It's no secret that I come from the Chicagoland area. I've been involved in the racing community there for the better part of 11 years in some form or fashion. King of the Streets has been covered before, but it deserves it's own documentation in every iteration through the year. Spring KOTS was a hot 110 degrees, but the fans and racers still came out for a hell of an event. As was the case for the fall race.
Meet Joe. He's 6'4", 310lbs, wears a 4XL, and took care of security detail for the event.
Around 9am we began piling in with the rest of the press and racers. Name draw took place around noon, and the brackets were lined out. KOTS has several classes that you can evaluate below:
**KOTS UNLIMITED**
DETAILS:
--Must have doors (no lift off/tilt up bodies)
--Any tire
--Any suspension/chassis
--Wheelie bars OK (a KOTS first!)
--1/8th mile (standard KOTS rules apply)
--$500 entry ($200 lockup, $300 @ gate)
--100% payout based on field (+ sponsor $$)
**KOTS 2015 Sr Rules**
--28 x 10.5 (non-w) or 275/60R15 Drag Radial
--No wheelie bars
--Must be a door car
(any suspension/engine/adder/etc,etc,etc...Sr is an 1/8th mile class)
**KOTS 2015 GANGSTER Rules**
--Any 26" tall tire
--Stock suspension
--No wheelie bars
--Must be a door car
(1/4 miles class)
**KOTS 2015 Jr Rules**
TIRE: 26" DOT Approved Drag Radial (41 options) (smaller OK)
SUSPENSION:
--ALL stock type, aftermarket components OK; STOCK MOUNTING LOCATIONS (reinforcements/battle boxes OK); No 4-link/ladder bars; Anti-hop, Slide-a-link, South Side or Caltracs OK; Coilovers OK on STOCK shock location only; NO aftermarket/fabricated anti-rollbars (OEM type OK, subject to inspection; OEM-type bushed end links only); Relocated Leaf Springs (inboard for tire clearance) OK
CAGE/CHASSIS:
--Encouraged, not required. If present; Max 8.50 legal (10/12 point); No 25.x; No Funny Car Hoops; No back half/tubular frame rails; No wheelie bars or parachutes (receiver OK, mount must be removed)
EXHAUST:
--Must run mufflers (bullets OK); Exhaust must exit aft of rear axle--No flex pipe tails; No open cut outs/bypasses (must be capped (manual) or wires disconnected (electric); Factory sidepipes OK (ie: Viper; Corvette; Shelby)
EXTERIOR:
--Must have ALL DOT required equipment installed and fully OEM functional (lights, wipers, horn, etc); **NEW** Wiper arms MUST be present @ tech, but need not be installed (hoods can stay down); Wiper linkage must function as designed @ tech
--Firewall: Must have OEM firewall, unmodified
--Glass: Must have all OEM-type glass windows; door windows must roll up/down (no pinned regulators); (Exception for El Camino/Ranchero/Pickup truck--May have Lexan rear window to accommodate roll bar pass through)
--Body: Must retain stock appearing body panels. Aftermarket/fiberglass replacements OK; minor clearancing/flaring for tire OK; Hood scoops/rear wings OK; No one piece/lift off front ends or lift off decklids; Lift off hood OK; No non-OEM front air intake holes
INTERIOR:
- Must have all factory-type interior (headliner, carpet, door panels, dash) and front seats (full-across bench OK or two bucket) Rear Seat Delete OK w/upholstery (must have rear bulkhead, except hatchbacks). No exposed sheet metal
POWERTRAIN:
--Internal Combustion/Compression Engine only; No restrictions
--Power adders: Any (No air to water intercoolers unless OEM equipeed--aftermarket "drop-in" replacements OK)
--Vehicles must be plated & insured WITH proof. No temporary plates or Insurance cards. No dealer plates. VIN must match documentation.
The Straightline guys running hard!
