Benson area drag strip gets second PDRA nod
A local racing venue has earned a second honor as one of the best facilities of its kind.
For the second year in a row, GALOT Motorsports Park in Benson has been named Track of The Year by the Professional Drag Racers Association.
The honor came during the association’s annual awards banquet in Indianapolis Saturday night.
“I’m very honored we won it for the second year in a row,” track Manager Dana Strickland said. “I didn’t expect to win it this year. The PDRA goes to some good and very nice tracks.”
According to PDRA Marketing Director Will Smith, the track has proven to be one of the highlights of the circuit.
“It’s definitely a first-class facility and one of the nicest facilities in the country,” he said. “The staff there is great. They love pro mod racing and fast door slammer racing as much as the PDRA does.”
Ms. Strickland said getting the second such award in a row from the group was a nice surprise and something they didn’t count on winning this year.
“I didn’t expect it this year,” she said. “I did expect it last year because we did so much better than the other tracks. But this year there were several good events and they all put on good shows.”
She adds the nature of the award is a reflection of the dedication it takes for a particular facility to be recognized for their efforts.
“Do I think we deserve it? I always think our track is great,” she said. “The people who work here are great and it was a great honor.”
For the uninitiated into drag racing, GALOT is an eighth-of-a-mile facility that features some of the fastest cars racing at that distance.
Pro mod cars can cover the length of the track in three to four seconds and run on both superchargers and turbochargers. Nitrous oxide is used to power some classes.
Door Slammers are dragsters that are patterned after production cars and usually are powered by supercharged eight cylinder engines fueled by methanol.
Mr. Smith said the award comes as a tribute not only to the track itself, but to the efforts of the track crews, the quality of the events they produce and the number of spectators and racers who show up for the usually four-day events.
“They do a wonderful job of promoting,” he said. “The events are usually packed and it’s definitely one of the best shows you’ll see all year.”
Ms. Strickland calls the award prestigious and precedent setting for the track itself.
“I feel this is very prestigious because the PDRA is a really good sanctioning body,” she said. “I feel like they’ve got a really good program going. It sets a precedent for what we’ve done and what we need to do next year.”
She said winning it a third time might not be in the cards because of the way other tracks on the circuit have stepped up their game to match that of GALOT.
“They run at places like Darlington and Virginia Motor Sports Park and they’re all stepping up there game and some are redoing their track,” she said. “So I’m sure next year it we be an even harder battle to get this award.”
Another factor was the number of cars that show up for events. Mr. Smith said GALOT has been a big attraction for drivers — and thus more drivers bring their machines.
“It’s one of our biggest car counts of the year,” Mr. Smith said. “There are a lot of racers that show up so there’s a lot of cars on the property.”
He credits that to the facility itself.
“The staff has put together a great facility with a great racing surface,” he said. “That yields great performances and they exceed the criteria in every way. It’s a great example of how the track allows for great performances. Also the area around the track is very accommodating, it’s just a great place for us to race.”
Ms. Strickland gives the credit for that to her staff. She calls the facility a family and says without everyone involved in the day-to-day and race-to-race prep as well as on race days, it wouldn’t happen.
“I’m very proud of everybody at GALOT that works here, it’s truly a family here and everybody is great,” Ms. Strickland said. “We love being around each other and no matter how stressful the events get, we are still family and we make it work. From the ticket sales to beer sales to track water box, we truly could not make an event happen without the people who make us succeed. I’m extremely proud of all our efforts.”
GALOT begins their new racing season in early March with test and tune sessions and the track’s signature Mad Mule event.
The PDRA returns to Johnston County April 5 to 7 and again Sept. 6 to 8.
GALOT Still One of Two Heated Tracks
In addition to being one of the finest drag racing facilities in North Carolina and the United States, GALOT Motorsports Park also has another distinction.
When crews went to work turning the old Dunn-Benson Drag Strip into GALOT Motorsports Park, they did something that’s rarely seen — they heated the track.
The Benson facility became just the second drag strip in the United States with a heated surface. The only other exists in Vandermeer, Colorado.
The reason behind the unique design comes in the climate and the desire to race at the facility regardless of the season.
Normal drag strips usually run through the late spring and summer months. GALOT opens it’s gates in March and continues on throughout the year. In 2016, they even ran a holiday event in mid-December.
The heating elements were built into the track and lay just below the surface close enough to keep the starting area surface warm regardless of air temperature.
Heating allows crews to maintain the traction created when rubber is laid out during the familiar burn-out prior to a run by dragsters.
Traction leads to less wheel spin, which leads to a lower elapsed time down the track. And a lower elapsed time, means a better chance to win the race.
