MikePeters95

15 hours ago, ron.brown11 said:

progressive banked 3/8 asphalt track at COTA. That's probably just pissing in the wind, but I can hope, right?

You're hope is in the right place, but also at the wrong place.  TMS needs to be your hope.  I am trying to sell them on the front straight for a Clash/Bowman Gray type race, but they're watching HMP to evaluate what to do with the land doing nothing outside of turn 3.  They are aware of a smaller multi-purpose facility bringing value and community to the track.

Really hoping a mini Iowa layout (banking wise) with the TMS/Speedway dogleg with an Irwindale like paved infield is something viable, as that would be an actual useful venue, which is what they're looking for.

Which is why even if you don't like the current promoter or whatever as some of you have been very vocal about, support HMP.  Other venues are watching.

I'm still hoping something is actually done at Revolution Park.  That place, is, literally, ready to go.

In a huge move that will put lots of eyes on local grassroots tracks, and open up the possibility for national sanctioning and rules without the burdensom NASCAR fees, Trackhouse’s Justin Marks, Dale Jr, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton have acquired an ownership and investment stake in the NC abased CARS tour. 
 

If you haven’t been keeping up or following a lot of Justin Marks’ modern, outside the box ideas on growing motorsports I implore you to do so, and with JR’s constant ability to step back, wipe the board clean and look at a blank slate approach alongside his experience, I think we’re going to see a huge pivot that will have a ripple effect for the next few decades with this move. 

Will we see, finally, some unilateral rules and sanctions?  A more structured pathway up?  Will Marks and JR’s very open vocal desire for vintage oval series come to be?  GNSS has showed us it can work, Marks has been very vocal about it, NASCAR recently trademarked NASCAR classic….could be very interesting and innovative times ahead. Hopefully they will yield National interest and grow the fanbase into a new crowd like the days of old. 
 

And, as Texans, will we see any trickle down, or even some bigger events that interlink us outside our own state?
 

Could be cool!  Either way huge news with some the most powerful innovators in modern American motorsport making a direct investment in grassroots level short track racing.  

40 minutes ago, rebelracewriter said:

why common rules can't be a thing here in Texas is beyond me.

Hard to be egotistical when you didn't ''write your own rule book''.  Seems to be a common theme....from people who can't seem to actually write a rule book ironically.

Only reason I brought up ACM, somehow there is a lease on the facility with a drifting and stunt school, which they've openly stated they aren't sure the exact fate of the venue, but buyers that had planned to buy and redevelop fell through in the final hour for some reason when I was hearing a discussion about it a few months ago.

It's sad to drive by it when I come and go on I-10.

@Josh42 I was so excited I drove by to look at it on the way home from a NYE race in San Antonio, I can confirm that is where the drag strip was on old ariel photos, and it is now occupied by new businesses and warehouses that are actively in business.  There is zero chance the old drag strip can be used because it has been redeveloped to profitable tax paying businesses.

Also you guys aren't wrong on the assessment of car count and fan support as a dirt track being much higher.  I think for the SAS tract that probably makes the most sense.

If someone was to develop or redevelop whatever tract of land Nick talked about on Rodney's show or the old Alamo City Motorplex (San Antonio Raceway/Dragstrip on I-10 whatever it is called) that would make sense.  I know before the dispute happened there were plans for motocross, drifting, and an oval that were being acted on.  Shame that never panned out, maybe that will rekindle.  Who knows.

4 hours ago, 24nomo said:

With the proper team behind a race track, there is plenty of money available to succeed.   Did anyone witness COTA this year?   They sold 7 million dollars worth of booze in November.  We just need people to step up and quit crying about $175 tires.   That is just a round of drinks at COTA.

I don't think you understand the two very different demographics.

People who casually put on their rolex, polo shirt and take their GT3 to party with the boys have little to no interest having a truck, trailer, shop, physical labor etc. Those demographics do not necessarily overlap, nor does the experience of an F1 race versus grassroots circle track.

Would be nice, but a study of "who is your customer" needs to be applied to some of these logic patterns imo.

I saw they're looking to add pure stocks, and there is a truck race in the works later this season.

Would love to say I did the first truck race there after the re-opening.

Did the first ever drift demo there back in 2007.  Place was packed, could hear folks going nuts over my engine on the straights. When I used to live in Tampa we'd go watch the races like once a month if we were in town, the front and back straight bleachers would be nearly full every time we'd go.  Was a great time and it's awesome to see what the new owner (Cleetus/Garrett) has done to revive the traditional crowd while also doing a MUCH NEEDED supplemental and new influx of new fans to keep circle track alive and well for the future.  I've had tons of my Florida friends who have never done circle track stuff asking about my Pro Truck and wanting to run at FF / Showtime / Port Charlotte (4-17).  Hopefully the sport continues to re-grow down there, and we can get some more things going on around here too.

