Springer and now

[garystoy]

I was thinking as I was entering my time slip information in my log book from this weekends race, how competitive bracket racing at Adrmore Dragway has become. I can't even imagine what it would have been like back in the 50's racing with the Slow Poke Car Club on dirt with a flagman as a starter. I imagine that by the 70's the improvements in the track must have seemed vast to those early racers. But the improvements from the 70's to today are just as vast. I credit the improvement of the abilities of the racers and crew chiefs in part to two main advancements at the track.

The first is "traction". Traction is something that is very much taken for granted today. It is almost like racers expect the track owners to build a track to match their car. I think it takes a historic perspective of Ardmore Dragway to truly appreciate the track we have today. Back in the 70's everyone I raced with called the track "Springer". I remember a few years ago I was racing at another area track and the track had a muscle car DOT tire event that day, then in the evening a bracket race. During the bracket race the track was coming up in little rubber balls from the hard street tires running on it all day. One of the racers there came over to me and was upset about the track and wanted to vent and asked me what I thought about it and I said "Hey, I raced at Springer in the 70's this is nothing". (haha) That being said, I think that Ardmore Raceway today has made great strides to improve something that should never be taken for granted. The track surface improvements, the investment in track prep equipment and even a little noticed improvement of running water at the bleach box are to be appreciated. In the 70's you had to carry your own bleach/water for the burn out. Think of it, each person pored out their own "secret" burn out juice and then you had no choice but to drive through it when it was your turn to race. No telling what you were driving through. I do remember one guy telling me "if you put food color in the bleach/water it would make the smoke different colors. (haha) Today Ardmore Dragway gives each driver/crew chief the opportunity to tune a car that is not just consistent but also quick.

The second is the electronics. In the 70"s Springer had a home made tree complete with staging lights and we did get a time slip. Here is an actual example of one of those time slips. Notice the information given, the car number, ET to the hundredth and win or lose.

I remember this run and I dialed a 13.80 and missed 3rd gear, but got it on the second try. I ran a 13.81, that means I would have broke out big if I had not missed the gear. I know you can hardly tell from the time slip but I did have an opponent. His name was Tuggle, a mopar guy from Muenster Tx. He had a faster car but I don't know what he ran just a check in the lower right corner that said I won. Now compare that to todays time slip. First today racers live and die by the thousandth of a second, not the hundredth. I think some are starting to measure by the 10 thousandth. An old boss of mine told me once "what gets measured gets done". Today drivers/crew chiefs can measure 60ft, 330ft, reaction times, and those of the opponents. They can make adjustments and track if they are improving or going the wrong way.

I think if you look at today's Ardmore Dragway from this perspective you can see why it has become so competitive. It only takes watching a couple of rounds of competition to see just how close the cars are today.

With the Hot Rod Reunion coming up let's celebrate the past, appreciate today and look forward to tomorrow.

[oldbluegoat]

I remember these they were confusing as you could be closer to your dial and still loose very confusing to new racers and fans with no reaction timers and such.

[lblundell]

Interesting story from Ardmore in the past. I'm sitting in my garage, working on my car, looking at five trophies from Ardmore Dragway from the days of my youth growing up in Pauls Valley. My only claim to fame is once being "Top Eliminator" in the mid 1960's. Speed forward to this year, I made my first trip back to Ardmore for the Nostalgia Nationals a few week ends ago since 1970. It was a lot hotter than I remember from the 60's, but I was amazed at how awesome the facility was and how much I enjoyed the trip to Ardmore. Looking forward to the Cow Pasture Nationals, and I may even pony up the money and run in the NO E Class. I do remember cows being at the end of the strip as J.R. Shaw fired up the big, bad, Dodge to take on the last guy standing. Would love to have this facility in the OKC area . Support the track and thank the promoter for the great job with the facility

[garystoy]

I was just setting here watching the rain come down and hoping it would stop by race time. I got to thinking about the old rain parades that we used to have at Ardmore and Green Valley. I have been involved in these at both tracks. I wish I had taken a picture of one but I didn't think of it back then. This was before the days of track blowers. The track would request that any street cars, tow cars or mild race cars drive up and down the track to dry it off. They would always make it clear that there was a speed limit and no burnouts allowed. But there were always a few guys who could not resist spinning the tires on a wet track.

[garystoy]

If you have not seen it, there is a copy of an invitation letter from the FIRST Cowpasture Nationals race, on the Ardmore Dragway facebook page. You must check it out!!!!!  click here for Ardmore's facebook page