JamesHigdon

I’m going to do everything in my power to set things up so that the walls are as far as possible from the groove to minimize downtime and cost for racers. It could end up looking like Anderson but my hopes are it ends up looking more like Irwindale in terms of width and space to “make a mistake”.

Cibolo has approved the project so that’s done and it took a while. I’d love to tell you we’ve got a date in mind but this requires a lot of time on the part of some busy people. I can tell you the owner wants it done ASAP and I’m pushing to make that a reality; I’d guess in the next 3-4 weeks we’ll be able to answer that question.

That’s a great question. What’s the over-under on 30 plus drag racers, drifters, asphalt circle track racers and dirt track racers showing up on a Saturday morning to spend 7 hours cleaning up a racetrack? Probably wouldn’t bet on it but it happened today and Alamo City Motorplex is as clean as it’s ever been. The family that owns the track is lead by a first generation American that built his name in the elevator business and bought a track hundreds of miles from his home because it was his dream to do so. The manager of the track is a 25 year old girl from Kansas that has worked her way up into that position from managing another successful track. The whole situation is built out of improbabilites but until the gates are chained shut people will still be trying to make it happen because right now it’s our only drag-strip, our only good drift facility and as far as I know our only current chance at an asphalt circle track.

Plans to be sponsored by a brake pad company with LOTS of contingency money

That doesn't have to be the final layout; we changed the sizing and dimensions more than a dozen times before things went to the city for the final time. The proportions of that draft of the track are roughly equal to Martinsville and where from an earlier draft; I'm working towards shorter straights, broad-turns and variable banking working up to 17-18*.

You should have been around when they said “dirt track” and I about swallowed my tongue... I’ve had some interesting conversations over the past few days clarifying that for people. Local media is a great tool but their knowledge of our niche sport leaves something to be desired!

I did misunderstand you and I appreciate clearing that up; I can’t imagine anyone having anything bad to say about Tavo. I’ve put one one-hundredth of what he did on the line and it’s still a lot; I have a lot of respect for him. I’d certainly love to speak with him; I have no doubt he has ideas and angles I’ve never considered in relation to making this work.

Budman; Tavo is a stand up guy that did more for racing and racers in this part of the world than nearly anyone else, he’s not involved with this project but anyone would be lucky to have him involved. The dirt track thing was a miscommunication with KABB, a rally cross and/or motor cross track has been mentioned in passing but nothing beyond that as far as dirt. Essie and Parsa (the owner and his son) haven't asked for or received any public money and as of now that hasn’t been on anyone’s radar as far as I know, it hadn’t even crossed my mind until now. Essie is a first generation American that got an engineering degree here and built a successful business around the elevator industry. Alamo City Motorplex is the culmination of a longtime dream for him and now his son; they’re dedicated to the idea of building ACM into a multi-use world class racing facility. He’s carving out his version of the American dream. I heard about Essie’s plans to make ACM a world-class multiuse facility in July and since then have worked with him and his son to make that a reality; plans have changed a dozen times as various government entities have had their say but as of my conversations with the family last weekend a circle track is still #1 on the list of big additions to the facility. After initial conversations with Essie and Parsa I made the choice to make a public inquiry as to interest in a circle track at ACM and due to overwhelming response we moved forward with the project. Essie actually ended up at HoT speedway on a Friday afternoon trip from Dallas to ACM and that further galvanized his resolve to build this track. Plans have changed again recently as Cibolo gave more free reign to what could be done on the property as long as commerical improvements where made. I’m currently working on layouts for a more exciting facility based upon new understandings with Cibolo and as those plans are firmed up they will be made public. Essie is an “all in” kind of guy, he wants the track on the ground ASAP and we’re working with him to make that possible. He has already spend a great few of time and money at ACM and as THE OWNER of the track (look it up if you wish) he is committed to its longterm success. He wants to make it a true 365 day a year facility with multiple racing disciplines, commercial interests and vacation facilities on site. Nick Holt has said for years racing in this area needed a guy with a large amount of money and a love for racing to be involved to make it work here; well he’s here. Nick has also fought tooth and nail to ensure we have a civil and positive forum for our discussions and that has come in handy here too. I was out at the facility this morning checking for fiber optic internet splices in the area and was excited to see even more money had been spent on the track. I again encourage anyone interested in seeing what’s going on to go out to ACM, see with your own eyes what’s going on and spend a few minutes enjoying a conversation with Essie or Parsa. I’d like to state once again I’m not on anyone’s payroll; I’m helping out of my own pocket on my own time to make this a reality because I think it’s worth my time and money. I’m happy to take any question, abuse or suggestions you can throw my way; we haven’t taken anyone up on it yet but many have offered their time and effort to help and we appreciate that as well.

