Mladin sums up OG BIR to a tee

A necessary quality to survive as a cheater

 

CRA ran the old course up until last year, even then it wasn't because of safety, but money. Track quadrupled the price of the rental. It would need some safety upgrades for MA for sure but turn 1 isn't the issue.

 

Still can't get around the fact you can't run the long course in the rain... VHT and water don't mix.

 

True but the VHT gets scraped and reapplied every year for NHRA nationals. No reason they couldn't do it for AMA which historically drew bigger crowds.

Plus, drag racing nationally, and at BIR is moving towards "no prep" anyway.

 

VHT is applied due every drag weekend, not just Nationals. It's only scraped for Nationals to get rid of the buildup. You can't get rid of all of it.

 

We ran the long course in the rain, including the 5 hour. 2016 and 2017 were both in the rain. Passing UL bikes down the straight on 6 feet of concrete, minus 2 feet of paint lol.

 

Last year they started pulling back, they had a public 1/4 mile no-prep or 1/8 with prep announcement last year, don't know where they ended up.

 

Or "New Old Stock" from when he was the importer/seller of some of those brands in Australia.

 

I’ve always said that Daytona’s banking has nothing on T1-2 at Brainerd…

my first time there for Yamaha money I quickly realized nearly all of the local fast club guys could get through T1-2 ok, but luckily they didn't know how to use the brakes … lots of fun learning that place and I loved the fastest real corners I’d ever ridden T1-2

 

I was at IRP yesterday for a project and just looking at the drag strip part of the old road course made me nearly as nervous as when I took riders school there… right @Rdrace42 ?

 

I wasn't bothered by the drag strip. The angle coming off the last corner, usually resulted in a glancing blow if you made it to the wall. I can't even recall us ever using haybales there. Now T6 going on to the back straight was a different story. Saw Kurt Hall plant his VFR500 into that wall, and broke the bike in two. Didn't do the Hillbilly any good either. Never got to race Brainerd, but always loved T1/T2 at IRP. I would think I would have loved BIR as well.

 

Like Firebird in Phoenix. You had to get that line just right to miss most of the paint, VHT and the metal insert where the tree goes. If not, it could hurt.

 

The lights were well behind the exit of the turn. My line actually brought me really close to the inside wall on the left, right at the top of the picture. That way I could avoid the paint if needed, and usually gave me an awesome drive onto the straight.

 

I had a love/hate relationship with IRP. It had so many unique parts, like the entrance to the dragstrip/ straight, turn 1, the staging area parking lot, etc, that I didn't really like the track that much,but, I usually rode it well and had some good results. Always an interesting place to visit.

 

This is the final corner at Firebird main, now Wild Horse Pass. I don't know if anyone still races there, I last raced there a couple decades ago at this point. But it looks the same. Hay bales on the outer concrete barrier were fun to look at.
Edit: I take that back. It is slightly different. The inner edge of the corner is moved out. Those concrete blocks that dot it were not there, the lighter white line looks like where the inner metal barrier was.

 

That's a WAAAAAYYY sketchier deal than IRP. I rode some unsafe tracks, but no way would I do that. It's worse than Putnam!

 

Seems to me there has been a high number of fatalities over the last 40 years, since Mark Jones and Hugh Humble died after a pit lane collision in 1983. Three others have passed away there, I believe? Seems like a lot, compared with other tracks that have more riders competing regularly.

 

So no VHT is applied for the 2 or 3 days a week of regional drag racing that typically pays the bills? And isn't there a nice concrete wall from the staging area to and past the drag strip start line?

 

They spray for all the drags.

You are straight by the time you get to the start line. Biggest issue is the wall in front of the tower. But most crap happens earlier in T10.

 

That was about the only time you could “spin up” a gs500 was on the straight in the rain.