Just an update on the possible Waterford Speedbowl event (Connecticut)... We still have to finalize details, but everything is looking good. Possible date will be September 9th or 16th (I'm shooting for the 16th).
For those of you unfamiliar with out racing format, we are looking at 2 divisions... a trophy class and a money class. Trophy cars will run either bracket style handicapping, or we will have classes divided into different "heads-up" indexes. The money class will be a "heads-up" open class, using a 0.400 Pro tree. All cars, trophy and money, will be under our completely street legal format.
More later.... e-mail me if you have any questions. Jay
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Welcome to the 100 foot Drag Racing News blog site. This format will be used for now to keep you informed as to our upcoming events for the HDRA (Holeshot Drag Racing Association), and progress in locating sites on Long Island.
First, let's talk about the Nassau Coliseum events. There is no question these two events we had scheduled would have been a great success. We had racers lined up from all over the Island, Brooklyn, Bronx, New Jersey, and more. Over 400 cars would have shown up. People spent an incredible amount of money on their cars getting ready for for the 13th, only to be let down.
What happened? The reasons were not made clear to us, but the bottom line is that the Coliseum decided at the 11th hour that we needed $21,000+ extra in union labor help to run an event in a parking lot! Forklift operators, laborers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, HVAC personal, etc. I could not collect my own money... I had to let the ticket office collect the money at the tune of $4100, and another $4200 in security to make sure people went to buy the tickets! All of this just to run an event in a parking lot.
Nobody on their staff gave me the courtousy to spend 2 minutes to explain these idiotic charges. In fact, they were ducking me, and didn't have the guts to give me the breakdown sheets. I had to wait an hour before they finally gave in and handed them over, then they took off to "take care of a last minute event". Bull.
Anyway, we're moving on. We are working very hard on finding locations on the Island, and we do have a couple leads. We tried to get in last minute at the Balloonfest in Brookhaven, but it was too late. While this doesn't help us this year, they have a great interest in having us in next year's event. We do have some leads, but at the moment we are not disclosing any locations until we know 100% that we have them.
In the meantime, we are also looking off the Island. We have been in talks with the management at the Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut. We will know in a couple days if an event is going to go off; if it does it will most likely be in 7 or 8 weeks (September). Look for future postings.
Before I sign off for this posting, I need to give special thanks to a bunch of people that have been helping us along the way. If I miss anyone, forgive me... there's a long list of people.
KOOKS Headers... special thanks to everyone there. Everybody went out on a limb to help. They got us our VP traction compound, no questions asked. They made a ton of phone calls to get cars, and no question, much of the field would have comprised of racers they knew. We are hoping to have a long relationship with them as we move on.
Sterling Auto Parts... these guys helped us by letting us have a demo race during their car show in June. One of the problems we've had is making people understand that 100 feet is a viable distance for racing. That one hour we had letting guys run for times said it all... they got it! The racers loved it, the spectators loved it, and people understood that 100 feet was fine. That one hour said more than 10,000 fliers could ever do.
Randy's Performance Center. Randy has done more for this organization than I can even tell, fielding phone calls, tech questions, and overall promotions. I can't even begin to tell you how valuable he's been in getting our organization going, and I'm grateful for his help, and even more important, his friendship.
Ronnie Shea... the main guy at Don's East Coast. Ron has a habit of staying out of the limelight, but his organizational skills are amazing. He also is a big factor in promoting us, and will be one of the key people as HDRA grows. Another friend I'm grateful to have.
Jeff Shaw... Jeff has been actively searching leads of sites for future events. He's also been the "go-to" guy when the all important "odds n ends" have to get done. His brother Bob has also been a great help, and like Randy and Ronnie, it's great to have them as friends.
We'll have another posting soon as we know more. Stay tuned!
Jay
First, let's talk about the Nassau Coliseum events. There is no question these two events we had scheduled would have been a great success. We had racers lined up from all over the Island, Brooklyn, Bronx, New Jersey, and more. Over 400 cars would have shown up. People spent an incredible amount of money on their cars getting ready for for the 13th, only to be let down.
What happened? The reasons were not made clear to us, but the bottom line is that the Coliseum decided at the 11th hour that we needed $21,000+ extra in union labor help to run an event in a parking lot! Forklift operators, laborers, carpenters, electricians, plumbers, HVAC personal, etc. I could not collect my own money... I had to let the ticket office collect the money at the tune of $4100, and another $4200 in security to make sure people went to buy the tickets! All of this just to run an event in a parking lot.
Nobody on their staff gave me the courtousy to spend 2 minutes to explain these idiotic charges. In fact, they were ducking me, and didn't have the guts to give me the breakdown sheets. I had to wait an hour before they finally gave in and handed them over, then they took off to "take care of a last minute event". Bull.
Anyway, we're moving on. We are working very hard on finding locations on the Island, and we do have a couple leads. We tried to get in last minute at the Balloonfest in Brookhaven, but it was too late. While this doesn't help us this year, they have a great interest in having us in next year's event. We do have some leads, but at the moment we are not disclosing any locations until we know 100% that we have them.
In the meantime, we are also looking off the Island. We have been in talks with the management at the Waterford Speedbowl in Connecticut. We will know in a couple days if an event is going to go off; if it does it will most likely be in 7 or 8 weeks (September). Look for future postings.
Before I sign off for this posting, I need to give special thanks to a bunch of people that have been helping us along the way. If I miss anyone, forgive me... there's a long list of people.
KOOKS Headers... special thanks to everyone there. Everybody went out on a limb to help. They got us our VP traction compound, no questions asked. They made a ton of phone calls to get cars, and no question, much of the field would have comprised of racers they knew. We are hoping to have a long relationship with them as we move on.
Sterling Auto Parts... these guys helped us by letting us have a demo race during their car show in June. One of the problems we've had is making people understand that 100 feet is a viable distance for racing. That one hour we had letting guys run for times said it all... they got it! The racers loved it, the spectators loved it, and people understood that 100 feet was fine. That one hour said more than 10,000 fliers could ever do.
Randy's Performance Center. Randy has done more for this organization than I can even tell, fielding phone calls, tech questions, and overall promotions. I can't even begin to tell you how valuable he's been in getting our organization going, and I'm grateful for his help, and even more important, his friendship.
Ronnie Shea... the main guy at Don's East Coast. Ron has a habit of staying out of the limelight, but his organizational skills are amazing. He also is a big factor in promoting us, and will be one of the key people as HDRA grows. Another friend I'm grateful to have.
Jeff Shaw... Jeff has been actively searching leads of sites for future events. He's also been the "go-to" guy when the all important "odds n ends" have to get done. His brother Bob has also been a great help, and like Randy and Ronnie, it's great to have them as friends.
We'll have another posting soon as we know more. Stay tuned!
Jay
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