MARATHON FINAL ROUND to WRITE ANOTHER CHAPTER in DRAG RACING HISTORY as PINKS ALL OUT RETURNS to zMAX DRAGWAY

 MARCUS SMITH: “THIS NEW FORMAT at PINKS ALL OUT IS YET ANOTHER ‘GAME CHANGER.’”

 NASCAR’S KURT BUSCH SPECIAL GUEST; SHOOT SET FOR SATURDAY, APRIL 24

            The first-ever ‘Last Man Standing’ final-round marathon is set to write another chapter in  ‘four-wide’ drag racing history as SPEED grassroots original series, PINKS All Out, returns to zMAX Dragway on April 23-24, just outside Charlotte, N.C.

           With a ‘sold out’ house of more than 35,000, last year’s PINKS All Out shoot was a ‘game changer’ on two fronts for the sport; introducing the first-ever, four-wide drag racing competition to a national television audience and the integration of a high-speed ‘Flycam’ to the production mix.

            Hosted by Rich Christensen, the show offered four-wide drag racing during the first round of eliminations, taking the first car to cross the stripe. As 32 cars battled it out, a winner was found from each of the four lanes. On the production side, SPEED integrated the ‘Flycam’ from starting line to finish, traveling up to 107 mph in capturing ‘never-before-seen’ overhead quarter mile action. The spectacle drew rave reviews, was featured in Popular Hot Rodding magazine and set a tone for the sport that could be played out for years to come.

           “Some of the best PINKS All Out events we have ever had have been at Speedway Motorsports, Inc.-owned drag strips – The Strip @ Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bristol (Tenn.) Dragway, Infineon Raceway and the first-ever nationally televised four-wide event from zMAX Dragway,” said Hunter Nickell, SPEED President. “We are now getting the opportunity to return to some of these great facilities, starting with zMAX Dragway, which has become a real showplace for the sport.”

             This year’s PINKS All Out shoot at zMAX Dragway promises to be just as memorable, as this unique format could have this episode’s champion make five total passes to win the lion’s share of more than $25,000 in cash and prizes. Once the field has been whittled down to the remaining four competitors, the final begins with a four-wide shootout, eliminating the last car through the traps. The next pass will feature three cars battling it out for the final two spots, setting up the show’s now traditional best ‘two-out-of-three’ hot-lap eliminator, where a winner will be determined.

             “We challenge ourselves every day at zMAX Dragway to be bigger, better, different and obviously SPEED thinks the same way,” said Marcus Smith, President and General Manager of Charlotte Motor Speedway. “This new format at PINKS All Out is yet another ‘game changer.’ It pushes the envelope, it’s creative and most importantly it’s going to be an unbelievable show for the fans. Last year PINKS All Out revived four-wide drag racing in a major way and this year they’re going to take it to a whole new level at the Bellagio of drag strips.”

              This final round will be a test of nerves, machinery and mental preparation, expressing what will be the toughest road to winning a PINKS All Out – or any drag racing competition - since the show’s inception on Labor Day weekend of 2006 at the Texas Motorplex. The show is based around one long day of time trials, production and competition. Those cars and drivers that can maintain consistency and hold up the longest are the ones with the greatest chance of prevailing at the end of the night.

               In addition, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star Kurt Busch will make an appearance during the show. He will drive his ’70 Challenger during a special competition during exhibition time, and will join Christensen and his on-air technical team as an advisor.

               “Consistency, stamina, focused concentration and endurance are the hallmark qualities needed to win this competition,” said Robert Ecker, SPEED VP of Programming & PINKS All Out Executive Producer. “Time and again we’ve seen the hardware give out under the stress and intense demands of making so many passes in a single day. This event is designed to push these drivers and their machines to the very limit of their abilities. It’s the ultimate challenge for grassroots drag racing’s elite.”

                 The popularity of PINKS All Out has spectator tickets going fast. To purchase, log onto www.zmaxdragway.com and www.charlottemotorspeedway.com.

This is a post from Pro85fiero on the Old PINKS All Out Message boards. They have shut those boards down, but I still wanted to respond more specifically to your post as requested. My answers to specific areas are in bold.

Mr. Dave Harris,

Judging from the wording in your post it appears as though you are either from SPEEDtv, Pinks or Summit Motorsports Park. If this is the case I for one am glad that you are in touch as well as online to help set the record straight on this subject as well as proving to everyone (including some in this forum) that you people ACTUALLY LISTEN.

Yes... we ACTUALLY LISTEN. Its not always easy to answer every single question in a timely matter... and our goal is to build our MYSPEED site, while phasing out the old forums. any postings on the old message board haven't been monitored with as much vigor in recent months.

First off valid questions are not and never were intended to be accusations or false claims they are simply questions. Questions that I as well as others needed answered. However when these questions go unanswered, brushed off or the answer just don't add up then that just leads to more questions. In some cases in this forum there have been accusations by others, this can not be controlled. However these as well as other accusations in other forums in the SPEEDtv website can be curtailed by simply setting the record straight without any B.S.

