Pinks All Out Gateway: Review, photos and stories!
06-29-2008, 09:38 PM
#1
Pinks All Out Gateway: Review, photos and stories! Well I'm finally home and unpacked, all my tools are back and the car is off the trailer and in the garage resting. I figured I would share my story and pictures with you guys.
Thursday: Barely slept because I was excited for the race. I barely paid attention in class because I wanted to get out and get back home to finish up some things and get going. Loaded up the car and went on out way. My parents brought an extra car as our pit/go back and forth from the hotel car. It actually came in handy quite a few time. On our way out there, alot of truckers gave compliments about the car on the CB. I even had a conversation with one driver for almost 45min about which was better SBC Vs. BBC. It really helped pass the time. We stop at ISU to fuel up and get some food. More specifically, we stop at Aviante's to get some Gondolas(you local boys will know what im talking about). At the gas station, my mom knowticed something on the windshield as i was double-checking the tralier. As i took a closer look...Holy, *******, ****. A crack, not one, but 2. **** me sideways how did that happen? Upon closer inspection, I found that their was a Maglite(the big one) under the hood, and caused the glass to crack. Great, just great, not only did I manage to break which what WAS an original window, but now we might not pass tech if they are rough. Oh well, we continue.
We arrived at the hotel at about midnight. Got a good spot with the car so I can see it from the window(that and the fact I saw some old guy watching me like a hawk when we pulled in), and we check in. Me and my dad decided to take the follow car to check out the track location, see if anyone was already in line for the pits ect. I typed in the address for the track and away we go. Now before I go on, I want to add that I looked at google maps before we left and it said that the track was just off the interstate. So we are going down the higway, and we see a sign for parking for Gateway. After a little debate, I decide to follow the GPS...Bad Idea.
We follow the TomTom...turn left...next right....Wait...WHERE THE **** ARE WE? The nice handy little GPS decided that instead of taking CORRECT route, that we were taking a tour through East St. Louis. Just great. After driving on a road that was made ENTIRELY of pothole.. I see a sign that said Raceway, next right. Thank god were getting close. We take the next right, hey look, houses! wait...those are projects....and a titty bar across the street. We're going to die. After taking the marvolous tour of that beautiful part of town, we finally get back on the interstate. On the next exit. It just took us in one big circle. I felt like the Nascar driver of ghettoville.
We finally arrive at Gateway. I was impressed by the size of the track. We follow signs that said PINKS racers. Holy sweet motor homes. Their was about 150 motorhomes and trucks waiting to get in. This was 1am, gates don't open until 8am. According to the gate guy, who said yup yup yup about ever sentance, the racers started to get there at about 12pm...oh boy. We head back to get the truck and bring the camaro over to be with the rest of everyone. This time, we followed the signs, which took all of 2 min compaired to the 30min tour..thanks tomtom. We stopped at the pilot across the street to grab some water and food before we got in line, and saw about 5 trucks hauling race cars in the parking lot with a small group of people talking cars. We stopped and talked to them for about an hour. What a great group of people. We head over to the track and park in line. Ok, time to get some sleep, but the house of a motor home next to us had a generator the size of my camaro's motor powering it. This thing was crome, had about 10 outlets and had to have run on nitromethane. It was so loud, that it would wake up jesus from his rest.
Cont. on next post.
Thursday: Barely slept because I was excited for the race. I barely paid attention in class because I wanted to get out and get back home to finish up some things and get going. Loaded up the car and went on out way. My parents brought an extra car as our pit/go back and forth from the hotel car. It actually came in handy quite a few time. On our way out there, alot of truckers gave compliments about the car on the CB. I even had a conversation with one driver for almost 45min about which was better SBC Vs. BBC. It really helped pass the time. We stop at ISU to fuel up and get some food. More specifically, we stop at Aviante's to get some Gondolas(you local boys will know what im talking about). At the gas station, my mom knowticed something on the windshield as i was double-checking the tralier. As i took a closer look...Holy, *******, ****. A crack, not one, but 2. **** me sideways how did that happen? Upon closer inspection, I found that their was a Maglite(the big one) under the hood, and caused the glass to crack. Great, just great, not only did I manage to break which what WAS an original window, but now we might not pass tech if they are rough. Oh well, we continue.
