Where should the 2010 348-409 Shootout be? (New)

[Ronnie Russell]

Tom, If you will build it, we will come. You have been to all of the get-togethers, so you know as much as anyone about the subject. Work your magic. bang

 

[jim_ss409]

As I said, I really like Thompson and the bulk of the members come from the East but it's an awfully long haul for the guys from the South and West. St Louis might be a good compromise.

 

[mike bell]

Tom K I'm not sure if I read that right or not-but I think Ronnie wants you to go rough up a bull or something similar to that! Them Texas boys have a STRANGE ideas on whats fun! Maybe a quick phone call to your friend will get this started. I think if we had some ideas, options and aprox. dates, we could throw it out to the masses, see what they think, and maybe get a vote or at least more imput about a central site. Maybe we can get something going here. You have an in with the promoter, thats a start.
There is quite a few of us somewhat close who could get this going, and with a lot of work, a little luck, a cold beer or two, we just might be able to come close to the success of the Thompson event. Oh, be careful messin' with that bull. Mike

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Will do that!

Heading to St. Louis tomorrow morning, might just run into Mike Russell, the promoter I spoke of. He's in the same local car club as I, an I know I will see him at our next event (first Sunday in October). Tomorrow is Mopar Madness (sorry about that, but thought I'd scout the competition in NSS) at the St. Louis track, and James being a Mopar guy (1966 Charger drag car) I thought I'd accompany him to the race track.

I think I have a good starter set of questions for Mike, and my guess is he will be happy to accomodate a new group. Last time I attended I had just purchased the 1962 BA sedan, and took her to the Muscle Car Reunion to see how she performs. That was in KC 2007. I had the only 409, although Dyno Don's 1962 replica was there (she sports a BBC now ). If we angle for St. Louis, that will be May 2009.

More later after I connect up with Mike!

Cheers,
TomK

 

[Belair Bomber]

Close & willing to help

I know I'm new to this site and no seniority wiskers but St. Louis sounds great ( I only live about 10 miles from the track on the Illinois side. I would be willing to help however I could. ( Retired and driving my 32 roadster and putting together my 09 Belair ) is about all I've got to do !

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

Interesting developments

Just got off the phone with Mike Russel, one of the two guys who runs the Muscle Car Reunions in St. Louis and KC. He noted that KCIR is booked for his event next year the week after Labor Day (earlier than this year) and that he is unhappy with the folks at Gateway in St. Louis and they may not go back there in May 2009 (unless things change for the better). They are looking for new possibilities in the MidWest, including Memphis and a small nostalgic track near Rockford, Illinois.

So the KCIR (KC International Raceway) Muscle Car Reunion is ON for the week after Labor Day (September 2010) and he'd love to has us at that one, or any other that can be arranged. I told him of our expectations and he said he will have his Marketing guy contact me to discuss details such as the Shoot Out, etc.

This past year at KCIR they were able to get rooms within 15 minutes of KCIR for $45 a night. He said no problem setting a section of the pits aside for 40 or so cars. They moved the show car area to the other side of the pits this year (I was not there this year), but he said they could figure out a way to keep us all together if need be.

That's all for now!

More later after they visit the alternative sites and report back with those situations.

Best,
TomK

 

[raymar58409]

Tom, The track near Rockford is Byron dragway, It was, I believe the first track to run 4 wide at a time. Been years since I've been there so I don't remember much about the amount of room there. Cordova dragway, Cordova, IL, is or at least was neat cuz there was shade in the pits. Chicagoland in Joliet might work for them as they have some different muscle events there, also the newest around. I'm PM ing you a number for your friend to contact that is familiar with all these tracks and does some officiating at Joliet. He can use my name as a reference.

Ray

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Tom, Thanks for the update.......

 

[Jim409_Pontiac]

Milan Michigan

Jim, (jim_ss409) and myself just got back from Milan Michigan. This was a first time event called the Nostalgia Drags.
http://www.milandragway.com/2009/Nostalgiadrags.htm
We were there with a group called the Can Am Gassers, established to bring back some friendly rivalry between Canadian and US gassers.
This is a very well run track, good surface, well maintained and they were very accommodating. It was a great event! There is a very large show car area and a nice old track atmosphere with lots of grass and trees. There's also plenty of room. The track crew looked after the track extremely well, the bite was great. Most of all the owners were very happy. I heard they bumped the $1,000 purse for the Gasser class to $1,500 mid way through the race.
Our 348/409 group would be a great addition to this event. After going to Milan I'd say it would be even better than Thompson.
Here's a link to a HAMB thread with some photos...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=402111

 

[RCE1962]

Hey Jim

That would be a bit closer for me.

Thanks for the link....some great pictures there!


Ron

 

[Nuts]

While that event sounds like a lot of fun, it would not make a significant milage difference for me. But September is better than May/June for work conflicts.