The drift track group is on board with this project now; in order to maximize space and minimize cost we are working together.

Couldn't agree more with what Nick said above; as much as I love late-models and open-class modifieds no track is going to survive on them; you can't pay a big enough purse to make racing in those classes viable for anyone but the wealthy and there just aren't enough wealthy racers to keep a track open. Tommy Grimes, John Kelley, John Heil and many other big names from SAS' latemodel ranks are running I37 right now; hardcore racers are going to race no matter what the track is. What tracks have to figure out is how to make the stands affordable for middle-class familes and make the "stock car" classes pay enough to help support those racers. For anyone that would like to see a bigger track, more banking or even bigger latemodel counts we're looking for sponsorship!

After the rest of the family is asleep I spend more evenings then I should watching racing from all over the country and since this project has come together I’ve spent most of that time looking to see what makes a 1/4 mile track competitive and fun to watch. Bowman Grey vs say Anderson Speedway is a good comparison; Anderson is known for good, competitive racing and Bowman Grey is the WWF of the racing world. Moderate banking that is cost affordable but progressive so it allows for 2 and 3 wide racing, broad-long corners so cars to the outside can gain ground in the middle and coming out of the corner, shorter straights so you don’t end up with the “drag race” layout of tracks like Martinsville; all of this has been considered. The layout has been setup to accommodate drifting, SCCA style autocross, karts and in some iterations a road course incorporating the asphalt pad behind the current stands; we’ve managed to get the drifting group originally lobbying for their own track at ACM to throw their support and weight behind this project; everyone is being considered. I’ve spent countless hours on google-earth measuring and drawing out other tracks to get an idea of what they did or didn’t do that worked or didn’t. If a track had a corner entrance that allowed for two cars to enter side by side it was put into the “yes” spread sheet and if it didn’t then the opposite. CCS, THR/CTS, Pan American, Twin Cities, Altus, Rockford, Slinger, Anderson, Shady Lawn, The Wall and numerous others have all been looked at and incorporated into this layout. I originally lobbied for and worked toward a 3/8 mile track but when Essie said “this is the space we have” we made the best of it. Nick Holt has said for many years any asphalt circle track that will be successful must be more than just an asphalt circle track and that has been taken to heart. My intentions are to flat wear this asphalt out as quick as possible and keep people coming out for more!

I'll have a little more time to post up more info later but the facility was laid out how it was due to zoning issues with the city; no more impervious coverage could be added to the property than is already there so the track is laid out over existing asphalt. I will post up some of the detailed drawings when I get a chance but the layout allows for long-wide corners with moderate banking and smooth transitions to hopefully make for a fast track with a lot of room for passing.

I was originally thinking this is about a racing incident but it isn’t; what happened between the two drivers related to a third party and had nothing to do with on track events. A guy that’s 17 years 11 months old got in a fight and the guy who fought him is getting charged with child abuse and they both happen to be racers that where at a track.

My guess would be is it’s something benign like it getting used as a staging area for hurricane relief or the like.

I had talked to the owner in July and at the time nothing was going on. The buyer I was working with lost his home in a recent disaster so I know it's not him but the owners are open to buyers/lessors and have said (to me at-least) they wanted to keep it a racetrack so we will see. Let me add that there was mention in July of another potential buyer that was considering an offer to keep the track a racing facility; at the time I didn't give it much thought but that was the only mention of other interest in the property I got.

Yea; there's nothing almost gone, I was by the track a few weeks back and it's obvious improvements are being made. This may be the best thing that could ever have happened to CCS, I look forward to going to the revamped track!

I have read else-where that the track owners are using the bay bridge development money to improve and rebuild the track with intentions of reopening a revamped CCS. It is my understanding that intentions are 100% to bring CCS back.

Thanks you and thanks for reminding me; I put a lifetime warranty balancer and crankshaft pulley on mine (separate pieces and both rubber isolated) that I check with just about every fill-up. The final benefit to the old 6.5L is that they run a 4L80E which is only a 4-speed with lockup converter but is nearly the most bullet-proof transmission ever created by man or otherwise. The five speed trucks run a modifed NV4500 5-speed that has a PTO output if needed.