Now it is understandable that the system simply just crashed but what led to this whole situation was what followed which includes the history of PAO.

I would be interested in knowing what history you are referring too, as I have been a part of the network's PAO team since 2006, and am unaware of previous difficulties (or 'pre-settled' results) that you are alluding. Rumors and accusations are different from the actual reality of any one situation.

 
Now without going into the whole story all over again (you can revert back to the original post) here is a summery of what happen:
Summit Motorsports Park website declared PAO sold out about 15 seconds after its 12:00 noon opening.

An associate of S.M.P. stated that it sold out in minutes (5 to 10 depending on what part of the conversation you were in).

There were 3 to 4 pages of questions and/or forms to be filled out in that extremely short time frame.

There have been multiple racers with multiple cars at multiple events.

All that is asked is that if there was a problem say so. If there was please explain what was done to correct it. If not then explain how an event this difficult to enter can have so many lucky repeat customers.

As has been stated ad nauseum, there are no pre-qualified participants whom are let into the show prior to any registration. We allow every track to set up its own pre-registration process, and while it can be crude at times, its what we have to work with. We have yet to centralize the process for many reasons that I will not get into at this point...

To be honest, we are amazed at the number of repeat contestants. There's a lot of luck involved. One thing I have heard about- and this may be a factor or not - are that some racers have put together innovative redial software programs that have their personal information pre-programmed, and that those programs have been able to consistently get into and through some of these simple registration systems. They have multiple computers and they're all doing the same thing. Its something we are concerned about, but I'm not sure at what level these systems have actually proliferated these registrations.

What are we doing about it? We have recognized that the 'first come, first serve, open casting call' process has a downside. And for the first time in 2010, certain tracks like zMAX Dragway and Houston Raceway Park will be experimenting with a hybrid lottery system. On the other side of that, while the lottery system may work for some regions and tracks, we've also received some pushback on that option as well, as instant feedback on whether a racer is 'in' or 'out' would not be available. And quite honestly, unless all racers saw the random drawing to begin with, we would still be accused of rigging that as well. The other big challenge to a lottery system is that each state have very different laws when it comes to administration of a contest or game of this nature. Lots of red tape involved here.

As this property grows, we are all learning how to make it better. One of the challenges for us internally is that our primary focus of these events is to shoot a television show. The fact that this has turned into a significant drag racing event, and has grown exponentially out of that, has provided the network great opportunity - and some unseen challenges as well.

F.I.Y. I believe that a may have already found part of the answer but still would like to hear your answer.

THANKS, pro85fiero

As I stated last time, I appreciate your passion and you can PM me for a further discussion.

Thanks,

David

PINKS All Out Brings Down Phones, Website

Estimated 9,000 Racers Vie For 425 Openings at Summit Motorsports Park

(Norwalk, Ohio) - Demand to appear on PINKS: All Out, a drag racing reality show that airs on SPEED TV, resulted in phone system and Website outages in Norwalk as an estimated 9,000 racers from the Midwest United States tried to grab one of 425 available openings when they went on sale Monday, December 7 at noon at Summit Motorsports Park. The 425 openings sold out in two minutes.

An episode of PINKS: All Out will be filmed at Summit Motorsports Park August 27-28, 2010. The show last filmed an episode at the track in June, 2008.

"We had a lot of people simultaneously trying to get one of these 425 racer openings," said Bill Bader, Jr., president of Summit Motorsports Park. "When you have that many people calling and using the Web site at the same time, it creates a spike in demand on the equipment." Many residents in eastern Norwalk reportedly lost phone service and Internet access mid-day Monday as demand interrupted service.

"There were only two other times when Norwalk experienced this much load on the phone and Internet lines," Bader continued. "The first was when a local resident appeared on American Idol and people were voting for him, and the second was when tickets for the first PINKS: All Out event went on sale in December, 2007."

When tickets for the first PINKS All Out show went on sale, all driver openings sold out in 12 minutes, which was then a record for ticket sales for the reality show. Then, track officials estimated there were approximately 5,000 racers competing for the available openings.

"By all accounts, interest in PINKS All Out is higher than it was two years ago," said Bader. The 2008 event brought over 25,000 fans from Ohio and surrounding states to the track to watch the reality show being filmed.

PINKS All Out pits drivers in street-driven cars against each other in an old-style drag race. Host Rich Christensen starts each round with his famous arm drop, instead of using the traditional drag racing "Christmas tree" with lights. The show will be in its fourth season in 2010 and will tape 13 episodes across the country.

For more information on PINKS All Out spectator tickets contact Summit Motorsports Park at (419) 668-5555 or visit

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Hello Everyone...

The 2010 PINKS All Out schedule (Season Four) will be released on Friday evening during the season finale from Bakersfield, Calif., at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT.

SPEEDtv.com will also have the schedule posted, along with links to the host tracks for 2010. As always, racer sign up and spectator tickets will be made available through each host facility.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Thanks,

David Harris, SPEED