Have you considered going to Union Grove? www.greatlakesdragaway.com They're open through October and into November (weather permitting). Weeknights are $25, weekends are $30.

Drew

 

Dam, a test/tune day here at rock falls(south of eau claire) is like $85, a "fun day" is $35 and your suppose to get 3 time trials and then eliminations, last time i went "weather" was coming in and we only got 2 time trials and i got out in the first round. So i paid $35 for 3 runs. By the way it didn't rain all day. Last summer i got in 7 runs in my 79' z so that wasn't too bad. They also charge $5 a gollon for 110 race gas. To sum it all up my track is a ***in ripoff

 

Some would say quit your whining. Sounds like you're only 15 minutes from one of NHRA's premier facilities. For some of us it's 2 hours towing to the closest track and 4 or so to the next closest.
Also consider where they're located. It's obviously going to cost more in overhead; property taxes,etc; than a track located in a more rural area. All of this figures into your entry fees, no one works for free and no business can continually operate at a loss.

 

First off the "premier facility" is in Joliet. Joliet homeowners and businesses get breaks because of all the money the riverboat casinos make for the city. So don't even try and tell me they are gonna lose money if they charge $25 for test n tune. They make plenty of money on the regular events and get lots of tax breaks BECAUSE they are in Joliet.

Plus so many people show up for test n tune that they would still make a killing at $25 a car instead of $35. It's purely greed on thier part to charge 10-15 bucks more then most other places do on test n tune night.

But the money issue aside, I more upset that they close in early September. Now the track is still open for events but they stopped test n tune until April. I think that's BS. I'm sorry you live so far away from a track but since I have one in my back yard I'd like to see it open into October and at a reasonable price.

So am I whining or complaining? They can treat thier customers and fans like this because more people like me don't speak up and let them know how they feel. I wrote a letter and voiced my two major complaints. Will it do any good?

Probably not but at least I took the time to say hey they are charging more then most other places and they are closing TNT sooner then them as well. One letter I'm sure they will throw away without a thought. But 100 letters and maybe they stop and look at what other places charge and when they close.

There is nothing wrong with them making money but there is also nothing wrong with them being competitive for thier customers. But you think what you want, I'll look for a different track to give my business to. Maybe being ripped off is something your ok with but I don't personally care for it.

 

A typical t'n't day at our closest track has often gone like this:
Show up very early so tech card can be dealt with and reasonably early shot at first run. Of course I need to allow a bit for enough cars to go downtrack to get the "newness" off the surface and put some rubber down. I normally have a game plan in mind to try a number of things but as the day progresses that proves to be useless. First run will normally be a half to three quarter hour after the first cars go down track. If your lucky your next pass might be in under three hours but usually not. It is not uncommon to spend 8 hours at the track and only get two passes for the day in. The usual reason is way too many street cars show up and that totally kills the day for those of us who need these days to try stuff or see if things are corrected on our race cars.
Don't really care if it's 15 or 25 or 35 bucks to get in, is it really worth extra expenses to go further? I'd hardly doubt it and from your other posts about turnout it appears many don't care about the price either. And until you know what the overhead is, you can't say what is justified about entry fees.
As for some of what you were complaining about in your posts, they certainly appear pretty whiney. Complaining about too many cars, not enough days, etc. Our points season starts within the first couple weekends the track opens and the first couple weekends they're open are t'n't days but the track is so green you spend all day spinning, hardly a useful day spent.

 

Do you have stock in Rt. 66 Raceway?

Obviously you don't care about being ripped off. That's cool, some people are like that. I'm not one of them but some people are. I strongly believe they make plenty of money outside of TNT nights and on TnT nights to be able to afford to be more competitive on prices if they wanted to be. You sir do not know thier overhead either so likewise you can't say they need to charge more then other TnT's.

The funny thing is at first I didn't think it was so bad because I had nothing to compare it to. Then when I mentioned to people I only got two runs I heard " that sucks, I usually get 4 or 5 in a tnt night". Then when I mentioned thirty-five dollars I heard "man that's kind of high It's 20 bucks where I run". Then when I mentioned they stopped in the beginning of September I heard "Man that's kind of early to end tnt".

Between what I heard from people at work and what I read here in this thread I can say those are definately the popular opinions. You mod313 are the only one so far to say I am wrong for being upset. So I'm supposed to believe you? Every other opinion has contradicted yours. Sorry bud but no sale.

Next year I'll probably go back to rt 66 at least once. I won't mind the $35 so much if I get at least four runs for that. I didn't go right when they opened the gates at 4pm (I was at work till 5:20) so I think two extra runs are definately possible if I leave work early. I am hoping the first two hours are a lot less congested and can yield three additional runs to the two I had last time. I can justify $35 bucks on five runs but two is just not worth it to me. And yeah two nights a week of TnT is not unheard of you know. It would definately cut down on the wait I believe. Most people would not run twice a week at $35 so the long lines would get shorter.

Oh well, it's late and I'm tired. We'll just have to agree to disagree and leave it at that.

 

rt 66 is not a racer friendly track...if they could just be open for NHRA nationals and concerts thats all they'd do.

Where do you live?

there are a lot of other tracks in the vicinity

 

I actually live right here in Joliet. I'm about five minutes away from Rt 66 raceway (which is why it sucks so bad that they are done for the year).

If you can suggest any other places I'd appreciate it. There is one just over the wisconson border that a member turned me on to so that would be about an hour maybe an hour and a half away.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

I thought the jungle gym was for racers at Dragway 42....hmmm. I know a hot chick was fooling around on it one day and a mob formed...bunch of big bellies, dirty men...