Great Lakes Dragaway Labor Day Show

[Syclone0044]

Is anybody else going to this? I am going to check it out at least 1 of the 2 days. I guess the "Feature" is 6-11 PM on Saturday and Sunday. Their flyers sounded like a lot of action but I don't know much about it. Some of it seemed far-fetched i.e. their claims of Nitro cars and 300MPH.. :confused I'm thinking it will be a good time no matter what.

[animal]

Well I've seen jet dragsters down there going 299 or so if memory serves. Seems to reason you could see 300mph down there. I know in the past they've had a nitro car or two there. Obviously it doesn't mean the nationals are going down there but it's usually a cool day to check out. Sometimes a little 'spensive though.

[Crawlin]

i'll be there. just received two comp. tickets with free liquid refreshments all day :) and special seating. SWEEEEEET.

[Syclone0044]

Well I went on Saturday and it was a great time! All of the stands were pretty much full down the whole track. They had a lot of fast cars, mostly all in the single digits. There were a lot of cars like Quick Carl's where they basically ran mid to low 8s down to high 7s. But there was also stock-body (?) drag cars running as fast as mid 6s @ 220 if I remember right? There were a bunch of loud and fast alcohol blower cars, and 4 or 6 Nitromethane powered blower cars. That was very cool to see at night!!! In fact, seeing a nitro car run at GLD was something in and of itself!! :stare

There were a bunch of 10 and 9 second Wheelstander cars, I saw one run high 9s at 130+ on two wheels for the entire 1320'! If you like Jet cars, there were many. At least 5. They did races side by side. I have never seen that before (2 jet cars at once.) It was really awesome and I cannot believe it but they were actually running them THRU THE TRAPS!! Not every nitro car or jet car stayed WOT all the way to the end, but there were definitely some jet car runs where both engines didn't even go out until past the traps! When I got there, I was guessing the fastest pass we'd see would be high 5s. I was close!! The fastest passes were Jet cars running 5.40's at 292 MPH!!!! :stare I still can't believe they went that fast at GLD. It was truly awesome to watch and feel the jet power as they blasted past. I wish someone had some high res photos.

There was one "world record" "Jersey" jet car that made a pass where the ET lights didn't work, the announcer said 5.2x @ 299 MPH!! Since the 5.40 @ 292 I witnessed earlier was so close, I would tend to believe it?? Either way, those 2 were easily the fastest runs I have ever seen at GLD. One car did have trouble where his chutes didn't deploy, and landed in the pea gravel but did not get hurt.

I also saw this drag car "Chitown Hustler" that I think they said was running nitro (it was hard to tell, didn't really smell that strong but I was sitting far away.) and it had 1 aborted run, and then on the 2nd run the chute came out IMMEDIATELY at the tree and the driver didn't know it, and he STILL ran a freakin ~7.50 @ 170 MPH!!! With the chute hanging out, all the way down the track. Talk about bad aerodynamics!! :rolf

"Draco the Dragonator" was this giant car eating dragon thing, I'm sure it was to entertain the kids but was pretty cool actually, it lifted 2 cars and destroyed them like it was nothing, ripped the frame, engine, and transmission right outta the car and snapped it like a twig! It would lift them in the air and shake the glass and debris out, and then drop them from 30 ft to the ground.

The event ran well/smooth until about 10PM when it seemed to come to a screeching halt, no cars were running and nobody knew what was going on, then they had 4 girls from some dance team performing, it seemed really out of place at a drag racing event?? The rest of the night was a mess, they ran the nitro and jet cars a 2nd time (which I was anxious to see cause it was cool), but lots of downtime in between. Then they turned the lights out and had a fireworks display immediately after the last jet car but the fireworks people had some long pauses in between and people weren't sure if they were over or what, they were OK but no "grand finale" so people kind of just slowly left in a state of confusion.

Overall it was a little rough on the edges but definitely had a lot of entertainment. :headbang

[Prince Valiant]

The real "chitown hustler"? IE, a nostaglia racer?

