GS nationals Screwing People once again

That is unfortunate circumstances for sure....sorry to hear that happened.

 

Wow!!!! Makes you think twice about hauling a car that far to make the show when there are $$$$ races closer to home.

 

I might be glad I did not make it to my first GS Nats. (New motor was not complete) If I had witnessed stuff like this happening it would be my last. Apparently its been like this as to what others has stated. Now, will I ever want to go? That's the question.

 

Someone is going to be unhappy no matter what, whether it's merited or not. That's the way it is , me and Carswell had words on one occasion as well, no biggie we got over it and moved on. You gotta remember there is ALOT going on and it's only once a year with different personel sa times so it's not like these guys run a program once a month or something. I'm not choosing sides just saying you can't expect an event to not have some sort of "event" that upsets one or more people. The GS Nationals is our event, it's where we gather to support or Buick addiction I've been pissed about things at the Nats too but there is a bigger picture and more to it than my personal satisfaction. Jmo

 

Sorry to hear Wayne and sorry to hear about another black eye for the event. We were still in the infield BSing,eating,and drinking when you left Wayne. As a matter of fact we thought you were gonna stop and shoot the **** for a minute. Love the car and to bad it doesn't fit in GS-R class . I really hope we don't see the last of you at the Nats Wayne,don't let one stunad ruin the event for you. From what I've been hearing around the camp fire,good things are in the works for the future of our beloved GS Nationals,we just need to be patient and let gears fall into place.

 

This by itself shows that changes need to be made.

 

I'm sure if the track owner caught wind of this that changes would have to be made or the event would no longer be welcome at their track!?

Skipping safety like that can't the track lose their sanction or at least be fined? What is that track, NHRA or IHRA? Whichever one they are associated with would either fine the track or kick them out for trying to skip the safety rules? I would think so anyway, there should be some sort of enforcement for the safety rules I would think? Does anyone know who is suppose to enforce those rules?

The safety rules of the track shouldn't be thrown out even if the track is rented out to a private party! Lives are still on the line skipping safety rules, if something happened someone would be liable and probably not that a$$ that thought the safety rules aren't needed!(even though he should be!)

 

X2 Who hasn't had a problem there? If you haven't had a problem at the GS Nationals then you haven't been there enough or you haven't been there. I'm there for the people and their cars. If you haven't been there then either get there or get to some other event. If you don't get to any Buick events then who cares what your opinion is or your reasoning? Wayne's fine car is just on a bigger stage so it is a bigger headache/heartache and I'm sorry it happened. So stupid that they did not co-operate at all.

A couple of points though. As far as I know all you have to do is make 1 qualifing run for Super 16 Friday or Saturday. Any other runs can be made anytime except that the track may not be "prepped" as well as you'd like. They always seemed to allow room to get "exceptional" cars a time run in. The other point is even though it is a "national" event the numbers just aren't there anymore to allow an hour between runs once the field gets down to the semi's. Unfortunately I don't think any Buick event can support that kind of timeline. Usually by then it is pretty much round robin. Even at Cecil County(I was at every event up until the last 2 years when the events bumped heads.) things are moving pretty fast but I'm sure they would have done a better job accomidating Wayne, but not an hour. It's too bad but that is the way it is and no Buick event is going back to the days when the staging lanes were full of classes waiting for the final round of eliminations.

 

We try to run Cecil with 30 minutes in between rounds for round 1 and 2. After that it's whenever drivers are ready. The only reason we rush the early rounds is in case of any issues we can still finish the race by our curfew of 4pm. For most cars 30 minutes is enough time. I am sure if Wayne had more crew help than 1 guy he would have been very close to the 30 minute mark if not under it. Maybe the track was just trying to finish the program and get out of there.

 

I'll weigh in if Tony Rose wants me to. Otherwise I'm on the sidelines.

 

Thanks, As Tony pointed out I was wrong about being the last one out. There was no one left on the asphalt after 6 or so and I assumed everyone was gone. As we pulled out I saw the 3-5 trailers still in the circle track and after waving we said they must be staying inside the night?

We did not want to be trapped inside as I was told the gates would not open until 11 am and we wanted to hit the road in the morning.

Funny thing is we went to the Corvette Museum for the night, and ended up lock in there sometimes you just cant win lol

 

The only issue I ever had with the S-16, was resolved by sending in "the big man" above... He took care of it. Something to do with the winners Plaque that is hanging on the wall over my desk, as I recall..

Richard must attract folks with personality issues.. I thought all that would go away when we got rid of Bennett Jones..

Anyway, I certainly hope that Richard can pass this event to a group of guys with a passion for it, it's always a great time to go see everyone, and I for one would love to come and vend and race there in the future.. sorry I had to miss it this year..

I still want it to get back to the May dates, but that's another can of worms.. Early Oct would be Ok too..