15 year old YouTube vintage video below:

rebelracewriter extremely well said.  I was also perusing through and I'll never understand the cynicism.  

I did drive by the other day on my way back home from my NYE festivities, and I'm not an San Antonio expert but I can tell you these things:

1)  I didn't see any houses within visibility of the intersection that track is on that would be able to complain about a race track and not all the other noise causing dumpy businesses nearby. That's a good spot for a track.

2)  There is a ton of dirt work and what appears to be a new or growing electric substation on the North side of Turn 3/4.

3)  I have no clue how a drag strip will fit on what appears to be the property left, and I am really interested to see how you'd fit spectators and racers in the facility. That parking is going to be TIGHT.

With that said, I would be ecstatic to see any motorsports endeavor yield success in San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Texas, Amarillo, Alaska, Canada, Brazil, Zimbabwe, anywhere.  

I saw the Facebook posts while I was out at an off-road race and I was super super excited, to the point where I wanted to drive by and have my excitement validated when I drove by to see the beginning of the rekindling of a speedway I'd been to a long time ago in 2005 for a drift demo during Octoberfast, as it would be so incredibly cool for me to be able to race on that track I'd been to as a kid with nearly 20 years ago.  The place I had then seen on Lost Speedways, along with Texas World Speedway, which I essentially grew up at, and have watched vanish before my eyes.  But I was deflated a little seeing the lot size they have to work with.

With that being said, if they do have a volunteer day, if HMP has a volunteer day to clean that place up a little too, and if I can afford to go time wise, I'll be there as soon as we are allowed to do whatever we are allowed to do, and hope you all find yourself in the same situation.  Whether it ends up being a waste of time or not, at least I'll try.

It would be awesome to race there.  I was excited when I first saw it on Facebook, and am a bit concerned seeing it first hand a couple days later, but I'll try if I can. I hope you all do as well. I'd rather risk wasting some time and looking stupid, but have put forth some effort, than to sit on the sidelines and watch something fail knowing I could have tried to help. 

I understand how some people can get burned out to the point of no return.  As someone who'd really like to see circle track be sustainable around here, I do wish some you guys would bite down just a bit, and have a bit of careless optimism and hope. 

I think although Texas has not been as rich in motorsports when you look at the population : racer ratio, road racing and sports cars are about the healthiest there is.

With over 5 clubs having events with 100+ regular attendants in autocross, NASA and SCCA regularly having 60-100+ cars per events at 7 different venues, and track days being always busy, probably the healthiest spot to be a gearhead. I've been in those circles and they're healthy.

Fun fact:  Texas has a two time defending 24 Hours of Daytona team housed in San Antonio, and 24 Hours of Lemans winner Ben Keating in Victoria. Been trying to drag them out to some circle track stuff.

Looks like Doug's truck and the Corpus truck sold.  Hopefully that's +2 consistently to car count on asphalt ( or dirt, but hopefully asphalt)

I love that in this forum, this did exactly as I intended.  I threw something out there, and a conversation happened, an open minded conversation with real world feedback.

On Facebook it just got dumped on with a diatribe about "We're not changing anything" from a series that lost 30% car count in ever single class so far, and still hasn't published points for a season that ended over a month ago.

I'm hoping some of these great ideas are actually looked at and I can have a place to continue to race at, solely because, other people are coming to race there consistently.

I'll be honest, the trucks are fun but the $700 tire bill per race is pretty stupid and pointless.  It was also infuriating when we all showed up for race two with no tires.  I intentionally didn't buy them from Day knowing the track made money off them.  Some sort of cost control measure would be nice.

The used AR 970 is a novel idea, but it requires people sell them tires that are of the same condition.  While it would be neat to support the program, I don't make enough money to give my lightly used tires up and have nothing to practice on.  By the time I sold something they'd easily have 100+ laps on them and potentially be flat spotted.  I think the hope is (if they've even thought this far) is that 4 classes giving 20% of their used tires is enough to supply one class.

The Legends/Legacy/EcoStock tire costs are absolutely stupid for entry level classes.  It's also frustrating to take friends interested and sell them on a Pro Truck knowing the real costs that I'm not even hitting needed to run competitively, and the other classes with the smaller sized 4 cylinder cars, and front wheel drive cars, just don't interest anyone I've had looking into racing asphalt oval. 

