Went to the track Friday to test the new powerplant. Well they handed me a flyer for Wednesday night "street drags". The rules are as follows:

-Street legal cars & motorcycles ONLY!
-Must have mufflers, tags, lights, etc.
-Slicks ok only w/driveshaft loop
-Vehicle may not exceed 95 decibels as measured on the "A" scale from a distance of 50 feet, at a right angle to the vehicle, with engine at a non-load RPM of 3500
-No E.T. faster than 11.50 for cars and 10.00 for bikes
-NO atv's or 4 wheelers.

I think this is awesome. If you read my post "Let the predictions begin", I had a rant on how there was so much BS at the track that I could only get one run in. This is probably one of the best ideas a track could get. You would get so many more runs in.(not to mention it's $2 cheaper on this day) Plus they are having optional no times announced or diplayed times. So you can run and get your timeslip, but you don't have to have it announced or displayed if you don't want to. This will also make the track less crowded on Friday nights I would think. I can't wait for Wednesday night! What do you guys think?

 

I'd love to see a mid week track time. The biggest problem with most tracks is that all the track personnel are usually volunteers. A mid week opening means you need to have volunteers willing to go out during the week to help out.

Never cut down anything the volunteers do. No matter if it's a tech inspection or the person in the time slip booth. If it wasn't for any of them, we wouldn't have a place to race or entry fees would be much higher to pay someone to do the same job.

 

I would never cut down the volunteers. It's not their fault. It's just irritating when you have spent 9 months and 4-$5k on your car, and all you want to do is run the thing. And you have motorcycles, 4 wheelers , full dragsters(they have test and tune on their own day, let us have ours), and jr. dragsters(kinda cool, but I just wanna run my car), when it is supposed to be "Fun Drags". Aka-street cars. Oh well, hopefully the Wednesday thing will go well.

 

Bandimere has T&T's they're calling "Alive at 25" to try to get kids off the street and in a safe, sanctioned location. You can run T&T's, or they run "grudge" sessions. There are several scheduled for Wednesdays during the season. It's all run by paid staff w/EMT's present, cars have to pass safety tech, etc. $30 to run as many as you can from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Some "real" racers resent having to share the track, so they run "race car" only test days, where slicks are required; or, you can rent the track if your pockets are deep enough.

The more I hear of what you guys put up with, the more I appreciate Bandimere (even though it comes with a 5800' elevation...).

 

The only problem with these type of nights are that the track doesn't get prepped like it does for the usual weekend racing.
The upside is that it is usually alot less crowded.

Bob

 

Why no cars faster than 11.50? If someone can build a car that is that fast and that quiet and meet all those requirements, I say let em run it .

 

they do it at Chandler raceway in so. Indiana. Same rules and they do prep the track. The ET limit is a saftey issue. and anything that run's faster than 11.50, is pretty noisey! Being that it's a weeknight they don't want the neighbors complaining. Running without mufflers wouldn't be much of a street legal shoot out. It's more of a contest for bragging rights and you won't get a ticket!

 

Steele in AL is gonna be doing that too. I think it's only going to be one saturday every month. they're also going to have an 'import only' day (can't remember if they're having a 'domestic only' day though). should be fun. make some money off of it too. I won't be making any money not as long as I'm only running 15s. I like they idea of having 'street racing' at the track. more racing + no cops =

 

yeah they have the street legal drags over at heartland park topeka most thursdays. have to have mufflers, street legal tires, etc. theyre trying to keep kids off the street and make the heartland park the "place to be" on thursday nights. they even have concerts there sometimes. the track isnt prepped though which is probably the biggest downside. a lot more imports come out there too. its still a fun time though, and its only $10 and you can get a lot of runs in. i showed up about halfway through the thing one night, and still got like 10 runs in. what i dont get is that it costs $10 to race and $10 to watch

 

We have them here in phoenix out at Speedworld. Any street car with mufflers is allowed. Tech out there is pretty leaniant, and the track prep kinda sucks on a wednesday, but you can get 20 runs in, so if you are trying to T & T, its great.

 

Englishtown,NJ by me is doing similar things. Wed night and Sun are unmuffled days but Fri night and Sat are muffled cars only with a 90 decibel limit. The ET limit in my opinion makes no sense. Not all 11.50 and faster cars are noisy. My car for example is probrobly quieter than most V8 thirdgens yet runs pretty consistantly in the 10.6-10.8 range at 125+mph on racegas and slicks, and runs 11.2 at 120mph on pumpgas and street tires.

Steve

 

IRP has their street legal drags on Tuesday nights. 5:30 PM http://www.irponline.com/
http://www.irponline.com/HOME/RaceDi...tunesadded.asp

Also coming to IRP is Midnight Madness, June 25th and July 23rd.

http://www.irponline.com/HOME/RaceDi...adness-437.asp

Been there once and then the f'bird developed a pretty bad noise which I'm in the process of tracking down, think it's a lifter. It was crowded, made 3 passes in an hour, then left due to the engine noise.

Muncie Dragway 40 has their test-n-tune on Wed nights 5:00 - 9:30 PM http://www.munciedrag.com/

Other events at Muncie http://www.munciedrag.com/special_events.htm

 

Where excatly is Steele? Is it far from Huntsville?

 

Here's a cool resource for all you racers...

http://chasinracin.net/track-locator/

Alabama International Dragway
Steele, AL
Phone: 256.538.7223
Directions: I-59 Exit 174, south, over the bridge, take a right.
Formerly Known as: Alabama International Speedway