Ran down to Newport yesterday afternoon...in the middle of nowhere amongst the rice & soybeans, basically...but the nicest, most laid back atmosphere I've ever seen at a drag strip, southern hospitality at it's finest! Anyway, dad's posted about this place before, but it's on old airport, and the return road is used/maintained by the state for their truck driving school...all concrete strip, HUGE asphalt pits. Best cheeseburgers I've ever had at a track...and I consider myself a cheeseburger connoisseur.
Here's a shot of the tower...you literally enter the track through the staging lanes (far right of picture), so they use the upright aluminum "shields" to keep the cars/spectators as they enter/leave the track from being pelted with rocks/rubber/water/etc. You're literally <10 ft. from the rear of the burnout boxes as you pay your admission & sign the waiver. [note the kiddy pool to the right of the tower...that is to help occupy Speedy's boy while he's running the program!]
Note the pipe on the lower right hand side of the tower in the photo above...that's not a gutter, that's where the announcer/timer drops down the time slips...
And the bucket...both slips (white winner and yellow loser) are on the same clothes pin, so dig through the bucket, find your pairing, then take the appropriate slip...every so often Speedy's daughter comes by and collects some clothes pins and run's 'em back up into the tower...
And my oldest daughter's first time slip, from her first "official" pass...first pass was a 10.5x letting off mid track for some reason, then followed it up with a string of 9.5s & 9.6s (1/8 mile). I tried helping her stage for her first past and had her confused, so I rolled her back, she quit watching me and did it herself and bumped in like a seasoned pro...evidently her old man was selling her short, lol!
