Is Bob Lang

[Bob Bender]

Originally Posted by Pistol Pete

I thought the Run Schedule was Just Plain Awful !!!!!!

I was at fuel check after my 1st time shot & i hear them say " Stock To The Lanes"

I didn't even get back to my trailer yet to cool down, charge the battery, ect.....

I didn't even bother with the 2nd time run.

" Just Plain Awful."

Pete, go up early and have time. I do.

[James Perrone]

My car was fine ..didn't spin once ..lol Now I agree the track was not great..but look at the weather it was like living on THE SUN..It was cool that they ran class Thursday..But at Etown racing is from 10.00 to 6.00..gotta get it done Track temp is 120 PLUS all weekend..Now about the factory shootout cars ..You guys are running a 9 inch tire making 850 to 1000+ HP..in horrible conditions..I feel bad for everyone that spun ..you too Bo.
But this is NHRAs call ..Etown works better on a regular bracket day than last weekend..
Ed this is what we do ..been there done the bracket racing..We go cause we love racing..

[1320racer]

Originally Posted by James Perrone

Track temp is 120 PLUS all weekend..Now about the factory shootout cars ..You guys are running a 9 inch tire making 850 to 1000+ HP..in horrible conditions..I feel bad for everyone that spun ..you too Bo.
Ed this is what we do ..been there done the bracket racing..We go cause we love racing..

James no one loves racing more than me! That said, the track temp wasn't the issue and it wasn't only cobra jets like Bo's cars blowing the tires off. Larry Pappas doesn't make 600 HP and he smoked the tires. I also watched big tire super stockers like Peter Biondo and Ron Morehead blow the tires off along with dozens of other stock and super stock racers. Bottomline is the track wasn't prepped properly and NO attempt was ever made to fix it while I was there Friday.

BTW, one of your friends and competitors told me on Friday that he comment to an official about how the track was a joke and was told "you can blame bob lang for that"

BTW 2, Saturday's weather was worse if anything and I dead hooked every pass at my home track with a 120+ degree starting line!

[boster]

My cars would not go down the track , in the first round of super stock we pulled 12 degree's of timing out , lower the rpm 600 and did a light burn out tires 128 , track 126 and loosen the front end all the way up . Still the car would not move off the line . It was pretty much the same in the FCS , I did not get a single clean run

I talked to a official on the starting line and he knew what was wrong and had suggestion's how to fix it , he said his ideals were rejected by NHRA brass and stated he was only a "pee ion " and could not do anything . He was disgusted with the track condition and since he was on the line he was getting a rash of shi* from everyone .

I support David Barton's stand but we should direct our complaints to the main man in charge Tom Compton and not the officials that we race with every week . They can only do so much with what they have to work with. My guess is that NHRA is cutting cost at the sportsman racers expense to save money

As a paying customer I know I cant make any money racing , I know when I figure out my cost it cost me a $700 a run with all my expenses to go to the races but I go . But when it gets to the point were the track is not prepped like a NHRA track that's when I really start to ask myself if it's really worth it .

I like hanging with everyone one at the track, racers and officials and both are not happy with what happened at Etown this past weekend . This is happening a lot more often now . Last year I packed up and left the Bristol D2 event last fall the track was worst then Etown .

Just my rant

But as Bob Bender told me this weekend keep smiling

[ATI Performance Products]

Bob if you can defend that schedule at all then you are a glutten for punishment! Also your car will hook being the first car out.....ours will not and we need wait for a little bit of rubber. We where not able to get parked wed night since they stopped at 6pm, with 2 hours of daylight left. Then why would anyone only put one class in between Stock when there was plenty of others to run? Someone who either doesn't like Stock or doesn't have a clue about actually racing a car had to make that schedule. Although I can say the sched was out early, I even printed it a week earlier and never said a word or thought about it. So shame on me. After killing ourselves to get the stocker down 3 times (or once and spun twice), it was time for Super Stock and the COPO never was able to move an inch even leaving at 2900 off the foot brake. Twice due to track and once my own fault. 4 days at the track, two cars, and 3 solid passes total. I can think of better things to do with 4 days.....

Originally Posted by Bob Bender

Pete, go up early and have time. I do.

[pentastarrail]

As an observer, I'm just curious if anyone actually spoke to Bob about this issue.
We all know that E-town has a curfew, mix that with the strong number of Stk/SStk cars not to mention the possibilty of weather (I know at my house it rained on and off several times during the weekend with pop-up storms) and the unforeseen (track clean ups).

I guess what I'm saying is, if I have an issue with someone/something I talk to that person, in person, and not bring/bash it on the internet.

Asking who's in charge is fine, critizing something, you need to find out the facts first, in person.

Don't get me wrong, I know the track was less then optimal but I think "asking" first may help find the answer.

OK, now you guys can bash me. ;-)

[Jim D'Amore]

"OK, now you guys can bash me. ;-) "

pentastarrail,

I'm sure no one up here wants to bash you. This thread is not about bashing.

Bob Lang has been invited into this thread to tell us what he thought about the track prep and the Schedule. It is best for everyone to hear this not just one individual that either went up to and spoke with or called him on the phone. There is an extreme amount of intellegent racers out there, we have doctors, engineers, contractors, speciailists in all kinds of feilds. Maybe there is something we can do to help.

If you walk around the pit area most all the stock and super stock guys that I meet are more than willing to help each other with their cars, feed each other, there is a big comradery at every event. The only time that changes is at the starting line. Then its every man for themselves. Thats what makes this a unique sport. We are not on the starting line right now so maybe Bob Lang can tell us why so many people had trouble with traction and the schedule this weekend. Like I said, maybe there is something we can figure out together. Bob has more experience with starting lines than I do, so what he can explain to us about last weekend can only help. Besides he is the boss of Division 1. I think it would be cool if he reached out to his racers here.

Jim D'Amore

[1320racer]

we got a better chance of seeing god and moses!

[Festus]

Just curious, what IS good track prep? I was in attendence at Maple Grove for the LODRS event and the prep looked pretty standard to my untrained eye - spray, then drag. It must have worked since I didn't see any spin from anything 8's and slower. TAD qualified a 5.2x and TAFC a 5.4x so it was obviously good for them as well.

So is the trick to use the right compound, then drag?

I remember last fall at the Dutch, I saw a lot of scraping at the starting line and can't say there was much of that if any last weekend. So I guess there's a sweet spot for the right amount of rubber as well.

So again, what's ideal for a Stocker and higher HP cars (excluding nitro) that works for both?

[Ed Wright]

Might ask the Div 4 track prep guys. Only reason I had my car back-halved was for out of div races. I was fine on 10.5" tires at all Div 4 races. And, we do have hot starting lines when it's over 100 degrees around here.