Mission

Will, what hapened to my thread on the winners at Mission?
Kevin

 

OK, was not sure if'n I said something wrong...

Anyway...Congrats to the Winners at Mission!

Peace, Kevin

 

HEY KEVIN- FOR A CHANGE, NEITHER YOU OR I STUCK OUR FOOT IN OUR MOUTH! LOL

 

I know....isn't life grand!

Kevin

 

I had a long talk today with Steve Boggs, and it reaffirmed my thoughts that the guy is a classy and honorable guy and a one of the best if not the best crew chief out there (i picked him as the best, remember). I thanked him for his insight and if it had of been done in the same matter by another person none of the slinging would have happened. Steve hit the nail on the head with his conversation with me.
Sorry for the rand yesterday,based on today's talk it did not need to happen.

Dean

 

OK,let me get this right. You said in the other post that was erased Boggs would not call at my request..... and then he did. Then you go on to say Boggs is a classey, honorable guy(something I has always known) with insight with no mention of what his insight to the track, preperation or scheduling was. If I say it it's slinging if he say's it its insight....Now thats fair reporting.

 

<<DING DING>>> round 2 has just begun.....

 

Sounds like I missed the excitement. Hmmm, let me guess. Is Dean sticking up for another dog sh*t track north of the border???

[ May 13, 2004, 11:34 PM: Message edited by: T.Smith ]

 

Mission is still a good track, but it is not what it once was. I had stated on the deleted thread that the air was awesome, the starting line was ok but the transition from concrete to asphalt was horrible. Without going into specifics, that made it especially difficult for tuning an a/fueler combo. Obviously the alcohol cars ran very well. I'm not complaining because I know a/fuel has had an advantage for a while now. I guess my point is that Mitch has a legitimate shot at the championship and every race is important. He should be able to state his opinion of the track conditions (which I believe to be accurate) without it being seen as an excuse for smoking the tires. I also agree with what he said about how well we are treated by the people at the track up there - they are awesome!

 

Okay, here is what he said. Before I start, he did state to me that he does not like to get into debates on the internet because of where it can lead, he prefers to go out and do his job on the race track.

I will not debate this or get into any pissing contest after this post so you guys can debate this until you are blue in the face. I for one carried it too far, and should not have I should have let it go.

Steve Boggs rated Mission Raceway track prep between a 7 and an 8. He said for a divisional track there was not too many that do much better of a job. He said there were only a couple things he would have liked to see the track do (or officials, whoever is in charge at this particular event). Scrape the starting line after all the super class cars ran before the alky cars ran. Much like the NHRA does prior to their pro classes. After all, the Alky cars are the pros at divisional's. Very well said on his part and I agree 100%. Secondly, he feels that at a divisional event the people running the event should cater more to the alky cars, during the schedule, particularly during weather interruptions. Much like what happens at a national event. He said that only Division 2 does a real good job of running a divisional event in relation to the Alcohol cars. But, he also said that Mission overall was one of the best he has seen. His last statement to me was as follows, and I quote, " we plain ole got our asses whooped, we did not make the right call on adjusting to the track and we smoked the tires".
He also said that even if the track did the proper prep prior to us running we may have smoked the tires. It is the nature of A/Fuel Dragsters.

The track has a pretty good tractor scraper and sweeper system as well as a jet dryer and a good VHT system. He felt they could have used those resources better.

Here is what I would like to add.

Mission Raceway is a facility that has more potential than any other divisional track in North America. If it was big enough for a national event NHRA would be on it like bees to honey. They would also be there to prep the track which is the "KEY".
Mission is a fast national event track because it is pretty smooth (other than the transition, it is sea level and it never gets hot there. The cars produce more HP here than probably any one track there is. But that is the problem. All that HP produced can not be utilized because they only prep it too divisional standards.
If the prep they do at Mission was at Woodburn, Salt Lake Topeka, Brainerd, Atco or anywhere in between it would be fine, because the cars don't need as good of a surface. And for this Steve agreed with me completely.
One of the problems is that a lot of teams remember Mission 6-12 years ago when it was not only new, fast and smooth, it had a track race director that was meticulous in prep. He scrubbed the surface with Tide laundry soap. Since then the surface has deteriorated and the resources are not available to keep it at the earlier levels. An older surface requires more work; they don't have the dollars required.
Is the surface a ten, no it used to be it is now a nine. Is the prep a ten, no, now it is a 7-8. It is crap, no, it is about as good as the above average divisional track is.

