on grass.

And Beth, you are so right about mixing the various categories. We’ve never had a theft incident at No Problem since we started mixing the cars on the asphalt and on the grass. That point needs to be addressed to all division directors and track managers.

First Off Lets Talk Sportsman, Nothing Else
Pat," Have You Ever Noticed What Happened" in the past is not an answer to the issue.
Just because it is the way it happened in the past does not make it right just as you noted referring to blacks which some could take offense to.

You are one in a position to know happy racers show up to you track because of the way they are treated and they tell their friends. I have skipped races and continue to do so today as we trade posts I am skipping one because of treatment at a track. I will never go back there due to an issue several years back as long as the current owner/manager remains. I race for enjoyment and some tracks do not make it enjoyable and I can control where I go spend my $$$$. Being retired I can pick and choose anywhere across the country to go have fun. I do not know any Sportsman Racer who does it for the money or for a living and from your comments about working and saving a spot you must not either.

From Comp down (not including Comp) on your list there are cars in each of those categories which are worth about the same so justify to me why TS and TD get preference. Not just because it has always been that way or Have You Ever Noticed.
I have noticed!

I guess your philosophy on the issue is the guy with the most money in his car parks better.
That does not make it right, I am sorry.
Just My 2 Cents
Rick Cates
Canyon, TX

[Greg Reimer 7376]

Pat, your story was great about the scene at the gate. One fact remains--success is the best revenge. Your winning attitude kept you focused and enhanced your chances of winning rounds and the final. That was the reward for keeping the lid on. I've always laughed at how easy it is to outsmart the typical security guard. In fact,the only difference between the security guard and the janitor is the fact that one wears a better jacket. Decades ago, to the delight of a bunch of us racers at Orange County, a couple of El Toro Marines gave one of Charlie Allen's little big shots a real good education on manners, with a facial rearranging to boot. Your handling of your situation was classic.Good luck with the rest of your season!!

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

I was gone for several years. When did the comp guys get to be so important? And why? We used to all park together.

And top sportsman and top dragster? They are just dial-your-own bracket racers once they qualify. Does anybody ever not qualify?

T/D and T/S are just another spectator "Class" (these cars are FAST at that means spectators) to push the stock and Super Stock cars further out of the picture. Just as the .90 cars did to the modified cars years ago and the associations and tracks will kiss their ***** to get them to come and be premadonnas for a little while. If it wasnt for the money collected the class legal cars days would be numbered. They are old news to the younger crowd. Look around.....we are OLD and getting older. Todays spectator doesnt know or care if the car has a 283 or a 426 Hemi under the hood. All they want to see is a fast show (entertainment). Its all about the easy entry money and associated expenses the associations are collecting. No real tech problems other than safety items and they dont have to have tech inspectors with the knowledge to do the job of tear downs. The Alcohol cars are there to keep the track from rusting.....

[Pat Joffrion]

Rick,

First, anybody that knows me well enough knows that I was not referring to blacks in a derogatory manner. I was explaining what my “Momma Jo” taught me about life. She and her family were intermingled with mine, and there is only respect in my writing about what actually happened. Momma Jo made every one of our weddings, my two sister’s funerals, and my mother’s funeral. And when she passed, she had seven white pall-bearers (me & my 6 brothers) and her grandson to carry her coffin. So please, let’s get it straight. It be’s what it be’s.

Next, it is not my philosophy that the guy with the most money in his car parks better. I don’t understand what would make you think from my postings that I agree with the way things are. I’m simply stating what I have observed. For the record, I have always refused to accept cash from racers for a better parking spot. Just this past March, one financially successful racer put $500.00 in my shirt pocket and asked that I park him on the asphalt. I politely put his cash right back into his hand, and told the gentleman that the parking was determined by NHRA, and that even the track owner cannot change that. I parked him in the next available spot, but not on the asphalt.

I always do the best that I can to accommodate the racers. Sometimes though, even my best efforts leave some feeling left out in the cold. I wish I had the money to pave the entire pit area. Several years ago I added an asphalt road and side lanes down through the sportsman pit area past the time slip booth. This project helped the racers get in and out of their pit area without the worry of driving through the dust or mud. If the proposed oil/gas well at the track comes through, I intened to use the black gold to add more black asphalt in the pits.

The sad fact is that some track owners just don’t give a damn about the sportsmen racers, or their pit areas. However, there are a handful of us that do. The entire basis of my post is to state the facts about why I allow friends to hold spaces for their working buddies, and to help racers realize that they can win the event no matter where they are parked.

