2/21/12
Season openers coming up on us. We aren't much more than 2 months away from our season openers. Riverhead is April 29th, and Waterford is Sunday May 6th. Waterford then goes to Friday nights starting 5 days later on the 11th.
New Sponsors. We are very pleased to bring new sponsors on board with HDRA this season. Action Performance in Ronkonkoma, NY is new with HDRA and is a lane sponsor for the Riverhead and Patchogue events. SK Speed is the other lane sponsor on Long Island.
King GMC-Cadillac in Putman, CT is new with us this season, and is a lane sponsor for the Thompson DRAG*FEST (July 29th) as well as the Holeshot Drags at the Putnam Main Street Cruise (Aug. 12th).
Check out the columns on either side for all our sponsors, including those that have been with us from the start (B&B Performance and Swift Performance for instance). As a general rule, the CT sponsors are on the left, while the LI sponsors are on the right.
Please make sure you visit them, and thank them for supporting Holeshot Drags!
More coming soon!
2/7/12
Artwork in process. One of the things missing from our gig has been merchandise. We will be coming out with t-shirts and the HDRA stickers shortly. You may have noticed on the home page a scetch of a couple drag cars. We've mentioned before that we are having Ben Mitchell from Dragdaddyart do CARtoons for us... this is the first piece. It's just a rough sketch, but it looks great!. Can't wait to see the final result. This piece will be on oour first shirt, as well as our DRAG*FEST posters and fliers.
Do the cars look familiar?
Banquet. We're still working on the new date, but before we commit, we're looking at alternative sites and format. We will keep you posted.
1/21/12
We're going to New Hampshire. While we have to iron out the details, it looks as though we will be doing a DRAG*FEST show at Twin City Speedway in Claremont, NH. Twin State is a multi-purpose facility... a third mile oval, a quarter mile oval in the center, a mud bog track, a sand drag track, plus more is in store. HDRA and the Holeshot Drags will be part of their ever increasing facility usage.
The plan for now is to promote a DRAG*FEST event on Labor Day Monday, although they are looking at alternative dates. Labor Day Monday would actually be a good date for us. While that weekend is full of events, usually everything is over by Sunday. For the car and race enthusiasts, that Monday is usually a letdown because there's no racing or car shows scheduled. Many people still want a car event to go to. We'll fill that void.
Our hope is that we can help Twin State develop a weekly program with the Holeshot Drags, and under the HDRA banner.
Facilities from other states are contacting us to promote a DRAG*FEST event for them. Calls are coming from Ohio, Maine, the Carolinas, and Florida. While our goal is to help stock car facility owners develop another night of revenue and use of their track, two calls have come to us from drag strips! We'll keep you posted.
Putnam CT Main Street Cruise August 12th. HDRA will be there with the Holeshot Drags. We just came from the committee meeting for this huge event, and you have to imagine that much of the discussion was centered around the rainout issues we had in 2011. Last year was a mess... in the 140+ years of record keeping, 2011 was the wettest year. We lost the original date, then the rainout date. There was some confusion on how those things were handled, so this is what we came up with:
Raindate: there wasn't a raindate on last years flyer, so nobody knew what to do when the first show was lost. This year, the raindate is the following Sunday August 19th. It will be on the flier!
Cancellations: unless it's a Hurricane Irene type of event, we will wait until 5am on show day to make a call, not the day before. The weather that time of year is too unpredictable, and the weatherman certainly doesn't always get it right.
Banquet: Date for rescheduled banquet will be coming this coming week. We are looking at sometime in March.
More news on everything coming soon!
1/16/12
Banquet to be rescheduled. The HDRA banquet scheduled for this Friday January 20th is going to be rescheduled for a later date. We will determine the new date in a day or two and post it here.
Like last year, too many people are waiting until the last minute to get their tickets, and we can't plan this week's event properly. It appears that a tradition is starting. We are looking for a March date, and then we are going to make a couple hundred phone calls to make sure people are aware of the new date.
1/12/12
Banquet one week away. Get your tickets yet? Deadline is this Monday to get the money in so the Elks can order the proper amount of food. It's going to be a great time!
Riverhead has added dates. We have added June 10th and July 1st to the racing schedule at Riverhead. Now we have 8 events scheduled there every month from April to September. Spread the word!
1/6/12
Stunt Bikes part of DRAG*FEST. Stunt Bike Champion Luke Emmons will be part of at least some of our DRAG*FEST shows during the upcoming season. We've seen many stunt bike shows in the past, and Luke puts on what we believe to be the best we've seen. Luke does this competitively all over the country, and does exhibition shows like ours inbetween competitons. We are waiting for him to receive his competition schedule so we can see what dates he will be available. He'll be a great addition to our the Holeshot Drags, Car Show, Burnout & Engine Blow-up Contests!
