racing at Edgewater

[tgeers]

Hi,
I am a track worker at Edgewater drag strip. Early this spring I talked with Beekcake about a Friday night event for this group that could be incorporated with our regular Friday night tune and test. At the time there seemed to be a lot of interest on this forum about such an event.

Well, the season is starting to come to an end and not may friday nights are left.

Here is what I propose. It you could get yourselves organized and come as a group, I could get you in on a discount price. You can pit together. You could enjoy the regular racing that everyone else is involved in. Then later in the evening we could organize a race for just you guys. It could be whatever you want. It could be a bracket race based on your previous times run that night. It could be a heads up race, and if you choose, you could all chip in some money and make it a gambler's race where prize money is actually paid out.

In addition, I know many of you have not raced, so I would be more than willing to spend some time with you explaining some of the things you need to know and helping you make racing a more confortable and fun event.

I usually work in the water box, sometimes on the starting line, sometimes in the lanes. When in the lanes, I always take time to ask people if the are having a good time. The anwer is always a resounding "yes".

So if this is something you guys would like to do. I would be more than happy to help you put it on. I cannot organize it on your end, but on the Edgewater side, I can do all the footwork. Pick a Friday night, let me kinow when and how many and we can go from there.

You can contact me via my e-mail tgeers@fuse.net

Hope to see you there. Tony Geers

My ride is a 2002 silver Corvette with a Bischoff 427 stroker. But don't hold that against me. I like all the cars. (even ricers).

P.S.
A couple of things to know before you come.
You must have long pants, shirts with sleeves
If you drive a convertible or are faster than 13.99 in the quarter mile, you must have a helmet. Most other rules we can work with you for one evening

If you have been here before, you know there are a lot of Mustangs and most guys can get 10 or more runs in. I don't recommend hotlapping, but there are some guys that have gotten in more than 20 runs in one night. That's not good for the car though

[satan jamez]

This would be awesome. If I can get my truck done in time count me in!

[Pitbull1052]

I know mine's not that fast but I'd be interested to see what it would do

[mustangatic]

I would def. come!!! Finally get to see what my car will run... Got stock gears at the moment though :(

[zlou363lx]

i'd be in as long as i had the night off. i want to get my truck into the 13s before i mod it anymore lol

[tgeers]

That sounds super guys. Just get Beekcake or someone to pick the Friday and I'll do the rest.
Tony

[PKFIRE]

I'm very interested!

[Kevin1989]

i would do that soon as i buy a damn car...

[dawsin94cobra]

i would do it!!1

[sean]

i would do that soon as i buy a damn car...

just use one of teds. AND ted if your going to ever get that coupe out.... make sure you clean out the back seat, at least so you can see it.:bigthumb
Better yet just sell me the car I will give it a good home

[KYGTP]

I don't fully understand how this works. Will this be AFTER the T n T, or during it? It seems that there is alot of people there on Friday nights. I seem to get about 7 or so passes in when I am there on Friday nights, that is the only reason I am asking "how it works". Sounds like a good time though, thats is for sure. I know I will be there this Friday trying out my new slicks!!

[Marker1989]

Great idea, Id be down

[tgeers]

KYGTP, This is kind of long winded, but I will try to answer your question. If you show up early enough (6pm) you can get in a lot of runs. After 7pm or so when everyone else is showing up then things start to get busy.

What we do at the track is run two separate groups of cars (slicks and street tires)which line up in separate lanes in the staging area. Each group takes a turn until everyone in that group gets at least one pass that session. What usually happens is there are far more street tire cars than slicks but it takes longer for the slicks to cool off. So we usually hotlap the street tire cars a couple of times while the slicks regroup The night is really dominated by the street tire cars.

When you get ready to race eachother, I will create a third group which will be exclusively the Stangbangers. This will take place around 8 or 8:30. Prior to that you will have plenty of practice time with one of the regular groups, We can even line you up against a racer of your choice during the regular sessions. There is a proceedure to do this, but very easy to arange.

A few weeks ago we did this with a bunch of Dodge cars. They all put up dialins and raced an elimination type of race. They ran one round, then we allowed one of the regular groups to run while the Dodges cooled off and regrouped. Then they ran their second round. Those eliminated from the Dodge race could re-enter back into one of the regular groups and continue racing. The rounds continued until there was a winner.

When you come to the race track and sign in and pay you will receive an arm band and a tech card. You will need to have your car teched in which doesn't take long and they will give you a number to put on your windshield. In addition we will put on a separate symbol (such as SB for stangbangers) that will set you apart from the other cars. So when your race begins only those with an SB on their window will be allowed in your group.

I hope this answer helps. It should be a lot of fun and you should get plenty of runs. There of some guys that run their cars so many times that I have to remind them to watch their temps. The number of runs you get in will depend on you. We don't shut down the track until 10:30pm.

If you are going to be there this Friday. Look me up. I will be either in the water box or staging lanes. I'm the old guy in the group of workers. (the one not texting)

Tony

[Stangman]

Hey I've seen you before!

Love the vette by the way... I was always curious if there was anything done to it. I've came to E2o the past few times in my LOUD dark gray Mark Viii, but hope to have my black GT back on the road soon. This "track night" sounds like a killer idea!! I'd love to be able to get a round of runs in on a friday night instead of sitting in the lanes forever with all those imports! :lol:

[KYGTP]

Thanks Tony for the reply!

I always run in the slick lane, I am sure you have seen me out there, I drive a sivlermist Grand Prix 2 door, with LOTS of smoke coming out of the front end:rolleyes: and run in the low 12s, I Hope to get my 11 sec pass this friday with my new slick setup. I will see you out there!!

