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So it seems every time I open a copy of Muscle Car Review, Hemmings Muscle Machines, Car Craft, etc....I read about another drag strip being shut down.
Now Kansas City International Raceway has joined the list.
Yet I never hear about any new strips being opened.
Makes me wonder if drag strips are just a dying breed, albeit the use they still get?
Yes, I believe that strips will go the way of drive in movies and car hops since we use our cars differently now plus cars are almost impossible to work on anymore.
We go to Raceway Park, Old Bridge N.J. all the time, and they seem to be doing fairly well. I think the interest in tuner cars has helped the track quite a bit. They have also installed a road course track, moto cross track, go cart track, jet ski course and a rock climbing area on the property.
NOTE TO TUNER CAR DRIVERS AT "E" TOWN: WHEN YOU BLOW YOUR CAR UP, PLEASE GET IT OUT OF THE GROOVE A.S.A.P., SO WE DON'T SPEND COUNTLESS HOURS ON SUNDAY WAITING FOR WHOLE TRACK CLEANUPS. THANK YOU
Location: Democratic Peoples Republic of Redneckistan
11,078 posts, read 15,031,202 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jambo101
Surprised that type of racing isnt more popular as track maintenance and upkeep are minimal.
I am too Jambo...certain areas in the southwest have a huge following and a lot of every weekend racing.
Around here there's a lot of it within a few hours drive of me...St.Louis,Wheatland,Mo..Ky Lake,but I live within 30 mins of SEVERAL large lakes and both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers that would be perfect for it and nothing much happens that would keep you going every weekend unless you devoted your entire savings and career to it...I'm not remotely interested in that(I'm way to low on the totem pole for that anyway),I just like to run when we have the time and still be able to be back home quickly.
Quite a few of us get together and run a lot of...uhhh,unsanctioned events a year tho'....that can be really spooky sometimes tho' with no safety crews/ambulances standing by.
Most of the folks who've set water speed records throughout history died in the attempt or in a boat crash sometime later on..dangerous as hell,but a way bigger rush than I ever got from years of dragbikes/cars and off road racing combined...anything above 100 mph on liquid is just plain wicked
One other thing is that most kids today are into imports, and very few import cars make good drag cars. A lot of the old school bracket racing, IIRC, you have to run a carburator, back in the day it was to keep rich guys from bullying their way to glory with high-buck fuel injection, but even in areas where you can get away with running a carb on a car that came with FI, pardon my French, it's retarded to do so.
Many of the older Detroit cars that make good drag cars are too valuable (read expensive) for most enthusiasts to run.
Final point is that the old "street-strip" type cars of the late 60's only made (limited) sense when gas was really cheap.
I think PDD is right that track days are a better venue anyway.
There are only two venues in the San Diego to (legally) drag race. One is a legit 1/8th mile strip on an Indian reservation (Barona) where you you wouldn't expect the standard 'drag strip killers' of noise complaints or more lucrative financial potential for the land to be an issue. The other is in the parking lot for Qualcomm Stadium, which isn't so much a 'strip' as it is a slightly uphill section of the lot lined with K-barriers and shoddy timing equipment. Still, it's a cheap way to kill a Friday night for both spectators and participants.
On the whole, though, I think the main culprits for the demise of the drag strip have already been pointed out. For starters, not that many people are into it anymore. The few gearheads left (myself included), would rather hit up a track day or maybe even an autocross. There's not really enough interest left in the sport to justify opening an entirely new venue, and the ones that were once 'out in the boonies' have found themselves in people's backyards thanks to urban sprawl.
One of the best 1/4 mile strips in the East is Englishtown Raceway Park in Old Bridge Twp NJ.
They run the NHRA Spring or Summernationals there ever year because it is a top shelf well maintained track
When it was built in the 60's it was in the boonies of NJ now it is surrounded by one of the largest suburban residential areas in NJ.
Every year the owners have to make adjustments to noise requirements enacted by OB Twp. due to it's many complaints for the homeowners who thought they were moving to the "country"only to find out that 8,000 HP dragsters were running on the "little strip" just down the block.
You would think the realtors would clue them in about the track and all the noise but that does not make for too many sales commissions.
I can imagine that in the near future E-Town will be sold off to developers because the track could not meet noise restriction requirements.
I'll bet most people living on Old Bridge Twp have no idea that NASCAR Sprint Cup (Grand National back then) used to run on the 1/2 mile paved oval track formerly known as Old Bridge Speedway
Yes, I believe that strips will go the way of drive in movies and car hops since we use our cars differently now plus cars are almost impossible to work on anymore.
I think this is a good explanation. It's hard to tune most cars these days without big money. And what would be the point of running stock all the time? Plus, if you damage your car nowadays, it's very expensive to fix.
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