Northstar / Denton dragway rant.

[Andrew]

I went to Northstar dragway last night for some test and tune. I got there about 6 and specifically asked the lady at the gate if I could run test and tune. She said yes, took my money and gave me a tech card. Apparently they were running some bracket cars that day and the pits were pretty full. We ended up having to pit down in the grass down by the gocart track. I took my car up to the staging lanes several times but I was unable to make a single pass in over 5 hours. Each time I was told to 'wait a bit longer' and I could run. Finally I got fed up and asked for my money back and the money for the two people there with me as we were unable to see a single race from our perspective about an 1/8th mile past the traps. To the credit of the owners, we received our refund.

The guy running the staging lanes was rude every time I went up to ask when I could run and though I understand that he's a puppet that can't do anything that the people in the tower won't let him do (plus there were probably many other people there giving him a hard time), his attitude was uncalled for. Specifically, the last time I went up at ~11:15 pm, after he told us to wait longer to make a run and we informed him we had already been there 5 hours and hadn't yet made a pass, he got on the intercom and said that there were 'some guys down here that were pissed off because they couldn't run test and tune'. At that point I knew there was no chance of making a run as he was representing us to the management as a bunch of crybabies.

If the lady at the gate had simply told me at 6 pm that I wouldn't be able to test and tune, I could have driven to redline, kennedale or even cedar creek and done some testing. As it was, I was out $80 in diesel, $20 in ice for the intercooler, 5 gallons of 118 octane race gas (yes, I can reuse some of it but not what I burned to move the car around, get the fluids up to temp, etc) not to mention my time, and had not a single pass to show for it. Mainly, I'm upset because the gate was apparently not informed that no test and tune passes would be made.

I have been singing the praises of the newly renovated denton dragway but am strongly considering changing my tune after the latest trip there. I am extremely dissappointed with my experience there.

Bottom line: They took my money and wouldn't let me race.

[momo stallion]

i'm surprised that happened. i met the owner last time and everything seemed to be turning around for that place. sucks to hear it.

[Magnimike1]

Give them another chance. They are still new to the scene. They will get better I'm sure. to their credit they at least gave you your refund. That means alot to me..

[Forteen3GT]

Give them another chance. They are still new to the scene. They will get better I'm sure. to their credit they at least gave you your refund. That means alot to me..


bad advice.... lack of preparation on thier part does not constitute forgiveness on his. Just as bad as going to a restaurant or movie for dinner and a movie and left sitting at your table with no food or show. I say you send them an email with a link to this thread. An ounce of prevention is worth a lb. of cure as they say. Prevent it from happening by having the track owner/manager know that you or us "racers" will not permit such actions in the future.

Refund is the least to be expected. They should allow him to T & T in the future for free. Give me a reason to earn my business again. :cool:

[Grant]

Was that you on the side of 35 around 11:45p or so?

[fordracing19]

What a bunch of cry babies. I heard you in the tower. :p

[Magnimike1]

bad advice.... lack of preparation on thier part does not constitute forgiveness on his. Just as bad as going to a restaurant or movie for dinner and a movie and left sitting at your table with no food or show. I say you send them an email with a link to this thread. An ounce of prevention is worth a lb. of cure as they say. Prevent it from happening by having the track owner/manager know that you or us "racers" will not permit such actions in the future.

Refund is the least to be expected. They should allow him to T & T in the future for free. Give me a reason to earn my business again. :cool:


I agree to an extent. Everyone has a shitty day though. Many places would not have refunded the money. Many tracks would not have...

[Andrew]

Was that you on the side of 35 around 11:45p or so?

Around midnight. We loaded up and left, then the cam position sensor in the powerstroke took a dump just south of Love's. Swapped it out, then headed home.

[Thehead]

Was that you on the side of 35 around 11:45p or so?
oh yeah that was us.... i normally don't mind working on a car on the side of the road, BUT last night there were a TON of big trucks and lots of traffic. I got alittle spooked laying under that damn truck when those semi's went by. :(

I'm not real happy with the track either. They didn't handle it very well and turned away from us when we voiced our concerns/aggrivation also. Unless there is a KOTH that Andrew wants to run there i will not be back. The lack of consideration for ALL racers last night was completely ignored. They only cared about there bracket cars. I'm sure that bracket racing is where they make alot of there money, but if they start pissing off the other racers this soon after taking over the track, I for see bigger problems in the future, unless they fix it now.