[Syclone0044]

Yes they made a point to state many times that "this is not a replica, this is the real Chitown Hustler!" What's the significance of that car??

There were a lot of things they ballyhooed that I really didn't get the significance of, to be honest. There was a lot of talk about "legendary" people and "some of the best in the business" and I really didn't get what was special about the guys they were talking about. :confused That's kind of another topic, though. I did see Don Garlits and his Swamp Rat run down the track, that was cool to me. I never knew who he was until a few months ago on TLC or the History channel they had a show on him and his history and it was really interesting. It seems like he was a real do it yourselfer that came up with his own home built stuff and competed nationally with it. :thumbsup

[Greg@GLD]

Yes they made a point to state many times that "this is not a replica, this is the real Chitown Hustler!" What's the significance of that car??

There were a lot of things they ballyhooed that I really didn't get the significance of, to be honest. There was a lot of talk about "legendary" people and "some of the best in the business" and I really didn't get what was special about the guys they were talking about. :confused That's kind of another topic, though. I did see Don Garlits and his Swamp Rat run down the track, that was cool to me. I never knew who he was until a few months ago on TLC or the History channel they had a show on him and his history and it was really interesting. It seems like he was a real do it yourselfer that came up with his own home built stuff and competed nationally with it. :thumbsup

Too funny.

Who's this "Babe Ruth" guy? I never heard of him until a few weeks ago when I was watching the History Channel... :goof

[Syclone0044]

Yeah, I'm not very big on celebrities or professional sports, for the most part. :) But honestly, where would I (or anyone) have ever heard of Don Garlits before? I wasn't "raised" with drag racing or even hot rodding. I bought a fast car (truck) in 2001 and entered the hobby. The way I see it, Drag racing is it's own little world, that the general public really doesn't care about at all. I learned that a long time ago when I tried telling friends/family/coworkers about things drag racing-related that I was excited about, and got met with blank stares, and patronizing "Oh, cool" remarks..

So speaking of "legends" that I seem to know nothing about, what's the deal with "Broadway Bob"? I have no idea what makes this guy such a "legend" and so "famous" and "one of the best in the business" as they said many times on Saturday. I could tell you what my impression was from seeing him at GLD a handful of times, but I'll keep an open mind by biting my tongue while I wait to be enlightened :D

[Greg@GLD]

Yeah, I'm not very big on celebrities or professional sports, for the most part. :) But honestly, where would I (or anyone) have ever heard of Don Garlits before? I wasn't "raised" with drag racing or even hot rodding. I bought a fast car (truck) in 2001 and entered the hobby. The way I see it, Drag racing is it's own little world, that the general public really doesn't care about at all. I learned that a long time ago when I tried telling friends/family/coworkers about things drag racing-related that I was excited about, and got met with blank stares, and patronizing "Oh, cool" remarks..

So speaking of "legends" that I seem to know nothing about, what's the deal with "Broadway Bob"? I have no idea what makes this guy such a "legend" and so "famous" and "one of the best in the business" as they said many times on Saturday. I could tell you what my impression was from seeing him at GLD a handful of times, but I'll keep an open mind by biting my tongue :D

I was just yanking your chain. :thumbsup

We have a video from the old "glory days" that I will get a copy of to you Josh, and after you watch it, you'll understand better what it was you were a part of this weekend. Not to be a smartass, but... Do you at least know who John Force is? I guess you could say Big Daddy is the John Force of the previous generation. Don Garlits and drag racing are synonymous. The Chi-Town Hustler was a force to be reckoned with back in the 70's, it was as famous, if not more so, than the Mongoose and The Snake (I know, you never heard of them either!)

Broadway Bob is one of the greatest drag racing promoters EVER. There was a time back in the 60's and 70's when GLD hosted some of the best drag racing events in the world. Broadway is a member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame and so are Arnie Beswick and obviously Big Daddy.

