The first big race of the 2011 sand drag season is now
complete, and it certainly appears this should be another great year for the
sport. This event at Dome Valley Raceway saw record broken, not only on the
track, but also in racer & spectator turnout at this facility. It was
certainly a positive for sand drag racing in the Southwest as many racers made
their first trip to Dome
Valley and put on an
excellent show at this premier race facility. Many racers said throughout the
weekend that this was by far the nicest race surface they had ever raced on.
That is saying a lot with so many top notch tracks in our sport. The biggest buzz out of this event was all of the huge numbers laid down. Ernesto & crew worked diligently to prepare the exactly 300’ race track as well as the safe shut down area. This paid dividends with Gary Mink breaking the 2.3 second barrier in Top Alcohol. Gary ran a 2.395, and then came back with a 2.369 in the final round. This was an amazing performance, as he had an advantage of over a tenth of a second over the rest of the class. It should be interesting to see the rest of the season play out in TA. Matt Ludlow & the Coldwater Kid Team would come up just short of a new track record running a spectacular 2.308/158mph in the final round for Low ET & Top Speed of the weekend. The true test of how great the track surface was during the Pro Outlaw FE class. At the end of the weekend, four racers broke into the 2 second zone & Carey Mahoney ran an unbelievable Low ET of 2.82 seconds. It was an amazing performance from this new to the west coast class.
So, moving on from this season opening west coast event, what is next on the sand drag scene. The annual Las Vegas Jeep Club Jamboree at the Dumont Dunes is coming up next on Presidents Day Weekend, Feb 18-20. This annual drag race and hill climb is always an entertaining time. Here is a link to this year’s event flyer, http://www.nsdn.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=429&Itemid=30.
Moving down the road, Avenal Sand Drags in Avenal, CA is holding a race April 16-17. Ron D’Artenay & Jerry Watson will, as always, put on a great show up there. May is really when the sand drag racing season kicks into gear, especially in the Midwest. Some of the local tracks start firing up, but we are all looking forward to the PTN Season Opener in Cleves, OH May 20-21. This should be an excellent event with a lot of interest all across the country in PTN competition. The weekend after that, Memorial Weekend, is the 13th Annual Heartland Nationals at Atoka Motorsports Park in Atoka, OK. This event is one of those can’t miss races on each year’s sand drag racing schedule as racers from across the country converge on Cecil & Debbie Wilson’s great sand drag facility in rural Oklahoma. On Memorial Day Weekend, this is definitely the race to be at. Also, we can’t forget our friends with Route 66 Wings & Wheels as they hold their first ever May event at the Mohave County Fairgrounds in Kingman, AZ on May 13-15. Brian & the crew up there is working tirelessly to streamline their program and make improvements on the events at that great sand drag racing venue.
I have had received a ton of feedback and interest on the Nostalgia features on NSDN. Readers will start seeing more of this material pop up on here in the coming weeks as I delve into this content and post up some gems of yesteryear. If you have anything to submit for this, feel free to e-mail me, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
That’s all on the plate for this month at NSDN. As always, sponsorship packages are available on NSDN. Shoot me an e-mail about that, or with any other feedback or content to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Until next month…
Tom Bray (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)