[Slow Five-O]

sorry to hear that. :(

they're still getting a feel for the track and how things work exactly and communication evidently. i guess shit happends sometimes.

[slow55]

Thats the way Larry runs the track on bracket nights. Thats how he was at Kennedale. The people at the gate should have known that but also the people running the staging lanes should have known too.

[turboten5]

Why would you run bracket racing on sat night when they know there are alot of test n tuners

[Thehead]

There were a bunch of cars there last night and i understand some of the wait, but if they knew we weren't going to get to run then why didn't they say something sooner. How long did they expect us,TnT people, to wait before we got to make some passes. They had some poor communtication for sure!

[SC457A]

Why would you run bracket racing on sat night when they know there are alot of test n tuners

They are trying to get a bracket racing program going. Saturday night is the best night locally for a race day.

I understand some people want to do some testing, some also want to race. Traditionally most local tracks did not allow test/tunes during a bracket race, so they could keep track more consistant through out the night (street tires vs slicks, oil downs, etc).

[BlackSnake1996]

Give it a little time. Its gonna be the track to run pretty damn quick.

[Da Prez]

that sucks, i wouldnt waste my time going out there...

[mikeb]

They are trying to get a bracket racing program going. Saturday night is the best night locally for a race day.

I understand some people want to do some testing, some also want to race. Traditionally most local tracks did not allow test/tunes during a bracket race, so they could keep track more consistant through out the night (street tires vs slicks, oil downs, etc).

If that is the case then they need to make "no T&T" clear on their website, phone, and front gate.

[4DRSS]

Next time call the waaaaambulance :D

[SC457A]

If that is the case then they need to make "no T&T" clear on their website, phone, and front gate.

That would make the most sense. However, we are talking about a local race track. :D

[jw33]

They shouldn't even sell tech cards for tnt when they are already full of rednecks bracket racing. Do one or the other. The tnt guys get pissed wathing a bunch of cars with throttle stops and delay boxes and the bracket guys get pissed watching some 16-year old one wheel peel down the track in his moms buick. It's like watching NASCAR with no turns or going to the local friday night high school hang out at the same time...

[DHG BULLITT]

Does it hook now? Last time I went out there I slid through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

I go because its 15 minutes north of school.

[Whitesmoke]

Does it hook now? Last time I went out there I slid through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

I go because its 15 minutes north of school.

im wondering the same. every time i went out there before it close i was pissed everytime i left because of the shitty prepwork/upkeep. not that i have a car to run but i take the bike once in a while

[econodrag]

You would think that anyone that has been around racing any lenght at all would know better than to go to a track on a bracket night to test and tune. I was there and there was over 150 bracket cars there. And like others have mentioned I do not know of any track that test and tunes during bracket races. Sorry you did not get to run though. I was looking forward to you making a pass.

[NorthStar Dragway]

I would like to begin by offering a sincere apology for the trouble you experienced at our facility on Saturday. Though we apologized Saturday and gave you a refund, we, unfortunately, cannot give your time back. I can certainly understand your frustration for being at the track for 5 hours waiting to make a time trial and then not being able to do so. So on behalf of Rich Wicowski (owner) and Larry Croft (general manager), I would like to express our deepest aplogies.

My name is Nick Duty and I am the announcer and I assist Larry in running our weekly Saturday night feature events. I have probably met many of you over the years in my days at Texas Raceway, Denton Dragway, and now Northstar. I would like to say that I know the management and ownership of NSD is committed to our heads-up/street racing participants. For those of you that have been associated with drag racing for a while, I'm sure that you can see that the sport is making a drastic turn towards this type of racing and it is crucial for any track to take care of these racers. At the same time, we look to balance this with NSD's growing bracket racing segment.

For those of you that have not been to the track over the past 4 months, I think you would be reletively surprised at the progress of NSD since the new ownership and management have taken over. We have seen some great things in the early stages of this new business, and thanks to our loyal racers, including many from DFWStangs.net, we look forward to things getting even better. Next year, after having a full off-season to plan our schedule and acquire additonal sponsorships, I think you will find things will run even smoother and you will be able to know clearly when we are running feature events that allow for Test n Tune and which do not.

That being said, I will speak with Larry this week, and have him address the issue of the mis-information you recieved at the front gate and in the staging lanes regarding open test n tune. Though it's a good problem to have, as I am sure you saw we were extremely busy on Saturday, and we had to place all of our time and attention on getting this feature run to its completion. Unfortunately, during this time we could not run as many time trials as we would have liked.