Side note, if you get offended by my friends not being excited about 4 cylinder scaled down cars, don't get mad at me, just evaluate yourself and what you're getting mad about please.  Saw that on Facebook, be better.  

Anyways glad to see some good feedback, hopefully someone reads it but I doubt it.

Wanted to get some LSSZ input as you guys have been around this longer than I’ve been converting oxygen to carbon dioxide  

With tires being one of the highest consumable costs and barriers to repeated entry, what are your thoughts and who would be interested in running a street radial designed for heat with little to no fall off for the spec tire for some of the classes aimed at reasonable and affordable budgets and youth development?  

These are based here in Houston, and I’ve been working behind the scenes studying and getting feedback from new oval guys or guys looking from the outside in asking them what’s keeping them from getting involved. 

As we all know the AR and Hoosier offerings have pretty decent fall off after one evening leading to a decent advantage for those who can buy new tires every race which is demotivating to a lot of folks.  If that was solved with a tire that lasted nearly all season without major fall off and was priced under the AR/Hoosier stuff, would YOU be interested in running that tire?

Pretty sure this could work for the Legacy / Eco Stock / Legends / Budget classes but figured I’d throw this out in here and see what opinions you guys had since off-season is pretty fresh and a lot of tracks haven’t locked in their official plans for 2023.  These would work on anything from a Legends car, Legacy, Eco Stock, Pure Stock/Street Stock/Panther Cruiser/Bootlegger/Bomber etc.  Will shrink the traction circle compared to a slick, or grooved slick making mistakes lose more time on track, cars slide a bit more making setup less crucial, and making the cars have to be driven smoother and more committed which IMO will create better actual side by side racing while also cutting costs and consumables by an order of magnitude.  Also reached out to Cooper/Goodyear and they’re exploring some products and which brand would work best, but Valino was extremely interested right off the bat, so I figured let’s make a post in some racer pages and get some actual racer feedback then pass it along to some tracks and see if they care about driver feedback and cost cutting to create a more sustainable series for some of the classes. 

I can get some of these to test pretty easily next time there is a test day, if the community speaks up and says this is a good idea and it’s sensible and purposeful to explore it.  There is a high likelihood I can get these for low three digit, maybe even two digit prices per tire in stock here in Houston.  

https://www.valinotires.com/product-page/greeva-08d-360tw-205-50r15

I'm hoping this class will spur interest and is successful.  It looked like a copy paste of a dirt track pure stock rule book, those cars litter Facebook Marketplace and other sites, hopefully it's a good budget option.

I do wish they had gone with a spec tire such as a Cooper Cobra or Mastercraft Avenger instead of ''pull off 970's''.  Maybe I am just underestimating how long those will last.

So several friends of mine have kept up with my Pro-Truck misadventures this year and have decided they'd also like to learn how to do bodywork and go home without even looking at where you finished because you're chasing setup and all the fun that comes with that.

If anyone has anything you're looking to offload, that isn't listed below let me know.  I am going to list the ones I know that are for sale.

Area 51's Extended cab truck, 10 bolt, auto, 602 crate, $7k.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2206245036219586/?hoisted=false&ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A58828813-c453-4bea-9fe3-72f8734cce24



Jim Phillips (Snap-On guy in Magnolia) has 4 trucks for sale, ranging from a roller with no body for $4k to a "race ready" truck that has been sitting for 3 years for $25k



This truck has been for sale on Racing Junk for well over a year, Five Star Toyota/Dodge body with Toyota Stickers, 602 crate, 10 bolt, unknown transmission, out in Florida
https://www.racingjunk.com/trucks/184326504/2021-florida-pro-truck-.html?category_id=&search=pro+truck&quickSearch=1&np_offset=5&from=search



This one is for sale in Alabama, 602, t10, unknown rear end
https://www.racingjunk.com/trucks/184382713/race-ready-602-pro-race-truck.html?category_id=&search=pro+truck&quickSearch=1&np_offset=9&from=search




This one popped up near Corpus, 9'', 4 speed, 602, looks like its been sitting for a few years with the Hoosiers on it, supposedly pending sale
https://www.facebook.com/commerce/listing/667316305104518/?media_id=1&ref=share_attachment


This one is also in Florida, 10k, 602, 9'', 4 speed.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1433396436875899/?multi_permalinks=3206532782895580&ref=share



This one popped up in Tomball, looks older, has an engine, auto trans and 10 bolt, no body apparently, $5k
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1151926475737265/?ref=messenger_share




