Not that anyone cares, but I think that the pinks all out at MIR this past weekend was a joke. It was very sloppy and alot of people got screwed. Things were rushed and we were all disapointed in how it all worked. and the rule that they have in place that says that the same driver of the same vehicle can not win at the same race track twice. I mean come one these people work for that spot and it's not like the winners are given the race, once again it's something they all work for. Yes I'm saying this because my husband won there in 2007 in a different time bracket went last weekend running in the low 9's his classed was picked and he was told beacuse he had already won there he could not run again. What a waist of time and money that was spent. Sorry for all you pinks fans that are out there but i think it's ridiculous that it's that way.

I agree -it was my first time going to a race - I was so excited and my husband son and I even got a hotel so we wouldnt have to drive 3 hrs home. We met a lot of nice people and say a lot of CRAP that should not have happened. I sent this to SPEED - Hello,
My name is Shannon, over the past year I have become extremely interested in drag racing partially because of Pinks, Livin the Low Life, Past Times, and Wrecked - and my husband. On Friday we went to MIR for the first time - I was excited! My husband, son and myself attended. I at the time thought that this was going to be a great experience for all of us and I wanted to meet Rich because well he kind of got me into cars. My husband has a friend whose son had qualified and so we were also going to see him which made things more exciting. On Tuesday 6/16/09 I ended up fracturing my left arm, so while being casted I asked for a PINK cast to be a sport since I was going to PINKS. To make an extremely long story short, I was appalled but things that I heard from Rich and saw from him as well as other Speed Employees. I love American Muscle Cars but the way that Rich was "bashing" the imports was absurd. He was introducing anyone who was driving a classic muscle car but the imports were not or if they were there was a rude comment from Rich. I live in MD but 3 hours away from MIR so my husband, son and I stayed in a hotel at 90.00/night for two nights and I feel that the show was a joke. Rich made the comment on Saturday that the top 16 were already picked. Just to inform speed yes, its fun to watch a 9 second car but if you think about it, they are 9 seconds cause they have the money to become a 9 second car. A LOT of people in the stands were disgruntled and irritated with the whole day, hard working people came to MIR for fun and for a chance to be recognized. My family met another family who worked around the clock to get his car ready, he qualified in the 10 second group had a great run but was not picked. There have been numerous times in which my husband and I have been watching Pinks and I will ask him how come we never or rarely see someone that looks like a good old boy from wherever and my husband says because speed tv wouldn't put people like that on tv because they don't race for the money they race because they love it (the father-son combo that made the finals were sand bagging to ensure the father making it in I have a picture to prove it). That is unfortunately a sad fact that I observed this weekend. I did get Ken to sign my cast but when I tried to get Rich's attention I was ignored even when he was 2 feet from me and I was waving. Regretfully my family will not be watching the Speed Channel again. After this weekend there were a lot of people that expressed those same feelings and thoughts. Maybe the next time that Rich does a show he shouldn't be such a jerk to the drivers and fans. Thank you for your time in reading this.
******we will not be watching SPEED any more and we could have saved our money and went to the local track which is 30 minutes away********* WE WiLL NOT MAKE THAT MISTAKE AGAIN.

"how come we never or rarely see someone that looks like a good old boy from wherever and my husband says because speed tv wouldn't put people like that on tv because they don't race for the money they race because they love it"

My boyfriend won Saturday night, and if he isn't your small town boy, really I don't know what you define as one. He drag races maybe three times a year, racing is his time to spend with his dad, sometimes I think he enjoys spending time at the racetrack more so than with me. haha. They have less than 15k in the car so I really don't think they were racing for the money. Its the first race he's ever won in his life.

I am sorry you guys had a bad experience, I myself have been a drag racer for 10 years, and it really doesn't matter if you win or lose, or make any money. It is the experience and the friends and memories you make that really matter.

