The last few weeks have been rather mind boggling for Bill Bader, Jr., the president of Norwalk Raceway Park.  About 48 hours after the belated conclusion of the last-ever IHRA World Nationals at NRP the track and NHRA jointly announced it would switch sanction and host a new POWERade Series event beginning next June 28th.

We caught up with him in the pits at O’Reilly Raceway Park for a few questions.

 

COMPPLUS:  What’s been the reaction of the people you’ve bumped into here t the news about your track?

BADER:  The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.  I was not on this property more than two minutes before a father and son came up to me and told me they attend the Night Under Fire show every year and also go to a variety of NHRA POWERade races.  They just couldn’t believe the big show was coming to Norwalk Raceway Park.

I’ve probably had 12 to 15 people approach me since then, and I’m embarrassed to tell you that I didn’t know a lot of them, but from spectators, sponsors, sportsman drivers, the reaction has been extraordinary.

 

COMPPLUS:  Are you trying to make contact with sponsors and racers?

BADER:  We haven’ been in years, so I thought I’d take my lovely wife of 17 years on a little vacation, and I brought her to the biggest drag race in the world!

We’re also going to do an interview with ESPN, and we’ve also got some print interviews scheduled.  I’m really just trying to decompress afte a long couple of weeks.

 

COMPPLUS:  How was the World Nationals from an aesthetic and financial standpoint?

BADER:  The World Nationals was very good.  Obviously, we had a huge number of racers.  The fact that it ended the way it did because of the weather, and having to bring everyone back on Monday, and then losing Monday should not in any way overshadow the excitement that was generated by the event.  To be honest with you I don’t know how profitable it was because we haven’t looked at the numbers yet.  We got a lot of positive emails in the days that followed, so I think it was good. - Jon Asher