Us old guys understand that some of you youngsters aren't up on your history (any history, not just drag racing!) so we forgive your ignorance.

You were part of something VERY special, whether you realize it or not. We were packed for a reason. Because people knew they were getting to see true legends of the sport Josh.

[Syclone0044]

Fair enough; your video might fill in the gaps for me. :)

How was Sunday? Did I miss anything that wasn't at the Saturday show? What was the fastest pass?

[Greg@GLD]

I spent Sunday with my family, as I was here again on Monday.

Josh, seriously now- I am in the tower at GLD, and Ray thinks I am making this up- that you honestly didn't know what the big deal was with regard to Broadway, Arnie and Big Daddy.

"That guy has to be pulling your leg Gregory"

I'm trying to tell them you aren't... They see this post. :goof :eek:

[Syclone0044]

We have a video from the old "glory days" that I will get a copy of to you Josh, and after you watch it, you'll understand better what it was you were a part of this weekend. Not to be a smartass, but... Do you at least know who John Force is? I guess you could say Big Daddy is the John Force of the previous generation. Don Garlits and drag racing are synonymous. [....]

Broadway Bob is one of the greatest drag racing promoters EVER. There was a time back in the 60's and 70's when GLD hosted some of the best drag racing events in the world. Broadway is a member of the Drag Racing Hall of Fame and so are Arnie Beswick and obviously Big Daddy. Greg, last night I watched the video. It was pretty interesting (if not the oldest video recording I've watched since High School :goof ). I got an idea of the type of events that use to go on at GLD and how it was some of the top racing entertainment in the country. It was cool to see Jets vs Nitro cars, and 4 wide races, and the conception of pro drag racing. After watching that, I still didn't know that much about why Broadway Bob is so highly regarded. But I did get a clue when they said he was 'famous for taking the socially unacceptable sport of drag racing and turning it into a nationally successful sporting event' (something close to that.)

So to fill in the gaps of what I still didnt get, I searched on the net and found the other half of the picture, when I ran into all these awesome "Rocket car" runs that were often held at GLD and records that were set, etc. The idea of GLD as a host for big national circuit events is so weird to me. I also found that Broadway Bob was cast as a 1/25th scale figurine. Another thing was that Broadway was notorious for holding the craziest (and most dangerous) events in order to "give the public what they want to see" (http://www.billmaverickgolden.com/stories/lrw-story-broadway.html). I found some interesting stories regarding him staging a publicity event without permission in downtown Milwaukee where dragsters did burnouts on Main St. (ironically right up my alley, I know :goof ), and a wheelstander did a 2 block Wheelstand also! I found a story where he paid 2 young regular guys to participate in a particular event where a speeding car came at one of them, and he jumped and the car went right underneath him. (Except that they have never practiced or done it before and only avoided injury by sheer luck.) It sounded like he staged stunts that were often incredibly dangerous, or continued with the show even when it was dangerous to do so, and managed to luckily avoid disaster every time.

So I'm gonna tell you (and I'm not gonna sugar coat this) what I thought of him based upon only my own observations prior to last week: Raging Alcoholic, and wild and irresponsible party nut. After meeting him and reading up on the stories about him, I still think he was irresponsible, but he did seem like a nice fellow (and did not seem drunk, like his image of constantly holding a can of beer even when riding operational jet cars, might suggest), and it sounds like he had a big hand in bringing drag racing to the public as a majorly accepted sport. I'm kind of anxious to ask him about that Main St. incident, too! http://s95370645.onlinehome.us/images/misc/hehe.gif http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/images/smilies/LS1Tech/gr_jest.gif

Somehow I just don't think I'll ever "fully get" the deal here, and I think it has something to do with my guess that most people big into celebrating drag racing legends would also find a story like this (http://www.draglist.com/artman/publish/daily_stories/article_001287.shtml) really funny and a memory of "good old times".

PS: Thanks for the video