Buick versus Ford Event at Noble - Oct 12th 2013

[lilthumper]

After hearing from a lot of racers and spectators from this years successful event, here are a few details that "MAY" be implemented for next years GN smackdown! Some additional GM LS powered cars may be invited to come race on the Buick side. This may include Chevrolet's. This does NOT include Chrysler, Dodge or Ford cars. IE, if you show up with an LS powered car, (AND IF THE CHANGES ARE IMPLEMENTED), it needs to be in a GM vehicle only. We may have a different test/race structure for the street tire cars in order to keep the track surface optimum for the faster cars. Event times: We will continue to open gates at 8AM, but will push tech, and or racing back to about 10 AM in order to give drivers more time to congregate, clean cars, or do whatever they need to do. I, along with others, didn't have a spare minute to meet and talk with many of you because everything happened so quickly. Also, depending on final car count, the afternoon down time will be extended to allow racers and spectators more time to eat, congregate, work on last minute car problems, etc. I think we lost over 100 spectators that had planned to show up for finals at about 3-4PM. These are the chief concerns that have been brought to my attention. And as this race will continue to focus on the original GN, I would be happy to hear from any of you that have any good ideas! I will try to be in contact with the Bowling Green promoters, as it is not good for either of our events to land on each other or get too close. Entry fees: Spectator entry fees will be $15, and racer entry will be $30 for next year. Payouts will be larger, and extend down the ladder further. I will post up guaranteed payouts at a later date.

 

[fast86gn]

The no street tire rule will not affect me but it will a lot of folks and a years heads up warning or not you will lose a lot of cars if you're serious about this?
This event has ran for 17 years allowing street tires I don't see why the change.

 

[lilthumper]

I didn't notice that many that used street tires. I am just getting complaints that the street tires were making the track a little greasy. But hey, I'm open to opinions, and if we are really going to lose a lot of GN's, then I will reconsider. It is certainly open to discussion.

 

[fast86gn]

I didn't notice that many that used street tires. I am just getting complaints that the street tires were making the track a little greasy. But hey, I'm open to opinions, and if we are really going to lose a lot of GN's, then I will reconsider. It is certainly open to discussion.

Not only for Team Buick but for Team Ford.

How many of your bottom 15-20 cars were on Slicks or DR's?

 

[Black Power]

Blake you could have the street tire people qualify at the same time. Like after the slicks/drag radials. Most of them don't need a lot of time to change setups or tune. Open gates, tech, race cars qualify, street cars qualify, drivers meeting, street tire cars will go first probably since they are slower, then prep before the fast cars come out.

Maybe that would work.

 

[charlief1]

You could also do that backwards . Do the slicks first so you only have to prep things once.

 

[BBR]

Is this somebody from here? I took this video on my 1-3 shift, 7 cylinder pass.

 

[TheyCallMeSkip]

You could also do that backwards . Do the slicks first so you only have to prep things once.

Yep.. Run your slick and radial cars first, then street cars. It will save ya a lot of prep time.

 

[RandyRacer]

I'll toss this out there for consideration on possibly having additional ways of scoring more points with the same amount of cars. What about awarding a point to the respective team for things like the quickest 10.5 car, quickest street legal car etc.? Or maybe something like 5 pts. for the fan's favorite car? Hand out ballots at the gate and they all must be turned in by the end of down time or whenever to be counted and points awarded. Set up some grudge races and award a point for the winner. I'm just trying to come up with something that helps.

 

[LSTTYPE]

Just my opinion but if Chevys are allowed albeit only LS Chevys, then you can count out more buick participants. It's going to become a chevy vs ford event. I say keep it the current BOP gmc truck race and if we lose from a low car count then so be it. I say let's just focus on rallying more Buick racers and the wins will come.

 

[Black Power]

You could also do that backwards . Do the slicks first so you only have to prep things once.

But then if you have the fast cars run first, it's going to be very anti-climactic later on watching two 14 second cars battle it out. Everyone will leave.

 

[Eticket]

Blake, as someone who has had very vested interests in this event in years past, I have to chime in. I question what is behind the motive in allowing LS cars and who's doing this recommending? Giving the buick side a chance at winning - is not a good or right answer.

This is not sounding like the annual "ford vs. buick" that I remember - let's not construe it to be or use the history to draw racers - they probably won't come with this change anyway.

