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I haven't had much to say here lately, but this time I gotta speak out...
Man, did I have a great time at New Hendry.
I love adding a new track to my list, and it's even better when it is a grand opening, or a newly-reopened place. Having only seen a few pictures before, I didn't have a clue how things were laid out. As the odeometer clicked over to 237 miles from home, I started finding out.
A single lane, dirt road is the entrance way into what I assumed would be the parking lot. Apparently, it IS the man parking lot. Found a lot with parking for a hundred cars or so, and even that area was being leveled off with a front end loader when we pulled in. An hour befor race time, and NO parking.
Went into the stands, and lo & behold, NO seating either (we had to scrounge 2 seats in 2 different rows just to stay close to our group). Went for a beer, and found my first disappointment... already out of Bud and close to running out of Bud Light (an hour before the races started!). Small details like that didn't stop us... we had 18 cold ones in the car, and a few pockets that can smuggle a few brews in.
Grabbed a bite at one of the food trailers and had a real good combo with Gator Bites, Gator Ribs, and Swamp Cabbage Fritters... well worth the wait and cost ($8).
Even found myself in the company of some fine Karnacians... Jim Groff, Larry TG, even Jack Smith (sorta strange, I think, for both of us... told him "I was gonna use my old Karnac Credentials to get in free tonight, but thought better of it!) and my first time meeting Front Stretch, who was gracious enough to think of me as they were heading to the track, and brought me a real nice bag full of Steamed Shrimp... what a killer snack when I got home... Thank You again, so much!!!
Well, it's "5 Minutes till the Drivers Meeting".... except we heard that 3 or 4 different times.... and each time, another group of cars is going out for hot laps. How can they have a drivers meeting with half of the field coming off the track, currently on the track, or waiting to get out on the track? Short delay for the Drivers Meeting.
Nice surpise at hearing over 110 cars in the pits, 19 of them being Late Models (cool to see Chuck Julian from Apopka there... all of 15 minutes from my home, over 200 miles away.... nice job of support Chuck!). Also cool to see Jeff Choquette wiping the dust off an old Barry Wright Chassis car to help support this new track. Problems early in the feature took him out from about 9th place at the time.
This section here is for the guys....
Sunshine Speedway will probably go down in history as the track with the best percentage of HOT women racefans, at any track... but New Hendry is pretty close. Whether your looking for an 18 year old, or a mid-50's, THEY WERE THERE!!!! My son and I are considering a move to Clewiston for this one reason only!
Back to racin'. From the first green lap lap, the dust was unreal. I've seen worse, but rarely. Once I got used to ignoring turn 1, that I couldn't really see anyhow, I watched some pretty damned good racing, especially he earliest races. The Street Stock race had, I would guess, about 6 or 7 lead changes, among 3 or 4 different cars.
Gotta give the track crew a lot of credit. They never gave up on the surface, kept watering, and did the best they could. Nobody nneded to tell the track officials that this was a problem, and I'm sure they will work their asses off to cure that problem.
There was a little bit of dis-organization, but that is to be expected, and I've seen MUCH worse, even from tracks that run a crappy show week after week, year after year, and never improve on it.
Most tracks are pulling their hair out, trying to find a way to bring cars and fans. New Hendry had MORE of each than they could comfortably accomodate. This is a "problem' that will have Ken sleeping well at nights. The dust problem was a big one (yet, I didn't hear one bit of complaint, even from the teeny-bopper girls sitting near us... you know the kind of attitude that a girl of that age can be toting around with her!)
I'm sure the numbers will be down somewhat in the pits and stands from now on, but I think they have a really solid base to work from. The fans went home happy, the track crew was probably relieved that it went as smooth as it did (although I'm sure there were things the general public never saw), and I would bet that over 90% of those people will come out there again.
Another observation: Those South Florida fans are well traveled fans. I saw T-shirts from Calistoga CA Speedway, DIRT Modifieds, Jason Myers WoO shirts, Rick Eckert WoOLM racer, Chili-Bowl shirts. For a fan base that has NO home track, these people look they will travels great distances to keep up with their sport. Most people had a shirt either supporting a local team, a national racer (almost NO Nascar stuff!!!), or a Series. But, by far, the biggest support I saw, was for Patrick Sheltra who now runs the ARCA Series (and has a WIN this year).