This one also has been for sale for over a year.  Unsealed 602 with unknown builder and questionable engine history, 4 speed and 9''.  Clean truck, been collecting dust in a warehouse in Houston waiting on a buyer. Priced a bit high with the engine concerns (supposedly it spun a bearing, and previous owner rebuild the engine then immediately sold it) https://www.facebook.com/commerce/products/2020-chevrolet-silverado-2500/8375968992429141?ref=messenger_share&rt=54

So, with that said, The one near Corpus and the Florida ones seem like the best deals.  In my brief experience, I know anything anyone gets will need to be gone through, and budget build so that you can replace everything as it's a used race car and you really can never truly know the history and condition, is there anything else out there I may want to encourage them to look at?  Mainly looking at things that already have a 4 speed that haven't been sitting without being started, cleaned or anything for too long.  I'm pretty sure I've already found what there is to find but you'll never know if you don't ask!

Figured some of you may know of some things not listed on Facebook / Racing Junk.  I'll send this thread to my friends if anything pops up.  Be awesome to see the trucks consistently run 18-20 trucks per night next season, as well as it would be excellent to see the other classes get healthy as well.   

4 hours ago, ron.brown11 said:

I raced because I loved it, had fun, and made some good friends. That's all anybody should want with their hobby.

This right here, 100% where the community needs to be to sustain again in my opinion.

12 hours ago, Flagman said:

We took our cars to the Boyscouts Pine Wood Derby and other meetings we could find to let everyone see the cars.

We had some R/C cars that were rapped just like the big cars to help garner interest as well.

This is a great idea.  I'll add that on my radar and try to see if anyone dirt, asphalt, road race, whatever, are doing these things and figure out how we can take a few out there.

23 hours ago, NickHolt said:

When was the last time you saw a stock car parked next to a neighborhood gas station?  Back in the day, almost every gas station had a beat-up stock car, or two, that ended up in the service bay weeknights and mysteriously vanished every weekend during racing season. 

The guys who used to pump gas, perform oil changes and turn brake drums during work hours at the corner filing station lived to race on the weekends, saving up for some potent "high test" and perhaps a used tire or two. 

I remain hopeful that stock car racing will find a way to save itself from extinction. At this point the best bet would be for the current generation of street racers to stop killing each other on the streets and start killing each other on racetracks.

 

I am extremely open to trying to figure out how to rekindle the imagination and interest of the average American and especially those I have access too.  Enclosed trailers (I'm guilty, I have one) hide a lot of the allure and lust of seeing a race car, but just putting them outside helps a lot too.  I need to start doing what I say here, but other than doing Raising Cane's store openings and Pit Crew Challenges with schools and companies, I'm trying to find ways to get people the opportunity to touch/see/feel a racecar, as I feel that is the biggest thing society is missing, as you touched on, back in the day they were just more visible.  I can't even imagine how cool it was back in your younger days, I was just a 90's kid.

Also @ron.brown11 thanks for sharing your posts, cool reads and knowledge of some of the older tracks I've only seen on Google Maps and Youtube and through people I know so far.

9 minutes ago, Josh42 said:

You might check but I know this track has dirt put on top of the asphalt or it was tore up. But the World of Outlaws either ran there this year or last but after that the track was being shut down.

The lease with the dirt promoter ended, the dirt has been removed, and the owner of that place would really like to see racing back.  

For those of you not familiar, this is an incredibly nice facility in Monroe, Louisiana.  Here are some older videos.
 

And here is the track in Tulsa
 

The drifting video was a couple months ago.  

These are tracks with willing, and eager owners that know they are not a promoter, that would be happy to host a stop on some sort of series/tour.  Very low hanging fruit to help the slow process of rebuilding this region on asphalt.

34 minutes ago, Josh42 said:

Mike just asking do you have any more information on this facility?

I literally work about a 1.5 mile from this track, they have the go cart track there that does get used regularly. I've asked a lot of people that I have met since moving up here about that track and everyone says it never really took off. But other than that I cant get really any other info on it.

That's consistent with what I've heard.  Apparently they do drift events on the oval there now ( A lot of "Dormant" ovals host drifting now since the crowd is just happy to have somewhere to run and doesn't bring drama or bash facility owners, a phenomenon I will never in my life understand).  Once of my drifting buddies got me in touch with the owner who ( and to his credit, he is right) would love to see his track host anything, but doesn't have the time, resources, network to get routine racing there on the asphalt track, says hes tried a few times and it's just not worth the hassle, however he stated if someone got a series together he would absolutely love for it to stop by and was very up front that his track is a smaller bullring but they've ran late models and such there. I found some youtube videos from I think 2013ish of some late models, street stocks and eco stocks running there.    The drifting guys said the pavement isn't broken up or anything and you can run apron to wall no problem there.  