We arrived at the hotel at about midnight. Got a good spot with the car so I can see it from the window(that and the fact I saw some old guy watching me like a hawk when we pulled in), and we check in. Me and my dad decided to take the follow car to check out the track location, see if anyone was already in line for the pits ect. I typed in the address for the track and away we go. Now before I go on, I want to add that I looked at google maps before we left and it said that the track was just off the interstate. So we are going down the higway, and we see a sign for parking for Gateway. After a little debate, I decide to follow the GPS...Bad Idea.
We follow the TomTom...turn left...next right....Wait...WHERE THE **** ARE WE? The nice handy little GPS decided that instead of taking CORRECT route, that we were taking a tour through East St. Louis. Just great. After driving on a road that was made ENTIRELY of pothole.. I see a sign that said Raceway, next right. Thank god were getting close. We take the next right, hey look, houses! wait...those are projects....and a titty bar across the street. We're going to die. After taking the marvolous tour of that beautiful part of town, we finally get back on the interstate. On the next exit. It just took us in one big circle. I felt like the Nascar driver of ghettoville.
We finally arrive at Gateway. I was impressed by the size of the track. We follow signs that said PINKS racers. Holy sweet motor homes. Their was about 150 motorhomes and trucks waiting to get in. This was 1am, gates don't open until 8am. According to the gate guy, who said yup yup yup about ever sentance, the racers started to get there at about 12pm...oh boy. We head back to get the truck and bring the camaro over to be with the rest of everyone. This time, we followed the signs, which took all of 2 min compaired to the 30min tour..thanks tomtom. We stopped at the pilot across the street to grab some water and food before we got in line, and saw about 5 trucks hauling race cars in the parking lot with a small group of people talking cars. We stopped and talked to them for about an hour. What a great group of people. We head over to the track and park in line. Ok, time to get some sleep, but the house of a motor home next to us had a generator the size of my camaro's motor powering it. This thing was crome, had about 10 outlets and had to have run on nitromethane. It was so loud, that it would wake up jesus from his rest.
Cont. on next post.
06-29-2008, 10:06 PM
#2
Friday morning
I wake up to the sounds of airhorns, and desiel engines. Sweet we are going into the pits! After being guided into our pitspot, we start to unload everything. nothing will wake you up better than the sound/smell and sights of drag cars coming off the trucks. After everything is unloaded, we decide to take a walk around to see all the stuff. Wow...thats all I have to say. Take the entire world of drag racing, take 450 cars, and shove it into one track, and you have this event. Full blow dragsters, bikes, rail cars, chevy, mopar, ford, trucks, everything is here!
I get back to the car and begin to check everything out, clean it ect. The begin to call vehicles to tech. They did it numerically, in groups of 50. 1-50, 51-100 ect. Being number 375, we had pleanty of time. "attention in the pits! cars 350-400 please come to tech and register!" Alright, now were getting somewhere. I jump in the car, fire it up and start to head to tech. Im doing about 15 mph, I shift into 2nd, then 3rd. BAM! It felt like the hulk grabbed my car and pulled it back. I came to a dead stop. WTF was that? I shift into neutral, start the car and keep driving. 1st gear, 2nd, 3rd....(long pause) BAM it happend agian. Jesus christ, I just lost 3rd gear. Out of all the times to break, and I just broke in a parking lot heading to tech. **** me sideways.
I continue on to tech in...even though I have no 3rd gear. I get in line and call my dad over and tell him whats going on(crew and to be with the driver).. he instantly grabs his cell and dials up the shop we had rebuild our trans. I explain to the manager whats going on. He said that the only thing that could cause that is the reverse band engaging in 3rd(th-400 RMVB)...oh ******* boy. how do I fix this? he explained how to fix it if we needed to over the phone by drilling a hole into something to take off the pressure that engages the band, but we might lose reverse. Damn, i'm at a drag race...you never know when I might need reverse!!!
I get to the track inspection portion of tech. You know, where they are supposed to look over your car..Yeah, this kid looked at my car, for about 30 seconds. never looked under the hood, in the trunk or even to see if I had an SFI ANYTHING. "Ok you're good to go" Thanks buddy. you make me feel real safe. I sign about 20 times saying i will not sue speed TV, or the track, or this, allow them to participate in this show..blah blah blah. Woot, im done. They give me my wrist band, and I follow the road to go back into the pits to figure out this 3rd gear reverse problem. They had us tech in the infield of the circle track, and inorder to get back to the pits, you have to drive on a small portion of the circle itself. Which everyone was using for a test pass. As I came to the ext which went onto the track, I try to go into 3rd, holy sweet drag racing gods it works. I get onto the circle, **** it. If its already broken, I can't make things worse. I launch the car onto the track. 1st is good, 2nd gear shifts firm...hell yesss, 3nd pulls like a ************ like it should. We never figure out what the problem was, but we are bringing it to the shop this week.
