Do we need to Change Location for Event

[69GS400s]

Safety is my biggest concern and I never felt safe on that track this weekend.

That is not a good thing

Bobb - alot of us are not "in the know" as to what it takes to get cars like yours down a track. Is there something the track could have done to meet yours and others' needs or is it more a function of the heat ? What makes NTR, as your friends put it, The grease pit ?

This weekend I did hear a hardcore racer say that once the track temp is over 130* theres not much you can do no matter where you are - is that true ?

[finishline]

heat defiantly hurts the abilty for them to get it really good but they do the very minimum on that track there are other componds that work better in the heat and constant effort is required. there is no way they are going to do that for one or two cars I know that so I expected it to be bad but I didn't expect it to be worse than last year which it was way worse for my car I tried everything we change suspension shock settings front and rear just wasn't going to happen so we killed 5 or 6 hundred hp instead.

that track is always a greasy mess if it is hotter than 85 degrees been there with other racers that race every week and couldn't get down that track I wonder if you search prostock crashes at ntr what you would find. I have no idea why it is but there are a ton of races that would say the same thing it seems. The first time I was there was a nmca event and it was hot and I couldn't get my old car down the track N/A and that car would run almost anywhere. that was when I first heard it called the grease pit by one of the guys that had been there several times.
once the sun went down and denny made them go out and prep the track which I don't know but I bet they didn't want to do, it was good. Then I screwed up and left plug wires off like a duum ash. just look at the et of the fast cars compar them to other events. how fast was the tso cars 9.0's Is what I saw they usaully run low 8.'s even john z was having some issues and that car hooks on dirt.
It just seem from were im at that they could careless if we are there and give us the bare basics thats why it's 517.00 an hour they are doing just enough to get by and to most it is no big deal but the bracket racers with faster cars need a track to be consistent. amys car went 1.48, 1.53, in qualifying then goes a 1.42 in first round then in brcket 1 it goes a high 1.40 again watching the video and it spins the tires when leaving the line. makes it hard to bracket race a car with a track like that no matter who you are. i understand that the track is tough to prep for a car like mine that is why I said I most likely won't bring it next year and will bring a slower car. I just know i really enjoyed salem when we were there more so than I ever have ntr but that is me. We will be there no matter the desision

[dl7265]

I haven't voted either way.

As long as we don't move any further than where we are now, I'm in.

Further away and I may not attend. While I love driving my Buick, > 10 hours is just not in the cards for me.

Well Boo freaking hoo. I had my car brought to the GSX reunion SEVENTEEN AND A HALF HOURS! At great expense because I was begged, and tried to do my part to make it successful. That wasn't even including my trip cost and expenses. THEN when I arrive at the track to help unload it from my transporter and get it cleaned up for the show, guess what ? They charge me to get in ? Say what ? Guy spends THOUSANDS of dollars and gets gate charges.

Now, if you fellas are content to be a east coast car club that's fine. But if your really trying to grow your club and increase membership how can you expect members from TN to California to travel 20-40 hours??
BCA ~ traveling locations
GSCA~ more central location + 30 years history, beautiful scenic BG.
PS Marco wasn't trying to bust your OO specifically, just making a point.
DL

[Duane Heckman]

DL,
I helped set up the GSX Reunion.
Everyone that attended the GSX Reunion had to pay the entrance fees to be in the show. The only fee required was the price of a spectator ticket, which was very reasonable and this fact was put in all the literature/advertising and on all the boards. It was no secret.

We had quite a few guys come from Texas and some from Colorado, while a few came from as far away as Washington State and the west coast of Canada. Some of the Colorado group even jumped on board and helped Mark Macoubrie park the cars as they came in. All had to travel unknown long hours to attend but did it to be part of what everyone figured was a once in a lifetime event.

Either Mark or I tried to personally give everyone a call and let them know about the event. We did this for 2 reasons;
1. We wanted to personally offer the invite, and explain all the options available and answer any questions, which can more easily be done over the phone instead of in a letter or an e-mail, and
2. We (Mark & I) kept going over our lists because we wanted to make sure every owner knew about the event and was not left out. We also asked each person if they knew anyone with a car that we may have missed. We got a few more contacts that way.