My gripe: We arrived Friday morning @ 8:45 and didn't get thru tech until 5:30 first pass @ 6:45. That's a long day for this ole fart. One pass on Saturday. So if I figure what I spent divided by passes it cost me $308 per pass. I am not a poor man by any stretch but I thought this about Grass roots Drag racing, well guess I was wrong. The event could easily have gone into Sunday to give everyone the chance to make more passes. Will I ever go to another Pinks event: NOT A F'g chance. The Speed channel people were rude and not helpful at all. At the drivers meeting Rich's answer to most questions was don't worry about it! Every racer spent a lot a time and money to show up for this event and I think we could have been treated with a little more respect. On an up note the MIR staff were great.

I agree with you 100% the event could have gone into sunday. My husband got one pass on Friday late that day and the track said that they would not have time to get another pass in and as we were leaving he saw his class of cars in the staging lanes. We could not hear half of what was being said. the time and effort that these racers put into these cars and the time that is put in you would think that the pinks crew could ad would be some what exceptiable to everyone, but I learned alot from this weekend and we too will not be attending another pinks.

I actually enjoyed pinks at MIR a good bit. It was about as smooth as you are going to get when it rains 80% of the time and when you have hundreds of drivers trying to race. It seemed to flow better than the average night at MIR. Whenever we go there we are lucky if we get more than 2 or 3 runs no matter what the event is. I guess my point is it is hard to tell who was to blame for the number of runs the drivers were able to do, it could have been pinks, MIR, or the weather's fault.

Also, it was nice hearing Rich give the imports a hard time. With MIR being my local track I get to see it in all it's glory. The track has become over run with imports that top out at 80-90 miles an hour. After their blazing fast runs the drivers start bashing american muscle..... So to hear someone giving them a few jabs back was nice. Anything Rich said about imports that I heard was very mild and if you were offended you might want to toughen up a bit. As far as I could tell it was all in good fun. (EDIT: Also the comments started after the first import run on Saturday and he made it about 100 ft down the track before breaking down)

All in all was it as fun as it could have been, not really. But I blame that on the weather. I did have a great time though.

I too was a racer at the PINKS ALL OUT event at MIR this past weekend. I did not get selected for the field, but with a 12 second car I was not expecting to be.

I thought the time it took to get through tech inspection was way too long, but I guess they were doing the best they could. I made both of the time runs on the friday Test & tune. On saturday I thought they di dthe best they could to get everyone a run before they selected the field. I guess cars that showed up on Saturday and did not tun on friday did get screwed, but as a racer you should be aware of the weather concerns and adjust your plans if needed.

After running a 12 second car with a .400 protree a few times, I was glad the only run I made on saturday was started by Rich's armdrop. I thought is was a great event , I made a few new friends and got to hangout and talk with many other folks. For a crowd that large, it was very civil and behaved (not normally typical for special events at MIR in the past!).

The show ran until a little past 12:30 AM sunday morning, whichis the best call they can make. Even if you wanted to stay and race on SUNDAY, many others traveled a long ways to get there and needed sunday as a travel day. They would of missed the show, if it had been extended to sunday.

I was interviewed by the Speed TV staff and the local newspaper, I doubt I will make the TV show but maybe I will be quoted in paper. I got to shake Jack Beckman's hand in staging lanes and talked with some of the other PAO celebrities (Ken Haring, etc). They were sort of approachable but were sort of busy most of the time. When we left at 12:30 AM sunday morning Rich and the PAO staff were hosting an autograph session. They were probably there until 2AM.

The PA system was its typical poor MIR quality , otherwise I was very proud of how this event was run.

I live ten miles from the track and race there every friday night in the Midnight Madness Street Car series.

I really wanted one of my fellow MM racers to get selected, but was disappointed.


Bob Patterson

PS: I was the next car in line when the HONDA broke in front of me. I did not hear what Rich said but it appeared everyone thought it was funny. That racer in the Honda, did the right thing and pulled over to the wall out of the groove once his car broke. I do not race an imported car, but feel it is wrong to make fun of them when they are down: those kids are the future of our sport!!! we should try to promote the positive things they do and not crack jokes about the cars.

I think pinks is preaty cool