MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT.........THE DATE HAS CHANGED
I received word that the date of our Convention has been changed. It will be one week later.....Sep. 26, 27 and 28th. I have been assured this is definite!!!!
When Dick and I went down to talk with the SRCA about our participation, we went over the yearly event calendar with the club. They had requested the same weekend for their points races for the last 2 years. That's why we had the original dates of the week earlier and I felt confident that we would have the same weekend. At the end of the year, SRCA, the City of Great Bend, and the Chamber of Commerce all get together to consolidate their schedules. All 3 use the race track and buildings for their own events. In this "merger", out event was moved back one week later. Hopefully this will not conflict with anyone's vacation or travel plans.
I'm going to post this information back at the top of this thread and also put it in the "Announcements" section so everyone can see the date change. SRCA and I are on the docket for the City Council meeting in January. I am going give them a presentation of our event to give them an idea of what this event means to us and also the City.
Please see Post #204 for this same information.
I’m pleased to announce…………
348-409 NATIONAL CONVENTION NO. 2
10th Anniversary
WHEN: September 26-28, 2014
WHERE: SRCA Drag Strip Great Bend, Kansas
WHY in September: In the central US, July and August are too humid and usually too hot to be comfortable outside. Being in Sept., we have a better chance of cooler weather, better times and hopefully no rain.
WHY in Great Bend, KS: LOCATION…LOCATION…LOCATION!!!! Look up Lebanon, KS on a map and see the notation by it’s name. Lebanon, KS is the geographic CENTER of the United States!!! Great Bend is 93 miles south of Lebanon. This is the fairest way for everyone who wants to come…..California, New Jersey, Florida, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and the rest of Canada. I know trips from both coasts are expensive and this will give everyone an equal shot at coming.
WHY SRCA in Great Bend: HISTORY!!!! We all know NHRA was founded in Southern California. Somewhere around 1952, the Mayor of Great Bend wrote a letter to Wally Parks and offered his drag strip to NHRA for an event. So….in 1955, the VERY FIRST NHRA NATIONAL event was run in Great Bend!!! Then in 1956, AHRA ran their National event here also.
The physical layout of the drag strip is unique..to say the least. It is an old Army air base with parallel 5000’ runways!!!! The northern runway is the race track that has been used since the beginning. The southern runway is 5000’ of pits!!!!
WHO is SCRA: The Sunflower Rod and Custom Association. They were the original operators of the early drag strip. Another group started managing the track then somewhere around 1970…SRCA reformed their organization as a non-profit. ALL track personnel are volunteers and all monies paid are put right back into the upkeep of the track and facilities.
RACING schedule: Since the track is run by all volunteers, they only race on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons and evenings. Volunteers have day jobs. We will continue this schedule with one exception. Gates open Fri. night at 6PM and racing starts at 7:30. Racing continues as long as there are cars….even to midnight if needed. Saturday gates open at noon and racing starts at 2PM and lasts until “whenever”. This same weekend is a points race so for Fri. and Sat., we will be part of the group. We will be “the show”!! But on Sunday…we will have the track to ourselves!! We will have one round of time trails and then Eliminations will begin. So we will have 3 days of racing. We will have 2 classes just like Thompson. Hot Rod 1 and Hot Rod 2. HR1 will be 10.99 and quicker and HR2 will be11.0 and slower. Winners of HR1 and HR2 will receive $500 winnings and the runner-ups will receive $250. Then the two winners will run for King of the Hill and a trophy.
I need to mention here that we have a lot of members who do not have either a 348 or 409 in their car. I want to assure them to please come join us also. This is about getting together. Having said that…..this will be a 348-409 shootout. So any vehicle with a 348 or 409 engine will eligible to race on our Sunday program.
BANQUET: I feel this time together is very important. We all had a ball at Earlville at our Sat. night “eat together”. And I know the California group did the same. At the 2004 National Convention…..we fed about 150 people at the Saturday night banquet. I feel this is quality time. But we’re going to be racing nights in Great Bend. So….we are going to have a catered lunch from probably 11 to 1 Sunday morning. Right beside the track is about an 8000SF Expo building that the fair uses. That will be the place for our lunch. After lunch, we will have a short program.
SHOW CARS: The Expo building will be used also for high end show cars. I do not expect to have 8 Z-11 cars like 2004 but this space will be used for those types of cars.
GRAND MARSHALL: I would never plan an event like this without Hayden. So I called him and he’s all excited to do this again!! I have a goal…there are 2 Hayden Proffitt replica cars. Delmer McAfee built his in 1988 and Harold Clay built the one that we had at Thompson 3 years ago that Ron now owns. My goal is to get Hayden’s picture at the starting line with both cars staged. That would be a MasterCard moment!!
