Sport Compact Nationals At Rp Today

[Daytona]

I probably should have posted up about this earlier in the week (heck, there's a LOT I should have done earlier in the week :rolleyes but there's a Nitto Tires SportCompact Nationals race at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ today.

8TH Annual NITTO TIRES NHRA SPORT COMPACT SPRINGNATIONALS

NHRA Class Race $65
Bracket Race $45
Show $35
Sound Challenge $45 (Sun. Only)
Spectator/Pit Entry $20
Kids (ages 6-12) $5
Kids 5 and Under FREE

· Bracket Drag Racing. Muffled Time Trials-9AM, Muffled & Unmuffled Time Trials-10AM.

· Heads Up Qualifying & Racing (10:30AM & 2PM)

· Bikini Contest- 1PM. Contestants sign in by 12PM

· Giant Import/Low Rider Show for Cars, Trucks, Bikes, Motorcycles & More. Sign-up ends 12Noon

· Manufacturer & Performance Shop Midway.

· Music and Giveaways at the Lifestyle Arena.


The race entry is unusually steep - $45 for bracket racing?!?! - especially when considering that it only costs $30 to run my regular Street ET class when I'm there for Points Meets. I don't know how many time shoots they're going to allow us but I'm considering this to be extra seat time for me in preparation for my Points Series and the upcoming MOPAR Nationals later this month.

I'll be running Bracket 1 = 15.00 sec. & slower.
Sunday Winner- $500+ Trophy
Sunday R/U-$100+ Trophy
Sunday Semi - $50

For NHRA Heads-Up and Sportsman Class rules logon to www.NHRASPORTCOMPACT.com

There's also an IMPORT & LOW RIDER CAR, TRUCK & BICYCLE SHOW (yes, bicycles! 1 motorcycle class, 1 trike class, and 4 bicycle classes)
Fully Judged. Classes for all. See listing. Top 3 in each class win a Trophy. Plus Specialty awards. Registration closes Sunday 12 NOON – SHARP.

SPECIALTY AWARDS-
Best Graphics (Paint Or Vinyl)- Trophy
Best Display -Trophy, Best Tire/Wheel Combo- Trophy
Best Euro - $250 + Trophy For 1st Place
Best Asian - $250 + Trophy For 1st Place
Best Domestic - $250 + Trophy For 1st Place
Best Of Show - $1,000 + Trophy + Set Of 4 Tires

NHRA SOUND CHALLENGE - Log-On to soundoff.org for rules and class information. SPL Only. USAC Sanctioned Triple Points Event.

[Daytona]

THAT was a waste of time. :rolleyes: First, there was a rain delay which took the track 2 hours longer to dry the strip than it should have. Time shots were to start at 9 but didn't happen until after Noon. They then started with Pro classes qualifying. That took almost 3 hours since they barely could get 2 cars down the track at a time without someone breaking, spilling, or otherwise F-ing things up - AND THESE WERE THE PROFESSIONAL NHRA SPORT COMPACT DRIVERS, NOT THE RICERS!!! I was to race Class B-1 and, wouldn't you know it, mine was to be the last to run our single time shot. At 3pm they were barely 1/3 the way through B-3 (more breakage and spills). They were then going to go back to do 1st round eliminations of the pros.

The car show corral and buttloads of absolute crap. Everyone competed with each other with their sound systems so what you heard was mind-numbingly bad music blaring from piecemeal systems not built to take advantage of the acoustics of the relative vehicle - flat, tinny, poorly sounding - and it was enough to make any normal person want to shove knives through his or her skull to drown out the noise. Between the horrible music and the chuds admiring each others' cars, I swear I felt like I had dropped 20 IQ points in the first 5 hours alone.

Most "show cars" were POS imports with a fresh wash-and-wax job and maybe an aftermarket set of rims. Some had the ridiculous body cladding and wings. I do have to admit that a small handful had put some actual thought and effort into their vehicle design. And some of them got A's for effort, if not for execution.

And what's up with Xions? There were about 70 of them - cars and trucks - all parked together. Talk about UGLY vehicles just begging for a sledgehammer. :rolleyes: There was one X truck which did have an excellent paint job on the nose and front fenders - kinda like a red-and-black marblized bowling ball - and the truck actually would have looked really nice had he continued with the paint job throughout the entire body. But, no, he straight-flamed the paint into the stock black body paint past the fenders. Again, A for effort but D for execution.

The place was packed. And loud! And it's an ugly crowd that these shows attract. I was easily the most handsome (and that's a rare feat!) and most intelligent person there from the looks of the chuds that roamed the park. Folks were snapping pics of rim/tire combos on POS cars whos only other mods were racing stickers on the banged up body panels. The tires/rims probably were worth more than the rest of the car.

I always bring reading material to races for downtime but tend to bring too much. Not this time, I burned through all of it and then got REALLY bored.

By 3pm I had enough. I was bored, my mind hurt from the sights and sounds, and I still hadn't run even a single time shot. I had the tower sign my tech card so I could get my money back and I then went home.

Redog now is tasked with hitting me in the head with whatever heavy object is available should I ever say that I am going to race at another import or sport compact event again.

[smlzalero]

Heh..... sorry you wasted your day...