Jeff Byrd has understandably had better days in the office than the one he had on Sunday.

Byrd, the General Manager of Bristol Dragway, along with NHRA Senior Vice President, Racing Operations Graham Light, was forced to make the unpopular decision to postpone this weekend’s O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

The concrete launching pad area of the track had been replaced, and for reasons still unclear, the concrete just didn’t set the way it was supposed to. A top crew chief was brought in to check the track at the middle of last week, and at that time he gave it his blessing. It wasn’t until the NHRA crew began to make serious track preparations that the scope of the situation became evident.

Bristol Dragway's General Manager discusses the postponement of his event 

 

Jeff Byrd has understandably had better days in the office than the one he had on Sunday.

Byrd, the General Manager of Bristol Dragway, along with NHRA Senior Vice President, Racing Operations Graham Light, was forced to make the unpopular decision to postpone this weekend’s O’Reilly NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals.

The concrete launching pad area of the track had been replaced, and for reasons still unclear, the concrete just didn’t set the way it was supposed to. A top crew chief was brought in to check the track at the middle of last week, and at that time he gave it his blessing. It wasn’t until the NHRA crew began to make their serious track preparations that the scope of the situation became evident.

Up until early Sunday, there was going to be an event. Developments later in the day brought forth the ugly truth that Bristol Dragway’s racing surface was unusable.

Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com caught up with Byrd on Monday, and he filled us in on the circumstances, and the steps taken by the track to correct a situation that has so far left even the most seasoned concrete experts perplexed.

 

CP - THIS HAS TO BE A DISHEARTENING EXPERIENCE.

JB – This is my worst experience in my eleven years of working at this track. Nothing even comes close.

 

CP - JUST LAST WEEK OUR JON ASHER CALLED THE BRISTOL OFFICES AND WE WERE LED TO BELIEVE THAT RUMORS OF THE TRACK’S CONDITION WERE EXACTLY THAT – JUST RUMORS. AT WHAT POINT DID IT BECAUSE OBVIOUS YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE TO POSTPONE THIS EVENT?

JB – At 4 PM on Sunday afternoon.

 

CP - WHAT HAPPENED TO THE TRACK TO RENDER IT UNRACEABLE?

JB – We are still studying everything and have not come up with a definitive answer for what has happened.

   

 

---

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

Click to visit our sponsor's website 

---

CP - HOW DID YOU DETERMINE THAT THE RACING SURFACE WAS UNUSABLE?

JB – We had Jimmy Prock come in and we were greatly appreciative that he took time away from his busy schedule to fly down here on Wednesday, May 9. He looked over the racing surface. We brought him in here for just his opinion as someone who has to tune fuel cars. We wanted to know what the track surface looked like. We wanted his opinion.

Jimmy told us, “I am not telling you whether to race or not to race but I am telling you that we have raced on surfaces much worse than this.”

After hearing that we felt we were in good shape, and kept doing what we were doing. Then the serious track prep started on Friday and I was there on Saturday morning inspecting the overall facility image.

At that time, there weren’t any NHRA people present. None of their personnel were on site. It was our drag strip operations manager Jack Cocklin. He had put a little VHT and rubber on the track. You can’t do much prep until the NHRA people get here. We had the tire machine that we had gone to California to get.

Jack called me that morning and told me I needed to get over to the track. Instead of getting better like we thought it was going to, it got worse. We consulted with the NHRA personnel on site, made several calls to Glendora and finally about 5 PM or so that afternoon, I called Graham Light and told him that we had a problem that needed his or Dan Olson’s attention. I told him that I couldn’t make the decision because we are partners in the event.

Graham told him that he and Dan would hop on a plane and be there tomorrow. After several cancelled flights, they got here at 1:30 PM. We had our entire development staff from Charlotte in Bristol, including department head Wes Harris.

We used some patching agents … used some patching epoxy … water-based epoxy … sprayed it with 100% VHT … and then put every car we had on the grounds on the track. The cars kept pulling up aggregate out of the cement. It looks like the track has a bad case of acne right now. After studying and trying to find a fix or alternative that hadn’t been used before, the people who had the most knowledge of the situation decided to err on the side of caution and postpone the race.

The July date was the only available date we had open.

 

CP – COULD THIS HAVE JUST BEEN A BAD BATCH OF CONCRETE?

JB – We have had the concrete tested and analyzed in three different independent labs and all came back saying that it was bulletproof. It’s not like we are sitting up here doing nothing and waiting for Armageddon. We have been addressing this problem 24/7. We have brought in experts. When we put down this surface … and this isn’t something that just happened … we have been wrestling with this problem since March. This is the second time we have done this. We put bracket cars on the surface in March before the Nextel Cup event. It started doing this and we tore out 200 feet of it and replaced it. The new one did the same thing. Don’t look at me for inspiration - I know nothing about concrete. But the experts are perplexed and not just ours, all of them are. We have a batch plant right here on site because we are making concrete for the circle track. We have the best quality control you can have. It’s a mystery right now.

 

CP - DO YOU SEE THE JULY DATE BEING A PLUS OR A MINUS?

JB – I see it as a minus because we have inconvenienced so many of our fans.

 

CP - HOW TOUGH WILL IT BE FOR THE TRACK TO MAKE THE JULY DATE?

JB – It will be very, very difficult.

 

CP - YOU DON’T SEE THE TRACK BEING PREPARED BY THEN?

JB – We will get it done, we never would have committed to the date if we couldn’t get it done.

 

CP - WHO DO YOU POINT THE FINGER AT FOR THIS INCIDENT?

JB – Nobody – I am accountable as General Manager of the facility.

 

CP - IF AN OUTSIDE VENDOR IS FOUND TO BE AT FAULT, WILL BRISTOL DRAGWAY SEEK COMPENSATION?

JB – I wouldn’t know anything about that. That would come out of Charlotte. I have certainly talked to Bruton [Smith, CEO of SMI] and that has never come up.

 

CP – IF YOU COULD SAY ANYTHING TO THE RACE FANS WHO HAD PLANNED TO COME TO THIS EVENT, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY RIGHT NOW?

JB – I apologize for all the inconveniences they’ve suffered because of our inability to provide a raceable surface. It’s not a case of us trying to save money. We have spent more money on this drag strip and this drag racing surface than anyone ever. We are getting ready to spend hundreds of thousands more to replace all 700 feet of concrete. We just have to find the right combination.

{loadposition feedback}