BADER HAS A NORWALK EXPERIENCE
Sun, 2009-06-28 11:30
Understandably the “Norwalk Experience” Bill Bader Jr. recently lived through is not the same
experience race fans clamor for at the palatial facility.
In the days prior to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, the 12th stop on the Full Throttle Tour, the Baders made some tough decisions.
“This week was probably one of the toughest of my career,” the second-generation track owner said. “We decided on Friday, late afternoon and early afternoon … the week before the national event that the best way to fix the track is to tear it out and start all over.”
Water seepage forced Bader and his team to create a new drainage system and rip out the existing asphalt and repave from the eighth-mile to the quarter-mile of the drag strip.
experience race fans clamor for at the palatial facility.
In the days prior to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, the 12th stop on the Full Throttle Tour, the Baders made some tough decisions.
“This week was probably one of the toughest of my career,” the second-generation track owner said. “We decided on Friday, late afternoon and early afternoon … the week before the national event that the best way to fix the track is to tear it out and start all over.”
Water seepage forced Bader and his team to create a new drainage system and rip out the existing asphalt and repave from the eighth-mile to the quarter-mile of the drag strip.
“Saturday morning we were here at 6:30 in the morning with milling machines and we milled the race track leaving the (sub-surface) exposed,” Bader explained. “We put in four-inch pipe and worked until 3:30 to 4:00 AM Sunday morning and they were back at 6:00 AM with paving equipment.”
By early evening the repaving job was completed.
Bader’s toughest challenge wasn't putting in the marathon hours.
“The anticipation of running cars down the track on Thursday and hoping the track will perform was the toughest,” Bader admitted. “The anxiety created many sleepless nights.”
Bader comes by the anxiety honestly. The tradition of paying attention to detail is something his father, Bill Sr., handed down a little over a decade ago when he handed over the leadership role to his son.
Funny Car driver Jim Head, a noted engineer who earns a living paving military runways, made the comment on Friday afternoon that the racing surface didn’t need paving. Bader decided to go above an beyond what was required.
“We wanted to remove any doubt,” Bader admitted. “We felt the lesser of the two evils was a green race track.”
On the Thursday evening of the event, Norwalk was hit with an inch and a half of rain. That kind of a downpour at last year’s event forced track officials to stop racing. They had to clean out a drainage ditch , making it deeper before racing could resume. The decision to not only repave the race track but implement a new drainage system prevented a repeat of last year’s snafu which limited racing to only one day.
“We just didn’t want to risk a repeat of last year,” Bader said. “If you’re going to do it, do it right and remove any doubt.”
DO IT RIGHT – Bader wouldn’t mind having the financial wherewithal to invest in a race track that Bruton Smith has used to make his tracks among the finest on the tour.
“There are other things I’d love to do here,” Bader admitted. “If you’re going to do it, do it right or stay home. That’s always been our philosophy and our approach.”
The Baders actively subscribe to short term pain, long term gain.
“Anybody that’s in this business for the here and now whether it’s us or John Force … they are looking five years down the road. I don’t think in the short term and my personal goal is to take this sport and reach the same kind of a level of success that the NFL has attained. Whatever we do now, we reinvest with the payoff coming down the road.”
The near future will bring more seating for race fans, more showers on-site and easy access for the race fans to enter and exit. Everything the facility does, according to Bader, will be geared towards making the experience more enjoyable for the race fans.
Roger Richards
In the days prior to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, the 12th stop on the Full Throttle Tour, the Baders made some tough decisions.
“This week was probably one of the toughest of my career,” the second-generation track owner said. “We decided on Friday, late afternoon and early afternoon … the week before the national event that the best way to fix the track is to tear it out and start all over.”
Water seepage forced Bader and his team to create a new drainage system and rip out the existing asphalt and repave from the eighth-mile to the quarter-mile of the drag strip.
Understandably the “Norwalk Experience” Bill Bader Jr. recently lived through is not the same
Roger Richards
In the days prior to the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, the 12th stop on the Full Throttle Tour, the Baders made some tough decisions.
“This week was probably one of the toughest of my career,” the second-generation track owner said. “We decided on Friday, late afternoon and early afternoon … the week before the national event that the best way to fix the track is to tear it out and start all over.”
Water seepage forced Bader and his team to create a new drainage system and rip out the existing asphalt and repave from the eighth-mile to the quarter-mile of the drag strip.
“Saturday morning we were here at 6:30 in the morning with milling machines and we milled the race track leaving the (sub-surface) exposed,” Bader explained. “We put in four-inch pipe and worked until 3:30 to 4:00 AM Sunday morning and they were back at 6:00 AM with paving equipment.”
By early evening the repaving job was completed.
Bader’s toughest challenge wasn't putting in the marathon hours.
“The anticipation of running cars down the track on Thursday and hoping the track will perform was the toughest,” Bader admitted. “The anxiety created many sleepless nights.”
Bader comes by the anxiety honestly. The tradition of paying attention to detail is something his father, Bill Sr., handed down a little over a decade ago when he handed over the leadership role to his son.
Funny Car driver Jim Head, a noted engineer who earns a living paving military runways, made the comment on Friday afternoon that the racing surface didn’t need paving. Bader decided to go above an beyond what was required.
“We wanted to remove any doubt,” Bader admitted. “We felt the lesser of the two evils was a green race track.”
On the Thursday evening of the event, Norwalk was hit with an inch and a half of rain. That kind of a downpour at last year’s event forced track officials to stop racing. They had to clean out a drainage ditch , making it deeper before racing could resume. The decision to not only repave the race track but implement a new drainage system prevented a repeat of last year’s snafu which limited racing to only one day.
“We just didn’t want to risk a repeat of last year,” Bader said. “If you’re going to do it, do it right and remove any doubt.”
DO IT RIGHT – Bader wouldn’t mind having the financial wherewithal to invest in a race track that Bruton Smith has used to make his tracks among the finest on the tour.
“There are other things I’d love to do here,” Bader admitted. “If you’re going to do it, do it right or stay home. That’s always been our philosophy and our approach.”
The Baders actively subscribe to short term pain, long term gain.
“Anybody that’s in this business for the here and now whether it’s us or John Force … they are looking five years down the road. I don’t think in the short term and my personal goal is to take this sport and reach the same kind of a level of success that the NFL has attained. Whatever we do now, we reinvest with the payoff coming down the road.”
The near future will bring more seating for race fans, more showers on-site and easy access for the race fans to enter and exit. Everything the facility does, according to Bader, will be geared towards making the experience more enjoyable for the race fans.
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