O’FALLON, MO (Sep. 25, 2009) — In the world of big-league drag racing, to say Steve Earwood, 61, has “been there, done that” almost trivializes the man’s career. He began in 1970 as manager of the famed Gainesville Raceway in Florida and stints as an NHRA and major-venue public relations specialist in Dallas and Atlanta had Earwood rubbing shoulders with all of drag racing’s greatest drivers, team and track owners, and promoters throughout the sport’s formative years.
In the early-1990s, Earwood purchased Rockingham Dragway, where for years he hosted the NHRA’s All-Star Winston Invitational before switching over to IHRA sanction a few years ago and now holds two IHRA national events each year in addition to periodic special events, including rock concerts.
Still, after more than 17 years at “The Rock” and experience with every major player in the game, even Earwood was blown away by the National Guard American Drag Racing League’s (ADRL’s) Flowmaster Dragstock VI, held recently at his track nestled in the pine forests of central North Carolina.
The National Guard ADRL’s official Web site (www.ADRL.us) caught up with Earwood, back at the track bright and early Sunday morning after Dragstock VI, running the timing system for a few ADRL race teams that lingered for a little testing after the record-setting crowds had long gone home.
ADRL.us: What’s most memorable about the past couple of days for you?
Earwood: Well, a couple of things.
Of course, the crowd, which was incomparable to anything we’ve ever done. It was by far our largest one-day crowd, even better than that first Dragstock (Dragstock III at Rockingham Dragway) because we were totally unprepared then and it got to be a sticky situation. But we had more people here this year than ever.
And I can tell by the parking lots. We filled up the NASCAR track, which we’d never done before; we filled up our back 60-acre lot, which we’d never done before. Our front lot was full by 10:15 yesterday morning and that’s just never happened; from Metallica, to the Winston Invitational or certainly for any of the IHRA national events, it’s just never happened, so it was by far our biggest crowd ever.
But, the performance of the cars and the safety of the event, that stands out more than anything else. We got the quickest fields in Pro Extreme and Pro Nitrous and in the bike class (Pro Extreme Motorcycle), so that’s very gratifying because we don’t have a lot of motorcycle events here. And we just missed the quickest Extreme 10.5 field by a couple hundredths, so it was just a true blessing.
Plus, with the biggest crowd that we had, Security told me of just one incident, one fist fight where a guy got his nose bloodied—and he probably deserved it—but that’s just phenomenal. I mean, you have more fights than that at a Southern Baptists Convention. It was a very well-behaved crowd.
ADRL.us: Does a successful event like Flowmaster Dragstock VI positively impact your business beyond the immediate weekend?
Earwood: Oh yes, we’ve had calls already this morning from people telling us what a great time they had. They’d never been to a drag race before, they’d never been to a motorsports event of any kind, but they’re hooked and wanted to come back and were asking when our next big event is going to be.
We were blessed with beautiful weather, too. That little shower we had was actually a good thing because a third of the crowd left and they were replaced immediately by a new third, so that many more people got to experience things. It could not have gone better.
ADRL.us: The National Guard ADRL promotes Dragstock as its oldest, most prestigious event, but what will it take to get it where it equals other great American races like the Daytona 500 or U.S. Nationals?
Earwood: Well, I think it already has that reputation with the racers, but with the fans, the people who come to this race, they get it, they’re hooked and I think it does get placed at the top of their list of motorsports events to attend.
But the next step is we’ve got to go after the mainstream media. I mean, the Charlotte Observer needs to be here covering this race, local TV stations need to get involved. When a guy comes to an event like this and he goes home and he doesn’t see anything about it in the Raleigh News and Observer the next day he might think, ‘Hmmm, maybe that wasn’t such a big deal after all.’ But it is and if he sees the results in the newspaper and on his local sports show the next day, that’s a big deal.
So that’s the next thing we have to do, get on par with the other sanctioning bodies. I was so happy to see this event in the USA Today under their schedule. That’s a gigantic step forward because once you get in there maybe you can get those guys to come out and see what we’re doing and I think they’ll be impressed. That’s got to be next.
ADRL.us: So, you’re excited about the future of the National Guard ADRL at Rockingham Dragway?
Earwood: Let me tell you, (National Guard ADRL President and CEO) Kenny Nowling is my horse at every race we have going on; that’s who I’m gonna’ bet on.
The National Guard ADRL is back in action Oct. 23-24, with its LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals V at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, TX, just south of Dallas.
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