LSR in the Everglades Oct 11 09 about 150 car turnout

[NOT A TA]

I went to the Milemarker-1 race Sunday and entered with my 70 Firebird. The event was held at Dade-Collier airport. Organization was poor. Timing was by an officer with a radar gun. Tech and safety inspection was almost non existant. There were no classes or safety requirements for any speed. The track is perfect, A 2 mile smooth concrete airport runway still maintained although the runway is not used much. I did not see a single airplane howerever there was a helicopter and pilot which made me feel better that if there was an injury the person could be transported. 

The quality of cars there was very high with almost all cars being newer vehicles with turbos, superchargers or nitrous.  The staging lanes looked more like a car show than a race area because all of the vehicles were so nice looking.

My car was by far the oldest car there and the only one with a carb. One of only a handfull of cars that had any kind of rollover protection and one of only a couple with fire supression. There were a couple people with driving suits. Most of the cars were running in the 150-190 range according to the radar gun and peoples GPS and datalogging equipment. Several cars were running 190-220.

here's a link to a thread with pictures and videos from the event http://www.ls1gto.com/forums/showthread.php?p=6103461

[Peter Jack]

Sounds like a location with great potential that could easily be ruined by poor organisation and an untoward mishap.

[55chevr]

This sounds like a street race with a timing gun. Just a matter of time before this goes bad.Without safety equipment these are 130 club cars going 190. 

[NOT A TA]

I e-mailed back and forth with the person organizing the event several times months before the event, stressing the importance of safety equipment. Those warnings were ignored and if you had long pants and a helmet you could run anything you wanted. Good luck does not last forever and eventually a horrific accident will happen.

Luckily there were no crashes and the only damages I'm aware of were a splitter/spoiler broke and scraped the ground like a snowplow on a Ford GT at about 200 MPH and a Corvette lost a hood just under 190.

The person who ran this event is holding another one in January and there is also another group that has rented the airport and will be running a similar event.

[Joe Timney]

They don't care...it's just about the MONEY!!!

[lvsalt]

with some organization and safety this could turn in to something good. hopefully before an accident

[NOT A TA]

They don't care...it's just about the MONEY!!!

There is absolutely no question about that. They tried to charge me $30.00 just to park my trailer! Spectators were all charged and there were at least a couple hundred spectators. Early sign up was 100.00, regular 150.00 and at the gate the morning of the event 195.00. They were originally supposed to only allow 90 sign ups, then it went to 101 then 113 then 140 and there were at least 150 by the time they ran. A lot of the racers were so hot and angry by the time they got their first run they only made one pass and left. Iwas told temps in staging and starting areas were up to 110 degrees.

Here's a video that shows a lot of the cars taken as cars were returning from the drive through course inspection. Some of the cars are not racers but just happened to be driving up to staging at the same time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BY0Fd_0knk&feature=player_embedded#  I'm sure there will be a lot of videos posted on you tube this week ater people finishing editing etc.

Joe, I really like those Kirkey # 63 seats I got through you. Quite a project and a lot of modifying to get them in the car but they're working out awesome. I've been to several Road Racing events with them at Palm Beach International and Sebring so I've had plenty of seat time to get used to them.

[Dean Los Angeles]

Gee, if they start the next car when the last car is half way down they could run twice as many!

When the accident happens, and it was blind luck it wasn't this event, at 200 it has a large chance of being a fatal accident with no safety gear.

Take the money and run.

[NOT A TA]

Gee, if they start the next car when the last car is half way down they could run twice as many!

When the accident happens, and it was blind luck it wasn't this event, at 200 it has a large chance of being a fatal accident with no safety gear.

Take the money and run.

You can run 4-5 times as many if you run them all at the same time! Check out this video from another event held there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NAvWbv5-Vs&NR=1

[Stainless1]

Well guys would you rather have them running top speed on the street  :|  at least this way it will only probably kill one guy instead of several... unless he tumbles over the guy with the radar gun! 
These were street cars not race cars
Let's get back to personal responsibility... I don't rely on the rules and the promoter to save my bacon, except to have emergency medical care on site..... we are getting to the point that if something happens, we need a rule to cure it... racing is not safe... it is a dangerous sport... everyone participating is responsible to do everything they can to live through it. 
At the rate we are going, we will all be racing in "airbag suits" oh wait... until the first one burns the wearer... then we will require "air bag cool air suits" 
They race side by side on narrower tracks in NHRA... at 300 mph.... get a grip guys....
Hopefully the promoter had enough liability insurance to cover the law suits that everyone seems to think we need because "someone else is responsible for my stupidity"
If you don't feel safe at an event... don't race at it

[floydjer]

Anyone else see " Everglades" in the title and have a vision of Ratliff on an air boat??

[WildBro]

I was there on Sunday watching.  Love your car, NOT A TA  I think you had the most runs of everybody.
This place has a ton of potential and I hope in improves were it really needs it.
The radar gun needs to go!
It was balls hot that day and it added to peoples attitudes for sure.
If I get my stuff together, I'll race there in January.

Bill

[55chevr]

They could get a lot of runs in by running in both directions at the same time ... Just keep to the right like the freeway.

[NOT A TA]

I was there on Sunday watching.  Love your car, NOT A TA  I think you had the most runs of everybody.
This place has a ton of potential and I hope in improves were it really needs it.
The radar gun needs to go!
It was balls hot that day and it added to peoples attitudes for sure.
If I get my stuff together, I'll race there in January.

Bill

Thank you! I got 8 runs according to their records. And yes the potential is there, January should be a perfect time to race here.

Video from tech inspection area http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_p0vwhaGJw

[MiltonP]

I was thinking about going down if I could find something to run down there.  My thinking was that the more of us that show up, the better chance we have to influence changes for safety.  Then i went and checked out the videos and noted the vehicles and spectators lining the track at the edge of the runway.  I am not sure I want to witness what that might lead to and I am sure I don't want to fight the battle to stop that practice.  I agree with some of the earlier post about being responsible for our safety but having spectators out there on bikes and standing along the edge is asking for trouble.