The facility mainly operates the karting track and the owner is on cruise control enjoying life and having his track as his retirement fun.  I think a series stopping by with the right expectations could operate great with this as a bullring stop. 

As we all know, right now in the area, we need anything if we want any variety.  I just wish there was something for the Austin/SA crowd that was workable in any way.  All I could find was this place, TMS, Revolution Park in Monroe LA and HMP, which are great facilities, I just know there are a lot of you guys over that way and wish you could have a home track that wasn't several hours away.

Altus speedway is up there but from what I understand it's for sale and the state of the facility is unclear.

Has anyone compiled a list of Texans headed out there?

I believe in the trucks from what I've seen Jake Wright's 48, Anthony Monroe's 82 and Jaron Hasley's 43 are headed out there.

Once you get on the backside of how some these places operate, it's super cool.

They actually bring in temporary HVAC to the garages at TMS and turn them into exhibition halls for mini-trade shows with several large vendors, it's pretty cool.  I know COTA does some similar stuff as well and tries to keep the place busy with folks coming and going, which ultimately helps us out with the 5% of people who've never been to a racetrack, go there for some work-related function, then come back and get into motorsports.

As someone who works at that facility probably 20+ days a year, I assure you it's not for weddings, mostly OEM rentals for product demonstrations on the road course, and a plethora of other things.

The problem, as demonstrated in this exact thread, is people seemingly want to be upset about something and don't go to the races.  Thankfully SMI, who is owned by the same people that own a lot of companies and have diversified very well, use a lot of their business relationships, and OEM / Auto industry relationships to keep that place busy.  A properly ran facility doesn't make the money on the less than 10 days annually they host races, they figure out how to generate revenue as many days as they can over a 365 day period.

I am glad to see that new management has revamped some of their nonsense and disconnected cooler policies and other things done by people who were too burned out, antiquated and stuck in their ways and are not creating barriers to participation in a sporting event segment that is one of the few that is not offering climate controlled environments, in one of the longest events you can go to as well.  This isn't 1997 where most of your potential customers (race fans) work outside, do physical labor, and only have climate control in their home, maybe their vehicle anymore.  For a track with the second largest attendance of a NASCAR race ever (216k, second only to the Brickyard), they've done a great job diversifying their day to day operations so they can sustain without racing, and they did that to keep the racing going.

If you still need one I have one in Houston.   9363481923 just text me.  It's black for AR bodies.  I'll verify I still have it up there tomorrow.  Was an extra for my Dad's truck.

On 11/17/2022 at 10:34 PM, rails said:

I am curious to see what they are going to do with TMS after this year. In the lower grandstands they took out every other row and put in a table ledge to set drinks and stuff on. I could still swing a cat in any direction and not hit a soul from my seats. Not sure how long it is going to be able to hang on that way. I know there has been talk of some sort of reconfiguration. But my gut tells me that date could end back up at North Wilksboro. 

 

There is some fresh blood at TMS that is very open to a lot of things, and very self-critical.  I think it's imperative that we try to support tracks that we can including TMS.  I do have a dialogue going with them and they are glad asphalt racing is on an upswing and we have a meeting scheduled early Q1 next year, they're taking a hard look at some land not being used outside turn 3 and doing evaluations on building a short track, or using the flat track on the front straight.

TMS is doing fine.  The facility is rented out over 200 days a year for all kinds of things.  I really hope in 2-3 years we see HMP, TMS, Revolution Park and the bullring at JRP Speedway in Oklahoma hosting racing, drifting, car meets and anything they can to monetize the pavement they have sustainably.  Be nice to have a little touring series at those facilities, which I know for a fact is a possibility.

Separate conversation, I hope a true entry level class such as street/super stock is figured out for pavement.  Some folks don't want to race Cavaliers, and also don't have 1k to spend on consumables every race.  Be nice to see a 300 treadwear Crown Vic or some other cheap class actually happen.

If anyone finds this post critical that's fine, I'll be there supporting these things any way I can afford monetarily and chronologically.  These are all things that can happen if action is actually taken.

Probably too late to text you, I'll try to do so tomorrow, but I'll take that Saginaw.  I take it you're in Huntsville with that phone number? 

I'm at 9363481923.  Wish I had checked this sooner I was up there last week, haha.