Mid-West Drag Racing Series Moves Next Event Due to Safety Concerns
/In the last week or so there have been a few instances of issues regarding things that are certainly not ok to say in our world or any other world for that matter. Unfortunately, this has caused the Mid-West Drag Racing Series to have to move their planned Belle Rose race to Texas.
For the last 10 days or so I have struggled with addressing a lot of what has been coming out of people’s mouths. Well, there was an incident with a now-former employee at No Problem Raceway, better known to most as Belle Rose. The incident has caused the manager Stefan to make some very difficult decisions regarding the track. Apparently, we live in a time and day where if someone that works for you screws up bad enough, the general public believes that entitles them to make death threats towards ownership, staff, fans, racers, etc. Yes, folks, it has come to the point where the Mid-West Drag Racing Series must move their event due to an overabundance of caution for the safety of everyone involved, including the track owner, staff, fans, racers, crew, sponsors, and media. Below you will find the official press release from the Mid-West Drag Racing Series.
Important Information regarding our next @Summit @Mid-West Drag Racing Series race:
After several days of difficult conversations, the MWDRS made the decision to move our next race, April 22-24, from Belle Rose to Texas. An unfortunate incident occurred a week ago at No Problem Raceway that has led to some life-threatening situations for Stefan, Missy, and their staff. We feel, jointly, that at this time and for the safety of the track personal, track owners, our racers, crew, fans, sponsors, and media, is to not contest our next race at No Problem Raceway.
MWDRS staff stopped by I-30 Dragway on the way to our recent race at XRP in hopes of finding an additional track for 2022. As it turns out, I-30 fits well into this scenario and we have chosen to move the event there the same weekend as was scheduled at Belle Rose, April 22-24, 2021. (Please see photos below)
The track is owned by Brian “Lump” Self and Keith Pelton. Brian has a rich history of racing, from driving an NHRA Pro Stock car, co-crew chief for Erica Enders, crew chief for Goforth racing as well as owning a successful engine building company. We have spoken to Brian literally dozens of times in the last few days, asking all the important questions and he has been so incredibly welcoming with anything we requested.
I-30 Dragway has its grand opening this week after completely re-doing much of the facility with a lot of upgrades. Kurt Johnson, from Total Venue Concepts (TVC) and his team have laser-ground the whole surface and sold all new equipment to the track including rotator, sprayer, etc. The concession stand even did a dry-run last night and was flawless. There is literally enough Musco lighting to land an airplane!
While every single aesthetic improvement has not been completed yet, the track is able to step in quickly, and help us keep the same race date. We felt keeping the same date was important as to cause as little disruption to our racers as possible.
Again, we at the MWDRS want to express our thank you to Belle Rose, along with I-30 dragway. Also, to our racers, crew, fans, sponsors, and media, thank you for understanding the position that we are in. The MWDRS is family and as a family we want everyone to have a safe and enjoyable event. This decision was not taken lightly, and we greatly appreciate your continued support. . We hope to work with Belle Rose in the future and hope for safety and calm for them.
If you have any questions, please drop us a message.
Here is some info on the area:
Track sits next to I-30 in Caddo Mills, Northwest of Dallas
I-30 Dragway, formerly Red Line Raceway
5326 FM 1565
Caddo Mills, TX 75135
Hotels: We will be working on finding a host hotel in the days ahead, but in the meantime you can look at the towns of Caddo Mills, Royse City, Greenville, Rockwall
Airport: Dallas-Love (DAL) and Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) are both right at the same drive of 48 minutes from the track
Buc-ee’s: The mecca of food/gas about 3 minutes away