2016 Shootout Feedback

Where are all the mark viii guys? They have always been welcome and I just do not
see them anyomore. I thought they had a bigger following than the sc does?
 
Mr negative obviously hasn't been around for quit a while I push the envelope every year man.

No kidding! Last year I did a whole new drivetrain, body work and paint
all last minute literaly had it tuned 2 weeks before the shootout picked up
100hp and made the car 2 seconds faster.
 
Here is a list of regulars who themselves and/or cars did not make it this year.

Kurt Sunday
Tim Groth
Ken Wagner
Micah
Rob Maksimovitch
Kieth Nichols
John Ludorf
Sally thornsberry (breakdownl
Dan thornsberry (breakdown)
mike pucket
david dalke (no car)
Duane nettles (no car)
Paul from canada wirh the black five speed
Tony serno
Victor
Bill Evanoff (no car)
Paul ?? From stl area two tone car
Jeff Bratton (2nd year no car fix that crap!)
(3) supercharged 4.6 birds
Who else am I missing?
 
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I think this all got taken out of context. Wasn't trying to single anyone out but it just seems that only a small handful of people that are pushing the envelope and the rest stays fairly same between years. The point I was trying to make (or more agree with...) is that there is a lack of excitement as neverfastenough pointed out.
There is a lack of excitement because guys stay home. To create excitement I put thousands of dollars a year in my car and try to do things that hasn't been done. However like the 17 or so guys and gals Jacob had listed and tons of others with incredible cars don't show up for one reason or another makes it lack luster. I didn't make a shootout until 2012 and I will do my best not to miss another. In all fairness to know who is pushing the envelope you have to show up is all I was saying I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers.
 
This was my second shootout this year. I enjoyed it a lot better than last year. Why? The hotel was nicer, we had a dyno competition this year, and I didn't break on my warm up passes at the track. The more i get to know the folks in this group, the more i like seeing them and talking with them. I felt like a part of the group this year compared to being the new guy last year. Folks like Smitty, Phillip, David D, Dan, and Luke really made a good impression last year as he went out of his way to make me feel welcome. This year it felt like even more people were welcoming, or maybe you just get to know everyone more as time goes on. Anyways, the negative of this year... it seemed like the TBU action is really forced. Last year it was funny. This year it seemed like, hey cough up your money for some crap, no offense. The dyno was cool this year, but I probably would not opt to do it next year, because i doubt i will do anything to add power. The auction did not have as good of stuff to bid on this year as last. My biggest negative... Its kind of the same each year... the car show has the same cars, and the same cars generally win (as they should because they are the ones with the most work done)... the dyno results should be generally the same each year unless major changes are made... the racing is interesting because that has as much to do with skill, so that is cool but unless we get some more cars, the same cars will likely win first and second. I'll sum this up with, the shootout is reasonably predictable.

I really like the idea of a Power Tour. That's something different and keep things interesting. I agree that we need more attendance, and if we cant get our own people to show up, I think we need to allow others even if it is a mustang. Corey said something (if not this thread, another one) Competition is a good thing, and if it takes seeing another platform to make us advance... then that's what we need to do. anyways, that's my 2 cents.

Thanks,
Derek
 
I thought the dyno and the reserved parking at the hotel worked well this year. I also like that the dyno is at the hotel itself, but mainly because I bring my kids to the event with me. Sure I brought my kids when the dyno and show venues were not at the hotel, but it is not nerely as convenient for my family (yeah, I'm selfish). I have attended without the family before, but now that the kids are older, they need a break from the routine. If they don't go to the Shootout, I might not be able to go because they will need something else to do.

As for the dyno itself, I believe there were actually 15 cars, but I will have to confirm that when I return home next week. Regardless, we still didn't fill the slots. I blame myself partially, because I see no reason to dyno my car. I dyno'd 2 years ago because we needed cars and there was no need to do it again this year because I have made zero changes to my car.

I agree the tent needs to stay. It was especially nice to have when it was raining at lunch this year.

A different racing venue may help bring a few new people to the event, but I think there will be a few that wouldn't go too. Unless something major happens, I will be there no matter where it is held....I just like catching up with friends.

I would be fine with inviting other groups to participate in racing, but I still a firm believer that we need to rent the track, as opposed to racing during a public event.
 
