Boat Drags in Parker and Chandler this weekend

[Wheeler]

Where are all the pix? Any pix will do!

 

[BingerFang]

Where are all the pix? Any pix will do!

I would check a boating forum.

 

[brianwhiteboy]

 

[Outdrive1]

Where are all the pix? Any pix will do!

I can hear something running in front of the keys right now.

 

[Wheeler]

View attachment 1298258
View attachment 1298259

NIce!

 

[BigRedBryan]

 

[stokerwhore]

Porky just rolled past la paz while I was reading this

Most likely Porky Pig.

 

[mjc]

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid02tVGhQ4ievnJtj3fPxc7vYtnihhNcAXo4C2ajhgi16X8k9KkxaBkTRF9hdeaXktDHl&id=100001724776301&mibextid=K8Wfd2

 

[Lucky Larry]

 

[Lucky Larry]

Don’t know which one it was but best boat name of the day was “Liquor Box”. . . .

“Mrs.”

 

[Wheeler]

Don’t know which one it was but best boat name of the day was “Liquor Box”. . . .

“Mrs.”

 

[caribbean20]

Asked and answered. Got one of the guy who got wet, but won’t post out of respect.

Always appreciate seeing an injector hat.

 

[caribbean20]

3 Fuel boats, 4 or 5 Top Alcohol entries and Jet Boat Guru (Scarlata) in the red flatty, who is a mainstay at these events. It was a good sized crowd in Chandler.

 

[mjc]

A last batch. My freind steve getting pulled in after winning his championship.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0SkhS5RezLNGVesGGkwmTuYWca5nuLQasCKrkzA7Er9FaRdKS9pR1oS5VMEe9YQVSl&id=100001724776301&mibextid=K8Wfd2

 

[brianwhiteboy]

Three great days of racing. All the capsule boats ran well and the fuelers didn’t disappoint in the final run of the day.

 

[poncho]

View attachment 1298662
Three great days of racing. All the capsule boats ran well and the fuelers didn’t disappoint in the final run of the day.

I was there the year Lucas Oil pulled out and everyone thought that was the last time boats would run at Firebird, flew home in a funk.
So glad to see this.

 

[TexasJet]

I was there all 3 days. I thought the crowds were light compared to years past. No traffic in or out of the parking lot. About 160 boats.

y

 

[blue wonder]

Had a decent weekend, made some progress on the new boat, went too far with the setup on Saturday afternoon and almost blew it over, I’ll try and figure out how to crop a video and post it later, but it did run 139.93 mph to half track before I almost went flying so that was cool

 

[blue wonder]

 

[blue wonder]

 

[kurtis500]

I went yesterday to look around. They said 160 boats... and there were 60 at Parker?? If so they should get them together at the WF.

Probably the best showing in 6-7 years at Firebird. I think 1 vendor though. It really sucks that the finish line is BEFORE the grandstands.

 

[bagged97taco]

Damn that’s scary View attachment 1298904

View attachment 1298905
Had a decent weekend, made some progress on the new boat, went too far with the setup on Saturday afternoon and almost blew it over, I’ll try and figure out how to crop a video and post it later, but it did run 139.93 mph to half track before I almost went flying so that was cool

 

[poncho]

View attachment 1298908

That is a fast boat with supermodel looks.
Would you play with the forward canard wing to bring it down some.

 

[poncho]

Damn that’s scary View attachment 1298904

Did you guy's go?...Been watching for pic's.

 

[bagged97taco]

Did you guy's go?...Been watching for pic's.

I did not go. Bummed.

 

[westair]

I was there all 3 days. I thought the crowds were light compared to years past. No traffic in or out of the parking lot. About 160 boats. View attachment 1298849 y

Not a surprise since last year was supposed to be the last ...... its a great venue, maybe they'll be back next year!

 

[BigRedBryan]

Talked briefly with Mike Finnegan, they had a busy evening to say the least.

 

[cyclone]

I raced my boat and pitted next to Blue Wonder. Had a lot of fun. Crowds were definitely light. The grandstands were half-empty. The boat count was really good, though. I think there's just too many other opportunities for entertainment and drag boat racing is hard sell for most people, especially when you have to wait 3-4 minutes for each pair of boats to race or even longer when a boat breaks down in the middle of the track and has to be towed off the course. Plus, there was a NASCAR race this same weekend so I'm sure that affected the attendance.

 

[Boat 405]

Had a very busy weekend. First pass went out and forgot to turn on the CO2 Bottle. Motor ran well, but the pop off valve opened about 500 ft so it slowed down the second half of track. Second pass dropped a valve in #7, piston exploded and practically shut the motor off. Bummer there for sure. Had a friend of a friend bring out my spare bullet from San Diego to Phoenix Friday night. Got the spare motor in and running at 2 am Saturday morning. Made both rounds qualifying Saturday. Qualified 4th out of 6 boats. Ended up going to the finals on Sunday and was out gunned on power. But very happy to get my backup motor in and running to enjoy the weekend. Great times in the pits with multiple teams blowing up motors and putting in spare power. LOL. I think I got 6 hours sleep total between thursday and friday night....

