i wrote a letter to the guys who origonated the Flashlight drags in PA. they did an articel on this about 3 years ago in Hot Rod Magazine. i had tossed the idea around in my head for a while about asking them for some guidance to getting this started in our area. we after the news story and the thread here the other day i decided to write them a letter (really just an Email). i ask them how they got started and what needs to be considered. anyways i awaiting to hear back form them. i mention the site and how the majority of us would like to do somthing like this around here. hopefully they will log in and check us out.

Hopfully they will get back to me soon and maybe we can get one together by the end of the Summer.

Nice, hopefully this turns into something.

great idea!

Heres their Story... http://www.flashlightdrags.com/

That's cool, Street racing without Jail time. Very interested to see what comes out of this!

its really not street racing thought. its 1/8 mile drag, and instead of a tree you get a flash light...

buy any who... im down! hope they provide some guidance and resources.

im sure either quonset or that old runway thing in westerly (area) or towards lincoln could be of some use if we could talk to those people.

ill be honest im a selfish bitch and was thinking Taunton airport. but i would be down to try and get this to go anywhere where they would be open to the idea!

you're going to need a good business plan. have to figure out profits/losses, publicity, figure out if there are any laws/ordances about driving a car/bike/truck on an air strip, all before you can even start asking those places.

i honestly dont want any profit. im cool with spliting Entry fees with the air port, and a chairity. i actually dont think that the flashlight drags make any profit either. just a place to let loose and have some fun.

If you want NHRA or IHRA sponsorship,you can't use an airstrip.
To get any city to ok it would be much easier with the blessings of one of the major associations.
Even local racing programs usually require retainer walls and some kind of safety to keep the cars on the track area.
That would require bringing in K-rails at the least.
It's a major undertaking for any racing program to use airstrips.Indy cars and Formula racing spend millions getting airstrips ready.
The best thing is to find an abandoned road that's still in good shape and flat.Cut a spot out to pour a concrete launch pad.
Pour concrete retainer walls and safety wall for the starter.
Then put in guard rails and steel cable the length of the track,and a chain link safety barrier.
That would give you the accepted safety for street style racing

the profit would not be for you or us or anything like that. it would be for where ever place that is used for the race. like some small airport and what not.

also not looking for any IHRA/NHRA Sponsorship or Sanctioning. i just wanna go fast and have fun. hell ESPN doesnt need to show up either.

Im willing to bet we could get 400+ Cars&Bikes there if this were to happen.

Stayin Stock - did you read the www.Flashlightdrags.com page. thats all i wanna do. i dont see the need to make this a huge event.

You're talking about one group of people that was able to get one town to agree.....right?
The reason most cities don't allow it is safety.Not just for the public,but for drivers,spectators,and starters.
NHRA and IRHA sponsorship doesn't mean they make a show out of it or big event.
It means your track passes the safety requirements for the racing you want to provide.
You people think that because you get a runway with a lot of room to crash that everything should be OK because one group did it.
I think someone already mentioned what one person had to go through to try and get a permit for a track.

Y'all are also forgetting that elected officials make those decisions.
Not many Mayors or Chiefs of police is going to ok something like that and then get hung out when a kid dies while racing in a manner they ok'd.
You can say they can sign away responsibility and all that stuff,but when election time comes...people remember.


I'm just sayin.
There is more to it than room to race.

I hate to be a nay sayer here because I would love for this to happen but, dude has a point.

So if you dont like the idea then dont worry about it, just ignore it.

this is why no one takes initiative anymore cause everyone just fuckin pisses on it. there are over 100 views on this thread, about 6 people ave said anything at all and only half of that is positive. seems like alot who were in on the other thread couldn't give a shit less anymore.

No offense LS6. I am down with your enthusiasm and would love for this to happen.

However...

No one takes enthusiasm for this anymore because we tried this multiple times over alreadfy, getting as far as town hall meetings. For over a decade now. We have been shot down, and not by a small margin.


