Spokane Interest???

[RelictRacing]

Interesting post I found today about SRP...thought I would pass on!
JD
http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=32712

[tokin]

that would really suck.


Pacific Raceways is studying the County’s RFQ and considering how we may respond. We are keenly interested in seeing that Spokane Motorsports Park is developed into a nationally sanctioned, well run and safe racing facility. This means the most important thing right now is to find a qualified, first class operator with the skills and experience to make that happen. The park is currently in extremely poor condition and is not certified for any professional racing events. It’ll take several years, a lot of hard work and substantial resources to accomplish this.

Pacific Raceways has spent the last eight years taking a facility in very similar condition and investing several million dollars into needed safety improvements to receive and maintain professional sanctioning. We currently host an annual NHRA event that attracts 100,000 spectators and over $15 million of new money each year spent in local restaurants, hotels and other businesses by racing fans.


is this part a joke?

[Lizbeth]

I know that it doesn't seem like they have done much work at Pacific but even just in the past 4 years that I have been at the track there has been a lot of work done. Granted, most of it is not to accomodate the motorcycles but from what I have seen and heard they are listening and working more with us. I'm sure the big wigs and people that have been racing longer can give us more info.

We'll see what happens. I just hope that SRP gets up and running again! :)

[jkaiser]

Just watch out for the pot holes....

[Bradley]

Their only interest will be drag racing revenue and the rest of us can bend over and take it in the arse. :leghump: .....Hey maybe they can sell gravel from the infield as well.

"Smell it, Smell it now take it"

[justintime2]

"We’re interested in exploring ways to provide our experience in improving and operating a similar facility for Spokane County. It would be a tragedy, however, if the county decided to allow the facility to continue to operate the way it has been over the past several decades.”

Has this guy been to his own race track recently? This is the biggest pile of BS ever written and if it aint the pot calling the kettle black, please PR, don't make SRP worse than it is now...stay away.

[RickRinaldo123]

"We’re interested in exploring ways to provide our experience in improving and operating a similar facility for Spokane County. It would be a tragedy, however, if the county decided to allow the facility to continue to operate the way it has been over the past several decades.”

Has this guy been to his own race track recently? This is the biggest pile of BS ever written and if it aint the pot calling the kettle black, please PR, don't make SRP worse than it is now...stay away.

It is amazing they would say something like that when you look at the condition of Pacific Raceways (the racetrack and pits).

[dinolee]

Now that Oregon Raceway Park has officially gotten funding (finally) and has started construction, I wonder if they would be interested being the interim managers to get their feet wet before their grand opening?

[Hypnotiq]

Does ORP have a track surface? That's the faith I have in them opening anytime soon. :)

[Bad Dog]

I just read that on my WMRC forum and fell over laughing. He can't even manage PR and wants to run Spokane. Were all fucked, might as well give up now if he gets it, tosser. :withstupid: :mad:

[cord4530]

Does ORP have a track surface? That's the faith I have in them opening anytime soon. :)

I toured ORP a few weeks ago. They're doing ground work to smooth out the course and are drilling nearby for the rock, but it's currently a dirt surface. Put some knobbies on the bike and maybe..... They had several pieces of large excavation equipment going. I don't know what their timeline looks like, but they were putting in course markers about every 15 ft to guide the excavators. I can't imagine they'll have anything ready this year, but they plan to be running events next year.

I haven't heard many people talk about the Pacific Northwest Motorsports park (http://www.pnwmotorsportspark.com/). They had a ground breaking ceremony, but when I drove past I didn't see any progress and there wasn't even any equipment on site.

[thom2002]

haha invested millions in what...the only thing in the road course I've seen change is bigger patches and they cut away the giant bushes in 6....that's about it. O ya and they built a giant steel bleacher for the drags...woopty

I'm sorry but what safety improvements have they even made to the drag strip...it's a straight line with walls....what else can you do haha

[blacktieracing]

Seattle International Raceway (aka Pacific Raceways) was a LOT worse than it is now. Trees right up to the edge of the racing surface, more potholes than downtown Seattle, hay bales and tire walls instead of air fence, a pit area that was like a swamp. I could go on for hours...

