as the bathroom renovations, the asphalt that need to be added to the pits, moving the scoreboards away from the track to meet the nitro requirements, adding the sandpit arresting system, that’ s really the challenge.
We did get some promises from the legislators that they would be able to get us some financial support and help us with it. This is in the best interest of the area because we are the largest draw. NASCAR has one race a year. We have events every single week, so we’ re still the largest draw in the area. Their support was promised for the national event because they know that it benefits all these other events that we do as well, and we’ ll start getting other larger events. It makes long-term sense because it’ ll make the facility nicer for decades and hopefully secure a national event for just as long, and other similar or somewhat largescale events will get drawn in.
What have you done already to prepare and what’ s left to do? RT: There’ s been five major improvement projects. Our biggest task at hand was raising the wall 6,600 feet. We had to raise it 10 to 12 inches of height for the Top Fuel and Funny Cars. That in itself was a couple months’ worth of work and it’ s very expensive. With material costs going through the roof everywhere you turn, whether it’ s aluminum or concrete or metal, everything’ s not what it was 10-15 years ago. It’ s building the mold, pouring concrete day after day after day, and it’ s an outdoor project, so you have the weather and the cold to work with.
Aside from that, we had to move the scoreboards away from the race surface. Our scoreboards on both sides were up against the wall. Well, they needed moved at least 25 feet, and it’ s just not picking up a sign and moving it over. We’ ve got the entire timing system that’ s connected to those scoreboards. With Compulink and these computer systems, they’ re just microscopic wires. They’ re little telephone wires basically, and there’ s dozens of them for every last connection. We’ re on eggshells for four weeks while these scoreboards were disconnected, moved over 25 feet, and reconnected. Fortunately, that was one of the first tasks we took on, and we’ re back up and running, and we’ ve had real flawless events knowing that our timing system is 100 percent.
Our first turnoff was an opening in the wall for racers that run eighth mile. Considering these nitro guys go 300-plus mph, NHRA requires that it’ s a complete wall all the way down to the finish line, which is 4,400 feet of concrete wall. We had to put a metal gate where it’ s available for first responders to come out into an accident scene, but it’ s closed while we’ re racing and there isn’ t an angle where a car could impact it head-on.
We had to bring in over 2,000 new bleachers, which we’ re completing here in the next month or so.
That’ s our final phase, and then we had to redo our top end containment. We’ re adding walls to the side of our sand traps and then putting tires in a top end containment on the top end after the walls at our sand traps.
RM: The main thing we had to do that NHRA and Top Fuel racing in general required was replacing the jersey walls with the poured walls, and the higher walls that we need for the fuel cars, where it steps up at the 1,000-foot mark. Then, the gravel trap and the catch system for these cars is more elaborate than what we had prior because we didn’ t run those type of cars. Those are the biggest things that we’ re doing.
Now, we’ re also taking advantage of this opportunity to rewire the Compulink timing system. Bob Brockmeyer, Larry Crispe, and myself wired it in‘ 92 together. And the three of us are going to rewire it. We’ re putting all the conduit in now. We just finished, actually today, all the new conduit on the back
AMONG THE NUMEROUS IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS COMPLETED IN RECENT YEARS AT THE ROCK ARE NEW
CONCRETE GRANDSTANDS AND A REVAMPED TOWER SUITE.
March / April 2026 DragIllustrated. com | Drag Illustrated | 111