There’s a simple theory of economics that depends on the crane business. See, when people are building or renting cranes it means that there’s investment being made. That could be in high rise buildings or in other heavy duty types of stuff. In the world of drag racing we can take this theory and apply to track surfaces. We can get a gauge of how healthy the sport is by the way that facilities are spending their money with regard to the physical track itself and the other things that surround it. Upgrading seating, amenities, timing systems, etc. We’re happy to report that globally there’s more going on right now than we have ever heard of before.

For starters the historic surface at Santa Pod Raceway in England has been completely removed and replaced, marking the first time in the track’s history that it will be concrete from end to end. The track sent us a load of cool photos featuring the work that is going on and it’s a big job, no doubt. “The Pod” has as much or more history than many other tracks in the world for its role in establishing drag racing as a viable motorsports commodity in Europe. It’s a bucket list item to sit on the grass hill, nip on a beer, and watch the action on the track. I’ll get there someday. We have a link to Santa Pod’s Facebook page below so that you can click on it and see all the photos and information on the progress of the concrete job. This is a big one!

So what are the other tracks investing money? Well, there’s Las Vegas which has completely demolished its track and replaced it with a four lane surface like the course at zMax Dragway in Concord, North Carolina. Royal Purple Raceway in Texas is replacing their racing surface, Darlington Dragway replaced their racing surface and they’re getting ready to send cars down what some are calling the best eighth mile track in the country, and Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park is ripping their track out and replacing it as well! Beyond that there are dozens of smaller tracks reinvesting in themselves on smaller scale projects that we have talked to people about. Sound system upgrades, etc.

What does all of this mean? It’s good time to be in drag racing!

Click here to visit Santa Pod’s Facebook page and keep up with their progress!

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