Drag racing. Anyone want to make it happen yet?

RumbleBee383

New member
Has anybody previously gotten far enough along in the process to know if the airport and city would even consider allowing this to take place? Going through all of the trouble to set up a registered association and then finding out that the airport/city doesn't allow special events of any kind would be pretty upsetting.

Assuming that the airport is OK with it, are there enough core people that are willing to put up the high cost of holding the event (insurance $$$) with the real possibility that they would not get their money back? I suppose that knowing how much insurance costs would help answer that question... are we talking about $1000 or $25,000?

Is the timing equipment something that could be rented from another track, or does it have to be bought?
 
Has anybody previously gotten far enough along in the process to know if the airport and city would even consider allowing this to take place? Going through all of the trouble to set up a registered association and then finding out that the airport/city doesn't allow special events of any kind would be pretty upsetting.

Assuming that the airport is OK with it, are there enough core people that are willing to put up the high cost of holding the event (insurance $$$) with the real possibility that they would not get their money back? I suppose that knowing how much insurance costs would help answer that question... are we talking about $1000 or $25,000?

Is the timing equipment something that could be rented from another track, or does it have to be bought?
Some excellent points !
IMO,
I think the idea of setting up a "Club", or association of some kind was twofold ?
1.) Gauge interest ?
If only 15-20 Guys sign up, then obviously the task may not be feasible going forward.(return the Monies and drink Beer/eat Pizza)

2.) Delegate the workload to Info gathering, and approaching any Airport Authority, as a "Tangible" Entity WITH a plan, not just a bunch of yahoos who wanna run the crap outa their junk ?

My gut feelings are to go for some kind of 100 footer event or similar, as a "feeler", and much easier. See where ot goes from there ?
 

Polara Pat

New member
Even more good points. I would definitely join a group such as this but don't have the time or skills to properly lead such a group. A strong Captain who is willing to take suggestions and have the time and resources to run such a clan is what we need. Anyone interested in stepping up?

Another issue would be that most of this interest seems to be funneling in from the East Kootenays and Trail area. If there were regular meetings then most of us from Nelson probably wouldn't make them. Simple fact. On-line correspondence would work to a degree but not the best for batting around ideas.

Also, the fact that we do chase a small bracket racing circuit, I might not be super inclined to travel for a 100 footer race. I want to be supportive but I also need to be completely honest about our intentions.

What is our next step here? Maybe a new thread to get a real show of hands who will back this plan. If this does start to take shape then I think I could drum up more interest in the Nelson area.
 

RumbleBee383

New member
Out of curiosity, I did a little looking around online during my lunch break and I see that brand new complete 1/8th mile portable timing systems run in the $4,500 - $7,000 range depending on features.

Some of the companies mention renting the systems but I didn't see any prices.

I couldn't find any used systems for sale anywhere.
 
Out of curiosity, I did a little looking around online during my lunch break and I see that brand new complete 1/8th mile portable timing systems run in the $4,500 - $7,000 range depending on features.

Some of the companies mention renting the systems but I didn't see any prices.

I couldn't find any used systems for sale anywhere.
$4-7K Doesn't seem all that expensive ?
Heck, one good Barn Dance Pissup and a 50/50 Raffle ? A few $100 Donations from Area Shops ?

Need someone to step up, take the Bull by the Horns to begin organizing ?
Anybody ?
Bueller ?
 

RumbleBee383

New member
http://www.raceamerica.com/idx.shtml?http&&&www.raceamerica.com/pricing/p2650.html

Here is the price list for one setup... seems to include everything but the giant display (which is really expensive!). I agree, the price does not not seem too unreasonable.

I imagine that this is the point that this type of thing gets to a million times before anything actually happens... a lot of people are willing to help where they can, but nobody wants to take charge.
 

Polara Pat

New member
So, is this the third fizzle out do to lack of leadership? Seriously, I wish I had the time or know how to run such a group but realistically I'm not that guy. If someone did step up then I would definitely consider tackling the # 2 position, first mate, sous chef, whatever. Just to ease the burden and help brain storm this necessary idea. The Car Scene forum is a pretty small group of gear heads in the Kootenays (unfortunately). Is there another way to reach out to the rest of the like-minded folks so we can at least see if there is more interest and ideas?

I refuse to let this go...again.
 