Banquet. Get your requests for banquet tickets in yet? It's just 2 weeks away, and the deadline is a week from this Monday to have it in our hands. Just a reminder that we have our new office at 165 State St, Suite 322, New London, CT 06320. Our phone number remains the same - (860) 961-5618.
Schedule for 2012. This season's schedule is starting to take shape. We will keep adding to it as we get confirmation of dates and sponsorships. Go to the "Schedule" page to see what we have so far so you can start making plans.
1/5/12
A bit of sad news... Comp Eliminator regular Warren Wright just informed us that he lost his father on New Years day. Our prayers and thoughts go out to him and all his family. He asked if those in the racing community would say a little prayer for his dad.
We do not have many details, but do know that the viewing will be held on Friday afternoon from 2-3pm at the Aurora-McCarthy funeral home, located at 167 Old Hartford Rd, Colchester, CT. We will pass on any other information as we receive it.
1/4/12
Patchogue...Ridge...Patchogue...Ridge... Ok, it's Patchogue! This past November, HDRA officials were invited to a meeting of the Patchogue fire Dept. They were excited about having us come in to promote one of our DRAG*FEST events at their Motorized Drill Facility with them. What's a Motorized Fire Drill? You MUST check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XzugJ49nxk. Note: You have to get through the first 30 seconds of the video before you get to the "fire trucks". Hint... the "fire trucks" have 800+hp big blocks!
So we set a date for Saturday June 23rd. Originally we were going to use their home track in Patchogue, but decided later that the use of the Ridge facility in Brookhaven would be easier to operate. Well... apparently problems came up, and it wasn't clear for the past 2 months which facility we would use. It became more apparent that Ridge was not going to made available to us, so the final decision is to run the event in their own back yard in Patchogue. It's a nice facility, and we're looking forward to doing PATCHOGUE "DRAG*FEST 2012". Keep in mind that if we lose the 23rd to rain, we will use Sunday the 24th as a rain date.
These tracks are all over Long Island (and upstate NY as well). We put an unbelievable effort for 5 years to get one of these facilities to no avail, so when this opportunity came to us, we considered it a big victory. We expect to have huge crowds, huge participation of show cars, and most importantly, a great turnout for the Holeshot Drags for the June 23rd event. We wouldn't be surprised if other Fire Companies jumped on board with HDRA to promote an event at their facility!
1/2/12
The hardcopy Newsletter is back! In a previous posting we mentioned that we are bringing back the hard copy newsletter. We used to print a "one-pager" that was in an 11x17 format. It was just big enough to get the previous weeks news and photos on it, along with our sponsors ads. We didn't publish it in 2011 for various reasons, but simply stated, it's in everybody'd interest to bring it back.
We have alot more things going on this season than in 2010, so we are considering doubling up on the size. If you have a business and wish to advertise to our market, please contact us. We will be publishing a couple issues prior to opening day, and distributing them to stores and shops in all our markets. Of course, the plan is to keep it free of charge. If you want your business in these pre-season issues, get ahold of us now. Thanks!
12/30/11
Banquet tickets. Just a reminder... the the January 20th banquet is about 3 weeks away. If you are coming, you need order your tickets soon. Our deadline is Monday January 16th to have your reservations in our hands. It's $20 per person, and for that you get a buffet, old time drag race movies, time on the practice tree, chances for door prizes, trophies for the top ten in each Eliminator, and a chance to get together with all your race buddies from the past season. Racers, families, and friends are all welcome to come.
We have a new office, so you can now mail your reservations to:
HDRA, 165 State Street, Suite 322, New London, CT 06320.
Our phone number stays the same... 860-961-5618. Get your reservations in now! We look forward to seeing all of you. We had a great time last year.
The New Year is right around the corner. This past year has certainly been memorable. Many things happened, but if this year will be remembered for anything, it'll be the rain. It was officially the wettest year on record since they've been keeping track of those things, and the weather was our Nemesis. In a year of great growth came 1 partial and 17 total rainouts. Thankfully we're already seeing a major shift in the weather pattern from last year, so we expect a more normal season for 2012!
Despite the weather, we still had some great things happen for HDRA.We were at more venues. Many positive articles were written about us on online magazines, postings, local newspapers, and most of all, DRAG RACER magazine. People all over the country are now becoming aware of our Holeshot Drag program.