Cont. next post
I wake up to the sounds of airhorns, and desiel engines. Sweet we are going into the pits! After being guided into our pitspot, we start to unload everything. nothing will wake you up better than the sound/smell and sights of drag cars coming off the trucks. After everything is unloaded, we decide to take a walk around to see all the stuff. Wow...thats all I have to say. Take the entire world of drag racing, take 450 cars, and shove it into one track, and you have this event. Full blow dragsters, bikes, rail cars, chevy, mopar, ford, trucks, everything is here!
I get back to the car and begin to check everything out, clean it ect. The begin to call vehicles to tech. They did it numerically, in groups of 50. 1-50, 51-100 ect. Being number 375, we had pleanty of time. "attention in the pits! cars 350-400 please come to tech and register!" Alright, now were getting somewhere. I jump in the car, fire it up and start to head to tech. Im doing about 15 mph, I shift into 2nd, then 3rd. BAM! It felt like the hulk grabbed my car and pulled it back. I came to a dead stop. WTF was that? I shift into neutral, start the car and keep driving. 1st gear, 2nd, 3rd....(long pause) BAM it happend agian. Jesus christ, I just lost 3rd gear. Out of all the times to break, and I just broke in a parking lot heading to tech. **** me sideways.
I continue on to tech in...even though I have no 3rd gear. I get in line and call my dad over and tell him whats going on(crew and to be with the driver).. he instantly grabs his cell and dials up the shop we had rebuild our trans. I explain to the manager whats going on. He said that the only thing that could cause that is the reverse band engaging in 3rd(th-400 RMVB)...oh ******* boy. how do I fix this? he explained how to fix it if we needed to over the phone by drilling a hole into something to take off the pressure that engages the band, but we might lose reverse. Damn, i'm at a drag race...you never know when I might need reverse!!!
I get to the track inspection portion of tech. You know, where they are supposed to look over your car..Yeah, this kid looked at my car, for about 30 seconds. never looked under the hood, in the trunk or even to see if I had an SFI ANYTHING. "Ok you're good to go" Thanks buddy. you make me feel real safe. I sign about 20 times saying i will not sue speed TV, or the track, or this, allow them to participate in this show..blah blah blah. Woot, im done. They give me my wrist band, and I follow the road to go back into the pits to figure out this 3rd gear reverse problem. They had us tech in the infield of the circle track, and inorder to get back to the pits, you have to drive on a small portion of the circle itself. Which everyone was using for a test pass. As I came to the ext which went onto the track, I try to go into 3rd, holy sweet drag racing gods it works. I get onto the circle, **** it. If its already broken, I can't make things worse. I launch the car onto the track. 1st is good, 2nd gear shifts firm...hell yesss, 3nd pulls like a ************ like it should. We never figure out what the problem was, but we are bringing it to the shop this week.
Cont. next post
06-29-2008, 11:32 PM
#3
"ATTENTION IN THE PITS! Cars 1-50 report to the staging lanes for your test pass!" Alright, time for some buisness. I double checked tire pressures, fueled up, set timing and put Golden Earring's Radar Love on my Mp3 player. I'm ready. they finally call my group to the lanes. here we go! My dad lines me up in the water box. Give me the go ahead and I do my burnout all 3 gears are going good. Thank god. I pull up, clear the motor with a few healthy revs, and prestage. Stall up the car a little, and full stage. The tree lights up...oh **** me, a pro tree. I have never raced on a pro tree with this car before. I launch, as I came back down from looking at jesus in the sky, shift light comes on. 2nd gear. shift light, 3rd gear drops like a hammer to steel. Everything works good. It felt like a decent run despite the terrible launch and r/t. and the fact it felt like i had ice skates for slicks. I get my timeslip...ouch, 2 tenth reaction time. and I also ran 2 tenth slower than normal...hmm something gotta be up.
I get back to the pits to find out that they will not have any more test passes due to the large amout of cars there...damnit. I call my friend to calculate the DA for the day....3400+ feet....that would explain alot on the time. We secure the car and make our way back to the hotel to get some rest. I only intended to sleep for a few hours then go back to the track to stay with the car, guess I was wrong...I passed out at about 6pm and slept till 7 the next day.