We had our hopes up, we worked hard, we got nowhere.

After awhile, you learn when the battle cannot be won.

You misunderstand.
I am merely saying what it would probably take to get a city to ok a place to street race.
Everyone thinks that because on group was able to do a street race without much effort that everyone should be able to do it.
I am being realistic.
I didn't say I don't like the idea.
We can gather the troops,whoop and holler and say "Yeah we can do it too" and then when the city say's "NOPE" then what?
Following safety guidelines layed out for drag racing gives the city something to feel good about,therefore they are more inclined to allow the track and racing.
What part of that is pissing on anything...just because you don't want to hear it?

Any chance you could just work with an established drag strip to organize an event like this? Even a race track? Beaver Run is a very nice road course, so if you have any local tracks you could always approach them. Heck, maybe get backing from them to set something up elsewhere.

Norwalk Raceway Park (now known as Summit Motorsports Park) does this at least a few times a year as well.

^^ ^^

forget the concrete, you just laid down a whole lotta truth in your posts...and THAT'LL stick!!

Ok, I'm done.

Drew This is a great idea and Iwould most likely attend something like this and love to see it get off the ground. The only down side i personally see to it is the If you dont do this we will just keep racing on the streets mentality I feel this way for 2 reasons 1) I do not condone or support street racing (personal reasons) 2) it is almost like a kid back talking to his parent saying if you don't let me stay out late i will move out the parent is gonna doone of 3 things either stand pat, Say pack your shit good luck don't come crying to me when you pay the consequences for your actions, or they will try and reason with the kid. basically you need to find the parent (city) that will bargin and try and reason for something like this i support your effort in this but know it is a long shot and i wount back it the second it goes to we will just keep street racing if this doesn't happen you can count my backing of this idea out 100%. This is my personal opinon on the subject cause i will not sponsor illegal street racing but i will support legal street racing style events because that style driving belongs on a track not the streets 100% of the time. So Drew you have my support as of now man

That's what the street racers have going with our local track.
Every saturday is street car racing.
The cars have to be registered and street legal...no slicks.
Grudge matches,test and tune,heads up,or bracket style.
just pay a small fee to run.
before the deal was made we had street racing on a highway, but one of the kids talked to the track owner and got the city involved and the track owner agreed to set aside one day for street drags for anyone of legal age and a legal car.
The track is Ok'd for 1/4 mile street and 1/8 mile modified and above.
Sunday is the regular track schedule..street modified and pro modified.

The closest established drag strip is over 2 hours away. /end.

there is plenty of events at the "Local" Track but the local track is over 2 hours away. also Street nighst are on Wed. and Fri. i cant make those

this will never happen especially in this economy right now. it costs too much to have something like this. you will need police and medical on site incase of any accidents and that aint gonna happen

I look at it like this. Why would a city realllly want to end street racing? Fall River let the ave go on for YEARSSSSSSSSS* (30?) It was a HUGE cash cow for them IMO. It was only when residents and businesses got tired of it and really got aggravated that the police put the clamp down on everything.

It reminds me o my town. There's a bridge that magically had no weight limit for 400(!!) years. Then a 5 ton limit.. Then 3. Oh, it was a $500 ticket if you brought something too heavy over the bridge. Yes cops watched it, and townspeople called in. But 'the bridge needed to be fixed immediately'. It was like this for TWO YEARS. You're telling me that the town didn't love all the extra easy money?

Street racing when done right isn't really that dangerous.
I can go to the local track and watch street style racing all season and not see a wreck.
Some cities probably would section off abandoned roads or other places where street events could be held if it weren't for the few idiots that can't stomp the gas without hitting a telephone pole.
Some people shouldn't be racing and the only way to weed them out is when they wreck.
That's the sad facts.

you cant control a tire blowing at 160 mph and causing a wreck, you cant control antifreeze leaking onto your tires causing you to lose control. theres a lot of accidents at the track that i see that have nothing to do with the driver that cant handle driving a car.

no matter how dangerous you think it is or isnt, you still need police and medical on the scene incase of any accident

AGREED!