OFFICIAL 348-409 NATIONAL CONVENTION PHOTOGRAPHER: Just like Hayden, Doug Marion is a “must have” attendee!! He will be here to document the event. He can help you with any pictures you want. He will also be taking pictures of cars for probable future magazine articles. This will get your car into his data base!!
VIDEOS: I will check into having the Convention video taped like in 2004. It’s expensive but I am going to check into having this done but I’m not committed at this point. That’s on the To Do list.
PRICES: There will have to be a registration fee. I don’t have any idea on that yet. But ALL cars and driver will get in for the same price. By driver…I mean the owner and his wife or girl friend. Extra special recognition will be given to any guy who can bring both his wife AND girl friend to the same event!! No “penalty” for show cars!! Race cars will have to buy a $25 Tech card for every day they want to race….all 3 days will be $75. This goes back to the track as all volunteers. The $25 race fee covers the track maintenance, the NHRA insurance and the ambulance and 2 medical technicians that have to be on site when there is racing.
HOUSING: Great Bend has a full selection of motels. I am contacting one to be the host hotel but won’t have anything on that right away.
RESTAURANTS: Great Bend has all the chains for food so that will not be an issue. Of course, food will be available at the track.
CAMPING: The track allows camping for those that camp in their trailers. I don’t believe they have any dump sites so it would probably be best to show up empty.
SRCA: Be sure to go the SRCA website. They have tons of information and hotels are listed up to 60 miles away from Great Bend. The website is http://www.srcadragstrip.com/
Google Earth Great Bend and if you follow 56 Highway west 2 miles you will see the drag strip on the south side of the highway. It’s huge!! I believe the Army base originally was 850 acres.
That’s it for now. 2014 will not be like 2004 but hopefully we can meet or exceed the number of entries and registrations. I’m trying one more time to make Brian (MRHP) happy. After he got home in 2004, he called me to tell me…..”That’s the most fun I’ve ever had with my pants on”!!!!!! My goal this time is to make have him call me back and say “2004 was the second most fun he has ever had with his pants on”!!!! Many more details in the coming weeks and months.
Phil
I received word that the date of our Convention has been changed. It will be one week later.....Sep. 26, 27 and 28th. I have been assured this is definite!!!!
When Dick and I went down to talk with the SRCA about our participation, we went over the yearly event calendar with the club. They had requested the same weekend for their points races for the last 2 years. That's why we had the original dates of the week earlier and I felt confident that we would have the same weekend. At the end of the year, SRCA, the City of Great Bend, and the Chamber of Commerce all get together to consolidate their schedules. All 3 use the race track and buildings for their own events. In this "merger", out event was moved back one week later. Hopefully this will not conflict with anyone's vacation or travel plans.
I'm going to post this information back at the top of this thread and also put it in the "Announcements" section so everyone can see the date change. SRCA and I are on the docket for the City Council meeting in January. I am going give them a presentation of our event to give them an idea of what this event means to us and also the City.
Please see Post #204 for this same information.
I’m pleased to announce…………
348-409 NATIONAL CONVENTION NO. 2
10th Anniversary
WHEN: September 26-28, 2014
WHERE: SRCA Drag Strip Great Bend, Kansas
WHY in September: In the central US, July and August are too humid and usually too hot to be comfortable outside. Being in Sept., we have a better chance of cooler weather, better times and hopefully no rain.
WHY in Great Bend, KS: LOCATION…LOCATION…LOCATION!!!! Look up Lebanon, KS on a map and see the notation by it’s name. Lebanon, KS is the geographic CENTER of the United States!!! Great Bend is 93 miles south of Lebanon. This is the fairest way for everyone who wants to come…..California, New Jersey, Florida, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and the rest of Canada. I know trips from both coasts are expensive and this will give everyone an equal shot at coming.
WHY SRCA in Great Bend: HISTORY!!!! We all know NHRA was founded in Southern California. Somewhere around 1952, the Mayor of Great Bend wrote a letter to Wally Parks and offered his drag strip to NHRA for an event. So….in 1955, the VERY FIRST NHRA NATIONAL event was run in Great Bend!!! Then in 1956, AHRA ran their National event here also.
The physical layout of the drag strip is unique..to say the least. It is an old Army air base with parallel 5000’ runways!!!! The northern runway is the race track that has been used since the beginning. The southern runway is 5000’ of pits!!!!