Saturday
Ah, well refreshed...I finally got a good nights rest thanks to holiday inn. Took a show and had some breakfast and a delicious cup of coffee. Back to the track. As we got into the pits, everyone was working away at their cars. The change in weather gave us a good window to make some good passes for our 2 time trials. We decided to run an extra 4 degrees of timing. Put a fresh set of plugs in and dialed everything in. Chance to win 10 grand? its ******* game time. 10am, drivers meeting with Rich. The place is starting to get pack with spectators. He goes over rules about is we break, what to and not to do, explains the armdrop ect. They begin to call the 1st set of cars to do time trials. They finally call my group and away we go. They havent had an oil down or any major problems all day, until I get there. Im about 15 cars away from making my pass, and someone decided to do an oil change at the 500' mark. Damnit. 30 min goes by and they finally get it cleaned up. As I enter the tunnel, my dad opens the door and says cars look like they are spinning about 1/2 way down. I pull into the bleach box and light em' up. Sign me up John Force. Slicks are about 12 PSI so they're gunna hook, and hook hard. Prestage, full stage and the tree drops. Hell yes, great launch and good r/t. 2nd gear is money. Shift light, I hit 3rd. Another moneymaker shift. Look at me, ******* pro. I fly through the traps and go into the return lane. Get my slip, and i'm a happier man.
Cont. on next post.
I get back to the pits to find out that they will not have any more test passes due to the large amout of cars there...damnit. I call my friend to calculate the DA for the day....3400+ feet....that would explain alot on the time. We secure the car and make our way back to the hotel to get some rest. I only intended to sleep for a few hours then go back to the track to stay with the car, guess I was wrong...I passed out at about 6pm and slept till 7 the next day.
Saturday
Ah, well refreshed...I finally got a good nights rest thanks to holiday inn. Took a show and had some breakfast and a delicious cup of coffee. Back to the track. As we got into the pits, everyone was working away at their cars. The change in weather gave us a good window to make some good passes for our 2 time trials. We decided to run an extra 4 degrees of timing. Put a fresh set of plugs in and dialed everything in. Chance to win 10 grand? its ******* game time. 10am, drivers meeting with Rich. The place is starting to get pack with spectators. He goes over rules about is we break, what to and not to do, explains the armdrop ect. They begin to call the 1st set of cars to do time trials. They finally call my group and away we go. They havent had an oil down or any major problems all day, until I get there. Im about 15 cars away from making my pass, and someone decided to do an oil change at the 500' mark. Damnit. 30 min goes by and they finally get it cleaned up. As I enter the tunnel, my dad opens the door and says cars look like they are spinning about 1/2 way down. I pull into the bleach box and light em' up. Sign me up John Force. Slicks are about 12 PSI so they're gunna hook, and hook hard. Prestage, full stage and the tree drops. Hell yes, great launch and good r/t. 2nd gear is money. Shift light, I hit 3rd. Another moneymaker shift. Look at me, ******* pro. I fly through the traps and go into the return lane. Get my slip, and i'm a happier man.
Cont. on next post.
06-30-2008, 01:19 AM
#5
I get back and do my checks on the car. Everything looks good. Timing is right, pressure is set. Final run time. And this is arm drop time. they go through the classes of cars agian and call my group. Lets do it. We stage in the lanes with everyone else and I get my gear on. Car, check. Me, check. Radar Love, check. As I pull into the tunnel, my dad opens my door and give me some quick words of wisdom. " Hard burnout, don't jump rich and beat that ******* mopar. Oh, and don't look at the croud." Everything was good except for the croud part. Twenty thousand people there. And everyone is watching. Including the 50 cameras EVERYWHERE. I swear to god they could see up my nose they had so many. Now, i've done the arm drop thing before. I'm not saying i'm a street race king, but i've had some experiance. But nothing can compare when thousands of people are watching you, along with tons of cameras and rich doing the arm drop. This is ******* sweet. He give me a smile after the burnout, they line me up in the full stage and here we go. He does he little thing with the pointing, and drops. Hammer down. Though I diddent beat the mopar, that was the BEST run i've ever had.
They call 32 cars for interviews to determine who gets in the sweet 16. And I diddent make it. I was a little dissappointed, but it was fun.
They had a bunch of cars doing show runs for the croud while they get the sweet 16 setup. As they were doing this, the storm system they thought would miss them was coming in. Rich and the whole pinks crew along with track officials were scrambling on what to do. They decided to move up the money races before the storm hit. The resulting hotlaps and races were the most energetic thing i've seen with drag racing, it should be a GREAT episode.
