Memphis Motorsports park is History
 

I just talked to my friend Jimmy Smith up in Ms. and he told me that Memphis Motorsports as of today is gone/closed. Gone is the dragstrip, and the NASCAR track. Dover enterprise has shut down the vicility, no more racing. That punches a hole in one NHRA National event, and a couple NASCAR events. Maybe someone will pick it up and reopen the tracks. It really was a nice vicility, lots of big names been down that track lot's of times. 10 yrs. ago that was the track to go too, but over the last 2 or 3 yrs. the management has sucked, and has run it into the ground, literly.

Zip.

Very True , it,s all over Google , a real estate company already has it listed

What a crying shame, another piece of racing history going away. I sure hope someone with money AND racing at heart buys it.

I am sorry to hear that!!

Perhaps Obama will "bail it out"... oh wait, that is only for things that don't deserve to be bailed out... or should not be bailed out. Besides, if he did, I would get bored watching electric smart cars race for 31 second e.t.'s in government mandated vehicles...

I am sorry, that was a bad joke.

Zip Not trying to Hi-jack your Thread but do you race at Holley Springs Any ?

this was posted on a local 10.5 site i go to..i normally don't even like to open any threads of drag cars crashing.....its all too close to home for me.

but anyhow Tommy wasn't Hurt thank God..

just wondering if you knew about this ?...i assume they are speaking of a Mississippi track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a84ppO8sB50

That was a great fricken joke Scooter

Scooter, I took the bait hook line and sinker on the NHRA site last April fools day when they announced that obamma was giving a stimulus check of 3 million dollars to summit motorsports park for a canopy that would cover the entire racing surface to negate poor weather and allow racing in any conditions. I thought, why not my track,, why Baders track. Is he some kind of tax evader, felon or something like that to win over obammas affections.......... Now I got mad as hell and then felt and looked real stupid when it was pointed out to me by my track owner Mary Leadford that I involved with my rant, that it was nhra's annual april fools joke and I was the FOOL.
Previously unthinkable just 10 months ago, I thought it was possible that our government could and did give a tax money to a private business that obamma blessed or more likely cursed and bailed out.
I hope this true story gives you a laugh guys, and I don't mind that it is at my expense. Just goes to show you how times are a changing.
Bruce

Well Bruce, I did get a laugh... but only after wishful thinking about you guys getting an all weather canopy for your track. Would that be cool or what??? Seriously, it bumms me out about hearing another track close.

I think it is sad that we lost another one too Scooter. I hope that the guys that raced there are able to find new tracks to call home.
Bruce

Yes i knew about it, i wasn't there, but Jimmy Smith was there both sat and sun, and in fact there were 2 10.5 crashes, i guess Tommy's was the worse, the car was destroyed according to Jimmy. He told me about it on monday. I had mentioned that you said driving a 10.5 car in the 5.0 range was like driving a 100 MPH on a gravel road, That's when he said yep it must be because they crashed 2 of them this weekend at Holly Springs. That track in only 45 miles south of Memphis, and one of the best, if not the best tracks in the south, it's also a big factor in the reason Memphis lost all their business. It pays big money all the time and generally gets well over a 100 cars. Last sat they had 40 cars in the 7.0 class and 38 cars in the 6.0 class, paid $2,000.00 to win in each and free entry for the car and driver, plus they had S/P and Foot brake classes. The guy that used to run Huntsville is the manager there at HS and is also the person who puts on the Million dollar race.
The avatar picture of my car at the left was taken at HS.

Zip.

Is that track real narrow(holley springs) or is it just the view from in side the car? :shock:

what a ride
 

glad the driver was ok.i saw pics of the car.it was pretty much dusted.

Zip this must have been One of the other 10.5 wrecks that weekend at Holley springs...looks like he was in shutdown..at these MPH the shutdown is just as critical at anything else....just Ask Tom (Topsportsman1) :roll:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piBay...eature=related

Tommy's wreck was last sunday, Jimmy said he barrel rolled it after it came ungluded, the 4.36 vid run was on sat.
Maybe Jimmy S. will come on a clear it up since he was there. there is about 800 to 1,000 ft shutdown at the track, but at 180 MPH that's much, kinda like your local track in NC. Up until a couple yrs. ago there was trees at the end of the shut down area. there have been some 3.90's run at the track with ProMods.