As far as travel time, when I go to the GSCA I have between a 14-16 hour trip when hauling a truck & trailer, thats just the way it is. Indy is something like 11-12 hours. Michigan tracks are 11-12 hours also, and when I went to Pate Texas for a show my trip time was almost 20 hours..............and you know what I had to pay to get into every event no matter how far away it was for me.

The reason for the Ohio location was to centralize our membership base, and has been talked about many times before. The reason why there are not "traveling locations" is due to the small size of the organization. It is simply not feasible. As to why we didn't have the event in Kentucky, we went out of our way to not compete with the GSCA and went as far as avoiding both the location and the time period.



What bothers me most about your post is this is the second time you complained about paying at the gate. If you have a problem with that then the problem is with me and me alone.

Once the decision was made to do the event, I set up the Reunion. I decided what fees to charge, and kept them small on purpose. I decided where we were setting up the show space on the parking lot to get the best pictures, and paid for plane fare out of my own pocket to do it. (Pissed off some racers royally about that one and I didn't care.) When some board members wanted to do things differently, I gave them the option to either give me full rein or I was moving the event, plain and simple and to the point. The BPG had absolutely nothing to say about what I was doing other then, "Were we having it there or not?" As far as I was concerned their only job was to help do whatever I needed while the "event-within-an-event" was going on, and in this they were fantastic.


Everything after the word go, until show day, was under my control and that was the way it was going to stay because I was going to be responsible if anything went wrong.

So again, not to bust your bubble, if you have a problem its with me and no one else.

You want to hash this out man to man, you have my numbers and can give me a call. If you want your entrance fees back just give me an address and I will find the amount and I will PERSONALLY refund your money.

I will even send out the part you just asked me about for free. Just let me know.
Duane

[BQUICK]

Just a thought (I know there are ALOT of factors) but how bout alternate. Maple Grove (EAST) one year then Virginia Motorsports Park (South) then back to Columbus or Quaker.....like a triangle. Bristol is too close to BG....already an event there.......I think.

Side note: I agree traction was not great the years I was at Columbus.....I even got a bit loose on top end. These days there is no excuse for traction issues in the heat. All but one of the tracks around here (MD) have figured it out with new compounds and techniques. At Mason Dixon the other week the track owner was prepping it himself in 100 deg heat. He took his time and got it right.......then I heard some people complain it took too long. Sometimes you just can't win........no pun intended.

Bruce

[gbsean]

other factor is cost we paid about $600 an hour for 24 hours on track time...maple grove wants $8000 for eight hours and an extra $400 for each hour over...Quaker wants between $1000-$1500 an hour again for only 8 hours,,,we would have to hope for double the gate attendance or double the fees...neither of which was an option

[ss4825]

Just a thought (I know there are ALOT of factors) but how bout alternate. Maple Grove (EAST) one year then Virginia Motorsports Park (South) then back to Columbus or Quaker.....like a triangle. Bristol is too close to BG....already an event there.......I think.

Bruce

I think this is a good idea.

[John Csordas]

I just want to give a big thanks to Sean & company for getting this all done. If you have never put on an event like this then you have no idea how much time & own money goes into it as Duane stated! I would love the track be closer for me but at what cost? I don't want to pay double or triple to get into the event. Let's face it, we get a good deal at NTR plain & simple. Dollar for dollar it is the best deal right now unless we go to 1/8 mile racing so the insurance is much less. If all we want is a car show like BCA then any large hotel would love us but the majority of the BPG wants to race & we have to weight our options & there is really only one. I wonder what NTR will do if we go to Salem in 2014? Price increase or maybe lower it to get us back?
I know Sean spent alot of time this week pricing other tracks on his own time and I really appreciate the effort but lets just work with NTR about traction & other small details & concentrate on getting more people to the event! The more people that show up will keep the cost down as well as give the track alittle incentive to see these guys are really into racing & hopefully keep the track prepped.