Polara Pat

New member
It might sound silly, but maybe a Facebook group would reach more people?
Not too silly but this is as social network as I get. I just e-mailed Jerry from the Osoyoos track to see if he has any insight to this dilemma. I'll keep you posted if he has anything positive to say.
 

Beaumont_68

New member
Not too silly but this is as social network as I get. I just e-mailed Jerry from the Osoyoos track to see if he has any insight to this dilemma. I'll keep you posted if he has anything positive to say.
thx ?Pat i was going to do that.
the last time we were going all in on doing this race thing i had the crew in Osoyoos backing us and willing to come to run the first event with us just to see if it would work out or not. ie there timing system and insurance etc.
Clan Cooper from TMR is also on board.

as far as talks with the Airport no formal talks have happened, but we need to have a full game plan put together before we can do that.
 

Polara Pat

New member
thx ?Pat i was going to do that.
the last time we were going all in on doing this race thing i had the crew in Osoyoos backing us and willing to come to run the first event with us just to see if it would work out or not. ie there timing system and insurance etc.
Clan Cooper from TMR is also on board.

as far as talks with the Airport no formal talks have happened, but we need to have a full game plan put together before we can do that.
Alright then, I'm up to speed with how it all went down last time. I fully agree that we need to have a serious game plan before we even approach the airport. The Coopers are awesome, we pit next to them at TMR. There's lots of other good folks there too who would probably be able to give us some direction to get this thing off the ground. Suggesting a trial race date would be a good idea if the directors in Osoyoos would offer us the same deal again. Having the insurance and equipment from an already established organization that also races at a privately owned airport would really put us ahead of the curve. Then if all went ahead as planned with the airport we would just need volunteers and a whole bunch of promoting. Well, maybe a bunch more stuff as well like highway barriers etc.
 

Beaumont_68

New member
pm me when you get info back from Osoyoos and i will give you my phone # so we can hash out some details.
ps Jori calls be Beaumont Marc i dont think we have met before but i did meet most of your crew last year at TMR.
i have also spoke with swift current sk racing association and didnt get any info from them unfortunately.
 

Polara Pat

New member
I've been in contact with Doug from WCRA (Osoyoos track) and he is ready to sit down with some of us and go over what it will realistically take to race at our airport. I also just got an email from a woman who does staging in Osoyoos who wants to get racing going in Grand Forks. We will be in communication with each other to try and make this a smooth operation from the get go for both of our tracks. We can learn a lot from the folks in Osoyoos. Their first few years were far form fluid. We will be racing our big wagon in Osoyoos this Sunday so hope to gather more info on how to make this fly. We still need someone to seriously step up and lead. I really can't do it but I will be a strong second if that's what it takes. I'll keep you posted on what we learn.
 

Beaumont_68

New member
Thanks Pat.
Im going to try and make it on sunday as well but not sure yet. I also might be that guy your asking about.
 

Polara Pat

New member
Anyone going to the Jalopies in Osoyoos this weekend who also wants more info on racing at our own track can go to the Osoyoos air strip after dinner Saturday night where a bunch of folks will be meeting and talking shop about this very topic. Look for Brenda or Doug, that's who I've been communicating with. Chris Carlson will also be there to represent our team. Hope you manage to make the meeting and races Beaumont_68, it could be just the thing to jump start racing in our area.

Good luck and have fun
 

Beaumont_68

New member
Yes, I had a very informative talk with Doug, I'm gathering some more info and paperwork before I release any info. I will say that things look promising as we will be working with a few people from Grad Forks who also want a local track. So the idea in the air is to put together a group and find a location in the Kootenays either East or West to use as our track.
We also need a main core of people to form the group that have to commit themselves to every event we want to host.
More info to follow.
 

28speedster

New member
Where?

Which airport are you talking about?

Has anybody talked to somebody from the old East Kootenay Timing Association as to what happened to all the timing gear, lights trailer etc. that was used at WASA?

We like dragging, lets go racing!
 

brenda

New member
we have been looking into getting this in grand forks and i dont think we will be able to this year but we are going to keep trying for next year for sure . we have the guys in osoyoss helping us and they will do as much as they can. i will try to get a volunteer list up and see how much help we will get and will be talking to our mayor, he is really looking forward to getting this started. we will keep all posted
 

28speedster

New member
Drag Racing. Yahoo!

Thanks for the update Brenda. We would love to see this happen. We would be happy to help out where we can too. How can we help?
Would this be 1/4 mile, which is what we like to run or 1/8 mile?
 
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