If you're a GM guy it all depends on price range. If you want something cheap but don't mind spending some money on it slowly after purchase the GMT 400 (88-99) Pickups are a great choice. They ran a 6.5L that is a Detroit Diesel design and while they get a bad rep as long as you attend to some design issue they are stone cold reliable and get astounding gas mileage. Like I'd mentioned I run a 6.5L Turbo Diesel in my '94 Suburban that was an original "no emissions" truck and get roughly 16-18mpg average around town and 14ish towing, the highway mileage is over 20 unladen. Mine has 240k miles on it, when I bought it as an old-neglected farm truck it obviously hadn't led an easy life so I spent a little bit time cleaning it up and then did a few upgrades. These trucks have known cooling system issues so I cleaned the radiator fins, put a higher volume water pump in, put a AC Delco thermostat in, sourced a high-output thermostatic fan clutch and am running a later model Duramax fan. I am also running a relocation kit to keep my injector driver cooler along with two-stroke oil on fillups to keep the injection pump alive with modern diesel. I have a real light chip on the truck and while it's not "fast" it'll more than put me back in the seat, will tow anything I ask it to and STILL gets good mileage. If you've got more money the Duramax is a great if not slightly less popular (among the big 3) modern choice. The early Duramax's up until mid '04 had cylinder head and injector issues so I'd go '05 or newer unless the heads and injectors have been upgraded to later or aftermarket parts. The '05 and up Duramax trucks are as indestructible as anything on the market, in-fact I've got a family members on our lot right now on consignment with 38xK miles on it that runs like a top and we've had them with as high as 450K miles. The Duramax trucks from '05 on can be made to tow as well, make as much power as and get better gas mileage than the late model Ford/Cummins trucks and the remainder of the vehicle is still GM stuff so it's easy to service. If you're considering a 6.5L or Duramax truck thedieselplace.com is a great source for buyers guides and information related to the long-term viability of these trucks. Keep in mind GM has been building the 6.5L engine since '88 and it is still in production today as a military and industrial motor (H1 Hummers run 6.5Ls) so it's no junker and the Duramax has been in steady production since '99 so it's pretty well scienced out as well.

How big are you looking to go? In anything over a 3/4 ton pickup your choices are going to be limited almost exclusively to diesel. How heavy is your trailer? About a year ago I switched out of a gas daily driver (a '99 GMC Yukon with the 5.7L and a towing package) to a roughly equivalent diesel ('94 6.5L C2500 Suburban) with LESS horsepower (same 3:73 gears btw) because the extra 100 ft/lbs of torque the diesel offers, plus the increase in gas mileage (gained about 5mpg) plus the heavier-duty nature of the diesel makes life a lot easier. I always kinda though guys who drove diesels all the time where silly due to the higher cost of parts and oil but the diesel is much heavier so it breaks less and the oil is more expensive ($25 Valvoline oil and filter on the gas truck versus $60 Rotella T, Lucas Additive and oil/fuel filters) on the diesel but it's 5K miles instead of 3K. If you are going to be using the truck a lot more daily than for towing and are looking at a Duramax/6.0L Ford/24V Cummins truck then the reduction in fuel mileage of unloaded diesel vs. unloaded gas truck may not be worth it but while towing the diesel will typically get higher mileage than an equivalent gas truck. I've been so happy with the switch that I am now looking at eventually converting my shop truck (a '68 C10) from a 283 gaser to a 6.2L diesel not for the extra power (the 6.2L is a dog) but for the extra gas mileage!

The link to the Facebook page isn't working and I can't find it at all.

I have had EXTRODINARILY good luck working with my district’s city councilman (Chris Medina) about a range of issues including some related a local racer getting more than his fair share of grief from code compliance. I would be more than happy to contact him again but I would suggest contacting that district’s councilman and framing your case around what it does to keep local kids out of trouble, aid them in excelling in an international sport and the historic value of the track. I also wouldn’t rule out contacting TV news media as well as some of the tracks (or racer’s) larger sponsors for help. You could also contact local TXSZ sponsors or figures with some pull and let them work what power they have. HEB (racers at TMS in recent years), Zachary Construction, Sirizzotti Construction, Aramendia Plumbing and VP Racing are all local companies that either sponsor or support local racing, see what sway they can put in motion? This (like many government issues) will likely be won in the court of public opinion. As a secondary point, why in this economy would the city be spending money to demolish something in a park with room all around it?