September 2018

[lake_harley]

Any idea of how many entries there might be for Blytheville this weekend? I only live about 2 Hr. North of Blytheville and I am hoping the car count is a bit better than the meet earlier this year. Even with a lower than hoped for car count at the last meet, it was an interesting day, and I'm hoping this weekend might be better yet. The weather forecast is looking great!

Lynn

[wfojohn]

Sign up is too expensive for me. My equipment needs testing and sorted before I spend that kind of money.

[olepaw]

Pricey for me too. Ohio was a amount and Arkansas is 3 times that . Of course I live in Ohio. Wish I could go.

[lake_harley]

I registered with ECTA so I could see a listing of entries. If it's up-to-date there are 50 entries. It seems that was about the number of entries at the 2-day meet a few months ago. I was certainly hoping for a larger turn out. Anyone have any inside info now that Thursday registration has happened?

Thanks

Lynn

[wfojohn]

Everyone is free to make their own decision and if expenses to put the meet on require the entries to be where they have set them then I guess they have no choice. I choose to sit it out thinking that the records are not certified and when I added up the season entry fee it makes us think we should consider B'ville. I hate to do it that way because I am within 2 1/2 hours of them and would like to run with the ECTA again. We ran Maxton a couple times and Ohio a couple times and before moving here I ran El Mirage multiple times and in the 80's we ran B'ville 3 times so I'm not a newby but unfortunately costs have to be considered. We are presently building 2 bikes, One is so over budget we started throwing receipts away - don't want to know  , of course I'm further behind that I should be but we have an old record holder or 2 that we could dust off if we could justify it.

When we did run with the ECTA in the past we enjoyed it.

[lake_harley]

Regardless what the car count might be, my wife and I are heading to Blytheville in the morning. Having a meet so close I'd feel bad if I didn't support it so it has a chance to continue. Going to B'ville is probably never going to happen for me.

I'd love for there to be 100+ cars and bikes, but being on the spectator side of things is no doubt quite different. I understand though, what sounds like frustration over the financial side of participating at Blytheville. Just curious, what was the entry fee at Maxton or Ohio?

Lynn

[lake_harley]

Went to Blytheville today with my wife. I got a reported 50-70 competitor count depending on who I asked. I'm amazed at how extreme friendly and informative the crew are when walking in the pits. Great weather and lots of quick cars and bikes.

I talked with them at the "timing trailer" about the possibility of running my bone-stock '89 Corvette next year. In reading the class rules before, I could never quite figure out where it might fit in class, but now I have some guidance to read up a bit more to consider it. At 66 years old I guess I'd better get with the program if I ever want to do it.

Blytheville seems like a great venue for the LSR competition and I particularly love the location since it's only ~2 Hr. from home. Given it's location with good highways feeding into it, I'd hope the meet could grow in the future.

Lynn

[Bookfla]

The event is pricey. More at the price-point of the Texas Mile than other racing venues. I went to the opening event and "wasted" my pre-entry fee thinking the event would be sold out since the ECTA had missed a year. So much for that thought process. That event was so windy I could not understand what it was not cancelled. (I have my own opinions on that)

Moving forward the one thing I was concerned about at this venue is wind. My PS bike is "touchy" at 8-10mph wind speeds. The location of the track is very susceptible to wind due to geographic surroundings. I'm logging the winds speeds at their races and looking at weather bureau history to get a feel for the location before I go again.   

[ronnieroadster]

 Looks like at least one racer enjoyed the event he made about 70 passes in his Challenger. Possibly checking gas mileage at speed?  Lots of us right coast racers are hoping one day that maybe the ECTA will come East once again until then looks like some of us will just stay home.  I for one enjoyed racing at Maxton and Ohio we learned so much and when we made it to Bonneville everything we learned paid off.   
 Ronnieroadster

[OrangeCrushin]

Conditions were fantastic, you shouldn't let local inclimate weather during spring rain season dictate your opinion of an event for an entire year. We never saw more than 5mph all weekend. Lest you want to end up like everyone who could've-should've-would've shown up to Bonneville, this year.

Lots of runs for everyone, with cars rolling out about every 40-50 seconds.

[aircap]

Attended my first ECTA event "crewing" for a pal driving his 2006 Mustang GT. He already had the D/BFSS record just below 150, and we bumped it up by 3.4MPH to get 152.8. He's elated to say the least. Keith Turk signed his helmet, and upgraded his license. Great track - very smooth, well managed race (Keith is leaving, I heard?).

The guy running the Challenger Hellcat was like a bracket car - run 175, get back in line, run 175, get back in line. Several Torino Talledegas, a couple Studebakers, some Camaros, bunch of bikes. Retired NASCAR shoe Dave Marcis had a blast running a late model stocker all weekend. Some vintage stuff, some oddball, one lakester (Iron Dinosaur Racing?).

If you can't hit the salt, this is a good alternative.

[Rich Shiedlak]

   I agree that Blytheville is not Ohio or North Carolina for sure.And the car-bike counts are low this year.But at least it seemed to be a well run event,plenty of room,nice helpful volunteers and some place to run,period.Motel an food is reasonable,close by and passable.Racing is expensive for sure,we all know what a cart of groceries costs now days.Do you think will prices will come down to Maxton costs,don't think so.Did we forget how Wendover gouges us evertime we go to Bonneville?I think we need to support this new group and quit looking for excuses to not go there.
   We went out to see the condition of the facilities to possibly run a 280 mph lakester in the future.As well as a couple Bonneville bikes for next year.I belive its a good place for tune up for Speedweek,even at a mile,but plenty of shut off.
    My complaint is mostly with the lack of communication between the people running the events and the people interested in going to the course and competing.Even the ECTA forums are pretty lame.I admit Im not on a regular basis on any forums,more the lurker than anything,and always have been.Plan to change that.Just my 2 cents.Nice job this last weekend.  Rich

[250 ninja guy]

This was my first time at Arkansas. I raced Maxton and Ohio multiple times . The weather was fantastic. As always the people are the best part. The new owners are terrific. I am looking forward to running next year. Plenty of runs.
Go my 250 ninja up to 118 mph.

[ronnieroadster]

My thoughts bring it more East and they will come. 

[bearingburner]

You can't get much further east than Loring.