| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| ZenzenRacing |
Posted - 03/04/2009 : 14:05:27
To the people that have asked, no I have not heard anything on both. Into March now, would be nice. Let you know when I know!! |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Travis Sorokie |
Posted - 04/12/2009 : 14:12:37
Well...I'm OUT!!!
Although, after reading the new payout format...I might have to get involved with the Out Patient program. I'm all for a 'top heavy' payout, but I think a lot of people are going to be upset for not paying 3rd Rd loser (if I read it correctly). Time will tell I guess.
See ya in Staging!!!
5939 S/ST
58 SS/KA
Internet Forum Racer Rehab Room #101---checking out soon! |
| Travis Sorokie |
Posted - 03/16/2009 : 13:29:22
Not out quite yet. My parents and girlfriend just stopped by to take me out to lunch (limited release). They tell me I should be home for Easter.
Can't wait for the NEW Brainerd Raceway web page to solve all remaining questions about the racing program...only a few more hours away!!!
See ya in Staging!!!
5939 S/ST
58 SS/KA
Internet Forum Racer Rehab Room #101---checking out soon! |
| stronglikebull |
Posted - 03/14/2009 : 23:07:34
Oh, and by the way travis i see you must have checked out today, cause I came by room 101 at the rehab ward around noon to visit but all i seen was a dirty bed pan and some crayon drawings of cars on the wall, congrats on getting out and i hope every thing is fine!!With LOve and affection, THE COLONEL P.S.I'm using StrongLikeBull's handel cause i can't think of one of my own!Thanks joe |
| stronglikebull |
Posted - 03/14/2009 : 22:45:17
Davey, I'll take that as ahhh,,, it went well today, see ya monday!! |
| TIN INDIAN |
Posted - 03/14/2009 : 21:57:15
Well said Tony. I do not complain, I am from the school of if you do not like what you are watching then switch the channel.
Which is why I did not go to BIR last year, cept for the Nationals.
I like what I am hearing from Bill so I will be back this year for a new try at the track that got me into this drug addiction we call Drag Racing 
Bottom line, S/SS, Bracket 1,2 Sportsman or weekend warrior Show & goer, We are all car guys and love what we do.
So lets get in the lanes,do a burn out ( my favorite part ) prestage-stage and hammer down  Oh and in my case WIN !!!
Winter was way too long I am ready.
Joey, I will pick you up at 8:00 am for dyno day.
SEE YOU ALL IN 4 WEEKS !!!   
Davey |
| Lenny5160 |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 11:52:39
I spent and hour on the phone with Bill as he was preparing his last post. I have generally been a BIR detractor on this and other message boards over the last 10 years or so, and Bill made the effort to reach out to me for my opinions in an effort to make the "BIR Experience" better. The jury is still far from a conclusion, but that mentality by someone in a position to make a difference is already a huge step forward for the place.
Tony Leonard |
| Bill @ BIR Tech |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 11:43:27
Thanks Ron,
It was a good conversation. There are lots of things happening behind the scenes that we don’t post about or talk about in public. The reason being is it may be an idea that we can’t get done in time or we find an issue that makes it a bad idea after all. We don’t want to make a posting or statement that will come back to haunt us. Look back to 2003, there was a letter that went out talking about lighted softball fields and a new Tech Building that was going to be ready by the first race. I still get asked about those and many other “ideas” that leaked out and never happened. There are times that I ask questions on message boards to get a general feeling, knowing that only a small percentage of racers will read it and reply. For example, we have a Drag Race school coming here for a corporate event in June, the school owner, a former NHRA and IHRA class champ, asked me yesterday if there was any interest in having him stay on for 2-3 days and run a Drag School at our track. (This will be posted in another thread.)
Yes, in many cases it takes WAY more time & effort to repair something then to just replace it or move on. Ron I know that your passion is S/SS racing but many of the issues we’ve spoken about over the last 9 months affect all racers not just your class, I value your input and your years of experience. The new owners and the track staff are committed to making this program work for everybody. Will we make everybody happy? Nope. Will we try? Absolutely.
There are people on this and other boards that will never come back to BIR for one reason or another. I respect that. There certainly are businesses out there that I don’t patronize because of one thing or another. Sometimes they’ve left because of a perceived problem, a run in with a particular track person, or a decision that was made that they didn’t agree with that affected them negatively. All valid reasons for not choosing to spend your hard earned dollars at this or any other establishment. My question to you is this, what if things changed and that problem wasn’t a problem anymore. What if that thing that pissed you off got fixed? Then would you give it a shot?
We’ve made lots of changes in the last year with more on the way, procedural changes, personnel changes, property changes and attitude changes. Does it make sense to drive past this track to go to one in Iowa? Yea, sometimes it does. But sometimes it doesn’t. I can’t fix what I don’t know about. Sometimes I can’t fix it even if I do know about it but I can try and minimize its effect. I’ve reached out to racers that are unhappy with us to see what made them unhappy and to see if that pain point can be eliminated or again minimized. The reason I say this is simple, think about what made you mad. Type it out, tell me what you don’t like AND WHY you don’t like it. I don’t want this to be a BIR Bashing thread so if you want to voice an opinion or relate a story please send me an e-mail at tech@brainerdraceway.com I promise to read every one and get back to you in some way. Please include your contact info.