WHO is SCRA: The Sunflower Rod and Custom Association. They were the original operators of the early drag strip. Another group started managing the track then somewhere around 1970…SRCA reformed their organization as a non-profit. ALL track personnel are volunteers and all monies paid are put right back into the upkeep of the track and facilities.
RACING schedule: Since the track is run by all volunteers, they only race on Friday nights and Saturday afternoons and evenings. Volunteers have day jobs. We will continue this schedule with one exception. Gates open Fri. night at 6PM and racing starts at 7:30. Racing continues as long as there are cars….even to midnight if needed. Saturday gates open at noon and racing starts at 2PM and lasts until “whenever”. This same weekend is a points race so for Fri. and Sat., we will be part of the group. We will be “the show”!! But on Sunday…we will have the track to ourselves!! We will have one round of time trails and then Eliminations will begin. So we will have 3 days of racing. We will have 2 classes just like Thompson. Hot Rod 1 and Hot Rod 2. HR1 will be 10.99 and quicker and HR2 will be11.0 and slower. Winners of HR1 and HR2 will receive $500 winnings and the runner-ups will receive $250. Then the two winners will run for King of the Hill and a trophy.
I need to mention here that we have a lot of members who do not have either a 348 or 409 in their car. I want to assure them to please come join us also. This is about getting together. Having said that…..this will be a 348-409 shootout. So any vehicle with a 348 or 409 engine will eligible to race on our Sunday program.
BANQUET: I feel this time together is very important. We all had a ball at Earlville at our Sat. night “eat together”. And I know the California group did the same. At the 2004 National Convention…..we fed about 150 people at the Saturday night banquet. I feel this is quality time. But we’re going to be racing nights in Great Bend. So….we are going to have a catered lunch from probably 11 to 1 Sunday morning. Right beside the track is about an 8000SF Expo building that the fair uses. That will be the place for our lunch. After lunch, we will have a short program.
SHOW CARS: The Expo building will be used also for high end show cars. I do not expect to have 8 Z-11 cars like 2004 but this space will be used for those types of cars.
GRAND MARSHALL: I would never plan an event like this without Hayden. So I called him and he’s all excited to do this again!! I have a goal…there are 2 Hayden Proffitt replica cars. Delmer McAfee built his in 1988 and Harold Clay built the one that we had at Thompson 3 years ago that Ron now owns. My goal is to get Hayden’s picture at the starting line with both cars staged. That would be a MasterCard moment!!
OFFICIAL 348-409 NATIONAL CONVENTION PHOTOGRAPHER: Just like Hayden, Doug Marion is a “must have” attendee!! He will be here to document the event. He can help you with any pictures you want. He will also be taking pictures of cars for probable future magazine articles. This will get your car into his data base!!
VIDEOS: I will check into having the Convention video taped like in 2004. It’s expensive but I am going to check into having this done but I’m not committed at this point. That’s on the To Do list.
PRICES: There will have to be a registration fee. I don’t have any idea on that yet. But ALL cars and driver will get in for the same price. By driver…I mean the owner and his wife or girl friend. Extra special recognition will be given to any guy who can bring both his wife AND girl friend to the same event!! No “penalty” for show cars!! Race cars will have to buy a $25 Tech card for every day they want to race….all 3 days will be $75. This goes back to the track as all volunteers. The $25 race fee covers the track maintenance, the NHRA insurance and the ambulance and 2 medical technicians that have to be on site when there is racing.
HOUSING: Great Bend has a full selection of motels. I am contacting one to be the host hotel but won’t have anything on that right away.
RESTAURANTS: Great Bend has all the chains for food so that will not be an issue. Of course, food will be available at the track.
CAMPING: The track allows camping for those that camp in their trailers. I don’t believe they have any dump sites so it would probably be best to show up empty.
SRCA: Be sure to go the SRCA website. They have tons of information and hotels are listed up to 60 miles away from Great Bend. The website is http://www.srcadragstrip.com/
Google Earth Great Bend and if you follow 56 Highway west 2 miles you will see the drag strip on the south side of the highway. It’s huge!! I believe the Army base originally was 850 acres.
That’s it for now. 2014 will not be like 2004 but hopefully we can meet or exceed the number of entries and registrations. I’m trying one more time to make Brian (MRHP) happy. After he got home in 2004, he called me to tell me…..”That’s the most fun I’ve ever had with my pants on”!!!!!! My goal this time is to make have him call me back and say “2004 was the second most fun he has ever had with his pants on”!!!! Many more details in the coming weeks and months.
Phil
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Thank you , Phil Reed. Virginia has already penciled it in on her calendar. We will be there.
I look forward to meeting everyone and a big thanks to Phil...