Most teams would kill to race on the surface. A/Fuel is still a learning curve and Steve Boggs went away with more info to log in his vast TAD mind.
Was he mad he smoked the tires, yes, was there a few changes he probably should have made, yes, should the track (Actually NHRA, they are in charge)have scraped and sprayed before TA? Yes they should have. It was a rushed Sunday due to the potential for more bad weather, they did not want to have to run on Monday. There was very little down time Sunday, so the tractor was not taken out of its perch.

Hope this helps for all to understand. Again I apologize for getting personal and getting into a pissing contest. But I do and will continue to defend MRP.

I guess the best thing for teams that were unhappy about the turn of events, is to email or write a letter to the respective Division director, and tell him what you think they could have done better.

Out of all the quality cars that were there and ran in the same conditions, only one "turd" ran 270 or more, so it was not that easy. Not "anyone could do it". And out of the cars that were there in TAD, three of them finished one, two or three in the world in the last three years.

If the original posts about Mission had of been relayed in the manner in which Steve said them to me instead of the rant, there would have been no problem.

Dean

 

Dean, your explaination of Steve's comments really make quite clear this, including your attacks on me. Your explaination of what Steve said is dead on. It's funny though I see no....absolutly NO differerance in it as compared to what I said. My comments were:

#1 the track was not prepared properly, especially after elim's started.

#2 The air -300 to -400 was far better than the track could hold.

#3 The scheduling (running 1st roun at 3:45pm after 3+ hours of door cars) was non condusive to the faster cars track requirments...esp. without track prep.

#4the Mission track from the concrete on is not in the best of conditions and seriously in need of work...at least to allow the cars the potential of the barometer.

#5 The folks at Mission are great and have always treated us good.

In closing I would like to note that it is myself and many others who strap themselfs into a 260+ mph 250 thousand dollar car at these tracks. Not Dean Murdoch or any other keyboard pilot. If I see track conditions or track prep. that is sub standard I'm gonna speak my mind and should not be critisized for doing it. You see I keep my mouth shut and sacrifised a brand new car at Boise at over 200 mph in 1997 at a junk track in sub par conditions and i believe that I was instermental in getting the changes including gaurd rails changed there. What about sacramento.....should we all keep quite? Dean took my comments as personal attacks on his home track....they were not and i think anyone with a brain could see that ( right Russ Parker?). What Dean thinks really does not matter to me or effect my team, businesses, or efforts in any of my ventures. I will continue to support the safest, best racing, track prep, and the NHRA in the future not only on behalf of EPHA Racing but on behalf of all of my fellow competitors.

Mitch Myers

 

Have you send your concerns to Mike Rice, NHRA or Mission Raceway, instead of just here on a message board.

Dean

 

It really is not any of your business if I did or did not. But, FYI I have not only sent it to Mike but I have also CC headquarters. I also expressed to Mike, Ray and others including a walk down the track with Ray Rice, Steve, and myself and a few others at the track.

 

It really is not any of your business if I did or did not. But, FYI I have not only sent it to Mike but I have also CC headquarters. I also expressed to Mike, Ray and others including a walk down the track with Ray Rice, Steve, and myself and a few others at the track.

 

Sorry for the double post!!! Also I want to thank all of the many fellow racers not only in my class but others who have sent me private messages in support of my comments. Your all the best and thats why I love racing against and with you....Thanks.

Mitch

 

"DING"

 

Canada sucks!

 

Ya we do , and life goes on
Dean

 

CH3 NO2 -profile info = occupation - pimp!- gues you would be an expert on what sucks and what doesn't, SO NO ARGUEMENT HERE!