You guys do realize that Jay's "push the envelope" means people doing innovative things that hasn't been reached, tried, or accomplished by others, right? Most of that was loaded towards performance, too. Just to clarify and maybe that's happening, but context is important.

Lots of you guys do hard work to make the cars what they are. That's good stuff! Always admirable.

I think the best choice for a car group addition would be the v6 Mustang crowd. They share a common power plant, so why not? We race on indexes so it's not like there's ano unfair advantage. Nobody will be interested in just joining for bracket racing so that's out. We need more people for heads up.

Also we could be more inviting to the TCCOA folks.

I can get many different types of cats to come just for testing, but we'd have to come up with criteria or a focus for extraneous cars.
 
I think it is a natural tendency to expect too much from a single event. It reminds me of a recent study about vacations in general - that the planning and anticipation phase is much more important to a persons well being before and after the actual vacation than the vacation itself. There are some important take-aways here.

If you don't prepare, if you don't mod your car in some way, if you don't go to the track a few times to shake down the car during the summer, then I guarantee the Shootout is going to be a letdown. The planning phase should be fun, and you need to do your homework.

On the other extreme, if you spend all year modding or building your car so that you have something to show off at the Shootout and haven't been able to enjoy the car at all because of all the modding, then I can also pretty much guarantee that the Shootout isn't going to live up to your expectations. Even if you do win an award like Dave did this year it may not seem like enough, or you could end up with no recognition at all just because someone else had brighter paint or a better parking spot.

I'm not suggesting that the Shootout dominate your life, but I think that your car should be a small part of your life year round and that you should have goals with it (we are car guys after all aren't we?), and the Shootout should be your own personal measuring stick of how you did in both making reasonable goals and in achieving them. I like to see people making progress and being able to look back and have a sense of pride that they accomplished something over the past year.

On that note, I also feel that it's important to focus on the fun things and good memories that are tied up in the Shootout event itself so you have something positive to jump start next years plans/goals. For me the best part of the Shootout can be summed up in 3 things - Casey's car burning my eyes and choking my lungs while I was working on David's car 100 ft away, going off-roading with David on the Parkway, and getting bitched at by the track staff for lighting up Ira's tires in the pit lane.

Well, and maybe the omelets at the Hilton Embassy Suites Hotel.
 
You guys do realize that Jay's "push the envelope" means people doing innovative things that hasn't been reached, tried, or accomplished by others, right? Most of that was loaded towards performance, too. Just to clarify and maybe that's happening, but context is important.

Lots of you guys do hard work to make the cars what they are. That's good stuff! Always admirable.

I think the best choice for a car group addition would be the v6 Mustang crowd. They share a common power plant, so why not? We race on indexes so it's not like there's ano unfair advantage. Nobody will be interested in just joining for bracket racing so that's out. We need more people for heads up.

Also we could be more inviting to the TCCOA folks.

I can get many different types of cats to come just for testing, but we'd have to come up with criteria or a focus for extraneous cars.


I say a reach out to the SHO and Mark viii guys would be best! The mustang v6 guys tend to be d-bags. I have bought two of them to build one for my son and both owners were complete idiots. They would be running around doing one track burnouts in the parking lot ! the mark viii and sho guys are much more civilized just saying.
 
I say a reach out to the SHO and Mark viii guys would be best! The mustang v6 guys tend to be d-bags. I have bought two of them to build one for my son and both owners were complete idiots. They would be running around doing one track burnouts in the parking lot ! the mark viii and sho guys are much more civilized just saying.
This is a little judgmental. I don't think people should be casted out based on presumptions like that. There are a couple of turbo v6 Mustang guys in town who are awesome. Always helpful, but just needed help understanding things like anyone.

V6 mustangs have more commonalities with SC guys than SHOs and Mark VIIIs. Although I'd be cool with them as well.
 
This is a little judgmental. I don't think people should be casted out based on presumptions like that. There are a couple of turbo v6 Mustang guys in town who are awesome. Always helpful, but just needed help understanding things like anyone.

V6 mustangs have more commonalities with SC guys than SHOs and Mark VIIIs. Although I'd be cool with them as well.