This doesn’t always work out. In fact sometimes it fails spectacularly. Last year I talked a former co-worker (from GE) into coming back here after being gone 8+ years. He showed up willing to give us another shot but waiting for us to fail. He had a great Friday, Saturday worked out even better; he won money in a gamblers race and was having a blast. Saturday night he told me he was planning on coming back for the remaining races of 2008 and would be back next year (2009). Sunday came and he was all smiles when he got to the line for first round eliminations in the Super Pro category. He was the faster car and he was ready to take his first win. Until that moment he had never raced at a track that uses Crosstalk, he didn’t even know what it was. He went RED by a mile. That .5 seconds erased all the previous fun he had and he again vowed never to come back. He had a great weekend right up to the moment his top bulb came on. I had listened to him over the years and taken care of all of his other complaints and issues regarding why he didn’t like coming here. When that Crosstalk activated and he lost on a red light that was “the tracks fault”, we went back to being “the same old Brainerd” in his eyes. I don’t know what else we could have done at that time. Going forward we will try to make racers more aware of procedures from now on.
I do know this; at the Division 5 track operators meeting this January Rob Parks stood up after the track introductions and told us to look around the room, he said that 2 or 3 of the tracks in division 5 will be closed by the end of this year because of the economy. We don’t want to be one of those tracks. I don’t want it to be Interstate, Rock Falls or Grove Creek either. If one of us goes away it hurts all of us, racers included. We want BIR and the other local tracks to not only be a place where YOU want to come and race but we want you to bring a friend and get them just as excited about racing as you are.
Thanks for the space,
Bill Johnson
Director of Operations
Brainerd International Raceway
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| Kelly Gjovig |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 11:13:33
quote:
Originally posted by Travis Sorokie
Andy...even with those 2-rd buy backs for the most part it's only a 7rd race usually. Interstates car count has gone down a lot in the past years. I was there two times last season, and I don't think there were more that 64 cars on the property. Usually Bracket 1 is lucky to have 24-32 cars, and Bracket 2 about 45-50.
I have to admit Ron, your message has me intrigued. I might have to call Bill over lunch.
See ya in Staging!!!
5939 S/ST
58 SS/KA
Internet Forum Racer Rehab Room #101---checking out soon!
Whoaaaa!!! easy on those car count #'s Travis, maybe 5 years ago. Last year super pro was lucky to get 10 cars for the sunday program and pro would get anywhere from 20-25. a couple weekends S/P had only 5. The weekend you came for the ndra jackpot was the largest crowd they had in a while. The previous owner burned alot of bridges over the last few yrs. |
| Lenny5160 |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 10:12:20
Travis, those car counts sound Rock Falls-esque to me. Even they can pay equal or better with no buybacks. Have we sunk far enough to use Uncle Al as someone to look up to?
Of course the Rock does have a zillion trophy cars to prop things up a bit on race day, let alone one of the nation's more expensive test days and the import days.
Disclaimer: I don't complain about tracks anymore. I'll share my negative opinion if I have one, but if I don't like things at a track I just go elsewhere. There are way too many whiners out there so I try to be quiet and find a place that suits me.
Tony Leonard |
| Travis Sorokie |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 09:10:20
Andy...even with those 2-rd buy backs for the most part it's only a 7rd race usually. Interstates car count has gone down a lot in the past years. I was there two times last season, and I don't think there were more that 64 cars on the property. Usually Bracket 1 is lucky to have 24-32 cars, and Bracket 2 about 45-50.
I have to admit Ron, your message has me intrigued. I might have to call Bill over lunch.
See ya in Staging!!!
5939 S/ST
58 SS/KA
Internet Forum Racer Rehab Room #101---checking out soon! |
| ZenzenRacing |
Posted - 03/13/2009 : 00:00:34
Looked like I was headed for that open room at RE-HAB, but after an hour on the phone with Bill from BIR I'm cured. We talked about everything from payouts to track improvements to the way the races will be run. It all sounded good, and I'm not easy to please. I always forget it takes twice the time to unscrew the things that got screwed up over the years. I'm willing to wait and see all this plays out over the next month. And I don't mean just S & SS, all the classes. One thing I will stop doing is sounding like I'm representing other people. Never have I intended to do that!!! From now on I will only worry about our three cars. PERIOD !! It must have ----ed -ff some people. Again, looking forward to good news coming out of BIR!! See you at the RACES!! RJ |
| andyschmall |
Posted - 03/12/2009 : 20:29:53
One more thing... I just saw their 2009 payout ladder and besides the fact that I was really confused by everything, I believe I saw that there are 2nd round buy backs?!?!? How many rounds should a race be? |
| andyschmall |
Posted - 03/12/2009 : 20:23:55
According to Interstate's website, they have an $80 entry fee for super pro and only pay 600 and as far back as the semis?? Pro is a $70 entry, only $500 to win, and also pays back to the semis. Hopefully they pay farther back if they get more cars... |
| Travis Sorokie |
Posted - 03/12/2009 : 20:00:03
Yep Kelly I am....Dustin Jones tipped me off to the new web page a few days ago....thanks though.
I didn't hear that about the bracket program. Buy backs and box runs no box I assume???
See ya in Staging!!!
5939 S/ST
58 SS/KA
Internet Forum Racer Rehab Room #101---checking out soon! |
| Kelly Gjovig |
Posted - 03/12/2009 : 18:27:21
Travis, are you talking about the new owner @Intersate?? hopefully the new blood in there will get the facility back on the right track. after last year our family vowed to never return after 20 years of racing. however we will give him a chance. There is a new website check it out. apparently $1000 to win every Sat of each race weekend
quote:
Originally posted by Travis Sorokie
On a positive note---I did have a really great conversation today with a NEW track owner out west who loves the idea of a 2-Day, higher payout USA Stock/Super Stock event. I'm suppose to call him back in April to talk about dates.
See ya in Staging!!!
5939 S/ST
58 SS/KA
Internet Forum Racer Rehab Room #101---checking out soon!
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