So 2012 looks to be a great year for HDRA. We continue to expand to new venues and states. Our DRAGFEST events will bring Holeshot Drags to new areas of this country, and the DRAGFEST format will draw thousands of people. Holeshot Drags, Car Show, Stunt Bikes, Burnout Contests, Engine Blow-up Contests, Celebrities, etc., etc., etc., all in one event.
Sponsorship opportunities for 2012 now available. All our events, whether they be local weekly shows such as Waterford, or DRAGFEST events which are one-time shows, present opprotunities to put your business name in front of potential customers. We have sensible rates that are affordable, and we can accomodate any budget regardless the size of the business. You can be the owner of a local "mom and pop" operation, or the CEO of a worldwide corporation... we have an affordable sponsorship package available to you.
Contact us and we'll show you all the ways we can put your business name in front of loyal new customers.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
12/27/11
Happy Holidays
I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and Holiday Season! We still have New Years to get through, and I hope everybody is enjoying their family and friends this week.
Banquet date getting close!
Don't forget that the HDRA banquet is coming up on us quickly! We're not much more than 3 weeks away, so if you're coming, you need to get your tickets ordered soon. Remember, we need to have your reservation and checks in our hands by Monday January 16th so we know how many people are coming, and the Elks Club knows how much food to order.
Like last year, the top ten in each Eliminator will be receiving trophies. Old time Drag Racing movies will be on hand. The Practice tree will be back. This year we are adding door prizes in which everybody attending will be eligible.
We're looking forward to seeing everybody there! It'll be a great time!
HDRA Dyno Day
Just a reminder about the HDRA Dyno Day at Swift Performance. It's from 9am 'til 4pm or so, and everybody is welcome to attend, including those that just want to watch. The rate is just $50 for three pulls... CHEAP! What a great opportunity to get your race engine dialed in for the season, and what a great time it'll be to hear screaming race motors!
Event Fliers
We're going to be using a great CARtoonist, Ben Mitchell, for the cartoons in our 2012 fliers. We put together a sample flier for the DRAG*FEST at Bethel Motor Speedway, and placed it on our "Events Fliers" page. Check it out!
http://100footdrags.com/EventFliers.aspx
We'll also be using his artwork for our t-shirts and sweatshirts, something we've been lacking in the past. They'll be awesome!
12/22/11
New "NEWS" Page
As you can see, we now have a new page for the news. We're doing this for several reasons. First, we want to clean up the Home page and get information to the racer and fan more efficiently. To be honest, the page was getting too cluttered and people were missing important news. Cleaning up the Home page is our next housekeeping duty.
The other reason is to replace the online newsletter with something better. The online newsletter that we used was a temporary situation, but the way is was set up it was too awkward to use or for people to get to it. This "News" page will be easier and more intuitive to find and use.
We are going to have an online newsletter, but we will use an actual newsletter source such as MailChimp or Constant Contact. This way we will be able to send it to those that wish to receive it (it'll be free), and you'll have a better chance of staying informed of upcoming news and events.
We are also going back to the weekly hard copy newsletter on race day. They will have results and pictures from the previous week's event, as well as information on upcoming races and venues. Like 2010, they will be distributed to racers and spectators at no charge. The plan now is to have the big double-sided one sheet deal, again just like what we did in 2010.
HDRA DYNO DAY
Swift Performance (Norwich, CT) and HDRA are hosting a dyno day on Saturday March 31st. Scheduled time is approximately 9am to 4pm.
This is a great opportunity for all the HDRA racers to get their motors dialed in for the season. While Swift's rates are already very reasonable, HDRA racers get an even better break... just $50 for 3 pulls on this day!
All are welcome to attend to spend the entire day with us. It'll be the first opportunity for most of us to hear race motors, a welcome sound after a long winter. A grill will be there, so we plan on having a potluck type picnic. Please let us know if you plan on attending so we can get you on the schedule.
This is a chassis dyno, and can handle 2WD, FWD, and AWD vehicles. Videos are coming soon from dyno runs they've done in the past, and will be posted as soon as we receive them.
HDRA Banquet January 20th.
The banquet to honor our 2011 racers is just one month away. Tickets are on sale right now. They are $20 for each person attending. All are welcome... racers as well as friends, fans, and family. It will be held at the Elks Club again on Washington St. in New London, CT.
This is going to be a fun night. Trophies will be distributed to the top 10 of each Eliminator... 30 trophies in all. Door prizes will be added this year... all in attendance will be eligible for them. We'll bring the tree back for some Practice Tree Racing! Racing movies form the past will be back as well. But most of all, it'll be great for the whole gang to get back together to do some "bench" raicng.