Above Average:
Crowd - size
The Eye Candy - The girls in Clewiston were a verrrrry pleasant surprise. I thought it was gonna rival Bithlo as "The Home of the Heiffer".
Car Count
Food selections
Crowd - friendliness
Crowd - actual race fans, not a bunch of yocals that only came so they could say "I was there".
Average:
Lighting
PA System
Beer Sales - good to have a seperate beer booth, but reallllllllly bad to run OUT of beer!
Overall track appearance - inside the gates is very nice.
Below Average:
Dust - It really is pretty bad, but did get somewhat controlled towards the end (more water and less blistering heat & sunlight both probably contrubuted)
Parking - None to be had. My handicapped friend was almost forced into the loooooong walk from the end of the driveway, up to the ticket booth, as they would not let us take him there by car (and then move the car out the driveway). We were simply told that "Handicap parking is full... you'll have to park over there (the landfill area)."
Outside the gates, your only steps away from what seems like a landfill.
Drink Concessions - from what I could see, there was only 1 place to get liquids. One booth, 2 lines, no back-up (at least when I got to the window). This line was made worse by the fact that the "other' beer lines had RUN OUT OF BEER. If you wanted one, you had to stand in the line with all the others. We're talking about a 20-30 minute line. If there wasn't such long watering delays between races, I would have missed one, possibly 2 races, just to get something to drink. This HAS to be improved.
I heard that someone on another post had givien this track/show a "B" Grade, and I think I'll have to agree. I believe the track conditions will improve, the directing of races will get better (the track will REQUIRE the Raceceiver System next year), and they will find a way to NOT RUN OUT OF BUD!!!
Great time... I will be back!
Man, did I have a great time at New Hendry.
I love adding a new track to my list, and it's even better when it is a grand opening, or a newly-reopened place. Having only seen a few pictures before, I didn't have a clue how things were laid out. As the odeometer clicked over to 237 miles from home, I started finding out.
A single lane, dirt road is the entrance way into what I assumed would be the parking lot. Apparently, it IS the man parking lot. Found a lot with parking for a hundred cars or so, and even that area was being leveled off with a front end loader when we pulled in. An hour befor race time, and NO parking.
Went into the stands, and lo & behold, NO seating either (we had to scrounge 2 seats in 2 different rows just to stay close to our group). Went for a beer, and found my first disappointment... already out of Bud and close to running out of Bud Light (an hour before the races started!). Small details like that didn't stop us... we had 18 cold ones in the car, and a few pockets that can smuggle a few brews in.
Grabbed a bite at one of the food trailers and had a real good combo with Gator Bites, Gator Ribs, and Swamp Cabbage Fritters... well worth the wait and cost ($8).
Even found myself in the company of some fine Karnacians... Jim Groff, Larry TG, even Jack Smith (sorta strange, I think, for both of us... told him "I was gonna use my old Karnac Credentials to get in free tonight, but thought better of it!) and my first time meeting Front Stretch, who was gracious enough to think of me as they were heading to the track, and brought me a real nice bag full of Steamed Shrimp... what a killer snack when I got home... Thank You again, so much!!!
Well, it's "5 Minutes till the Drivers Meeting".... except we heard that 3 or 4 different times.... and each time, another group of cars is going out for hot laps. How can they have a drivers meeting with half of the field coming off the track, currently on the track, or waiting to get out on the track? Short delay for the Drivers Meeting.
Nice surpise at hearing over 110 cars in the pits, 19 of them being Late Models (cool to see Chuck Julian from Apopka there... all of 15 minutes from my home, over 200 miles away.... nice job of support Chuck!). Also cool to see Jeff Choquette wiping the dust off an old Barry Wright Chassis car to help support this new track. Problems early in the feature took him out from about 9th place at the time.
This section here is for the guys....
Sunshine Speedway will probably go down in history as the track with the best percentage of HOT women racefans, at any track... but New Hendry is pretty close. Whether your looking for an 18 year old, or a mid-50's, THEY WERE THERE!!!! My son and I are considering a move to Clewiston for this one reason only!