I would say anyone that put a functional turbo on a v6 stang is
A diffrent calliber person than the azzhat teenagers running around
thinking they are cool with flat bill caps jamming rap music doing one
wheel peels with a maxwell house muffler and (3) tiered honda spoiler alteza
tailights wal-mart pedal covers and a durabrand subwoofer from walmart
rocking plasti-diped stock wheels, the short antenna mod a homeade
Undeglow kit with pep-boys marker lights japaneese slogan across the front
Windshield with a ghetto tint job ......stereotypical v6 stang driver :)
 
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here is my take on this year's event, and next year and down the road.

First off the hotel was great. they were there for us in every way that came along. Sure the pool broke, BUT they said it would be fixed after Monday, not lie to us like the last place. The morning brunch was great as well with a lot of food ALL weekend long, again not like the last place. All the outside events were without a hitch, again thanks to the hotel people, they helped out wherever they could. The dyno was good again with working with the people that used it and even spent more time with every car to make sure that everyone was happy.. Now the drag strip was the drag strip, they play to a different drum... slow but sure.. that is good with a smaller turnout, but if we had 50 to 75 cars running we might still be there running...lol.
Now who else should we invite ?? I say open it up to any Ford group THAT wants to play by OUR rules.. They can be all done on the et bracket and still let us do our thing as we have been doing for years. The rest of them can do et and still do everything as we always do.. More cars will mean more money coming in as well as seeing more different set ups.. I think it would be a blast watching some of those guys dropping their jaws when some of our faster guys set the mark for them to beat... The et setup will make everyone equal in the end so lets go for it..
Now the only draw back to this years event.. I did hear that not everyone was in love with the food sat night. there were even a few people that were not feeling good after the dinner??? Maybe next year we can get some input to give the cooks so we have a better dinner.. Now I do have to say that the bunch of us that stayed over sunday night had a great time with the pizza's that they made for us off menu. They were good and again this shows just how far the hotel wants to go to make us come back again... I guess a big thanks is due the hotel staff for all they did for us this year, not like other places we stayed at... that's all.. unless we can bribe Brian not to bring his car and cook for us.:D...just kidding...:D..Rich
 
Do we have members that are also members of some of these other clubs??

I know Chris Gates used to do a lot of SHO stuff.
 
Chris gates I know for sure is an sho club member, and has a lot of contacts. I actually like the ideal of the v6 Mustang guys because of what Corey said, they would be very competitive.
 
I am and always will be a Mustang guy as much as I enjoy my Sc when it actually runs.

That said and having never attended a Shootout I will throw this 2 cents in.

The shootout is always held around the same time as the NMRA world finals. This year it was the same weekend. It is usually the weekend after. That means I will always choose the NMRA event. After reading this whole thread though I am asking myself why I need to choose. The two events are held hours apart from each other. With what the attendees are saying I think an inquiry to the NMRA to combine the SC shootout into this event would be a worthwhile look. If they can bore us with hours on end of Bracket racing I am sure they could find a way to work this program in. It would be a tough sell with the age of the cars but at the same time the organization this group has shown could offset that. Yes there would likely need to be some class changes to make it work but the exposure would likely be worth it. This is likely not a long term solution but even if this was done for only a few years it would hopefully revive some of the lost excitement many are talking about by introducing a whole new crowd to the SC's potential.

The car show this year at that event had 319 cars show up. I don't recall seeing 1 89-97 Tbird. Is it any wonder attendance dwindles and excitement wanes when even a main stream event doesn't attract these cars?

The other "advantage" to this is as a Chef I would be more than willing to take over cooking duties for the weekend. I would be able to purchase food at whole sale pricing through work and would be able to prepare a restaurant style meal at the cost of homemade.

I realize these types of changes are drastic but it is another point of view. It has certain advantages over what has already been suggested here. I personally think there are big advantages to more exposure than inviting another group to split costs. At least for the short run.....
 
I see youre point... however the nmra is way to big of an event to combine with us and would take away from what the shootout is. Also i'd imagine being the same weekend is why its easy/cheap to get a track rental at clay city. While bowling green is ALOT nicer track that i really really like... Alot of the faster SC's would NOT pass their tech. Plus we would loose the ability to get a few hrs of open test and tune! I can run dozens of times at the shootout. My local track i am lucky to get 4/5 passes on a test and tune night!


I am and always will be a Mustang guy as much as I enjoy my Sc when it actually runs.

That said and having never attended a Shootout I will throw this 2 cents in.