No response to the letter/email yet?

I don't think i disagreed with you.
Aside from the emergency team,the city will want the rest of the safety equipment i mentioned earlier.
If you try and open up a place for all to drag race street style where the people racing are in charge,there will be people racing that shouldn't be.
The same people that make asses out of themselves on the street.
The controlled environment of a drag strip keeps that from happening.
I see and hear about way more accidents in street racing than i do in a street racing day at the track.
I may see atleast 2 or 3 hundred races a day at the track with no incident.I'd bet the numbers are a lot lower in street racing.
The city would be more inclined to let the races happen on an abandoned road or airstrip if they knew those people weren't racing.
The few make the whole suffer.
It's not the tire blowing out or antifreeze under the tire that scare the city.Those things are rare.
It's the people that run off the road and hit things and never even hit the brakes.
Or people that get sideways and don't have the sense to let off the gas and run across multiple lanes and hit other cars.
Or the idiot you see doing donuts in the median and finally flipping over because he thinks..."i got this"
Or the car you see wrapped around an overpass pillar.
Those are the people that scare the city.
They want to make sure those cars stay on the track if they show up.

only reason being is because they dont show drag racing accidents at the track on the news. if they did you would see it all the time. just about every year someone dies at new england dragway on opening day but it dont make the news.

no matter what anyone signs, it isnt going to happen. it costs too much money for the state instead of them making money

yes i had a response, but no one really seemed interested. he gave me a list of restrictions that i need to look up before call ing the airports. the biggest thing is they cant be a federally funded airport. they used to use one, until Hot Rod ran their story, then th e FAC (Federal Aviation Commitee) shut it down. now they use a private airport. i found an airport almost in the middle of taunton and worcester. its got a 3000+ foot runway, we shall see.

also after some thought, no matter what it will almost have to be 1/8th mile. 12 sec. cars would be over 100MPH and thats not gonna work.

Which is that? Is the worcester airport fed owned? I dont see why people who live in the city would be opposed to racing here, seeing as there are no houses very close to it? And what about the Fitchburg Airport? Its a small runway but its a possibility?

1/8 mile is 660 feet, typical staging area is around 100 feet, including the water box, you will need about 1,000 feet to run off on safely, assuming we will see a few cars (very few) hitting 100+ MPH. You may think I am being over-cautious, but I would us rather be safe.

So if you can find a perfectly level 2,000 foot private runway than you are at a good start.

1/4 mile is 1320 feet, and you should have 1,000 to 1,500 (I prefer 1,500) run down. So in theory 3,000 feet could be used safely for 1/4 mile, I would probably prefer 3,200 feet, maybe and even 3,500 feet.

That's just some math for you to use in searching.

You can see the safe distance of the track for a 1/4 is 4,000 Feet, even more so than what I would have thought.

So 2,000 Feet should be good for 1/8.

1/8 mile seems like such a rip off, I mean can you get all the way to 5th or 6th gear in an 1/8 mile drag? Tha'd be like 5-6second race... Why do that?

better than nothing though....

I am going to try to address this without sounding condescending or mean. So if I fail, I apologize, my point is not to come off that way but just address the facts.

I can tell you must not do many passes at the track, which is cool, not everyone has time or money to do so, trust me I know.

However, 5th and 6th gear and in some cases 4th gear should and never will be seen at a track, even in the 1/4 mile. 1/8 while does feel lacking in some cases, does offer most of the thrill of the 1/4 mile. While some more modified vehicles may not see past 2nd gear in these races, most will make it to third and have that fulfilling race experience.

Edit: I am at work so I can't go get you the exact number, but at stock redline on my car (and I can safely go almost a full 500-750 more) in third gear I am close to 110 MPH. I know in 2nd I can get to 64 at stock redline.