Back to racin'. From the first green lap lap, the dust was unreal. I've seen worse, but rarely. Once I got used to ignoring turn 1, that I couldn't really see anyhow, I watched some pretty damned good racing, especially he earliest races. The Street Stock race had, I would guess, about 6 or 7 lead changes, among 3 or 4 different cars.
Gotta give the track crew a lot of credit. They never gave up on the surface, kept watering, and did the best they could. Nobody nneded to tell the track officials that this was a problem, and I'm sure they will work their asses off to cure that problem.
There was a little bit of dis-organization, but that is to be expected, and I've seen MUCH worse, even from tracks that run a crappy show week after week, year after year, and never improve on it.
Most tracks are pulling their hair out, trying to find a way to bring cars and fans. New Hendry had MORE of each than they could comfortably accomodate. This is a "problem' that will have Ken sleeping well at nights. The dust problem was a big one (yet, I didn't hear one bit of complaint, even from the teeny-bopper girls sitting near us... you know the kind of attitude that a girl of that age can be toting around with her!)
I'm sure the numbers will be down somewhat in the pits and stands from now on, but I think they have a really solid base to work from. The fans went home happy, the track crew was probably relieved that it went as smooth as it did (although I'm sure there were things the general public never saw), and I would bet that over 90% of those people will come out there again.
Another observation: Those South Florida fans are well traveled fans. I saw T-shirts from Calistoga CA Speedway, DIRT Modifieds, Jason Myers WoO shirts, Rick Eckert WoOLM racer, Chili-Bowl shirts. For a fan base that has NO home track, these people look they will travels great distances to keep up with their sport. Most people had a shirt either supporting a local team, a national racer (almost NO Nascar stuff!!!), or a Series. But, by far, the biggest support I saw, was for Patrick Sheltra who now runs the ARCA Series (and has a WIN this year).
Above Average:
Crowd - size
The Eye Candy - The girls in Clewiston were a verrrrry pleasant surprise. I thought it was gonna rival Bithlo as "The Home of the Heiffer".
Car Count
Food selections
Crowd - friendliness
Crowd - actual race fans, not a bunch of yocals that only came so they could say "I was there".
Average:
Lighting
PA System
Beer Sales - good to have a seperate beer booth, but reallllllllly bad to run OUT of beer!
Overall track appearance - inside the gates is very nice.
Below Average:
Dust - It really is pretty bad, but did get somewhat controlled towards the end (more water and less blistering heat & sunlight both probably contrubuted)
Parking - None to be had. My handicapped friend was almost forced into the loooooong walk from the end of the driveway, up to the ticket booth, as they would not let us take him there by car (and then move the car out the driveway). We were simply told that "Handicap parking is full... you'll have to park over there (the landfill area)."
Outside the gates, your only steps away from what seems like a landfill.
Drink Concessions - from what I could see, there was only 1 place to get liquids. One booth, 2 lines, no back-up (at least when I got to the window). This line was made worse by the fact that the "other' beer lines had RUN OUT OF BEER. If you wanted one, you had to stand in the line with all the others. We're talking about a 20-30 minute line. If there wasn't such long watering delays between races, I would have missed one, possibly 2 races, just to get something to drink. This HAS to be improved.
I heard that someone on another post had givien this track/show a "B" Grade, and I think I'll have to agree. I believe the track conditions will improve, the directing of races will get better (the track will REQUIRE the Raceceiver System next year), and they will find a way to NOT RUN OUT OF BUD!!!
Great time... I will be back!
thank you for the kind words we had so much to deal with saturday night but i think ken did his best to try and pull this off . and beleive me his number one priority is to get the track in better shape he was not pleased with the dust either . and i know he will work on it every week till it gets right . i too was surprised at the crowd we had and very thrilled also i worked the ticket booth there i worked the last window . it was exciting to see everyone come out and support us on our opening night . everyone seemed to be excited to be there . ken has had alot of support from alot of people to get this place in shape and he is so grateful for everyones help and i hope you come back and visit us some time and if ya do give me a holler at the ticket booth just call me nanny lol . this place can only get better and it will in time thanks everyone for the support and work to get this track open again . see ya all next week !!
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