Great race , Late start !

[scooter76]

Hey Tony , first off Congrads on the HUGE car count yesterday ! You and all the staff did a great job ! However track surface itself didnt seem to work very well for some of the True Street guys running Radials Anyway my main question is ....with 2 more classes ( and sometime true street ) added to the Bracket races have you considered a earlier start to the races ? Most of us are there much earlier than the race starts anyway....... maybe gates open at noon time runs at 1 and first round at 3 or 4 ? We all love to race and have fun , but if we can start earlier and get home at a reasonable time it would be much easier on everybody ! thats just my .02 Again thanks for the great job you and all the staff do ! ( HAPPY EASTER TO ALL )

[mustang28027]

not trying to start anything,but i was watching,i think the track was holding good i think the guys trying to shot to much from the hole,our there setup wasnt working...just my 2cents...im going to make it a 8 car shoot out next time,im going to try it

[scooter76]

This comment was'nt intended for the hooking of the track but more for the late 5:30 am finals , but anyway True Street really dont spray that much there limited to a single stage plate .070 BB and .082 SB Nitrous jet , No progressive controlers are permitted ! However i wonder why they went from a 26x10 slicks.... to radials or ET Streets this year ? The track and suspension has to be perfect for those tires to hook with that much power ! Anyway this class is alot of fun to watch , Good luck on getting your car ready ! Hopefully this class will grow like it did a few years ago ;D

[mustang28027]

i understand where your coming from,and Thanks

[Rodney Crider]

The old True Street rules required a 10 x 26 et street or a 11.5 et street with a leaf spring or a 275-50-15 radial. We now have an option of a 275-60-15 or a 11.5 et street. We can run a Digi set timer too.

My car leaves on motor and then the Spray comes on. That may change soon. Saturday was my first time out with the Regal on spray and I think alot of these guys haven't tested alot and some had trouble too. It's a great class with a great bunch of Racers. We would love to have you come race with us MUSTANG28027. RC

[admin]

We will look at start times again. We usually allow from 2 to 2.5 hours for a round of practice. With the car count, it took over 4 hours. You can see where the difference will get you. The last thing I want is for all those racers to not return because of the late finish. There is a fine line on start times. If it is too early, they won't come because of the heat. Racers want to run at night. But, with the car counts that we desire, you have to start in the day time. We had some unusual circumstances with the tree deal. I just hope that the racers realize that we can only run them through so fast. The way things looked on Saturday reminded me of the "hay day" of bracket racing in the 1990's. Who said bracket racing is dead? It looks pretty alive and well to me.

[furr80]

i was hoping for a little better start to the new year. i realize we had a great car count, but it was at the expense of the racers and spectators. it shouldnt be like that. my $.02 is we had too many classes to race in a bracket format where buybacks are present. if this were a pro-am race it would have been no problem to run. this is the exact reason why i was not even wanting to run mooresville this year because of the long day and nights to wear i feel like a train hit me sunday morning as i am getting up for church at 7:45am. i realize the timing system messed up, but what about running test cars while we are racing? what about the late practice start? why still have 2 rounds of buybacks when you see the race going late and you have that great car count? im just a little confused as to who and what we are trying to appeal to, the fans or the racers, or both? sorry if this sounds rough, but i dont know if ill come back to mooresville if this is the way its gonna be this year.

[GUEST]

^^^^^Been running points last 2 years there and would not change the way it is run. Way more cars than normal on Saturday that I do not think anyone seen coming. Cannot please everyone. Just one less car to wait for.