I would invite each of you, if you have not been to the track, to come out and give it a look for yourself. We will make a few mistakes; our owners, who are brand new to drag racing, are still trying to learn the ropes, but I think you will find that the people associated with the track are committed to making it the best. We are always open to hearing any concerns regarding our facility so that we can make it better and you will always find we are willing to listen.

Thank you for your support and we will continue to do everything we can to make NSD the best facility it can be. If you ever have any questions, feel free to contact me via PM.

Andrew, please check your PMs.

[SC457A]

Tell Larry hi for me....

Name is Lyle.

[econodrag]

Nice reply Nick.

[mikeb]

Nice reply Nick.

Agreed. As I argued in the past a presence by northstar here on this board is indeed valuable as dfwstangs represents a huge customer pool but many disagreed :confused: . Props to northstar for stepping up and addressing the situation :cool:

[Goose1]

I would like to begin by offering a sincere apology for the trouble you experienced at our facility on Saturday. Though we apologized Saturday and gave you a refund, we, unfortunately, cannot give your time back. I can certainly understand your frustration for being at the track for 5 hours waiting to make a time trial and then not being able to do so. So on behalf of Rich Wicowski (owner) and Larry Croft (general manager), I would like to express our deepest aplogies.

My name is Nick Duty and I am the announcer and I assist Larry in running our weekly Saturday night feature events. I have probably met many of you over the years in my days at Texas Raceway, Denton Dragway, and now Northstar. I would like to say that I know the management and ownership of NSD is committed to our heads-up/street racing participants. For those of you that have been associated with drag racing for a while, I'm sure that you can see that the sport is making a drastic turn towards this type of racing and it is crucial for any track to take care of these racers. At the same time, we look to balance this with NSD's growing bracket racing segment.

For those of you that have not been to the track over the past 4 months, I think you would be reletively surprised at the progress of NSD since the new ownership and management have taken over. We have seen some great things in the early stages of this new business, and thanks to our loyal racers, including many from DFWStangs.net, we look forward to things getting even better. Next year, after having a full off-season to plan our schedule and acquire additonal sponsorships, I think you will find things will run even smoother and you will be able to know clearly when we are running feature events that allow for Test n Tune and which do not.

That being said, I will speak with Larry this week, and have him address the issue of the mis-information you recieved at the front gate and in the staging lanes regarding open test n tune. Though it's a good problem to have, as I am sure you saw we were extremely busy on Saturday, and we had to place all of our time and attention on getting this feature run to its completion. Unfortunately, during this time we could not run as many time trials as we would have liked.

I would invite each of you, if you have not been to the track, to come out and give it a look for yourself. We will make a few mistakes; our owners, who are brand new to drag racing, are still trying to learn the ropes, but I think you will find that the people associated with the track are committed to making it the best. We are always open to hearing any concerns regarding our facility so that we can make it better and you will always find we are willing to listen.

Thank you for your support and we will continue to do everything we can to make NSD the best facility it can be. If you ever have any questions, feel free to contact me via PM.

Andrew, please check your PMs.


I appriciate the courtesy of customer service for you customers by comming on here and explaining the situation.

I had the same problem as Andrew had last summer and vowed not too come back after not even wanting too give me atleast my Tech card $$ back i told them to keep the spectator $$ from me and wife and still no avail. So instead of argueing i just left.

Customer service seems too have gone out the window in this industry and seem's they have forgotten who is the customer here and keeps the place in buisness, it's nice too see someone trying too take care of the ppl that put food on the table.


Thanks ill be back out too Denton this summer too come check it out.

[Andrew]

I would like to begin by offering a sincere apology for the trouble you experienced at our facility on Saturday. Though we apologized Saturday and gave you a refund, we, unfortunately, cannot give your time back. I can certainly understand your frustration for being at the track for 5 hours waiting to make a time trial and then not being able to do so. So on behalf of Rich Wicowski (owner) and Larry Croft (general manager), I would like to express our deepest aplogies.

My name is Nick Duty and I am the announcer and I assist Larry in running our weekly Saturday night feature events. I have probably met many of you over the years in my days at Texas Raceway, Denton Dragway, and now Northstar. I would like to say that I know the management and ownership of NSD is committed to our heads-up/street racing participants. For those of you that have been associated with drag racing for a while, I'm sure that you can see that the sport is making a drastic turn towards this type of racing and it is crucial for any track to take care of these racers. At the same time, we look to balance this with NSD's growing bracket racing segment.