They call 32 cars for interviews to determine who gets in the sweet 16. And I diddent make it. I was a little dissappointed, but it was fun.
They had a bunch of cars doing show runs for the croud while they get the sweet 16 setup. As they were doing this, the storm system they thought would miss them was coming in. Rich and the whole pinks crew along with track officials were scrambling on what to do. They decided to move up the money races before the storm hit. The resulting hotlaps and races were the most energetic thing i've seen with drag racing, it should be a GREAT episode.
06-30-2008, 01:28 AM
#6
General Review of the track/show operations.
Like I have said before. It was awsome. If you ever have a chance of going, by all means go! Try to race if you can.Its well worth it.
The track handled everything really well. From pleanty of portajohns(where I was) to garbage cans. They made pleanty of annoucements through the day. They enforced all rules. One that came up that i'm glad they delt with very seriously, was kids under 18 driving pit vehicles around like mad men. It was near chaotic at one point, but the track announcer made it VERY clear(literally screaming) that you will be kicked out if it happens. They have pleanty of food and drink. They even had a stand called Nitro smootie. The blenders were powered by nitromethane motors, very cool. And delicious!
The track on friday was slick at the 330' mark to about 700', but it wasent the tracks fault, it was the weather. On saturday, the track was hooking hard.
Speed Tv or pinks or w/e really had their stuff together on how things were run. Their was alot of "hurry up and wait" but that was only due to the sheer amount of cars there.
Pictures are to follow, if you read the whole thing, thanks!
Also, special thanks to paul(pockitz) for the help with the car, and to my parents with moral, emotional and checkbook support, without them none of this would have been possible!
The episode is to air Sept. 11 at 8pm!
-SpaZ
Like I have said before. It was awsome. If you ever have a chance of going, by all means go! Try to race if you can.Its well worth it.
The track handled everything really well. From pleanty of portajohns(where I was) to garbage cans. They made pleanty of annoucements through the day. They enforced all rules. One that came up that i'm glad they delt with very seriously, was kids under 18 driving pit vehicles around like mad men. It was near chaotic at one point, but the track announcer made it VERY clear(literally screaming) that you will be kicked out if it happens. They have pleanty of food and drink. They even had a stand called Nitro smootie. The blenders were powered by nitromethane motors, very cool. And delicious!
The track on friday was slick at the 330' mark to about 700', but it wasent the tracks fault, it was the weather. On saturday, the track was hooking hard.
Speed Tv or pinks or w/e really had their stuff together on how things were run. Their was alot of "hurry up and wait" but that was only due to the sheer amount of cars there.
Pictures are to follow, if you read the whole thing, thanks!
Also, special thanks to paul(pockitz) for the help with the car, and to my parents with moral, emotional and checkbook support, without them none of this would have been possible!
The episode is to air Sept. 11 at 8pm!
-SpaZ
Last edited by SpaZMaN; 06-30-2008 at 01:41 AM.
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06-30-2008, 01:52 AM
#10
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thats cool man, sounds like you had fun, and thats all that matters. now winning 10 grand was the goal but w/e, there is always next year. And im also happy to hear that the car held up and is running good, and the new motor is somewhat breaking in lol. i still wish i wouldve got those days off of work to go with you but like i said, next year...
j/k 
06-30-2008, 03:07 PM
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You Are The Man Not to boast kid but you really write a great story. Lets clean up some of the language and check the spelling and send it to Speed TV and Chevy Magazine. I think you wrote it from the heart and thems the best kind of stories!..You made me proud as a Dad!
06-30-2008, 03:16 PM
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You should be proud, it was a great read. Give yourself a little pat on the back also. Drag Racing is a great way to stay connected, (so to speak), with our kids as they grow up.
06-30-2008, 03:23 PM
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Great writeup, I agree with your comments...
I really didn't notice the crowd during my Saturday runs, but no one reminded me either (I did notice it for the wheel stand exhibition though -- Which we won), but I did figure one thing out... the rear view mirror is in a horrible spot for platform arm drops... lol. I would also recommend the event to anyone interested, I did not make the show but had a blast and all the crew and track officials were very kind, helpful and put on imo a smooth show all things considered.
I really didn't notice the crowd during my Saturday runs, but no one reminded me either (I did notice it for the wheel stand exhibition though -- Which we won), but I did figure one thing out... the rear view mirror is in a horrible spot for platform arm drops... lol. I would also recommend the event to anyone interested, I did not make the show but had a blast and all the crew and track officials were very kind, helpful and put on imo a smooth show all things considered.