[admin]

Our intention was not to go that long obviously. Since this was a points race, we had to have the consistent buy back policy that will be in place at all points races. You know what will happen if we don't. Number 2 in points lost first round and could not buy back and the champion was able to buy back the time he/she went out first round. Thus, the champion is not really the champion in someone's eyes. We added the PTE class to cater to the growing pro tree racers that don't want to wait for another PTRA event to go racing. As far as the test cars go, I had talked to three racers that were going to fall in behind the 7-8 car True Street field. That did not work because many more than that showed up and these days, with the recent history of car counts at all race tracks, it is not good practice to turn someone away. I am sorry that you and some others had a bad experience. That is the last thing we want. Mooresville Dragway wants everyone to enjoy their day at our track and each and every racer is important. Especially the Juniors. Yes they take a lot of time and that night, we had double what we usually have which added at least an hour or two to the program. But, these guys/gals are the future if we want the sport to grow, and some of the closest racing of the day is during the Junior Dragster rounds. The True Street class was added to try to appeal to the spectators. Bracket racers deserve an audience and most will agree that about the only type of racing that draws the "casual" fan is heads-up racing. We die hards will be there if the gates are open and I am a fan of bracket racing. If more of the new generation of spectators get a good look at .00 margins, lots of variety, and the same wheelstands from a dialed in car as an index car, just maybe they will keep coming. This was our first points event (not rained out) and we have some bugs to work out. Doug has rewired the entire system and we have a better idea of how to predict early if we are going to have that kind of car count. If we see that possibility, we can limit time runs to one if absolutely necessary. After we started practice, we could not go back and tell racers that had already made a pass that they were not going to get another. That decision must be made before the cars go down the track. Of course we hope to have 200 again soon. Our typical count is 120-130 cars. We had well over 200 with 28 of them Juniors. It was going to take some extra time to run an 8 round race. Come on back and give us another try.

[scooter76]

I will come to every True Street race you have this year ! The 10" tire heads up cars are awsome ! and like you said , they bring the spectators ! But ( Dont you think the Fans would like to see the finals before Midnight too ) Adding PTE , True Street , and bikes to the field aint a problem and there fun to watch or race with ! ( The Start Times Are a Problem ) MD has had late start problems for many years and it dont look like it will change anytime soon ...... ! Dont get me wrong Tony , you are making some great changes and updates this track has needed for a long time . You and your staff are a great bunch of people , you can only do so much because im sure the Leazer's have the final say in things so your hands are kinda tied ! However , Farmington dont seem to have car count problems with early start times ...... gates open at 10am and Time trials at Noon ! Im not complaining just saying the early start time works alot better for me , the fans , and im sure many others .......

[admin]

The most quoted complaint I heard about the past seasons was not exactly a late start, just a different start time than was posted. Racers would get there on time, ready to go, and practice runs would not start until an hour later than posted. We have fixed that. We started within minutes of the 2 pm start time that was posted. We will watch our next few events and see how things go with the added classes and if a noon practice time is needed, then we will do it. I understand and appreciate all the coments. We are always open to suggestions. If I only did one good thing at Union all last year, it was listening to what racers want. The Leazers, myself, and the whole staff are on the same "page" so to speak, and each week we try to make some kind of improvement, either in the facility itself or in the program. Our goal is to make Mooresville the place everyone wants to come and race at. We will have stumbling blocks along the way and I am sure we will make a few people mad. We will do our best to reach our goal though.

[cadirat33]

are yall running test & tune today

[furr80]

i agree the track should keep a consistant buyback policy, however if you made a change to reduce the buybacks due to circumstances beyond your control i think the racers would understand. like for instance when chuck martin wrecked last year, the track took buybacks away completely because of the down time due to the wreck and i cant recall the racers complaining about the track doing that. i understand why you added the PTE class and thats fine, but why not also invite the local s/ss or top stock associations to give them a place to race so they dont have to wait for a pro-am or national event to race? why not run the motorcycle class on thursday night when you have a greater number of motorcycles at the track? just a thought. i agree about the 'casual' fan and the true street scenario. that has been the only way to bring i the crowds is to have some type of heads-up class. im not trying to grill you here tony, not my intention at all. i just want to see and understand your thought process with decisions you make so i can defend you when other people talk trash about your decisions. AND as for the guest who made the coment you made in response to my post, id really like for you to reveal who you are so i can come up and introduce myself to you so we can get on the same page. ive running at mooresville since '99, that was back when we ran every week and had those type of car counts or more EVERY week! but the real question is, and i know tony wants to know this, is will that car count be here all season to the end and not dwindle? thanks tony for trying to better mooresville program! just my $.02.