Guys and gals, contrary to some of your beliefs we are listening and do realize this event should have been a much better experience for all of you. Rather than have numerous threads is there a way we can get all your criticism, ideas for next year, etc. located in this thread?
We've already started discussions on next year: stand alone, brackets, etc; however we would like to hear from you.
I know some have said they got the impression we didn't care that the LS community was there, I doubt those that were at the party would agree. We put more time, energy and resources into this one event than all of our others. That said, we had tough weather and made some mistakes. Hopefully we'll be able to gather some constructive criticism out of you all and make 2010 the best.
I can't comment too much on what needs changed during the actual event as this was the first time down there for me, and I only spectated... but for those of us there for the LSX cars Saturday was one boring day. Atleast we got to look at the True Street guys for 6 hours in front of us..
We will be back next year, Not sure if I will be spectating or racing... I would have been livid if held hostage like the True Street drivers were this year... I guess what happens between now and then will determine that.
I just posted this on another thread and copied it rather than re-typing it, so sorry if you've read it .
It seams that Memphis is a good location that requires most to to drive several hours from each direction, so moving it would cause some not to come. The track and the prep the NMCA does is excellent and probably wouldn't be as good if the event was a stand alone.
A suggestion would be to do like the US Nationals and run a round or 2 of eleminations on Saturday for the Bracket and Index classes in NMCA and LSX with the Finals on Sunday. Maybe do the true street cruise and 3 passes on Saturday, Then the 3 passes would be qualification for the Index classes if someone wants to run both.
Every year I watch as the spectators leave (and maybe not return) because the organizers want all the finals to be at the same time( 4 am monday). The spectators are GONE by semi and finals. I guarantee you they paid the extra $$ to see the fast cars they don't normally see locally. So run all the fast NMCA classes eleminations first Sunday, followed by the heads up LSX cars and while allowing 90 minutes between rounds for them run 2nd (or 3rd depending on how many rounds on Saturday) round of NMCA, LSX bracket and index classes. Have a rigid cut off at the 90 minutes (run out current bracket class) and bring out 2nd round of NMCA and LSX heads up. That way the finals of the "PRO" classes would be around 7 pm before the spectators leave. Wrap up the remaining bracket and index classes after that and hopefully it works out to their finals also by narrowing the field on Saturday.
I think it's good for the LS and NMCA group to meet and watch each other race. Maybe more LS powered cars will compete regularly in the NMCA throughout the year and NMCA drivers and fans can see the potential of the LS cars to grow the sport. If you want to grow you need spectators to pay the purses to increase participants to sell more cars and parts to keep and increase sponsors to increase the purses so more participate..... Thanks to GM, NMCA and the sponsors for the event.
I had a blast this year and last year. To me the only thing that sucked was the wait in between rounds from cars breaking but that happens at every race. It just made it worse that there were so many cars in every class and everything just keep getting pushed back. Even if it felt like forever(always does when your ready to race) I'd like to thank the crew at MMP for a great job at cleaning up the track and keeping it hooking great all weekend.
need to move to north or south carolina so some of the other guys can participate and give the crowd some new cars to see! and lets have an all lsx shootout not bracket carsand jr. dragsters and all other bs.
1) Drop the bracket program
2) Lift the rules on the Outlaw DR class, and only rules be:
a) gm bodied
b) Ls powered
c) 315/60 DR
3) create a limited class for 275 racers.
a) Turbos under single 88mm or "small" twins
b) no more than one kit of nitrous.
c) Turbo weight at 3300, nitrous at 3100
4) Make True Street a legit "true street".....30 mile cruise, pull back in the pits, and 3 back to back passes.
5) Finish the LS stuff by 3pm Sunday. The majority of LS racers/fans don't do this for a living, and that means they need to be out of the track by Sunday afternoon.
6) No real suggestion, just wanted to say I loved watching the doorslammer NMCA stuff!!! Those cars are insane! Even with the nitrous backfires and oildowns, it's something to see/watch those cars and teams do what they do with a doorslammer.
7) Don't change N/a, that class seems to be about right this year, although I would like to see the outlawed twin TB lifted. Why limit these guys power wise?! Wouldn't you rather see the 1000rwhp SAM car or Honeycutt's twin TB package he brought last year duke it out than a cfm limited version?!