The shootout is always held around the same time as the NMRA world finals. This year it was the same weekend. It is usually the weekend after. That means I will always choose the NMRA event. After reading this whole thread though I am asking myself why I need to choose. The two events are held hours apart from each other. With what the attendees are saying I think an inquiry to the NMRA to combine the SC shootout into this event would be a worthwhile look. If they can bore us with hours on end of Bracket racing I am sure they could find a way to work this program in. It would be a tough sell with the age of the cars but at the same time the organization this group has shown could offset that. Yes there would likely need to be some class changes to make it work but the exposure would likely be worth it. This is likely not a long term solution but even if this was done for only a few years it would hopefully revive some of the lost excitement many are talking about by introducing a whole new crowd to the SC's potential.

The car show this year at that event had 319 cars show up. I don't recall seeing 1 89-97 Tbird. Is it any wonder attendance dwindles and excitement wanes when even a main stream event doesn't attract these cars?

The other "advantage" to this is as a Chef I would be more than willing to take over cooking duties for the weekend. I would be able to purchase food at whole sale pricing through work and would be able to prepare a restaurant style meal at the cost of homemade.

I realize these types of changes are drastic but it is another point of view. It has certain advantages over what has already been suggested here. I personally think there are big advantages to more exposure than inviting another group to split costs. At least for the short run.....
 
I was very happy with the hotel facilities! And very happy with the meal! it was a nice welcome change! There are several people that i know of that pay full price and do not attend the dinner because of spouses having shellfish allergies and it was nice to see those people actually enjoying the banquet this year! And it was nice for Brian to get a break!


First off the hotel was great. they were there for us in every way that came along. Sure the pool broke, BUT they said it would be fixed after Monday, not lie to us like the last place. The morning brunch was great as well with a lot of food ALL weekend long, again not like the last place. All the outside events were without a hitch, again thanks to the hotel people, they helped out wherever they could. The dyno was good again with working with the people that used it and even spent more time with every car to make sure that everyone was happy.. Now the drag strip was the drag strip, they play to a different drum... slow but sure.. that is good with a smaller turnout, but if we had 50 to 75 cars running we might still be there running...lol.
Now who else should we invite ?? I say open it up to any Ford group THAT wants to play by OUR rules.. They can be all done on the et bracket and still let us do our thing as we have been doing for years. The rest of them can do et and still do everything as we always do.. More cars will mean more money coming in as well as seeing more different set ups.. I think it would be a blast watching some of those guys dropping their jaws when some of our faster guys set the mark for them to beat... The et setup will make everyone equal in the end so lets go for it..
Now the only draw back to this years event.. I did hear that not everyone was in love with the food sat night. there were even a few people that were not feeling good after the dinner??? Maybe next year we can get some input to give the cooks so we have a better dinner.. Now I do have to say that the bunch of us that stayed over sunday night had a great time with the pizza's that they made for us off menu. They were good and again this shows just how far the hotel wants to go to make us come back again... I guess a big thanks is due the hotel staff for all they did for us this year, not like other places we stayed at... that's all.. unless we can bribe Brian not to bring his car and cook for us.:D...just kidding...:D..Rich
 
Been to the shootout a handful of times throughout its run. Ohio twice and Kentucky twice...every time my expectation has been met and exceeded. That expectation for me is seeing everyone from this group, seeing some sweet SC's and shooting the BS with fellow members. Maybe my expectations are lower than others or I just accept it for what it is.

Expanding seems to be the topic that comes up at every event I attend year in and year out. Carlisle, Summer Blast - Joel Bender Memorial event (which ended its run this year because of membership decline) and well now the Shootout. Finding a group as "die hard" as this group I think would be amazing.

When I hear of expanding the Shootout, I instantly think along the lines of a Club Clash event. Be cool to challenge SHOs or V6 Mustang guys, making it the National Event or the "big one" for both groups. A braggin' rights event I suppose, similar to the Super Heavy Weight Shootout where its V8 Fords vs V8 Chevy/Mopar.

Whatever is decided I hope to be back next year. Marriage date fell same time last year. This year family event for my Grandparents 70th wedding anny was the important happening. Wife said she noticed I looked depressed being at home rather than at the Shootout :D

Also, thanks to everyone who make the event happen, you guys go way above and beyond to make sure this event caters to everyone! Great job!

-Tim
 
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