GGW Racing Show Your Moon Tour

Race City USA

 Hermiston Oregon

Airborn School 150

Just a mile or four out of Hermiston Oregon lives Race City USA, 1/4 mile high-banked paved oval with a lot of heart.

  image from TeraServer USA

 My connection with the track goes back a generation.

   Seems my mum was a bit of a rebel (gasp) and had a boyfriend or two that raced both on the street and on the track.

  Saturday Night racing at its finest.

 We moved away, but I returned in my teens and , wouldn’t you know it I ended up with  a boyfriend (or two) that  raced on and off the track.

  By this time I was a fair mechanic in my own right so it was logical for me to get involved .

I have owned ½ of a car (or two) over the years and still have an interest in my friends Street Stock car. see older post

 My son was involved before he moved, and my daughter is very much bitten by the racing bug.

Schedule

  Race City USA  runs 5 classes this season every other Saturday Night.

They used to run 3 classes (alternating) every Saturday, but due to poor attendance(I think) they have changed the schedule.

 Late Models

A) Any V-8 American standard production or after market metal, fiberglass or mixture body.  No Vans, 4X4’s, station wagons, etc.

B) Front engine and rear wheel drive only

C) 4 inch ride height

D) Approved 5 point seat belt, quick release type

Super Stock

A)Any V-8 American manufactured passenger car or pickup

B) 104” wheel base minimum

C) No vans, 4X4’s, station wagons or sports cars

D) Front engine and rear wheel drive only

E) No fiberglass bodies. Steel or aftermarket metal bodies only

Street Stock

A) Any steel bodied V-8 American manufactured passenger car. No aluminum. No fiberglass.Rubber front and back ends OK

B) 104” wheel base minimum

C) No vans, 4X4’s, station wagons, or sports cars

D) Front engine and rear wheel drive only

Mini Stock

A) Any four-cylinder passenger car or pickup

B) Front engine location. Front or rear wheel drive

C) GM to GM, Ford to Ford, Datsun to Datsun, Etc.

D) Partial tube chassis ok

    2400 cc maximum. No rotary engines

Mosquitos

A) Any 4 cylinder, steel bodied car with a complete stock body, frame and suspension

B) Front engine location, front or rear wheel drive

C) GM to GM, Ford to Ford, Datsun to Datsun, etc.

D) Maximum 103” wheelbase

  No turbo, super-charged, or rotary engines.

Gates open at 5:00pm Time trails at 5:30 Racing at 7:00pm

Adults $8 Seniors/Students $6 Children $2

Family Pass $20 Good for 2 adults and up to 3 children

VIP Parking $10 Plus admission tickets

  Pit gates open at 3pm

Pit pass fees

Late model drivers $35

Mini stock, Street stock, Super stock drivers $30

Mosquito drivers $15

Pit Crew $15

 Factor in the registration fees

 Registration fee is $25 for car and Driver. Mosquito’s $10.

Pit Pad Renewals are $50 for the year.

New pads are $100 for the year.

Pit Pad per night is $10 per night if available.

And need I mention fuel prices.

  Needless to say the drivers really want to be there!

(paying to race is a pet peeve, hell we don’t get a cut of the gate and the payout ain’t great)

Season Opener was May 17th

 Fast times

Mini Stock - #9 Billy McAdams - 17.44

Super Stock - # 1 Rick Mulbourn - 17.33

Late Model - #42 Dan England - 16.31

With our “little” track everyone is right next to the action.

 We know each other  (fans and drivers) and a lot of the drivers get together and work on their cars together.

Friday night can sometimes be an all-nighter getting a car tuned and ready.

Myself, the hours I spend helping work on the car makes me all the more excited to watch it do well on Saturday Night.

It ain’t much, but it’s ours!

If you ever find yourself headed for my neck of the woods- make it a Saturday Night!

And let me know.

Here are some pictures

 from 2006

from 2007

Looking forward to reading about ‘your’ tracks.

Thanks to Forensic2 and the GGW Racing crew for making me sit down and think about this.

 First annual ? Bloggers Speak NONASCAR race schedule. Some of you read and voted on my Un-Popularity Contest blog here and on the 'boards'

The results are in! Many familiar cars will not be on the track

This blogger season the drivers are

 Jeff Burton

 Kevin Harvick

 Denny Hamlin

 Clint Bowyer

 Greg Biffle

Kasey Kahne

 Ryan Newman

Martin Truex Jr.

Matt Kenseth

 David Ragan

 Brian Vickers

 Bobby Labonte

 David Gilliland

 Paul Menard

 Elliott Sadler

 Travis Kvapil

 Casey Mears

 Scott Riggs

Reed Sorenson

 Sam Hornish Jr

. Regan Smith

 Dave Blaney

Aric Almirola

John Andretti

Eric McClure

Stanton Barrett

 Boris Said

Sterling Marlin

 Carl Long

Here is the list of tracks for the season

 Track Atlanta Motor Speedway

 Chicagoland Speedway

 Darlington Raceway

 Dover International Speedway

Kansas Speedway

 Lowe's Motor Speedway

 Martinsville Speedway

 Michigan International Speedway

  Phoenix International Raceway

 Richmond International Raceway

 Talladega Superspeedway

Texas Motor Speedway

Since there are only 12 tracks, each will have 2 races one early, one late. The dates will be determined by proximity to the last track.No more bouncing back and forth .

 There have been some modification to the existing Rule Book.

 There will no longer be a ‘template’ for the cars-No COT no #### “run what you brung!”

 Prerace inspection (for safety) will be just that- you pass, you’re in.

 Post-race inspection (for rocket launchers) will be made by REASONABLE people.