That's my thoughts
I'm biased, as I'm right where probably a lot of cars/guys sit: We've been in the community for years. While I can't financially support building a 7second LS car, I can feasibly build a high 8/low 9 second car. There are alot of cars in the 9.0-10.0 range, and trust me, spectators of the LS cars LOVE to watch these cars run. Some time in the stands of the true street cars this year would show you this to be true! Giving this sector of cars/guys a place to compete while not being completely ran over gives us a chance to race and learn how to push the envelope. Who knows, maybe these same cars eventually are turned into 7second heavy-hitters we watch in the future?? cough cough...fireball and blownta....
Then again, if you FINALLY open the flood gates on the Outlaw DR...wouldn't you like to see the first LS pass in a stock suspension car at YOUR event?!?! I'd hate to be the company that received all the publicity from that, haha.
Tim Akers
Tatershack Performance
1999 Trans Am/275DR turbo car
__________________ 1999 Trans Am Tatershack Performance I need a motor sponsor that can handle 25psi
A3--Full Suspension--347--S480--6.0 manifolds--A2W http://tnfbody.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9537
Special Thanks to: Tatershack Performance/AEIcnc.com/Speed Engineering
Might be interesting to have more than one event per year, that way they could run with the NMCA when it's not the biggest event of the year for them. Also would be nice to remove some of the rules that make it more expensive to run like the tire rule in drag radial.
Kurt
__________________ "I spend most of my money on cars and fuel, the rest I waste"
-First Gen3 in the 6's@ over 200
August 15th 2005 6.8660@205.47
-Hot Rod Drag Week 2006 small block power adder winner with 402 LS2 supercharged.
-My memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.
Ive posted in a couple of other threads, so I dont mean to come off sounding like a broken record..
First off, the weekend started off with a bang. The LSX pre-party was a HUGE success, and awesome time for everyone. I really dont think things could have been ran any better. Everyone seemed to have an absolute blast!
At the track, things started off well but slowly started falling behind schedule. I understand wrecks, and oil-downs are uncontrollable variables, so there really isn't anything we can do about those situations. On Saturday, I feel like the True Street guys should have ultimate priority. Send the guys on their cruise, and have a designated leader. Have signs pointing the guys where to go, so they dont get separated from the pack. Once they're back from the cruise, send them down the track. Don't make them sit in front of the stands for hours upon hours, especially when its so freaking cold outside. The NMCA is all about heads-up, wheel standing, quarter mile, door slammer drag racing! I'm sorry, but I didn't make the trip to watch Junior Dragsters and dirty old bracket cars! I want to see Mike Murrillo carry the front tires through the eighth, not watch a couple of under-powered, over sized tire cars duke it out in a 700 car bracket battle royal.
I dont know if the funding is available at this time for the LSX community to have an event of this scale, all on their own. I would love to see it happen, but I just dont know if its feasible. Maybe an LSX VS Modular Shootout. Although the Ford boys probabaly wouldn't show, because who wants to drive all that way to get their shit pushed in! LOL
Memphis is a rocking location. It works, and people show. If its the NMCA World Finals and LSX Shootout next year, Memphis is the place to have it. Dont make it on Shakedown weekend.
We need one more heads up LSX Class..
OUTLAW Drag Radial..
Unrestricted Single Power Adder (Possibly Unlimited?)
315/60 Radial
Stock Style Suspension... Similar rules to 2009 Drag Radial.
Outlaw Street
275 Radial or 28x10.5 Slick
Unrestricted Single Power Adder
Stock Style Suspension.. Similar Rules to 2009 Radial.
All Motor
Possibly open up the rules a little, and see what these cars can do?
__________________ Dalton Winfield
Shocker Inc Racing Editorial Staff @ PlanetLSX
tim99ws6 makes a great point and couldn't agree with him more. The party on Thursday was a great time and was very nicely done. We (The Ohio Boys) race pretty often through out the year and are used to being at the track for long periods of time. However the downtime in between rounds was way too long. I know there is nothing you can do about the oil downs or wrecks, but to sit a the track for 13 hours and only make one pass makes for a long day.
From a spectator point of view, I know there were a lot of fans that came just for the LSX race. They hardly got to see any of the LSX stuff, especially Sunday. I can't tell you how many people came up to us and asked us when we were going to run, but didn't know what to tell them as we were told on Sunday that we should be up by 1:30, and it was 4 and still hadn't gone up yet. Most of the eliminations took place after a majority of the fans left.
Other than that, I had a great time and just impressed with the popularity of the LSX community.