 

[timstoy]

Had a very busy weekend. First pass went out and forgot to turn on the CO2 Bottle. Motor ran well, but the pop off valve opened about 500 ft so it slowed down the second half of track. Second pass dropped a valve in #7, piston exploded and practically shut the motor off. Bummer there for sure. Had a friend of a friend bring out my spare bullet from San Diego to Phoenix Friday night. Got the spare motor in and running at 2 am Saturday morning. Made both rounds qualifying Saturday. Qualified 4th out of 6 boats. Ended up going to the finals on Sunday and was out gunned on power. But very happy to get my backup motor in and running to enjoy the weekend. Great times in the pits with multiple teams blowing up motors and putting in spare power. LOL. I think I got 6 hours sleep total between thursday and friday night....

View attachment 1299458

So just a normal race weekend! It’s an addiction and we did it for years circle boat racing! Glad to see drag boats racing at Firebird again!

 

[Kurt96]

The boat racing community needs to advertise more. Unless you have Facebook and know exactly what page to search for, there is no way to get any information. I couldn’t even find a schedule of events posted anywhere after a lengthy search. You can’t expect a large crowd when no one knows a race is happening. That being said, I thought there were more people this year than last year at Firebird.

 

[RiverDave]

The boat racing community needs to advertise more. Unless you have Facebook and know exactly what page to search for, there is no way to get any information. I couldn’t even find a schedule of events posted anywhere after a lengthy search. You can’t expect a large crowd when no one knows a race is happening. That being said, I thought there were more people this year than last year at Firebird.

I don’t know why they don’t do more promotion.. same with ski racing. Unless you are connected to it the only time you hear about it is when it’s over.

There are ski races that happen here in havasu that ya don’t hear about at all.. even after they are over?

 

[Kurt96]

I don’t know why they don’t do more promotion.. same with ski racing. Unless you are connected to it the only time you hear about it is when it’s over.

There are ski races that happen here in havasu that ya don’t hear about at all.. even after they are over?

The ski races are even more elusive from what I’ve seen. I don’t think it would be hard to hire a couple professional video guys to film events and make promotional content, and get that info out to more than just a select few Facebook groups.

I’ve been around the circle boats more, and I know the drag boats have a larger following in general. But I was surprised to see they are just as bad at marketing.

 

[Backlash]

I was pleasantly surprised while up in Bakersfield yesterday. I stopped at a small business and saw these flyers taped up in the window by the door.

 

[cyclone]

I don’t know why they don’t do more promotion.. same with ski racing. Unless you are connected to it the only time you hear about it is when it’s over.

There are ski races that happen here in havasu that ya don’t hear about at all.. even after they are over?

I think in many cases you don't have professional promoters running these events and as such, there Is very little time/effort/money spent in advertising to get people to attend. Plus, once the fans are in stands or on the shore the focus is on getting boats down the track and finishing the racing before darkness sets in and the focus is not on entertaining people in the grandstands and/or livestream viewers each time the boat racing is disrupted. Wish the associations had the manpower/dollars to invest in the entertainment side of the event because then everyone would benefit.

 

[AZLineman]

I don’t know why they don’t do more promotion.. same with ski racing. Unless you are connected to it the only time you hear about it is when it’s over.

There are ski races that happen here in havasu that ya don’t hear about at all.. even after they are over?

Years ago I used to watch the NWSRA website for events and they even had the ski race boat and equip classifieds however it has kind of died off. Like others I hear about shit after it happens. A good boat related calendar of events would sure be cool

 

[Bajastu]

With most forms of racing outside of the big boys at NASCAR & NHRA, there are too many racing organizations that are constantly competing against each other.

Off road racing organizations like SCORE, BITD, Legacy, MORE, SNORE, KOH, and now Unlimited Off-Road Racing which will be hosting the Parker 400 all are competing for entries and even hosting races on the same weekends. It’s a money grab for each one of the orgs. It just creates low entry numbers and less exposure for your sponsors.

If you thought BITD did a horrible job at the Parker races, just wait until The Martelli Brothers fuck up the town bring in their money grab form of racing. You’ll be paying to spectate, paying to walk down vendor row, and the entry fees are astronomical. Also, good luck taking pictures, you’ll be forced to pay them royalties to sell your hard work.

All these racing orgs are a complete shit show. Its no wonder there are low entries and even lower spectators. At the end of the day, sponsors will pull out, racers will stop racing as the economy slows down and hopefully the smaller promoters will fade away.