Flowmaster ADRL attendance record shattered in Houston

The 2008 Flowmaster American Drag Racing League presented by the National Guard kicked off its biggest season ever on March 7-8.  The first event on the 9 race series was held in Baytown, Texas at the Houston Raceway Park located just outside of Houston, Texas.  The racing facility has a ¼ mile drag strip and a 3/8 mile dirt oval track which play host to such events as the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series and the World of Outlaws Series.  This week it saw some of the best 1/ 8 mile drag racing around the country with the addition of the Flowmaster ADRL Series season opening event. 

The event was scheduled to open on Friday with practice and qualifying rounds to all four professional categories, but Mother Nature had other plans for the area and produced cold air temperatures and strong winds throughout the Houston area as a cold front moved thru.  The National Guard and ADRL have teamed up and formed a new program called “Guarding our Youth” to which 141 kids were bused to the race track Friday morning and were treated to several guest speakers telling them about the importance of staying in school and getting a good education.  Guest speakers included Joshua Hernandez, Harold Martin, and both racers flying the National Guard colors, a few other key speakers from the Sheriff’s Department, National Guard and Kenny Nowlings.  After that they were given a lunch break and then a goody bag with T’shirts and 10 tickets each to the race.  The racers and spectators stuck it out all day until Kenny Nowlings, President of the ADRL made the announcement to pull the plug on the day for safety reasons, however to entertain the fans and race teams two different bands played into the evening on a stage set up next to the starting line.  The ADRL has obtained the music services of a Georgia based band called “The River” to play at all 9 ADRL Events this season and they do a great job of playing a mix of country and rock songs.  Friday attendance was 12,000 and no race cars went down the track.

On Saturday the crowds came early and the weather was cooperative, so the race took shape and qualifying rounds were on their way. Fans filled into the facility earlier than normal and plenty of seats being taken.  The 1 day attendance record for the track was an NHRA Event with just over 23,000 spectators back a couple of years, but the Flowmaster ADRL Series shattered that old record and brought in 41,742 for Saturday alone.  At some point in the evening the State Patrol started turning away traffic. The biggest crowd the track has ever had, food vendors running out of food, every seat in the grand stands taken and standing room only along the fences.  The fans were treated to spectacular racing in all four professional categories and the new this season Jr. Dragster program.   During opening ceremonies the National Guard provided Color Guards and two parachutes with the US and Texas Flags.  After the final round a firework display lit up the sky like the Fourth of July.    The fastest run of the day was Mississippi based driver Jason Scruggs who astounded the fans with a record 3.76 at 205 mph run.    

The Pro Extreme Motorcycle Class saw a first time event winner Ron Procopio won with a 4.33 ET at 160.54 mph over T.T. Jones.  The Extreme 10.5 Class winner was Steve Gorman winning over David Janes with both driver running 4.41 seconds ET, winning on a hole shot.    The Pro Nitrous winner was Jim Halsey running a 4.03 second ET 183.62 mph wins over Randy Weatherford.   The fastest and most popular class of the series is the Pro Extreme and he winner of that class was Joshua Hernandez driving a 55 Chevy sporting the names of the National Guard and Flowmaster logos on the sides.  Joshua won with a 191.57 mph run with an ET of 3.96 over Steve Wiley.  These racers won their part of the $100,000 purse.

The event drew record crowds and we were busy most of the day giving away just under 5 cases of catalogs, over 2500 goody bags, 15 packs of multi pack decals, a half case of Hushpower catalogs and lots of good advice for the future Flowmaster customers.  We had a great display location across from the ADRL Adrenaline Zone and next to the National Guard display.  We had plenty of good help at this event with the assistance of Dan Johnson, Randy Harris, JC Flugger and Dave Bortle from All Midwest Sales.  This event is one that will go down in history as a record setter, so it will be exciting to see how the Series unfolds the rest of the season.  The next event on the Flowmaster ADRL Series will be held April 25-26 in Tulsa, Oklahoma another first time stop for the Series.  My next stop will be next weekend in Chicago, Illinois where Mike Guerin and I will be attending the Winners Circle Race and Performance Expo.  It’s great to be back on the road for another season and its starting off on a big note, so have a great week everyone.