It was just a rumor that Charlie bought some property to build another track. I was hoping it was true as the rumor said he bought property near Casa Grande. Right near where I live. Speedway was going to run a National Open last weekend. They thought they had it all worked out, then the county refused them a permit. Hopefully something can be worked out for Firebird but all of the track dates after March have been cancelled and I believe I read where the Bondurant school of high performance driving was relocating.
Only track we'll have left in Az. is SIR in Tucson. That's an IHRA track. They don't run a Sportsman class. Not sure I want to give the buttheads that run that track my money.
It's funny, but all this started with Speedworld because they diversified. They first opened a Motocross track. Then a Paintball area, an R/C car and airplane field, a mud bog/sand drag track, a small circle track and then finally an off road track. I'm not sure which or if all of them was the straw the broke the camels back for the county. That's where the rumors start playing their part. The most credible rumor I have heard is that the state doesn't want the liability (they want $5 million of insurance and they only carry a $1 million dollar policy). But I'm starting to wonder if the county is just fed up with the owners. By another rumor I heard that says that if they just did what the county wanted and didn't fight them in court that they could have stayed open. But all these are rumors. Who knows what the real story is. We only hear the Speedworld side of the story of course. (If you are interested and on Facebook, look them up.) As for another drag strip opening, who knows. I know that Charlie Allen has ownership of the name Firebird (he is taking that with him when he leaves...that is not rumor) and it would make sense to reopen somewhere else under that name. But as you said, dragstrips are expensive to build. The good thing about Speedworld is that as an auxiliary airfield that it originally was (it was the alternate airfield for Luke Air Force Base back in the 50's) it was compacted down 15 feet if memory serves me. That requires moving a ton of dirt to accomplish and gives you a superior racing surface that doesn't bulge or sink. I remember years ago when they built Firebird one of the things I heard was that the strip was only compacted to 10 feet. I can't help but wonder if that is what caused the problems that some of the fuel and pro stock cars have experienced. Either way, I would WELCOME another track and be very excited to go there! But as of right now, I haven't heard anything other than rumors. The valley has to have racing. I fear what will happen with street racing if they don't have at least one track. I saw it back in the 80's. It wasn't pretty and the cars make tons more power today than they did back then. I will admit that if it wasn't for the local tracks (back then Beeline and Phoenix Raceway) that I could have ended up a statistic myself. I'm not proud of it, but it happened on the streets every weekend.
That's a bad sign Don. The Native Americans have talked about putting up a hotel on that lake for a while and adding a mall. I sure hope that it doesn't come to that. I can't understand why anyone would want a hotel next to that cesspool that they call Firebird Lake. It's so full of fuel and oil you can almost walk across it!
Anyone interested can visit these two places for info... http://www.wittmannnews.com/ http://www.facebook.com/speedworld.dragstrip I hope that this isn't against the rules to post. If it is a problem I can certainly take these links down. Just let me know.
indeed Im 34 years old and have ALWAYS loved fast cars and my dad used to always hotrod his whatever it was he happened to drivelol guess thats where I got the love for fast cars. IM building my car to go to the track and when the new motor is finished I hope to get my 10 year old out to the garage. as of now he doesnt want anything to do with the car. all he wants to do is play with hotwheels BUT theres hope for him he likes muscle car hotwheels I know alot of younger guys who want there cars to get out to the track but they race imports or they want to drift more so than straight line racing. it would be cool to have a place to legally or atleast a place out of the way where no one can get in trouble to drift.
If you want to get your sun interested in cars/going fast.............do like my father did to me.......................get him started in 1/4 midgets or go karts. He will become a racer.................and a start driving fast with rules on a closed course................nothing better if like like cars.....IMHO http://www.quartermidgets.com/ http://www.bluemaxkartclub.com/faq.htm And remember, you don't have to buy a new kart or 1/4 midget as there a lot of them for sale....................or you can build your own with your son, great bonding time............................it got me started working on cars and racing...............................IMHO
Hot Rod, is reporting that it's been closed. http://blogs.hotrod.com/speedworld-...ric-dragstrip-closes-45953.html#axzz2K2X0reKz
that sucks. Im glad the local track here survived development about a mile away. about 15 years ago now they started building a whole new neighborhood on the airforce base when it closed. the track has always been nestled a good ways behind the active part of the base so it was tucked away in the cut away from everything and anyone who might complain. now theres development creeping in on them on all sides hopefully theyll be able to hang on. thankfully theres a good following or a good turn out of racers all of the time. theres a full house on race nights
If you are talking about SAC...........................they are having some financal troubles of their own.
olerodder....Guess I just might quit or I will just race a few times a year. Like Thanksgiving at Las Vegas. Haven't made that one yet but hear it's a fun time and haven't seen a lot of the racers I know from there in a while.
Don.............don't quite. Going to Las Vegas would be about 200 miles closer for me............maybe we could get others to go also..............just a thought!