Food will be included of course. We're staying with the buffet we had last year. We thought the club did a good job, and there seemed to be a little of everything for everybody. The bar will be open as it was last year.
You may make checks payable to:
HDRA, 2 Converse Place, New London, CT 06320
We cannot sell tickets at the door as we need to know ahead of time how many people will be in attendance so the Elks Club members know how much food to order. They can't just pull this out of thin air the day before. We must have your ticket reservations in our hands by Monday January 16th.
B&B PERFORMANCE, SWIFT PERFORMANCE sign on again as Lane Sponsors for 2012
B&B Performance and Swift Performance lane sponsors again for the third year in a row. We'd like to thank both of them for their support for the Holeshot Drags for the third straight season.
B&B Performace is located in Branford, CT, and has a wide selection of parts for the racer. Many of our competitors have made the trip down there to our left lane sponsor. Many thanks to their great staff, and their continuing support.
Swift Performance used to concentrate on the "tuner" market, but current owner Dan and his crew have been devoting most of their efforts to American Muscle. They do almost any kind of fabrication in their shop. They also have, as mentioned above, a chassis dyno which can accomodate almost any car or truck. Their rates are also very reasonable.
DRAGFEST SERIES
This is an exciting step forward for HDRA, and is a major part of our expansion plans. "HDRA DRAGFEST" events will feature our Holeshot Drags, a Car Show, Burnout Competitons, Stunt Bike Exhibitions, Engine Blowup contests, Top Fuel Cacklefests, plus a whole lot more.
We are looking to schedule this series at tracks all over the northeast. These events will continue to raise awareness of HDRA, and spread this great form of racing. Our ultimate goal is to sanction weekly racing at tracks all over the country. The DRAGFEST series will greatly accelerate that process.
The idea behind this is simple. Car Shows are a dime a dozen, but promoted properly, they bring in huge crowds. Most car shows are a little on the boring side. When you feature our Holeshot Drags, plus all the attractions mentioned above, all of a sudden you have a very dynamic event, one that people will remember and look forward to the following year.
CAR CLUBS - CAR CLUBS -CAR CLUBS! At each DRAGFEST we need to have a host Car CLub to manage the Car Show portion of the event. They will get a portion of the entry fees, as well as an tremendous opportunity to share in sponsorship revenues. If you know of a Car Club that would be interested in this arrangement, please pass it on to one of their key members and have them contact us. Or... contact us with this info and we'll follow up with calls of our own.
Most of the venues we are looking at are still putting their schedules together, so we are waiting on them. What we have so far is:
RIVERHEAD DRAGFEST - Riverhead Raceway (NY), May 20th
PATCHOGUE DRAGFEST - Patchogue fire Dept, Ridge Drill Facility (NY), June 24th
BETHEL DRAGFEST - Bethel Motor Speedway, Bethel, NY - July 8th
THOMPSON DRAGFEST - Thompson Speedway, CT, July 29th
WATERFORD DRAGFEST - Waterford Speedbowl, CT, Saturday October 13th
We're still trying to decide which dates would be best for the other venues we are looking at. We plan on having up to 15 of these events this summer. More dates will be posted as we get them.
Sponsorship packages are available now for DRAGFEST 2012! This will be a great opportunity for anyone with a business to become involved in a great HDRA event.
Riverhead opens 6 dates for HDRA.
Right now they have us scheduled for April 29th, May 13th & 20th. We take a break from the shoreline oval in June and July, the go back August 19th, Sept. 16th & 30th. Tentatively we have the Riverhead DRAGFEST schedule for May 20th, and perhaps a money race scheduled for September 16th (see "Money Races" below).
MONEY RACES
Everybody knows that our philosophy has always to make Holeshot Drags a fun event. Running for trophies only keeps most people from taking this too seriously, which helps us keep the "fun" factor intact.
However, we at times have wondered if having a money race from time to time would be beneficial. Depending on what the amount to win is, it could bring new racers, and accelerate the level of exposure that we are now receiving. So here's what we're looking at...
At Waterford we sometimes add some kind of a Shootout. What we are looking at for 2012 is adding Gamblers events, perhaps once a month. This event would be held after the regular show was run. We're thinking that the entry fee for these specific races would be nominal... perhaps a five spot thrown into a hat, winner take all.
The other direction we are looking regarding money races, is doing a high dollar event or two. We're talking serious money... perhaps $1,000, $2,000, $5,000 or even $10,000 to win. We've been crunching the numbers for the cost in running events with these purses. Keep in mind that the higher the prize money is, the higher the entry fee... perhaps up to $200 for a $10,000 to win event.