Zip.

Naw it's a good 14/16 ft wide per lane.

Zip.

It used to be real narrow, that is a old pic, it was like racing down a sidewalk.

Now it's as wide as any NHRA track, just like MMP is - or was.....

Dam shame they shut Memphis Motrosports park down.

No more NHRA events or Midsouth nationals.
No more NMCA world street car finals.
No more ADRL events.
No more arm drops or PINKS all outs.
No more test and tunes.
No more saturday night bracket racing.
No more alot other things that pumped thousands of dollars in our struggling community.

I used to race at MMP regularly till the raised entry fees sky high and reduced their weekly bracket events to about once a month, if that.

That said I don't race at H/S either, I choose to support a small mom and pop run facility, Byhalia raceway.

I personally dont have anything agaisnt George Howard or the way he sucked MMP and Byhalia racers away.

What Bebop, Jabo and now George Howard have done with Holly Springs is a prime example of how a facility can and should be run.

Listening to the racers concerns and treating them with respect is the 'key' elements there.

Only changes I disliked at H/S was the elimination of the footbrake class ( no box is NOT footbraking) and the ever growing Pro class.
I find no entertainment in watching 70 plus dragsters run down the track.
The downtime between rounds is unbearable.

It's a sad day for race fans and racers alike in Memphis area.

Cp

Real shame about MMP :cry:

MMP hopefully someone will take it over,but they did not run much
of a program there and Memphis is as we speak getting pummeled
by the current economic conditions...Many racers are sitting out races
because of it...

As for HollySprings,nice place and they have there moments but the track
surface is very hit or miss,esp this year...One day its killer and the next its like ice....MMP had a way more consistent track surface IMO over HS...

Glidewell just took over Jackson Dragway,look for that place to also
make a comeback with the new owner with cashflow.....

The #1 Q in 10.5 wentlike 4.28 at about 180 , what a lot of guys don't know is the Springs is uphill in shutdown and the track is a fuzz uphill my car would go 6.57 at the Springs and go to MMP and go 6.48 but I like both tracks nice places to race and the track Charlie runs on is operated VERY GOOd so we had a lot of choice. The Wrecks I did not see ,the cars I did ,the Camaro is toaster and the Nova needs front end work but he drove it in the trailer. Hate to see MMP close but Have wondered about this for a couple of years Big Business attitude We open , ya'll will come. Later J.Smith 4621 racing PS for several years I gave the JR.Dragster program at MMP $500 to do as they please and last year I did not get in the bracket Pts. cause I got in the 6.50 class which lasted about 4 races and cancelled so I DID NOT get invited to the banquet which I alway enjoyed . I'am gone this time

The first wreck in bJuicessite is Tommy and the second one is the guy that won the deal I think Rainwater , the second wreck was a Yenko Nova from Mo I think ,he mashed the front end but drove in the trailer, Tommy had a hard time getting from rollbac into trailer big mess . These cars would have to be a handful from the git go and at the MPH they produce its over before you can think, blink or turn off the switch. This race paid $20,000 to win so everybody was getting after it . Later J.Smith 4621 racing

Cp just curious what did they raise entry fees to and how much do they pay back? 1st $$$ 2nd $$$ semis $$$ quarters $$$.

Just trying to compare. Our track is $50.00 to enter $20.00 buy back first round only. Win $1250.00 RU $600.00 and we pay back to eights.

Footbrake was $45 when I quit going 5 years ago, buy backs were $20

They paid 8 places.


1st was $800 - 2nd $200 - round money dropped like a rock from there.

Notice how everything is worded in pastence.


In comparrison, Byhalia has only raised their entry fees once in the 15 years I've been going there.

$25 to $30 BB's> went from $10 to $15

1st $800
2nd $100

If we have over 40 cars he pays $1000 1st.

Check this out> www.byhaliaraceway.com

I done good this weekend!