Added Events!

* Just a quick note... We are looking at adding motorcycles and Jr. Dragsters to the program. Motorcycles are, like the cars, to be completely street legal and registered. It is to be a fun event, with trophies as prizes. The Jr. Dragsters are also to be a fun event, and again, trophies as prizes. We need to sort things out as to the format for them, so look for further announcements on this blog.

* Comments and suggestions are always welcome at: www.sparkymotorsports@yahoo.com

Phone calls are always welcome at the office: 631-991-1614. Jay

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

... Many of you that have not seen or heard of 100 foot drags are probably scratching your head and wondering how a race can be held in that short of a distance. Well, it works, and it works very well. However, as the old adage goes, seeing is believing.

... A month before our aborted Coliseum attempt (see our first July posting), we ran a one hour demo race at the Sterling Automotive Car Show in Hauppauge, Long Island. We set up the clocks behind the building of the show... nobody even knew we were there until we started to run a few cars. A half hour went by, and we looked... a line of cars had formed. People were all over the place. Nobody was at the show... everybody, and we mean everybody was with us watching cars doing time shots.

... The results? Once the drivers ran it, once the spectators saw it, they got it! Not one negative comment! Not one! Everybody loved it, and once they saw it, everything we said made sense. The end result for us is that we got more results than 10,000 fliers could ever do. The buzz it created all over the Island was nothing short of amazing. All comments were absolutely positive, and people were glad to see the possibility of drag racing coming back, and our 100 foot format was going to make that possible.

... So, where do we need your help? With our event coming up at the Speedbowl, it is imperative that we get a demo race in somewhere, at a car show, a cruise, a parking lot of a speed shop or automotive store, or anywhere. A one or two hour event in the near future is all we need. This will help us succeed in October. A successful event at that time could very well be a catalyst for more frequent (weekly?) events next year. Wouldn't it be great to bring back Drag Racing in Connecticut?

... If you know of anybody that has a lot or paved area that would allow us to use it for that brief time for a demo event, please contact us immediately. A car show or cruise would be best, but not by any means necessary. An airport, an industrial area, whatever.

... IMPORTANT!!! If we can do this at a Car show in the next few weeks, and there's enough time (a week or two at least) to promote it, this demo event could draw a few hundred extra people. We will supply the timing equip. and help at no charge. When we did this a Sterling, we were THE HIT OF THE SHOW (quote from "LI Rides" magazine). We could be the big hit of the next CT show, so please invite us!

...Thanks, Jay Office 631-991-1614.

Waterford Event date pushed to October

* When we did our last posting, we set the date for the Waterford event Sept. 16th. We found out later that there were conflicts with other events. Working with Bill at the Speedbowl, the best dates we could come up with are in October. The plan is Saturday the 13th with a rain date of the 20th. We are also looking at a test and tune session the night before on Friday the 12th.

* Word of mouth works great for an event like this. We would appreciate it if all of you spread the word about this event, as well as this blog. When we were promoting the July 13th event at Nassau Coliseum, it was amazing how many people were faxing entry forms, sending e-mails, and burning up the phone lines. We are looking for you to help us by doing the same. Your help will enable us to put on future events. Drag racing coming back to Connecticut on a regular basis could definately become a reality, and this October event will be the start of it.

* The rules for all participants will be posted soon, and they will be the same simple format we started with in Long Island. All cars have to be street legal, legitimately registered, insured, muffled, DOT tires (yes, ET Streets, etc. are acceptable) and inspected. In other words, all cars have to be able to be legally driven to and from the track. Big motors, NOS, Turbos, blowers, and whatever are fine as long as your car meets the "street legal" criteria.

* More in a couple days... phone calls and e-mails are always welcome. Sponsorship opportunities are available! Jay

Waterford, CT event is confirmed!

This will be on a Sunday, September 16th. We will have more info in the next week, but right now we will be running the same basic format as before, but with a twist. Our format had one open heads-up "Pro Street" money class, and one trophy division for all cars, running either in indexes or bracket style handicapping. We are now looking into a second money class for street legal front wheel drive imports. The current Pro-Street class heavily favors American Iron, rear wheel drive cars. We'll have more in the next few days and post it.
For those who have rumors about August events at the Coliseum, for now they are not happening. It could happen in the future, but we're not counting on it. They have to eliminate the "need" for $21,000 of extra union help that has no use to a parking lot event (I'm still waiting for an explanation). We are still looking diligently for a venue to do this on Long Island, and that day will come, but for right now we are concentrating on the CT event.
More in a new posting in a couple days... Jay

Office phone: 631-991-1614

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

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