Since at 110 MPH in my car with it's FWD traction issues still puts me in the 13's at FWD, then it is low 13's and even maybe high high 12's in an AWD model. Most cars are the road aren't 12 seconds or faster, so 1/8th mile or 1/4 mile they aren't going past 3rd gear, the beginning of 4th if they are afraid to push it.

Edit 2:

Most 1/8th mile races will be 8+ seconds.

Some data (Using AWD DSMs):

1/4 Mile: 10.020 Seconds @ 145.4 MPH = 6.550 Seconds @ 116.600 MPH in the 1/8 Mile

1/4 Mile: 11.073 Seconds @ 126.8 MPH = 7.221 Seconds @ 101.370 MPH in the 1/8 Mile

1/4 Mile: 12.000 Seconds @ 115.28 MPH = 7.687 Seconds @ 90.57 MPH in the 1/8 Mile

1/4 Mile: 13.017 Seconds @ 103.490 MPH = 8.249 Seconds @ 84.75 MPH in the 1/8 Mile

1/4 Mile: 14.079 Seconds @ 94.73 MPH = 8.942 Seconds @ 77.7 MPH in the 1/8 Mile

1/4 Mile: 15.075 Seconds @ 87.21 MPH = 9.528 Seconds @ 71.42 MPH in the 1/8 Mile

I used only examples that had sub 2.0 60' times to try to stay consistent.

So it's pretty safe to assume that in order to see sub 8 second races, you need to be better than a 13 second car. And in order to see 5 to 6 second races, well you are doing much better than 10 seconds in the 1/4 and well you probably aren't going to flashlight races.

Edit 3:

This is a 12 second Mustang doing 1/4 mile pass, as you will see starting at like 23 seconds when he does the run he does not shift past 4th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYXBxnh-PhQ

Here is an 1/8 Mile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7fqUIOdMQQ

Worcester Airport now has Commercial Jets flying in. It's owned by Massport.

^ agreed. i never hit 4th in my cobalt. i top out 3rd at the limiter at 94 mph.

Hopedale Airport is Privatly owned, its 3000 feet long. i called today and i have to call back on monday.

also if the airport is federally funded they will not allow cars top race on teh runways. its their money and part theirs so theres no way around it.

I remember my father telling me about a private airport in Southboro that he had paved a few years ago. The owner of the airport invented something to do with Sirius Satellite radio. I don't remember where the hell it is though.

Oooo.. I see, Ed was explaining to me that same thing last night. That you will rarely see 5th in a 1/4 mile.. I have never dragged so I would have no f-in clue so sorry for the clueless noob post, I will try and refrain from doing that lol... but thanks for the very informative post... So I guess your point in that was that, a 1/8 mile would be as fun as a 1/4...

As fun, maybe not, but still definitely fun. I like doing them both so it's all subjective to me.

Yeah 5ths definitly not seen in the normal daily driver..I prefer a 1/4 myself but an 1/8th would atleast be something..an 1/8th vs. a 1/4 would mix things up a bit in terms of wins/losses

Agreed to an extent.

1/8 favors AWD cars very heavily. As a FWD I wouldn't even bother running an AWD car of equal or even slightler lesser performance. I rely on the back door, so the 1/8 has some downfalls too.

Just got to weight it out as such:

1/8 Race > No Race

nobody is tryin to knock you drew, its just that youre not the first person to take up the cause so ppl are extremely skeptical.

there was an EXTREMELY long thread about a track in MA on newengland-motorsports.com

might want to check it out. I also did a speech on this for one of my colelge classes, ill try and dig it up for you. I doubt I have it still though.

i get that, but everyone wanst to bitch that theirs no where to race, but no one does anything about it. im gonna try. if it fails at least i tried.

I don't think we are necessarily wanting you to not try. I for one just don't want you get your hopes up so high it hurts to fall, you know?