With the help of WMRRA and most of the car clubs (none from NHRA btw) it has improved a thousand-fold. And with the assistance of the above-mentioned groups, it will continue to get better. Trees have been cut back, there's WAAAAAY more runoff than there used to be, they even made room for the air fence in places where there was no room, some pretty good pavement, and new corner shacks where there were none. Granted, there's still a lot to do, but you should have seen it before Jason took over...

Improvements take time, people and money. Anyone who's been racing for more than ten years will tell you that life before Jason Fiorito was a freaking nightmare. The previous caretakers (if you could call them that) were without a doubt the worst bunch of losers I've ever had the pain of working with. Even NHRA was talking about bailing out of their weekend and going somewhere else. We would give them money to make improvements and I'm pretty sure that it went to their brewery investments. We couldn't even get them to clean the bathrooms...

You should thank your lucky stars that we actually have an owner who gives a crap, and will ask our opinion about track improvements, instead of not doing anything at all.

Diane T

[RelictRacing]

Touché Diane!!!

[Rubber Ducky]

Diane, thank you for bringing perspective to this thread.

As a riders/racers we possibly tend to focus to the same potholes. Ever present. Ever larger. Ever deeper.

Conversely I trust that when Allister asks his gang to keep negative comments to themselves or channel them through the WMRRA staff is because there ARE efforts to improve things and the nagging would only make these efforts go away. Your historical information seems to confirm that things are happening, maybe not as fast as we'd like, but at least moving in the right direction.

If Jason Fiorito (A fellow italian I trust :) )does decide to take Spokane on I wish him to receive all the help and back up he needs to improve, but specially, re-open SRP.

[justintime2]

Sorry but lack of imporvement isn't justified just because it's better than the last group who ran it. That's a crappy way of setting a bench mark for safety...

[pscook]

I believe that with a little perspective (as Diane has provided), the changes that have been made are a good benchmark for improvements. Yes, some (the grandstands, paving Vintage Ville) are focused towards the drag racers, but I respectfully ask you to contact Chris Denzler about the new tire walls that are used to anchor OUR air fence. According to Chris, these tire walls are much better than any that he has seen, and he has see lots of tire walls during his time traveling around helping to install Air Fence for other clubs and tracks. Another point is the increased runoff and retaining walls outside of turn 7, which was done to improve safety for US, the racers. Granted, the pavement is expiring at an alarming rate, and it appears that the Mini GP track is stalled due to selling all of the gravel for the third runway, but there have been some pretty good things done since I started racing. As a matter of fact, I was just admiring some pictures that were taken in 2002 during my first Novice weekend, which shows how many trees were cleared to create safe run off going down the hill exiting 2B. This action was taken as the Fiorito's took over the management of the track. How about the elimination of the Turn 10 lake? How many racers remember the broom Conga line that we formed a couple of years ago to sweep out the huge puddle that formed every time that it rained. I think that we had 40 people out there cleaning up, and Pacific Raceways, on the spot, created a ditch to move the water off of the racing line. The next season the wall at turn 10 was pushed back 12 feet for more room to race. Exiting the bus stop was a much larger pucker factor then, because the wall had a very blunt corner that stuck out quite a bit further than it does now. This also allowed the track to update the draining for that area, as the run off used to come out of the pits, across the parking lot, and onto the track.

So, yes, improvements have been made. Can they do more? Of course they can. Will they, that remains to be seen. But the fact that they have made these improvements in my short tenure means a lot to me, and I hope that they continue to make further improvements, like the pavement in turn two, eight, and nine. And maybe the back section while they are at it.

[Rubber Ducky]

Justin (nice web site BTW), I don't disagree with your assesment that the bar should be set higher. Unfortunately we are engaged in a discipline that is expensive and requires expensive infrastructure but does not generate significant revenue; it's not a very good combination and certainly not conducive to all needs being addressed.

I just appreciate when people like Diane are able to highlight the improvements we have had while working on pushing for higher standards. Trust me, there is nothing I would like better than finding where the limit is through T2 or the 5-6-7 combo without knowing that I will hit a wall if I screw up . . .