One More Thing:
Attention Track Owners and Racers:
I have been on the road for over four months and have been to 10 race events. There are two things that I wish more tracks would do:

1. Pre-event parking and credentials. Only one track I have EVER been to really handled this correctly. Norwalk Raceway Park puts everyone in a parking lot and numbers the tow vehicles as they arrive. You will be admitted to the pit area in the order you arrived. No exceptions, no B.S. Congrats to Bill Bader for DOING IT RIGHT. No racers get in early, no “special treatment” for the big names. Everyone treated equally and that is how it should be.
3. Racers who “reserve pit spots” for their buddies with lawn chairs, construction site tape or parking cars sideways at events where parking space is at a premium. It is rude and pisses off almost everyone. The reality is nobody else probably wants to park next to these guys anyway, but that isn’t the point. Tracks should take the time to make sure this doesn’t happen. Want a good parking spot? Get there early or arrive with the person you want to pit next to. It isn’t that difficult.

What has brought this to my attention is how parking was handled at some of the events I attended while I have been in Florida. The IHRA race in Immokalee was handled pretty well as the amount of racers was easy to manage. Still there were too many people roping off large areas of the pit area for their buddies.

The NHRA Division 2 races in Bradenton and Gainesville tried to get it right but in the end it was the “rudest guys” that got in first and took the best parking spots even if they weren’t first in line. It cannot be that hard to just have a Parking Security person who numbers the tow vehicles as they arrive and then have four or five guys on scooters or golf carts who escort racers to their parking area. What I watched at Gainesville was that the most arrogant and rudest guys just parked where they wanted and it didn’t matter if they parked crossways, took two spots or whatever. They should have been moved out by track management and sent back in line to wait. Sure, that racer would have been upset but 30 other racers would have seen it as justice.

Is pit parking really that big of a deal? Probably not. Is it important? Absolutely! It is the first impression racers (aka: CUSTOMERS) get of the racing facility and management. I agree it isn’t easy getting 400-plus race entries parked, but every track owner could learn from Bill Bader on how to DO IT RIGHT.