PIR Drag Racing History - Page Two
Due
to the escalating illegal street racing problem in
Late Night / Street Legal races sticker and (cool)
poster
By
2002, with bracket racing on Wednesday nights and the very popular Friday and
Saturday night street legal / late night races, drag racing was once again
becoming the most popular activity at PIR. The revenue brought in from these
races paid for an all new Compulink timing system to
replace old Chrondex system – some parts of which had
been in use since the 1960's! This completely new system was
permanently installed with all underground wiring.
PHOTO: Pete Macias
Installation
of the new timing system in 2002.
THE RETURN OF MAJOR DRAG
RACING TO PIR?
To
help determine the feasibility of major drag racing making a return to PIR, on
September 12, 2003, a noise test was conducted. The test was held in
conjunction with the Friday night street legal drags. Five cars that would
duplicate the noise levels of a major race were invited to participate. Including the blown alcohol 1957 Chevy nostalgia funny car of
Bernie Rugg as seen below.
The
test would give the surrounding neighborhoods a feel for the noise levels they
could expect if major drag racing were to return to PIR. It would also serve as
the beginning of what would be many meetings with the community, city leaders,
the noise review board, etc.
There were several major updates for the 2004 season. The most welcomed
by both and spectators and racers was the addition of the new Daktronics ET/MPH reader boards placed on the Goodyear
bridge.
Another
addition for the 2004 season was the update to LED light bulbs in the tree.
These bulbs were being used at all NHRA national and divisional events
replacing the conventional incandescent bulbs.
For the 2005 season, the big news was the (almost) return of an NHRA Divisional
Points race to PIR. Scheduled for August 5-7, this would have been the first
Divisional event held here in twenty years. Unfortunately and despite all the
hard work of PIR Managers Mark Wigginton and Pete
Macias, a noise variance could not be obtained in time for the event and it was
moved to Mission Raceway. While the possibility of a Divisional event in the
future still exists, that will be for another chapter in the PIR History Pages.
PHOTO: Pete Macias
PHOTO: Pete Macias
Revenue
from racing activities allowed several major improvements to be made during the
2004/2005 winter. The Musco lights that were
purchased in 2000 were installed and the concrete starting pad was increased to
a total length of 326 feet.
Although
PIR didn’t get the NHRA divisional race as hoped for in 2005, but in 2008 PIR
did play host to an NHRA National Open event.
The National Open race series is a divisional points
series which includes Top Comp, Stock and Super Stock and all bracket
categories (including motorcycle and Jr. Dragsters). National Opens continued at PIR (the only 1/8th
mile event in the series) until 2011.
Due to scheduling conflicts, the series did not return in 2012. Hopefully, those schedule issues will not
cause future conflicts and the series can return to PIR.
To be continued. Check back again!
Copyright © 2002 Greg Rollin. All photos and copyrighted information used with permission. While I have gone to much effort to ensure the accuracy of the information posted here, the possibility for error exists. In my research, I sometimes found conflicting information even from credible sources. Should you see anything you believe to be in error, please e-mail ME