[tgeers]

JUST A FRIENDLY REMINDER

I really would like to see as many of you do this as possible.

BUT I cannot do anything until I have a date from the Stangbangers. I need to know when you will be there so I can set this up with my bosses. They have already agreed to allow it.

When this forum tells me that it's a go, and on what Friday night, then all you will have do do is show up. I'll do the rest.

If you do want me to pick a date, I would suggest the first Friday in October. 10/2/09. But again I need to know.


Tony


BTW, We have three regular Mustang racers on Friday nights. One is Gary Rowe, with a violent twin turbo, One is from Modular depot, and one is Branden Alsept, MNRA track champion in his class last year. Each one is worth the price of admission just to watch.

The other week the folks from the Modular Depot, John Gavey, www.inthedoghouseracing.com brought a Cincinnati Bengal player with his new turbo hemi. IF YOU DON'T KNOW THESE GUYS YOU SHOULD LOOK AT THEIR WEB SITE. THEY HAVE A DYNO!!!!!

[kaik1969]

I'm in. Lets do it.

[sean]

lets get a date together. I dont know if I will run my car (never did it before) but I would def come out to watch.

[beefcake]

lets get this together guys, would be a good time!!!!!!!!!!

tony, one other questions would be this

i'm sure we would have some street tire cars and some slick tire cars running together, would the street tires in "our group" get to run in the groove

i know that seems to be the biggest complaint for our guys when they are on street tires

beef

[JASON408]

thats because street tires kill the grove for everone else :lol: sound like a good reson for everyone to do some racing // and if there will be any heads up stuff im in :bigthumb

[mean5.0]

I've never ran my car before but would come down to this.

[tgeers]

Hi Beefcake,
I was hoping you would jump into this thread. When you run as a group, I will see that the cones are removed. When you run with the rest of the cars, you will have to do as they do.

The reason for the cones is that street tires shed a lot of rubber on the starting line. That rubber builds up and becomes a problem for the Saturday racers (who are there wanting to win money).

I used to think it was a dumb idea until I started helping scrape the track on some hot Saturday mornings or very late Friday nights. Then I could see how the track was improved by scraping. I don't know what they do at other tracks, but at EW the guys that work on the track are very serious about making it the best possible. I can understand why you wouldn't like it, but it does create a problem.

But again, when you race as a group there will be no cones.

[tgeers]

OK guys, do we have a plan? Is Friday, October 2 OK. Can I tell my bosses that you are going to do this?

I would love to see at least 20 cars. Bring your friends as well. There are concessions, or you can bring a grill and cook your own food.

If you make a good showing, I'm sure it will stimulate more interest in this forum.

I don't know if you have banners that can be hung up, but if so, we can do that too.

I want to keep this simple. So I am strongly suggesting that when the eliminations begin, that we have just one group of cars, everyone together. If we start dividing this group into smaller groups, such as slicks and non slicks, or fast and slower, it is going to cause confusion in the tower which will slow the process down.

When the Dodge cars showed up a few weeks ago. They divided themselves into so many groups, that nobody knew what was going on. In some groups, there were only 2 cars. Keep it simple and you will have a lot more fun.

Tony

[98stangv6]

Isn't Oct. 2 NMRA Bowling Green?

[Steves LX]

I am down for this. I think to keep it fair it should be bracket racing. There's just not that many guys that go to TNT on Fridays that are tight enough on ET's to have a good fair heads up race. I am open for any Friday. I say do it tomorrow but I know that's not enough notice. I wouldn't suggest next Friday though because a lot of the guys down there will be practicing for UMTR for Sat. the 26th and will be concentrating on that more and getting their cars tuned.

[Aweasel]

hoping to have a fox by next week...would def be down for this, never been to the track before

[beefcake]

9th would probably be better as a lot of guys will be in bowling green

[tgeers]

Beefcake,
I suggested Oct 2, because I wanted to get this going. But I really think it should be your decision. But I do need a committment soon, so I can pass this on to my bosses. Plus I want to be able to talk with all the track workers and tower people so we will all be on the same page.

I am sure the Dodge people who had a similar event here had a great time, but they organized the event themselves and didn't tell us what they were doing. So we had a very difficult time in trying to be of help. The night of that event we didn't even know who they were or what they were going to do. When they raced, they would not put any special information on their windows so we could even tell what class they were running in.

That will not happen here. We are all going to be on the same page and you are going to have a blast!

There are a couple of things I want to do to insure the new racers get the most out of this event.

First, before the event I would like to post on this forum some information that should be helpful to new racers. Things like: what to do in the burnout box, how to stage, how to launch, what to do if you have a problem, how to exit the track, etc.

Second. The night of the race, if everyone gets to the park early enough, I would like to do an actual walk through to show you what to do in the burnout box, and how to stage and trip the lights and when to launch your car. And to point out how to identify the "groove" which is so important in making consistant runs. I remember my first time. I survived enough to get "hooked" but this may be helpful.

Pick a date and let me know

Tony

[tgeers]

Guys, I just looked at the EW schedule for Oct 2 and Oct 9. The weekend of 10/2 we have a quick 8 race Saturday and muscle cars on Sunday. That will bring in a few slick cars on Friday.

But the weekend of Oct 9 there is a two day race on Saturday and Sunday. My thought is that will bring in a lot more slick cars on Friday preparing for the weekend. It may be really busy that night.

So, even though NMRA is the weekend of Oct 2, which I hope to attend on Sunday, I still think that is the better night. If you come early Friday you should get more runs in than if we do this on the 9th.

That's one man's opinion, but again, I'm here for you guys, we will do what you want.
Tony