I just got back from a tour of the new zMax Dragway @ Concord and let me tell you, Bruton Smith didn't exaggerate when he said that this track would be the "Bellagio of dragstrips."

I've been involved with the sport of drag racing since 1965 and I've never, let me repeat never, seen a track as nice as this one. It's beyond comprehension, there's no way I can describe what a magnificent facility it is and these photos don't do it justice, you have to see it in person to believe it.

First off, as you can see by the top photo, it's the only four-lane, all-concrete dragstrip ever built. I know that there's a lot of speculation on how it's going to be utilized for the Inaugural Carolinas Nationals and I asked the GM of the track, Christian Byrd (son of Bristol Dragway president Jeff Byrd) flat out what the plan was. He answered quite candidly and said that they would have all four lanes prepped for the event and it was up to NHRA on how they wanted to use them. I guess we'll just have to wait until Sept. 11 to find out. From what I understand they will be using the track on driver's left for this race and the right side track will be a back-up in case of a catastrophic oildown or other incidents.

The first person I ran into when I arrived was Greg Anderson. During the tour Greg and I had a little time to bond and we both talked about it how cool it was that we could both sleep in our own beds for this race as Greg lives only six miles from the track and I'm only 12 miles away.

One of the issues when Bruton announced his plans to build the track was noise abatement and as you can see the sound barriers are under construction and will be finished in time for the race.

Another thing I thought was really cool was the scoreboard stanchions. As you can see they're all ready to go and the scoreboards will be arriving next week and will be installed by Bob Brockmeyer from Compulink and his team as soon as they arrive.

Christian and Greg spent quite a few minutes looking at the surface of the track and Greg was very pleased about how smooth the track is and offered his help when they started working on prepping the track, which should start happening the week after next.

We also had a look at the sand trap at the end of the 2,515-foot shutdown area and the 200-foot trap will be backed up by not one but two high-impact safety nets designed by engineers with Formula 1 experience.

I also took a tour of the tower and remember how after the inaugural Norwalk event how all the members of the fourth estate (press) raved about how nice the press facilities were there but they haven't seen anything like this. Every seat has a Herman Miller Aeron chair (they cost about $500 each) and there were literally hundreds of them in not only the press room but also in race control and in the announcing deck so Bob Frey will have a comfortable place to sit.

The thing that amazed me the most was that there are over 30,000 seats, probably more than any other track on the NHRA tour. I sat in the front row of the grandstands on both sides of the track and since the stands are elevated there's a clear view of both lanes over the guardrails from either side of the track and fans who have seats will be able to see all the action over the heads of the fans standing along the fence.

The pits ... 30 acres of totally paved pits on the left side of the track for the Pros and the Manufacturers Midway and another 15 acres of paved pits on the right side for the Sportsman cars. Staging lanes on both sides of the tower will allow plenty of room for all the competitors and there won't be any issues with congestion. The track also has return roads on both sides of the track and duplicate time card booths and scales will ensure smooth traffic flow.

I'll be going out there again on the 23rd for their open-house and if you're in the area make it a plan to stop by from 11 a.m. until 3 pm to check it out for yourself.  

I almost forgot: When was the last time you were at a drag strip that offered valet parking?

Type at you L8R.

BB