We're also looking at the different ways we can do this. We're looking for ways to give the everybody the feeling that they have a chance to win.
Do we have just one big race where everybody runs for the big money? Do we have smaller purses, but multiple classes? Do we have qualifying for the fastest cars in which the fastest cars run for the big money and the slower cars run for a smaller amount? These are just some of the factors we are looking at. We could use some feedback from you, the racer.
Let us know what you think. We need your feedback!
HDRA Expansion
HDRA received tremendous positive publicity in 2012 through websites, online publications, and most of all, an article in "DRAG RACER" magazine. We are now on the radar for many potential racers and venues. Our DRAGFEST series is a big part of our expansion plans that will help us build markets in the northeast, and eventually the entire country.
Part of our expansion includes incorporating. This is the next logical and necessary step as our business grows.
Part of the plans for this expansion includes the purchase of new and additional equipment. We need an office, a shop, trailers, an extra timing system, a truck, scoreboards, merchandise, etc., etc., etc. We have an ad budget that is 6 figures. We have more insurance costs. A bigger payroll. The list goes on.
In the past this was mostly a one man circus on non-race days. Those days are over. We now need to have a paid staff throughout the year, even during off-season. Mark Caise, for instance, will be key in helping us with promotional and sponsorship marketing. We also need someone in our office for administrative purposes. We need someone for maintenance and fabrication of equipment. We also need an additional person to help market our sponsorship opportunities. We need people to handle the new online and hard copy newsletters.
Incorporating allows us to raise the necessary capital by issuing shares. They are currently set at $50 per share. We anticipate that HDRA will continue to grow, and therefore the value of each share will grow accordingly. Shareholders will also be entitled to a percentage of profits at the end of each season.
If you are interested in becoming a part owner of HDRA, please contact us. We have a business plan put together and will forward it to those interested.
10/21/11
Final events for Nationals to be rescheduled !
What a kick in the teeth the rain was for the finale of the Nationals. It was a great day, with a great field of cars, and then out of nowhere, rain. The rain formed out of thin air, and there wasn't a darn thing we could have done about it. There was no way we could have dried the track in a reasonable time to finish the show.
HDRA and Speedbowl management spent quite abit of time looking at all the scenarios. One was to reschedule the remaining balance of the program for this coming Saturday before their "Smaktoberfest" event, but in our opinion there were too many problems. First, how many people kept their wristbands? How many people had hand stamps? How many people are going to spend money on towing their cars just to run a partial event? How many people can't come because they already have obligations for the 22nd? Not everybody looks at the website or gave us an email address... how many people would find out in time if we can't quickly get ahold of them?
We also looked at finishing up on a different day in October, but now we're getting into the time of year where weather can be real tricky. The last thing the weather has been this season is our friend. Six rainouts, 2 bad weeks because of Irene, another weekend where it was 105 at race time, and a few weeks where bad weather forecasts made people think it was going to rain, but didn't. Besides, we still had most of the problems listed above to contend with.
Solution? Reschedule for the first Sunday of May 2012. We are tentatively looking at starting 2012 with a Sunday afternoon show. It would be a regular show with the normal Test & Tune session, followed by the Comp, Street, and Bike Eliminators. The show would be priced at our regular rates. Everybody that shows up will compete in this portion of the show.
After the regular show, we will finish the Index and Shootouts from this past Saturday. Only those that were with us on the 15th will be allowed to compete in these events. Those competitors will have a special sticker placed on their windshield indicating their eligibility.
Obviously we would have preferred to have had a nice day and finish off the event this past Saturday. Mother Nature, the whole season and right to the end thought otherwise. While rain was our Nemesis, we can reasonably hope for a more normal weather pattern for 2012.
We know that no matter what we did, we weren't going to please everybody. We felt that this was the best solution where the most people would be informed in plenty of time, the most people could plan for, it and where people would get the most racing for their money.
Special thanks to all that supported the Holeshot Drags this season... the racers, the fans, and the sponsors. When it didn't rain, we had a good season. Alot of positive things happened for HDRA, and will carry over for 2012. We will keep you updated with developments as we firm up next season's schedule.
Congrats to Dale Kolashuk in Comp, Matt Viscione in Street, and Jonathan Tisdale in Bike for their wins in the second annual Nationals.
Special thanks goes to the Diesel Shop of Preston and Norwich Discount Oil for their leading role as the Nationals Sponsor for the second year in a row.