Ive said this before and have heard it from alot of ppl. LSx/LTx Event.
Index is great an all but we really need some more heads up racing.
Class list should look like this
OUTLAW (ANYthing goes, on a DR)
275 "outlaw" n2o/turbo class, max 88mm turbo target the rules for a 8.50-9.0 LSx/LTx
H/C All motor LSx (outlaw style no limits)
H/C All motor LTx (outlaw style no limits)
H/C Stock bottom end LSx (class designed for stock cubed LS1, LS2, LS3 cars)
H/C Stock bottom end LTx
Cam Only LSx
Cam Only LTx
Bolt on LSx
Bolt on LTx
True street. (Same format and rules currently in place)
Index 9.0,9.50,10.0 etc...
Again, thanks for to the NMCA and their hardworking staff for making the event happen. Here are my thoughts...
Comments by class--->
Drag Radial: Time to go to a 315, remove some of the "street car" rules. Last year you guys finished up the race around 9pm. This year the first round on your schedule was supposed to go at 1:30PM. Instead it was run at 4:50PM. Not acceptable. I know the track had crashes and oildowns, but I've been to the event three years in a row as well as other NMCA events, and those delays were not outside the norm. You guys are treating the LSX event like 3-4 classes in your long list of classes to run, though it's billed as a big deal. But the execution was the opposite and the LSX heads up stuff was treated like #10 and #11 on a list of 11 things to do. Even the heads up guys told me they feel that way even though they were among the few cars there that were running over 190 MPH. I'm not trying to be harsh, but you can't run the NMCA event, and then start the LSX event after 4pm. Like others have said, run a round before lunch. You are undermining the momentum you build all year by getting folks to want to come out, and then there is no racing to watch. Run first round elims at 11am, 2nd at 3pm, and 3rd at etc. LSx'ers are not NMCA's. 70% of the spectators leave by 6pm on Sunday. Throw them a bone, they are weekend warriors not folks who run series, most of the spectators have bolton cars.
All Motor: I've said this before, this class will never have more than 4-6 cars when the two fastest guys run $40-50K engines. Top two qualifiers ran 8.5 - 8.6, and the other two guys made a valiant effort but they both ran 9.3-9.4. This class should allow limited adder cars to get the car count up. Otherwise it's an exhibition class. I have nothing against Jud or Joe I've been friends with them for years, but I'd like to see more cars.
Index: Maybe it's time to make it 11.00 and quicker.
The 28x10.5 tire nitrous friendly class that has never happened. The jury is still out on this one, NMCA was sorta talking 9.0-ish, and the nitrous guys were talking low/mid 8's. Not sure where that would go but a 8.0 - 8.5 nitrous friendly class, that allowed a max of a true 88mm turbo, Vortech YSi, and equivalent ProCharger is what I would do. Maybe the best thing is to put all-motor and this together.
2010 Camaro Challenge: It was cool, decent turnout. Keep doing it. Only complaint was that you guys were lax on roll bars and 5 shops told me in person that they would have brought a car had they known they could run in a the 10's with no roll bar.
True Street: That's two years in a row that folks drove crazy and it was not chaperoned. You guys need a lead and end vehicle because last year folks were going 90mph. I know because I was driving next to them so Tony could take pictures. Last year you guys ran the cars with about 15-30 minutes in between, I was in there too. It was fine. This year it was a debacle. Those guys sat out there for 5-6 hours.
------
Overall. Love the scene, and I know all of the folks. I go to hang out and see some good racing. I suggest next year that have me and 3-4 folks be aware of the schedule you want to run, and let us make some suggestions. It only took like 15 minutes to run first round elims, so my suggestion is make sure you run a round in the morning. When I got to track on Sunday I talked to Derek and he said that first round was going at 1:30. I wasn't excited about that since I was then going to sit through 4 hours of other stuff going down the track. When 3pm hit I was like wow, the LSX guys are getting the short stick. If you wanted I would have been happy to run up to the tower and point out that 40 folks came up to me and were like what's going on. Heck I know you guys are going to run a bunch of stuff all weekend so I'm not going to tell you to ditch the jr's and local bracket stuff, but you clearly could have run LSX heads up before that giant pile of brackets you ran after lunch. In fact run round 1 and 2 close to each other, and then third and beyond later.
As has been previously stated the LSX Shootout needs to be a stand alone event. This is our communities big yearly event and should be treated as such and not as a second class citizen to the NMCA event.