 

[SuperCPA]

Thank you to all who stepped up and made this event happen again! Without you, we would likely be still talking about how we wished this event had not died and be missing the experience of it all. I had a great time no matter the outcome. The weather was so nice, by the time I realized I should have applied sun screen to my face, it was too late. My 5200# STS-V Caddy went on to a personal best 13.33 @ 103 on street tires and probably had one of the closest matches of the day against that surprisingly quick MKZ. Thankfully my reaction time kept me safe. It is a real testament on how much the track management spent prepping the racing surface multiple times throughout the day. Unfortunately my weird 6-lug, 20" factory wheels are proving to be scarcely available for a drag radial platform. Although I have already been actively looking, I think that alienating the street tire users might damage future participation levels beyond current anticipation. As far as the all GM LS inclusion discussion is concerned, I too would prefer to see this event stay within the current Buick, Olds, Pontiac, GMC & Cadillac platforms. Since most of these platforms have currently used the LS engine in some capacity, I would not have a problem with it any more than finding a Coyote 5.0 in a Fox or a Falcon. I think there is still plenty of untapped participation and potential from those divisions without opening the flood gates of the Chevy platforms. I think the spirit of this event would be lost by doing so.

 

[johnplogii]

Just have the guys in the staging lanes put the cones up to push the street tire cars out of the groove. They were doing this Friday night and the track seemed a lot better to me.

 

[fast86gn]

I'll toss this out there for consideration on possibly having additional ways of scoring more points with the same amount of cars. What about awarding a point to the respective team for things like the quickest 10.5 car, quickest street legal car etc.? Or maybe something like 5 pts. for the fan's favorite car? Hand out ballots at the gate and they all must be turned in by the end of down time or whenever to be counted and points awarded. Set up some grudge races and award a point for the winner. I'm just trying to come up with something that helps.

Here is my idea and I think this might slow some of the sandbagging? In the eliminations if your are within 2/10's of your qualifying time and you win the race of course it is a two point win.

And my vote for letting Chevy's in. NO!

 

[BBR]

I think quickest n/a t-top car with ugly paint needs an award too. lol

Pontiacs are the huge untapped potential. You guys need to get a Poncho club involved in this deal and leave the Chevrolet's out for now.

 

[fast86gn]

I think quickest n/a t-top car with ugly paint needs an award too. lol

Pontiacs are the huge untapped potential. You guys need to get a Poncho club involved in this deal and leave the Chevrolet's out for now.

Here ya go

 

[lilthumper]

Very good ideas guys. I like them. Regarding the LS cars. There are a few, how should I say this, experienced Buick people on this board that suggested it. My concern is that they no longer make a Pontiac or a Buick. I am concerned that with the amount of Coyotes that are being purchased and modded every day, that this race is quickly going to become a Ford dominated event. I personally know of 9 Fords that broke Saturday that would have almost guaranteed wins for the Ford side. I know of another 4 heavily modded Coyotes that didn't show because of military or family obligations, and about 6 more that didn't show because of being apart, and are in the process of adding boost as we speak. I am a Ford guy, I like to win, and I like to talk smack. But I don't want to see such a lopsided event. I want to see the race be close, or even a Buick dominated race every once in a while. I really don't care who wins. I am just afraid that the Ford side will start to lose interest if it becomes too lopsided. And if the news holds true, the 2015 Mustangs will be running around this time next year, and will be lighter and more powerful than the current ones. This event will always be called the GN smackdown, GN vs Mustang, Buick vs Ford. In my opinion, the race was somewhat watered down for me the minute "other" GM products were allowed. But I understood the logic behind the decision... Being that the Fords would start to lose interest and the Buick side had to find a way to get competition up for the Ford side. But if you guys have a way to achieve what we all want (decent competition) without including LS Chevrolet, by all means, that's what I prefer. Thanks for the great ideas. I will modify my earlier post about some things.

 

[lilthumper]

You could also do that backwards . Do the slicks first so you only have to prep things once.

I think regardless, the track doesn't mind doing one additional prep. They are trying to be known as a sticky track. We will continue to run slow cars to fast cars, but yes, it is a good idea to separate them during qualifying. Good ideas people!

 

[lilthumper]

But then if you have the fast cars run first, it's going to be very anti-climactic later on watching two 14 second cars battle it out. Everyone will leave.

I agree, we were going to try that this year, but lot's of people said the fans would indeed get bored and leave. Hey, did you say you had a video of our race Black Power?