Looks Like anyone can run at the GS NATIONALS this year

[Mike Licht]

We will be there, we sponsored a bunch and I know the Boost Crew guys will be there, Cal Hartline will be there. Between the three of us I cant imagine much parts wise you want be able to see. So while the number of vendors may be less the support is still there.
Mike

 

[WH1]

The realization is that these cars are 28+ years old and the event won't be as big as 90. But it was better last year than the last few. It's still the premier event and thanks in part to vendors like Mike.

 

[Mike Licht]

Thanks for that but what everyone need to recognize is that if you want to have this premier event to survive we need more people to attend and participate if that does not happen it will die like many of the other Buick events. Its up to the community to keep it alive.

 

[JustABuick]

I have gone to all local(ish) events just as a fan for years. Now that I will finally have my car ready to race at BG, I'll instantly get my doors blown off by a turbo LS

 

[GN87Mike]

The race program on the GSCA website is all Buick if I'm reading it correctly.

Mike

 

[psycho6cyl]

I'm surprised its lasted Buick only show this long. Buicks are a limited market. Most people will buy a Chevelle before a Buick and maybe even a Pontiac depending on year. It's better pricing the community out.

 

[toofastforyou]

"Most people will buy a Chevelle before a Buick "...

Well I solved that…I bought one of each ! (See my signature)…

Claude

 

[SS/GN]

I agree and its nice to have a couple Buick races every year but like all forms of drag racing the car counts are down everywhere. There are some NHRA events with out full pro fields and everything from Nostalgia to sportsman racing is seeing less cars every year. I think there are too many associations and organizations and not enough cars to go around. We are not alone but because we are a smaller group it seems worse. I will say this, I went to the Buick race last year in Norwalk and the Renegade index association was part of it. They were a great group of guys and a few were really interested in our cars and would not have been surprised if they were future Buick owners. In the end its a hobby!

 

[novaderrik]

there are as many cars to go around, but a lot more choices on where to race them these days... 20 years ago, you either ran NHRA or IHRA races if drag racing was your thing... now every make and model of car thinks they need their own series, while there are more sanctioning bodies to choose from. then you get the NHRA actively trying to push new blood to other groups with stupid rules that do nothing but raise the costs of entering competitive cars and the rise in popularity of things like drifting, rally racing, and (relatively) low dollar door to door endurance racing series like Chump and LeMons and you get less people that want to sit around all day just to get a total of a minute of track time to show for it..

 

[SPOOLFOOL2]

The spoolfool two cents.

I agree that the numbers have been dwindling over the years. We've seen them go down at events, races and on this board.
This is a naturally occurring thing, as the cars go away and don't come back. There are only a fraction of these cars left that rolled off the assembly line, decades ago.

However, I feel that the people (and vendors ) who are left, are still here because they are very passionate about these things. The folks that really didn't give a crap have moved on. Now that the value of Turbo Buicks has stopped decreasing and is increasing, not as many will be parted out. Hopefully, people will start looking at that neglected car sitting outside their garage as more of an investment.

There will always be a nice following for these cars. They are just too frickin cool! And that's a fact...
Do you guys think that when the Prius is thirty years old, vendors will still be stepping up to invent new parts for it?
I won't be holding my breath on that one.

See you guys at BG.

Happy Spooling.

Mike Barnard

 

[SS/GN]

^^^^ya what he said, see you in BG

 

[TurboTnZ06]

When the C5 Zo6 came out, I think it changed. Forums were nuts over them at the time. 11.99 bone stock. The muscle car wars started again, LS1 vs the 03-04 Terminators, and kept going across more and more makes, even Mercedes and BMW's are stupid fast bone stock. There's just a lot more fast cars to choose from now and the cost to maintain and race is a lot no matter what car you get. Popularity of road course HPDE are also fun to go to, and curves are way more fun than a few seconds in a straight line. For a few hundred bucks, you can run around full tilt at places like Sebring for a few hours. When my oldest daughter is old enough, we're doing Drag Week in my Buick.

 

[WH1]

Speaking of different kinds of racing, everybody should check out the new NCM Motorsports race track across from the Corvette Museum.

 

[Buicksx2]

Nothing about this on their gsca bulletin board, then again it's a ghost town over there. The PR director isn't even posting to and answering his own posts anymore. Good luck and safe travels to all attending.

 

[11.20n1320]

They arent racing with us on saturday from what I read at the top of the post on yellowbullet. If you have ever attempted to put a race together at a track, you cant even guess how much it cost for one day , let alone 4. The cost for the brand X guys will be some where around $125 bucks to test and tune . I dont think there will be to many ricers /locals that will be willing to spend that kind of money during the middle of the week to test and tune. If this is what it takes to keep it alive so be it. We wont be racing them in the Buick program, only test and tune. The fun Ford weekend at our home track,Gatewayn Motorsports park, opened it up to all makes to help offset the cost. Its becoming a common thing at tracks all over. I spoke with Bob Slussr years ago and we told each other we would continue to go to BG till it was no more. We all are getting older and is harder for us to even make it out for test and tune. I look forward to BG ever year and will continue to do so as long as I can. So screw it , gas your Buick up come to BG run it like you stole it and if it breaks there are people there that will help you fix it. Been going for 24 years ,this wont stop me from going.
DDay

 

[GN87Mike]

I agree David. We have been going to BG for 23 years and although the Saturday crowd last year was up, the test and tune days of Wednesday and Thursday in recent years are nowhere close to as large as they were in the past. If it takes opening the test and tune days to anyone to be able to keep them I would rather do that than loose the extra days.

Mike

 

[TurboTnZ06]

Thursday is my favorite day at BG, just hang out, run the car all day long. No car show, no reaction time pressure, just go have fun and wrench on the Buick.