[dl7265]

Sorry I was not clear. It was not the show day (which I certainly did spectate). It was the set up day I was surprised about. I know you and Mark spent the better part of a year, heck probably two years organizing the event. So, I apologize I upset you. Not my intention at all. I greatly appreciate your efforts. And I know you were not even able to enjoy the show or look around because you were being tugged in 30 directions.
Only reason I brought up again was some of your staunchest NE members are saying they might not show up if the distance is increased a bit. I just wanted to provide some input from someone who would like to attend the event each year, but is a great deal further distance. I did not even ask or suggest it be moved to Houston, KC , Tulsa or somewhere it would be convent for me. How nice would it be for anyone to be able to hop in the car and drive across town for a Major Buick Event? Ill never know. I have not seen any replies from anyone that's far West as I am. This was the purpose of Sean's poll? Feedback? I thought that?s what was wanted. If its in the best interest of the club to remain in Ohio, so be it. Obviously there was some question to that, due to the poll being even asked.

Is this Maple Grove place close to Pittsburgh or Philly ? Where there is a more Major airport ? Might get some more attendance from long distance members wanting to just fly in to the show. Enough to off set ? I dunno..

Best regards,
DL

[Duane Heckman]

DL,
I can appreciate the distance you need to travel to make the Ohio event, but the reverse is also true. If we moved it further from the members we might pick up other people, but would loose some of the guys we have now. Plus we wanted to stay away from other Buick event locations/time periods so there would be as little conflict as possible.

The idea behind our show/location was to give the guys, that could not make the other events, a place to go and enjoy their cars. If it was too far to go each year the hope was some guys would save up and come every 2nd or 3rd year. This is what a lot of guys do, and what a lot of our members do regarding the GSCA & BCA events.

You talk about the BCA, well you should hear how some of the GSCA members were treated years ago by them, myself included. You don't even want to know the grilling some of us took, because we were "the new guys" on the block, and a bunch of loud motor heads besides. They even went so far as to call me into a meeting with all the BCA big wigs and ask my opinion, and made me repeat what I said because they couldn't believe what I told them.

Well now the BPG are the new guys and we are hearing it all over again. Its pretty sad. The good thing is I have no plans to join the next group (whoever they will be) because I have no intention of fighting the battle for a 3rd time.


I wish we all lived in Texas, then travel time would not be an issue, as a matter of fact rust would not be an issue either. But that's not the case and I don't have all the answers.

All we can do is the best for our members, with the limited resourses we have..................and let me tell you this, the guys/gals that run and volunteer to help run the club/events bust their tails for the group. I have never seen the drive, determination, and down right caring, from any other small group of people in my life and am proud to have been part of that group in the past.

Being a part of this group has been one of the most rewarding things I have ever done in my life, and I would not have replaced it with anything.
Duane

[Brad Conley]

DL,

I'll just clear up a couple of things for you and for others to keep in mind for the future.

1) If all you want to do is to set up your car, anyone can contact a BOD (we're all wearing those ugly teal shirts to make us visible) and tell us that. We'll allow you in to set up your car without issue and leave without paying to get in.

2) Columbus does have an International airport, Port Columbus. It is only about 30-45 minutes from the track.

3) The cost of all the other tracks Sean has checked into are around 2 times the cost of NTR. We would have to either have two times the attendance or double the ticket cost.

Brad

[Chris Cornett]

I like going to NTR but unfortunately for the racers it has been brutally hot for the last few years which makes it difficult. Trying to put 750 HP to a greasy track with a 9" tire is no fun. Kinda feels like a wasted effort hopefully next year we will catch a break from the heat.

[Yardley]

Look at it this way, cold beer tastes MUCH better when you are hot and parched. That makes the heat bearable for me.

[BQUICK]

I like going to NTR but unfortunately for the racers it has been brutally hot for the last few years which makes it difficult. Trying to put 750 HP to a greasy track with a 9" tire is no fun. Kinda feels like a wasted effort hopefully next year we will catch a break from the heat.

Afraid to say you did catch a break from the heat....it wasn't 100+ deg like it was a few weeks earlier.....only low 90s. Night racing was a good call but I say run eliminations at night too.

[Chris Cornett]

I know it wasnt as hot as it had been but Friday was 95 with a heat index of nearly 100 and without a cloud in the sky Im sure the track surface temp was 130 plus.