First Ever Arkansas Mile Event

Kinja'd!!! "Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight" (gizmoq)
06/06/2016 at 15:20 • Filed to: LSR, CADILLAC, RACING, ARKANSAS

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This past weekend was the inaugural running of the Arkansas Mile Top Speed Racing event. From the same folks that bring you the Texas Mile and the Colorado Mile, U.S. Mile Top Speed Racing organization put on a great event this weekend in Blytheville, AR. I got to meet a lot of new people and visit with old racing friends as well. Overall, 110 cars were preregistered for all three days, another 30-40 came for only one or two days. The Caddy Shack was non-existent at this event although there were 5 CTS-V participants. It seemed that Dodge Challengers outnumbered all other models present, but there were actually more Corvettes. The loudest cars participating were of course the few Mustangs. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let me first talk about the venue, the area, the conditions and then a little about the participants.

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Blythville’s Arkansas International Airport is no stranger to auto racing. For many years SCCA has hosted local, regional, and national Autocross events here. Why? Large swaths of pristine CONCRETE! And for the standing mile, a very long, level runway made out of the stuff is just the ticket for fast acceleration.

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The U.S. Mile folks setup the standing mile course with the starting line on the North edge of the runway and the finish line just past midway, allowing one of the longest shutdown areas of any Land Speed Racing/Top Speed locations in the country. (When bad things happen at over 200MPH a long shut down area can be a lifesaver) Large open pavillions were setup at the start and finish for spectators viewing with a little shade. The taxiway to the left of the runway was made available for teams/participants to set up their pit areas. Some were as simple as a place to park with maybe a canopy for shade or as extravagant as a mobile shop setup wuth 4 enclosed double decker race haulers and several motorhomes. There was plenty of room for everyone, even my bus. And once setup, we lived there on the taxiway all weekend long. There were three food vendors and of course U. S. Mile merchandise vendors.

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Above is Ashley, the Director of Operations, who is a key figure in all U.S Mile events. She was there before the track opened and came around to several of the paddocks after the track shut down every day to insure every one was happy with the accommodations.

The Blytheville area is a great location for Top Speed racing. It has one major advantage for me and that is its central location - only 3 1/2 hours from St Louis as apposed to the Texas Mile at 1100 miles from me. Its a former military base so its far enough away from the major metropolitan area that the sounds of high horsepower cars don’t disturb the neighbors, but downtown Blytheville is only 10 miles away. The airport is 4 miles off the Interstate and 6 miles from the Super Walmart.

As mentioned earlier, the participants varied widely. Many drove the cars/trucks/motorcycles they raced to the venue while others towed, trailered, or shipped cars in. one unusual trailer setup caught my eye:

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The most unusual race vehicle was a 1989 Vixen 376TD Lift-top BMW turbo diesel motorhome with a 5 speed transmission. This thing is less than 4 ft tall and 20 ft long, but he was serious about setting a record as the faster of this model - his best trap speed was just over 108MPH. I was impressed cause I know my bus will only do 80... and that’s falling off a cliff.

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Some folks didn’t even take their car out of the trailer.

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Others broke their cars on Friday and had to spectate for the rest of the weekend. 6 cars broke Friday; one broke trying to do a burnout prior to the run and burnt up her clutch.Another guy had to have a whole transmission overnited to him Saturday.

There were lots of fast cars. Of the Mustangs, one did 221MPH. One of the Audi’s did 190. One of the Challengers did 189. One of the Caddies did 184. There was one streamliner Corvette that did 235.

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And of course the Texas Mile record holde, M2K Motorsports, waited till Sunday for his first run. They brought their 2500+HP Ford GT. Their record in Texas is 278.2MPH in the standing mile. He made 2 passes in Arkansas. His record.... 280.1 MPH! Unfortunately his second pass blew the motor.

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DISCUSSION (10)


Kinja'd!!! Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight
06/06/2016 at 15:26

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280mph...

Holy shit.


Kinja'd!!! Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight
06/06/2016 at 15:39

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Is the GT still street legal?


Kinja'd!!! BReLp7dzHM3ytYsE > Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
06/06/2016 at 15:45

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In the standing mile too.


Kinja'd!!! Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch > BReLp7dzHM3ytYsE
06/06/2016 at 15:51

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In something that was (is?) street legal. I’ve seen top fuel cars run 3oo in the 1/4, but this is insane.


Kinja'd!!! BReLp7dzHM3ytYsE > Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
06/06/2016 at 15:53

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Just ran the numbers, and the average acceleration is 15.97 ft/s^2, just under .5G. Which is insane.


Kinja'd!!! Hammerdown > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight
06/06/2016 at 16:07

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Out of everything I see in the pics, I want to know more about the bus tow rig. That thing is cool.


Kinja'd!!! Justino6969 > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight
06/06/2016 at 20:40

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That’s the record? Has BADD GT not run there? (283 certified by Guinness)


Kinja'd!!! Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
06/06/2016 at 23:24

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Yes.


Kinja'd!!! Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight
06/06/2016 at 23:25

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11/10 would attempt to daily.


Kinja'd!!! Gizmo - The Only Good Gremlin, but don't feed me after Midnight > Hammerdown
06/07/2016 at 12:09

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Ask and ye shall receive:

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/the-elwood-tra…