 Qualifying will be determined either by a ‘guess the jellybeans in the jar game’ OR last week’s slowest will qualify first. The first race, whoever “sets up camp” first qualifies first. (We don’t give a dip dingle what you did last year)

 The field will no longer be frozen during the yellow.(you can race back to the yellow flag)

 Lapped cars will restart at the back of the pack.

 No top 35 rule (note I don’t think we have 35 drivers anyway) This also means that anyone can just show up at the race and qualify (except full time NASCAR drivers that have been removed from the above drivers list)

NO restictor plate, NO debris cautions,NO lucky dog.

 Yellow laps will no longer be counted in the total laps raced.

 Pit road speed is whatever you feel safe with and there is no longer a commitment cone.

You are not required to wear pants in the pits.(just for you)

 If you spin out twice (without help) you will NOT be rejoining the race.

 There is no ‘chase’.It's all or nothin' baby!

And you can use any tire (or tyre) you want!

By popular demand there will be NO announcers from any recognized network.

 Kristin Valus has been nominated to lead a team of fellow bloggers (feel free to nominate more)to announce the races. Any Driver that has been ‘cut’ from the list above may also be nominated. (But can be removed from the booth at anytime).

 By a pretty even margin, there will only be one and a half boogity’s before the race.

 I must tell you all to BUCKLE UP- you’re gonna need all the safety equipment you can find!

This should be good

I have observed that many commentors on these pages like to bash some of the drivers, crew members, announcers, reporters, and yes, even bloggers that take the time to share their thoughts here on FOXSports.(and elsewhere for that matter)Can we try to remember they are PEOPLE damn it?

gratuitus bling

Everybody has a driver (or three) they cheer for, a favourite track (or four), a respected announcer (maybe)

However,

almost without fail every race fan has a driver / track / common-tater / NASCAR rule that they Loathe.

I am conducting a little experiment.

I would ask everyone to nominate one driver / track / common-tater / NASCAR rule that they want eliminated from NASCAR.

For the purpose of my experiment please keep the nominees to Cup racing only.

Who will be left on the track?

photo borrowed from hbrown3878

As you may- or may not know my son is in Basic Training in Georgia.

I am the ONLY person that is sending him mail. He's been in almost 2 months and has 5 months left to go.(He'll be done with Basic in April and then he is off to the "next duty station" according to his Captain)

His birthday is this month, and I thought I would ask my friends here if they had the time to drop him a line?

Keep in mind there are some very strict rules about what can be sent to him.
Mostly just a paper letter in a plain envelope.

No stickers- glitter-red pen-pink envelopes (extra push-ups for those.)
No porn or food or cloth or books or (you get the picture)

So if you have the time and would drop him a line that would be great.
He knows a bit about my blogging problem so he'll know where I know you from.

Another option is if you just want to e-mail me a note/letter and I can print it out and mail it with my letter.

Thanks in advance

Karl's Mum

I would like ot thank MoonDogSports.com for helping me get this information out. Stop by his site if you have the time

If  you don't do anything else, find out if there is someone in YOUR extended family that would appreciate a word or two from you.

(No one writes letters anymore)

..October 22, 2007
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Susan W.. Morgan 804.359.2979, 804.405.5685
smorganpr@comcast.net
GROUNDBREAKING FOR PACIFIC NORTHWEST MOTORSPORTS PARK THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25TH
BOARDMAN, OR: Boardman's motorsports speedway development will officially make the leap from dream to reality on Thursday, October 25th at 2:00 PM, when state, regional and local officials join the developers of Oregon International Speedway to break ground for Pacific Northwest Motorsports Park at the Tower Road site just off I-84, exit 158. The first motorsports country club in the Pacific Northwest is expected to open to members and enthusiasts in the fall 2008.

See the map- it is a COUNTRY CLUB.
Please follow the links to share my outrage.

In 'rumours' 10/26

If NASCAR executives are looking for a track in the Pacific Northwest for expansion of their Nextel Cup series, Bill Gardner might be the man to talk to. Gardner, the "Gard" in DiGard, the historic NASCAR teams from the 1970s and early 1980s that carried Darrell Waltrip for a while, is working on what is proposed as a $100 million speedway to be called Pacific Northwest Motorsports Park near Portland, Ore. Groundbreaking was set for this week, with a number of local and state politicians on hand. It was unknown if Oregon governor Ted Kulongoski would be there. The track, apparently to be similar in style to Virginia International Raceway in Danville, would include a six-mile road course in several configurations. It is to be completed by the fall of 2008. -- Winston-Salem Journal

For many years my little neck of the woods has been pulling out all the stops we could to get a Track capable of hosting NASCAR and other events.

This summer we got this.
Pacific Northwest Motorsports Park

"The first luxury motorsport country club to be built in the Pacific Northwest, PNMP will have approximately 400 exclusive memberships for both individuals and corporations and the potential to attract sanctioned premier race events such as IRL, Champ Car, IMSA, Grand American, American LeMans, SCCA, AMA and NASCAR."

A Country Club?



I don't see anything like we were told we were fighting for. Hell, I don't even see a place for an oval (or shape thereof)

Membership fees for a track that may never see a sanctioned race? Just a big playground? what?

If it ever gets built. Construction update here.

With new pictures!

I am not a big road course fan and this just makes me mad-sad-disillusioned- and-and other stuff!

There is a little 1/3 mile track here that has my heart, but after that one trip to Talledega, I really want the big boys to come and play in my back yard!

So, that said, do any of you readers out there live in an area where an outfit like this has "come to town"? Does this sound a bit fishy to you?

And might I add, we are not really NEAR Portland!

I'm trying to 'fix' the pic 

The first time I posted this (it was my first) I got 2 comments yep I counted them.