By the way, if any racer would like to work on my parking crew for any of our NHRA events, give me a call. I am really serious! If a racer can come to the track on Tuesday to help out, I am willing to give him/her a free entry for his/her services. My cell number is (985) 665-7145.

[Beth Denysenko]

FWIW, we have two big dogs - you couldn't pay me enough to pit on asphalt and we have turned down paved parking in leiu of grass for their general comfort.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

T/D and T/S are just another spectator "Class" (these cars are FAST at that means spectators) to push the stock and Super Stock cars further out of the picture. Just as the .90 cars did to the modified cars years ago and the associations and tracks will kiss their ***** to get them to come and be premadonnas for a little while. If it wasnt for the money collected the class legal cars days would be numbered. They are old news to the younger crowd. Look around.....we are OLD and getting older. Todays spectator doesnt know or care if the car has a 283 or a 426 Hemi under the hood. All they want to see is a fast show (entertainment). Its all about the easy entry money and associated expenses the associations are collecting. No real tech problems other than safety items and they dont have to have tech inspectors with the knowledge to do the job of tear downs. The Alcohol cars are there to keep the track from rusting.....

The TS and TD car put nobody in the stands. If the do, where are they?? They must be hiding, they aren't sitting in the stands. The stands are always pretty much empty at div points races.

And nobody watches the .90 cars. At the national events, when they come up the last few people in the stands leave. No mater how fast they run at the finish line, there are several small block doors in Super Stock that run quicker, and they don't take off, almost die, then go again. They sell them a lot of pit passes and car entries, but not spectators. Not in div 4 anyway. Nobody care how close they may be at the finish line, that's not where they are sitting. It looks dumb as heck where they are sitting. That's racing dumbed way down. "Build anything you want, but don't run quicker than XX.90".

Divisional races used to pack them in, but Top Fuel and Pro Stock used to also run WCS races.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

The TS and TD car put nobody in the stands. If the do, where are they?? They must be hiding, they aren't sitting in the stands. The stands are always pretty much empty at div points races.

And nobody watches the .90 cars. At the national events, when they come up the last few people in the stands leave. No mater how fast they run at the finish line, there are several small block doors in Super Stock that run quicker, and they don't take off, almost die, then go again. They sell them a lot of pit passes and car entries, but not spectators. Not in div 4 anyway. Nobody care how close they may be at the finish line, that's not where they are sitting. It looks dumb as heck where they are sitting. That's racing dumbed way down. "Build anything you want, but don't run quicker than XX.90".

Divisional races used to pack them in, but Top Fuel and Pro Stock used to also run WCS races.

No arument from me. I agree 1000% but the tracks and associations look at it in a different light. They are "filler" for the Pro junk at National events and easy to tech and squeeze more money (entrys, chassis certs, license, car numbers, memberships, friends and family with them as crew, and anything else they can come up with) from them at the points races. One reason is the grade points that are required at the National events. The only spectators usually at the points races and a great race like the Dutch Classic at Maple Grove are the real diehard (like me) stock/S/S fans, friends and family of the racers.

[63corvette]

Pat, what I took from your post listing "The Real Story" and by how many times you used the quote "Have You Ever Noticed" was that you thought just because it was done this way in the past why change it. It is what it is.

I do not agree with the special treatment the TD and TS racers have been given. I have friends who run TS and have told them the same thing. I also have more money in my car than a couple of the friends have it their TS cars. They just took their SG cars and added the NOS system to run fast enough to meet the ET requirement for TS. I see no difference between any of the Sportsman classes other than the TAD and TAFC cars. All the other classes should be on a level playing field for parking. First come first served basis.

You mentioned the cost of the cars. Drooze on this site claims to have almost $140,000 in his stock Challenger. If you park by car costs he should be parked with TAD and TAFC as he is close in cost to their cars.

If we do not change we get left out as the world changes. I think that is what NHRA was trying to do with TS and TD but all they really did was rob from SC and SG. I do not see any new race teams in TD or TS. One track manager also mentioned to me that all it did for the Track Owners was add two more pay out classes to the Division races and no new revenue to support the payout. Change is needed in NHRA and drag racing in general to bring in new racers. Like some in this post has noted the current age of racers are getting older and there are few new and young racers to replace them.

I have not been to your track but I hear very good things about it and how friendly it is to race there. I will plan to visit you in the next year or so as long as I can keep the racing going. As I mentioned in the earlier post I am retired now so I can pick and choose where and when I race. It is just all for fun and when the fun is gone so is the race car.
Rick