Well, after talking to some of the guys, and waiting in between rounds I can only suggest a couple of things:
1. Could we get some kind of txt notification for when we get called up
- When we tech-in or register, you can ask us (check box on reg form) if we want a txt notification for when our class is called up.
I know there was alot of people that missed the 1st round of qualifying, because we couldnt hear the announcement. There are many companies that offer this service and its pretty cheap. Its just hard to hear sometimes who is called up and when.
2. Round time/time trials
- adding to the comment above. I know for a fact that we were in lanes 4 and 5 on friday (time trials) and watched lanes 1 and 2 just blow by everyone else. I saw some cars go twice while we sat for 2 hours (1pm to 3pm) waiting to get 1 run in. On saturday we made a hit a 9am and didnt get to make another pass until 9:20pm. Waiting 12hrs just to make a hit is excruciating, and the environment changes alot between that time. Honestly, I dont know what can be done about this other than letting us run with the NMCA guys instead of breaking us up.
3. Parking
- if we are going to be parking in the yard, then let us know ahead of time. I know I would have brought different equipment if i knew we were going to park in the mud. Maybe it was mentioned in another post, but I may have missed it.
I dont want to sound like I am complaining, because we had a great time, but I just wanted to see if an opinion can help.
__________________ STOLENOnyx Black 2002 SLP SS Camaro, MTI Lid, B&M Ripper Shifter, AR Torque Thrust II's, TSP 231/237, NX Wet Kit, QTP/LT's and QTP electric cutout, 255 Walbro Fuel pump, Spec Stage III, Moser 12 bolt, 410's, 33 spline axles, BMR TQ/Arm, Subframes, Lower control arms, Relocation brackets, P/H bar, QA1-Hals Front Shocks and Springs
As a fan, attending for the first time, i was thoroughly disappointed. I will most likely not return next year. We stayed at the track the majority of both days, and saw a couple LS cars in time trials, and 1 round of LSX eliminations. The 10.5 W, and pro-mod cars kept me in the stands. but as far as the bracket racers, i can drive 20 minutes to the local track and see bracket racers... i drove the 12 hours to see LSX cars. Like previously mentioned, i too dont follow the NMCA circuit, and cant stay at the track for days, so not having the LSX cars during the midday was an incredible let down. It surely hope that the schedule wasnt intended to get the fans there early, and hold us there until nightfall. Cause it surely felt like it.
The promotion was great. Likewise with the vendor area, and car show. I enjoyed seeing the top LSX cars up close, and racing. The scheduling was horrendous. But all-in-all for me it was a waste of a trip, and i probably will never return.
__________________ 2007 Trailblazer SS
1991 GMC Syclone - Yes its real... No they never came with Vette motors.
Well, after talking to some of the guys, and waiting in between rounds I can only suggest a couple of things:
1. Could we get some kind of txt notification for when we get called up
- When we tech-in or register, you can ask us (check box on reg form) if we want a txt notification for when our class is called up.
I know there was alot of people that missed the 1st round of qualifying, because we couldnt hear the announcement. There are many companies that offer this service and its pretty cheap. Its just hard to hear sometimes who is called up and when.
3. Parking
- if we are going to be parking in the yard, then let us know ahead of time. I know I would have brought different equipment if i knew we were going to park in the mud. Maybe it was mentioned in another post, but I may have missed it.
That is a great idea, shouldn't be too hard to implement.
The parking situation does suck.
__________________ 388ci C5R block, Virginia Speed Double O-Ring, ETP 265's, Solid Roller, Jesel, Callies, Oliver, BS3, TH400, MWC Race 9" and a big ass turbo! http://www.virginiaspeed.com www.midwestchassis.com
...I will most likely not return next year...But all-in-all for me it was a waste of a trip, and i probably will never return.
Don't say that man. Give these guys a chance to get it all sorted out! Have a little faith. They have a year to get it all sorted out. I am sure there are some big changes in the making.
Soulless-->The text message is an incredible idea! Why isn't this implemented already in the NMCA?! seems so simple in this day and age. Great idea!
__________________ 1999 Trans Am Tatershack Performance I need a motor sponsor that can handle 25psi
A3--Full Suspension--347--S480--6.0 manifolds--A2W http://tnfbody.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9537
Special Thanks to: Tatershack Performance/AEIcnc.com/Speed Engineering
NMCA and the LSX Shootout opinions wanted in here 
