[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Squidward

I went both days, which was the first time in a while I have done both days. Saturday was a busy event day, but Sunday was dried up.

I got 2 passes in during time trials/TnT, and found out I blew out a water pump gasket as I was hot lapping around for a 3rd pass. That was the end of my racing day.

By the end of the event, there was still a small core group who were tearing it up over on the autocross course. This included mostly 1st gen Firebirds, and, no kidding, a real 69 T/A running the course. The best part of that was it still had imprints in the back upholstery of the kid car seats he had in it. Now THAT's the way to enjoy a sweet ass ride! There was a lot of fun being had over there.

I tend to agree with Formulajones. I have attended PH since the 2nd one way back in the day. I've seen most every car, and typically see the same ones every year. The show had a couple of cars that I remember from a decade ago when they were purchased as a cheap POS street beater, and were now all shiny and restored. The crowd is aging. Most of the Cali guys didn't attend. It requires fresh younger blood, and I say that as someone who is a few years shy of 50.

The Saturday event is what the Sunday event should have been. It will have to be opened up to other brands, or at least Pontiacs with other engine makes, to stay alive. I would say don't sell out to imports or any fox body mustang with a 5.0, but something was wrong. Split some race classes if need be, but the exclusivity has to go unless we want to find ourselves on an exclusive island with nothing but the sound of crashing waves, falling coconuts, and crickets.

But nothing can ever take away from all of the years where I've had an amazing time, and PH was the highlight of my entire year calendar. But that's life: We must come to expect change, and we must adapt or be forgotten.

Sean right? I think I have the right person, lol.

I think this idea is starting to be the general consensus. My father used to be a member of a tri-5 chevy club. I participated in this through my teen years and early 20's. They used to put on a drag race every year. Being a tri-5 club, they knew right off the bat it wouldn't be successful limiting the racing to just 3 years of chevys, so they called it the Eastgate Classics Muscle Car race. What we ended up doing is having a few different classes, and we also let in what we called "modern muscle" which back then was fox body mustangs and grand nationals that were still new to the scene but quickly becoming hugely popular. This was a separate class that ran their brackets during the day. There was also a class for old sling shot dragsters, dedicated race cars, street cars, etc... Each class ran their elimination segments throughout the day which also gave the audience a nice selection of what they wanted to watch. At the end of the day we would have top eliminator races from all the classes to crown a top eliminator king. It made for excellent racing but most of all, crowded. It quickly got overwhelming to try and run it. It got so popular that we ended up having a second event the same year. From then on twice a year.
Something similar to this with maybe a Pontiac specific class to keep the Pontiac vibe going is probably what it will take to draw in the people. But that's just my thoughts.
I think another issue might be the track itself. I noticed they don't really put on events like this throughout the year from what I can find. I've never seen the PSCA advertise anything there, Super Chevy has been hit and miss, there are no Ford events that I know of etc... Just seems the track is catering more to big time NHRA stuff and us little guys don't have much but test and tune nights and that's just Friday night only.
I guess that's why I miss the little mom and pop tracks like Speedworld. They had PSCA, Nostalgia Muscle car days, and other things that attracted people like myself that didn't cost an arm and a leg to get in to, and more like minded people to mingle with. Maybe I'm just not looking in the right places at WildHorse?? But would be nice to see more events for the street car scene that doesn't have the pits full of ricers.

[twooldgoats]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

.......
I guess that's why I miss the little mom and pop tracks like Speedworld. They had PSCA, Nostalgia Muscle car days, and other things that attracted people like myself that didn't cost an arm and a leg to get in to, and more like minded people to mingle with......

Speedworld=my all-time favorite track. Even had trees for a little shade when needed. I have many pleasant memories of Pontiac Heaven events there.

Jim

[Squidward]

Agreed on Speedworld. I miss it. It was better suited to classic events. And I also think WHP is a little more biased toward big national events, as well as being pricey. The PH swap meets back in the day were awesome!

If I saw a 71 Nova running a turbo sbc, I can appreciate it. 70's truck doing 12's on the track? Yup. I can get down with that event. LS powered classic? I have a soft spot for that too. I would like some variety and excitement.

I wish somebody would open up a 1/8 mile track around here. At least we could have some options track-wise.

[Formulajones]

I agree, you sound like a "true" car guy by all definitions. I also enjoy the variety.

Up here (about 5 miles from my house) they have been working to try and open an 1/8 mile track. Construction had started, but has halted. Opposition of course from near by houses. Oddly, there has always been a circle track there running sprints long before the houses were built. But you know how that goes.... It's so hard to open a dragstrip anywhere these days. But hopefully the process goes through, that would be my new playground. I feel with only Wild Horse around, and 2 hours away for me, that another track is needed now more than ever.

Even though we are 5,000 ft up and the cars would go a second slower, it's still racing and it's all about fun for me. That's what they make correction factors for anyway right?