For those of you that have not been to the track over the past 4 months, I think you would be reletively surprised at the progress of NSD since the new ownership and management have taken over. We have seen some great things in the early stages of this new business, and thanks to our loyal racers, including many from DFWStangs.net, we look forward to things getting even better. Next year, after having a full off-season to plan our schedule and acquire additonal sponsorships, I think you will find things will run even smoother and you will be able to know clearly when we are running feature events that allow for Test n Tune and which do not.

That being said, I will speak with Larry this week, and have him address the issue of the mis-information you recieved at the front gate and in the staging lanes regarding open test n tune. Though it's a good problem to have, as I am sure you saw we were extremely busy on Saturday, and we had to place all of our time and attention on getting this feature run to its completion. Unfortunately, during this time we could not run as many time trials as we would have liked.

I would invite each of you, if you have not been to the track, to come out and give it a look for yourself. We will make a few mistakes; our owners, who are brand new to drag racing, are still trying to learn the ropes, but I think you will find that the people associated with the track are committed to making it the best. We are always open to hearing any concerns regarding our facility so that we can make it better and you will always find we are willing to listen.

Thank you for your support and we will continue to do everything we can to make NSD the best facility it can be. If you ever have any questions, feel free to contact me via PM.

Andrew, please check your PMs.

Nick, thank you for the PM and post. I really appreciate it! Again, I would have had no issue with the track had they simply refused to sell me a test and tune tech card. I will give Northstar another try on a non-bracket racing night.

For what it's worth, when I have been able to race at Northstar the track prep has been excellent. I broke two 8.8 rearends (35 spline, mark williams junk) in 3 passes there and they have forced me to upgrade to a 4130 fab-9.

[TINKRD]

Nick, thank you for the PM and post. I really appreciate it! Again, I would have had no issue with the track had they simply refused to sell me a test and tune tech card. I will give Northstar another try on a non-bracket racing night.

For what it's worth, when I have been able to race at Northstar the track prep has been excellent. I broke two 8.8 rearends (35 spline, mark williams junk) in 3 passes there and they have forced me to upgrade to a 4130 fab-9.

Translation


“thank you for making me spend another $5000+ on my car”


This car hobby is weird isn’t it? You thank the owner of the track for causing you to break parts. :)

[BlackSnake1996]

Does it hook now? Last time I went out there I slid through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd.

I go because its 15 minutes north of school.
Yes. We was out there a few weeks ago when they had King of the Hill and they set like 6+ track records. Like I said, its gonna be the track to run.

[Who Needs 8]

I broke two 8.8 rearends (35 spline, mark williams junk) in 3 passes there and they have forced me to upgrade to a 4130 fab-9.

Hahahahaha

[Forteen3GT]

I was pretty impressed. No altered car at Dale could match the time Travis ran at Denton.

apparantly Denton is hooking.

[built2layframe]

Denton track could be giving blowjobs @ the gate and I'll NEVER NEVER NEVER go back!!!!!

[TRAXX]

That definitely does suck Andrew.

Before I saw the post above from a Northstar rep, I was gonna say an email to the owner would be in order, but looks like they are standing up and admitting their mistake.

Good think you had an extra cam sensor in the truck! That happened to my brother's 97 and ended up having to get a tow home (Saturday night...didnt know about the famous "cam sensor"...do now though)

[Krysie]

They didn't hesitate to give us a refund on the spot and to their defense it was extremely busy, but we were all tired and annoyed that we didn't get to make a pass. But they have definitely tried to rectify the situation.

Thanks Nick. :)

[BlackSnake1996]

Denton track could be giving blowjobs @ the gate and I'll NEVER NEVER NEVER go back!!!!!
New ownership...New and much much better track maintiance...Cars setting track records...Car owners running their best ever times...Why not?

[BOOSTED32V]

Denton track could be giving blowjobs @ the gate and I'll NEVER NEVER NEVER go back!!!!!I concur, that place blows donkey dicks, their track has never hooked for me and actually was pretty damned dangerous. It only seems to hook when they have a KOTH type event and then fuck everyone else. The only 1/8 mile track worth a fuck is Kennedale...'H'

[Rreemo]

I was pretty impressed. No altered car at Dale could match the time Travis ran at Denton.

apparantly Denton is hooking.

What did he run? I saw an altered run 3.91 out at Dale on Saturday night. Also had an alky car that ran 3.72 @ 202 on Saturday night.