Bill

 

[Tom Kochtanek]

MuscleCar Reunion at KCIR

I got a call from Chris Schneider, one of the promoters for the Muscle Car Reunion held each year. He told me that they were about to sign the contract with KCIR for the week after Labor Day 2010, and that he would be delighted to have us join him. You can view their website at http://www.musclecarreunion.com/

We talked for maybe 20 minutes, and he told me that he could get us all together in the pit area, roped off just for us, and that a good place in terms of foot traffic (but not vehicular traffic for our Show Cars) would be next to the Legends of Speed area, where the likes of Don Garlits and Arnie Beswick generally occupy . That is a great area! It's all grass, which is perfect for tents and camping and such. Doesn't sound so great for Show Cars, but if it were to rain, this area is better than a hard surface in terms of drainage, etc.

Chris and his partners have been to many an event, as participants, as vendors, as racers, and now as promoters. They seem to know what the end user wants, and he is willing to work with us to meet our needs. I told him of our Shootout, he said "no problem" and even suggested a sort of "parade lap" for all the 409s for those cars that might not want to go full throttle. Guys like Hank Gabbert (Z-11 car) and Tommy Nolen (1961SS) might want to be part of that. It would include all our cars, race, driver, and show.

Also, for those who wish to show only, they have a separate area for that near the spectator side of the track. Only problem would be the parking of your trailer, but I suspect that could either go in with the public parking or we could house it over on the pit side if you were willing to drive over to the spectator side.

They run NSS and F.A.S.T. and have areas and events for those guys as well, so they know how to do it right. I think Denny has done the NSS thing at Gateway with these guys, not for sure.

They make arrangements with local KC hotels for discounts (about 15 minutes away on Noland road where there is nearly every kind of restaurant you'd want) and this year hosted a big Bar-B-Que for participants on Friday night. As racers, these guys know what we want!

Let me know if there is anything specific we need to ask, and if anyone wants to contact Chris directly his cell is (573) 291-0999. If need be, we can get him in the Forum to respond to questions and get to know us better. I think this might be a nice venue to consider, and if the time of year of good, a great place to get together for next year. I know it is a bit farther for some, but closer for the Western folks, whose numbers and attendance (and company) are good .

Basically what they will need from us is the approximate number of participants about a month prior to the event, and as in the past we can give them dimensions of our trailers, etc. to make sure we have ample space. I told him that at Thompson we had maybe 40 cars, about 60 people, and 24 racers. What does everyone think?

Cheers,
TomK

 

[Ronnie Russell]

Thanks, Tom..... If this does work out as the site, you can count on a lot of Texas members. Thanks again for your efforts.

 

[jim_ss409]

Thanks for getting all the info Tom.
It looks like we have a few good candidates for a track to host next years get together. It might be time to do another poll to see which location would be the most popular with the majority of our members. We could make it a multiple choice so a guy could vote for any of the tracks he would be willing to travel to.
It would be nice to get a location nailed down as soon as possible so that we can start getting the word out.

 

[rstreet]

Ray:
Sounds like that might be a good one. Tom K says all the restuarants are on one road in a row. No GPS needed!
robert

 

[mike bell]

Tom Thanks for all the leg work- K. C. sounds good to me, but lets see what everyone else thinks of the location and the dates! Then we can all go from there. The only thing that I didn't like was hearing that the St.L. meet was maybe a no go. I have enjoyed it in the past. Again THANKS A BUNCH Mike

 

[Nuts]

Thanks !!!

Tom,

Thanks for taking the lead on this, and getting the information. Sounds like a good site to me, good location, facilities and promotion. K.C would save me about 1K each direction so that's 4 days driving for us. I could bring the car and join in the show or racing, making it a lot more fun !!! The September dates also work better for me, because my work has slowed by then. Close to motels and resturants is good because, sleeping and eating are my main pass times !!!

Like others have said, it might be time to start a new poll, and see what comes out on top. We are planning to attend, where ever it ends up, but closer to home is always better !!!

Bill

 

[raymar58409]

Ray:
Sounds like that might be a good one. Tom K says all the restuarants are on one road in a row. No GPS needed!
robert

Robert, Now if we can just find that road. You are bringing Ann, correct?

Ray

 

[raymar58409]

September? Wow, I should have the 409 in by then. Maybe.

Ray

 

[TomO]

Tom K – The Musclecar Reunion has turned out to be one of the BIG events held at KCIR. The promoters do a great job with it and have a huge draw of show cars, race cars and spectators. ALL of the drag race classes this year paid $1500 to winner, $800 runner up and semi money. KCIR has made some very nice improvements to the facilities over the past couple of years. The track surface is really awesome as compared to any around the area – I would say that it is better than Topeka. Just south of the track (4 miles) in Lee’s Summit is two new shopping centers for the ladies to take refuge in, good food and hotels. Lee’s Summit would be a heck of a lot better place to stay than up on Noland Rd IMO. There is also some nice park and recreation camping sites – full hook up to primitive with in 4 miles of the track.

I did not speak up about KCIR due to the fact that the management of the track is very “challenging” to work with to develop a weekend like the group wanted. Your connections to the promoters of the Musclecar Reunion is the ideal way to put a 348-409 event together – your contact has leverage due to the size of his event.

This year our VAMP Racing series, Musclecar Reunion and Goodguys weekends were back to back to back. It was a great 3 weeks to be a car nut in KC.

I will do what I can to help your efforts if the event is held at KCIR.

TomO