I can see where it would be difficult to wait an hour at the end of the day, with the place emptying out.. The fix of course is to run Round 1 of the S-16 promptly at the beginning of eliminations, and run on the hour after that till completion.. but things happen at drag races that rarely allow schedules to be kept.

Hope to see you there in the future Wayne, I certainly understand personality clashes with the GSCA, but over the years I simply decided that life is too short to stay mad at people, and I am shortchanging myself by not going and enjoying the event and the people.

JW

 

I know I wrote a book but If you look I did choose to skip a round of Qualifying Friday due to short turn around time. We changed things up for the finals to speed things up and since it was 37 min. from last time slip, car turned around this BS and back to the trailer we had to be in the lanes in 25 - 30 min. ?

The issue here is I was told to not worry about the calls to the lanes and that was changed by someone higher up and I was not informed of that change.

I was pushing the car further than I should have, as the finish line temp which varies by 5 deg. was climbing an extra 10 deg each round at the line. That is my decision as to run the car or not. But with the direction from earlier I was under the impression I could take the time needed to cool the car off. (within reason)

If I was told no you have to run like a bracket car I would of said ok I am out. We will make a couple of passes during the Q16 and call it good.

I have rented tracks for private testing for only my Daughters Outlaw Car, I am aware of the costs, so at this point of the GS finals I would of offered to cover the extra cost for track time just for this race to happen. But again since that time I have learned they were under no constraint from the track to end the event.

 

By all reason, weigh in sir!

 

I can see both sides, having been involved for a decade and a half. I was Super-16 Chairman for 16 years and I also filled in as Race Director at two different GS Nats when the need arose. Let me start by saying that I've always been about the racers, for the racers, and felt I represented the racers. I've fought for them when I've needed to and it was a labor of love. It's who I am. It's sounds like Jim Carswell made a bad call, but I don't blame him. Spend all week out there trying to keep things moving and keep everybody happy and you'll gain some perspective. I've been in his shoes and when it was all over I felt like a wrung out dishrag, literally. In addition, EVERY time I've dealt with Jim he couldn't do enough for me and for Super-16. He'd always come over by my trailer in the oval track and ask what we needed and when we'd like to make time runs and he would always accommodate us in every way, and he'd always say "Doug, whenever you and your guys are ready, just let me know!" That kind of treatment goes a long way with me. I've lost my temper out there a few times too when I was in charge of the program, usually with good reason, but sometimes from stress and aggravation.
As to how I'd have handled this particular situation, at that point, I'd have waited for Wayne, seeing that it was the Finals and all that. That being said, I probably also would've suggested to Wayne earlier in the deal that an hour per pass wasn't gonna cut it and he might just have to bail. It sucks, but it wouldn't be the first time I've had that conversation with the driver of a fast Buick with drawn out turnaround issues. Sometimes they understood, and sometimes they gave me an earful. That's ok, I've been racing for 30 years and I've seen it all and heard it all. I also raced against Wayne (and beat him) at Norwalk a dozen or so years ago and he's a gentleman and a diehard Buick racer like me. BTW, Tony Rose stepped up to help out the last few years out of his love of the class and the cars, and Dave Mongeon and Derek Graham started Super-16 in 1989 and ran it for years before I started. I don't want to hear a bad word spoken about any of those guys. Anyway, I got some texts and some pm's asking me to comment on this thread. That's what I have to say.

 

Very well said.

 

Sorry to hear about all this Wayne. I personally thought they were hot lapping the cars a bit on Saturday. Just my opinion.
I will offer my opinion so take it for what it's worth. Things need to change in the racing program. We all waited a long time for aftermarket blocks and heads so we could make our cars serious performers at the track. Now we are seeing 1000+ hp cars starting to be built. That is something we've all waited a long time to see. These new high power cars take a lot more time between rounds. Parachutes, cool down time, data acquisition etc etc. I feel it is flat out disgusting that a car such as Waynes was rushed back into action too soon. Basically hot lapped. That is an embarrassment and a slap in the face to the guys that are putting together high caliber Buick powered race cars.
So dissapointing.
Remind me again why I'm not building a cheaper Chevy motor? Right now I'm wondering.

 

"Back in the day" maybe some of the old timers will remember this. Late in eliminations they would open a lane for time trials if anyone was interested. Just to fill some down time.
At the 2015 nationals I was lucky enough to go to the finals in B-1. My semi-final & final time slips are 4-minutes apart. Now I don't have a data recorder to review, or a parachute to pack, and my car wasn't built to be impressive but to bracket race and hopefully go rounds, but 4-MINUTES???? Something needs to change for later in the day.......

 

Well said John.
What I said wasn't meant to be disrespectful to the bracket guys that can go rounds on shorter notice. I hope it didn't come across that way.

 

I didn't take it that way at all Todd. I fully understand taking longer in between rounds for the faster guys, but I think everyone can agree 4-minutes is rushing it a little even for the slower guys/gals. And I'm not complaining just reinforcing the fact things can be done to have a better program.