[BigShoe]

I was pretty impressed. No altered car at Dale could match the time Travis ran at Denton.

apparantly Denton is hooking.
Travis who? I some of thos altereds at dale run into the 3s afew times

[Rreemo]

Travis who? I some of thos altereds at dale run into the 3s afew times

...yeah, like I said above, and the Dr. Pepper alky dragster that went 3.72 night before last. Eh....I think it's safe to say he was hooking pretty good.

[BigShoe]

...yeah, like I said above, and the Dr. Pepper alky dragster that went 3.72 night before last. Eh....I think it's safe to say he was hooking pretty good.
yea that thing is bad ass, you know your somebody when DP put's their name on your car.

[Rreemo]

yea that thing is bad ass, you know your somebody when DP put's their name on your car.

Yeah, we were talking about that the other night....Dr. Pepper has one hellofa nice setup for those guys! That's gotta help in pullin them 200mph+ 1/8 mile passes.

[truestreet5.8]

(35 spline, mark williams junk)
So you wanted to sell me junk! :confused: j/k You broke some junk 8.8 gears not the 35 spline stuff.

[WTS]

I run a 8.8 but it's not turning big tires :D

[Thehead]

I run a 8.8 but it's not turning big tires :D
it was more tire shake then size of tires i think. They do sort of go hand in hand though. Tire shake will kill lots of stuff!

[GhostFlamedCoupe]

it was more tire shake then size of tires i think. They do sort of go hand in hand though. Tire shake will kill lots of stuff!

Underpowered will do that :D

[Andrew]

Underpowered will do that :D

I saw 17 psi on the brake saturday @ 4500 rpm... I'm not so sure it's underpowered anymore! ;)

[truestreet5.8]

I run a 8.8 but it's not turning big tires :DRight there with you brotha! We did just pick up a Moser 9" housing though for future plans.

Are you going testing this Friday? We burnt the trans up somehow yesterday but will have it rebuilt by Thursday and back at it Friday getting some more laps in.

[truestreet5.8]

I saw 17 psi on the brake saturday @ 4500 rpm... I'm not so sure it's underpowered anymore! ;)I'd like to see the tires hook with that much power! :eek:

[Thehead]

I'd like to see the tires hook with that much power! :eek:
meeeee tooooooo :eek:

[WTS]

Right there with you brotha! We did just pick up a Moser 9" housing though for future plans.

Are you going testing this Friday? We burnt the trans up somehow yesterday but will have it rebuilt by Thursday and back at it Friday getting some more laps in.

Wednesday & friday

[BlackSnake1996]

I concur, that place blows donkey dicks, their track has never hooked for me and actually was pretty damned dangerous. It only seems to hook when they have a KOTH type event and then fuck everyone else. The only 1/8 mile track worth a fuck is Kennedale...'H'
Did you not read? New owners and track maintenance guys. The track is the best its ever been. Forget what you did yester year.

[Unc]

I'll say this, that track has come a long way since Jack owned it. Jack ran it in the ground and screwed every racer and every heads-up org at some point. Since the new owners and management have taken over, it has changed for the better. Larry Croft runs a smooth and controlled show. This aint his 1st rodeo. But I do have one concern that I hope gets addresed. The employee that runs the staging lanes is a pure dick. For some reason he thinks he can treat people like crap, barking out orders, just being a prick. It's obvious he does it out of ego. That type of treatment is uncalled for. I hope they have a come to Jesus talk with him and he works on his customer relations skills. After all we are his customers and we need to be treated with respect and talked to with respect. I realize he has a job to do, but being confrontational and rude puts a bad taste in your mouth. Other than this particular person, kudos to the new owners and management.

[econodrag]

I have seen him being a dick also. But it is usually to the dumb asses that go to the track and think they can do what ever they want in the staging lanes. Some of the jackasses that go out there think he is a dick because he checks their cars for required safety equipment also. I would tell you who are really the dicks at the track but that would start a whole new argument. You know who you are.

[Mustangman_2000]

I was up there a couple of weeks again and it has really turned around under the new ownership.

There have been a lot of improvements made and I think over time they will overcome the negative reputation of the past.

And, my wife sure appreciated getting to use a real bathroom instead of a port-o-potty.

[BlackSnake1996]

I was up there a couple of weeks again and it has really turned around under the new ownership.

There have been a lot of improvements made and I think over time they will overcome the negative reputation of the past.

And, my wife sure appreciated getting to use a real bathroom instead of a port-o-potty.
:D