After taking a day to recover, I do want to take a moment to say “Thank You” to some of the people who made the 4th annual JEGS Summer Door Car Shootout our best event yet. With over 225 entries, we definitely brought new meaning to our event slogan: it was the BIGGEST little door car race in the Midwest! First off, thank you to the I-57 family and our event staff. Scott Bailey and I get the bulk of the credit, but the SDCS is a huge team effort. Ricky, Kyler Smith, JR, Andrew, Nick, Sammy, Robbie, Shiloh Bailey, Mark on the mic, John at the ET shack, and everyone on the payroll -- you guys and gals were amazing! Given the turnout, the hours, and the heat, it wouldve been easy to throw in the towel, but each of you took ownership in the event and the facility and great pride in your job. Its an honor to work with each of you. Thanks also to our SDCS crew. Each year, we bring in Jared Pennington for obvious reasons. For one, hes the best announcer in the business. Secondly, hes a successful race promoter and a seasoned racer himself; his experience and insight is invaluable, and hes more than capable of running the race himself when Scott and I get pulled in other directions. But more than anything I love working with Jed because hes ready and willing to do whatever it takes to make the event a success. Shortly after arriving on Friday (before he even unloaded his car), he spent a solid 2 hours on his feet at the back of staging directing traffic and helping late arrivals get through the maze of cars and into the pit area for parking. That wasnt in the job description; he just saw an area in which he could help. Jared, youre the best my friend! Thanks to Leigh Anne Bailey and my beautiful bride, Jessica Bogacki. They spent 45+ hours together in the gate office throughout the weekend. Not only did they keep the money straight, they greeted everyone with a smile. Jessica did it all on her birthday, no less. You two are such a huge part of this event, and we absolutely could not do it without you. Harold Pennington also makes the trip each year to oversee the event and keep the ETS timing system firing on all cylinders. Thankfully, weve never had to lean on Harold for too much work, but hes a great addition to our staff and is always willing to lend a hand. And finally thanks to Scott Bailey. Hes the hardest working man that I know and our local racers (myself included) often take him for granted. Throughout the weekend, if Scott wasnt prepping the track, he was cooking that delicious Holley BBQ. If he wasnt cooking, he was making sure that every racer was as happy as they could be with the event. When he wasnt talking to racers, he was cleaning bathrooms, or servicing the facility, or patching asphalt, or scraping the water box, or directing his phenomenal staff. Theres no job that he cant or wont do, and he does it all with a smile. I couldnt imagine a better partner. I also want to thank each of our event sponsors, from JEGS to all of the class sponsors: Moser Engineering, Auto Meter, BRODIX, Ohlins, and Meziere Enterprises; as well as Holley Performance, Racing RVs and Nitroplate for allowing us to feed all of our entrants repeatedly; and to each and every Door Prize and specialty award sponsors. Our sponsors help make this event great and we couldnt do it without them! Most of all, I want to say thank you to the racers who supported the 4th annual JEGS Summer Door Car Shootout. 225+ racers at our little track: WOW!! It would be easy to pick apart the event and come up with reasons to be unhappy: you guys and gals were packed in like sardines; the pits were dusty, rocky, and dirty; it was hot; the facility is just an old, country race track; and yet we heard very few complaints. You guys came to race and came to have fun, and thats what you did. Thank you for being so upbeat and making the SDCS so much fun for everyone. It truly was a great atmosphere with incredible competition, and thats a testament to each of you racers. Thanks to each and every one of you. Congrats to our winners, I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as I did. We look forward to seeing you again next July for the 5th annual JEGS Summer Door Car Shootout, which will once again be held at I57 Dragstrip!
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 14:09:15 +0000
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