Now that you've sifted through the rules and outlines, we can touch base on the happenings of the event. Stephen Gillespie (HeyyoSteve) promoting/organizing the event as per usual. 1320video, Strange engineering, among others were on site with a booth and chumming it up with the crowd. The weather was low 60s throughout the day. Once the sun dropped, the track did slick up a bit. Luckily there wasn't the usual onslaught of mishaps and accidents. With the exception of a couple, and a few oil downs, the event stayed in progress with minimal interruptions. There were 100+ entries to the various classes (including bikes) so I won't go into detail on exact matchups and outcomes. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that came by our tent. We sold out of our original KOTS shirts within a couple hours, and only have a few on hand from our reorder. Everyone that asked for a decal wasn't charged a cent, but donations to the American Heart Association were accepted! The amount of support and love from the racers and spectators was amazing. I was on the fence about continuing travel for events like this, until we closed up shop at Great Lakes. This will be one of many more events to come for Clapd Out, and we cannot thank Heyyo and the KOTS crew enough.
There was a misunderstanding towards the end of the event for the senior final. Hate tank vs Slowpony was the lined up final. Hate tank had an issue on the line. There was a miscommunication and he was given an allotted time to fix the issue and get the car started. For those that haven't touched base with the organizers and staff, I have provided an explanation from Trent below:
"The KOTS XIV Sr final sucked, period. It was a disappointment to many, including me, for a variety of reasons. We all know that shit happens (especially in racing), but this is extreme, even for us.
What happened is simple. We had a breakdown (actually, several little ones) in communication between our not only our own KOTS staff, but the track staff as well. No one person is at fault here. When this situation began (when Belcher was backed down/held up/shutdown to clean a spot on the track) is where everything started going wrong. We had one, then two, then three or four people thing to resolve the problem independently of one another, and that's where it got ugly. That's why I went back to the tower and summoned our staff, as well as Dan Belcher and Chris Henderson....alone. We ALL discussed the problem together, and came to the decision to DQ Belcher. It was the proper call, but it was arrived at poorly. At any other event/race, that decision would've been made as soon as Belcher was unable to move (let alone start, which as I saw was a separate problem) once the starting line cleanup was completed.
Now, to address a few things that I've heard..
--KOTS does NOT currently have a rule in place to cover this situation, period. No established time limit, nothing. Why? Because it's never happened before. I intend to address that, and will have a rule in place before the next event. This situation required a single, swift judgment call, but we failed in the decision making process. It shouldn't have taken more than a couple minutes to handle this. I will rectify this going forward.
--Both Dan and Chris were cool as I could ask for, given the situation. Neither was angry, and we all knew it was a shitty situation that we had to resolve as quickly as possible to avoid a riot. That's why I didn't allow anybody but those two, because their opinions were the only ones that mattered at that moment. Both racers were true gentlemen about it. Neither driver did anything wrong whatsoever.
--There are always new things to learn when running events. Anybody whose done it already knows this. I've been running events for 15+ years, this is the first time I've ever encountered this. I know there are several folks who have all the answers, to them I say "go right ahead, please show us all how smart you are". If events were easy to do, there'd be a whole lot more people doing it. A few of you guys have learned this first hand. Bottom line, this was a first and subsequently it was a headache. We will learn from it and move forward.
--To those who vow "we're never coming back"...do what you feel is right. This isn't aimed at anyone specific. I'm not being arrogant, but I've heard this sort of thing too many times to count throughout my "career" in this shit. Cooler heads tend to prevail, so I don't take any of the things I hear, said in the heat of the moment, seriously.
Lastly, I'll say this. Neither Steve nor I are out to fuck anyone. We work very hard to put on a great race for the racers, and to put on a great show for the fans. We take this very seriously (Hell, it's pretty much the only race I do anymore), and are determined to work through this, learn from it and continue putting on what one racer called "The baddest fucking race in the country" (a stretch, but I'll take it!) for many years to come. I'm optimistic that the racers will see that, and this will just be another colorful story in the KOTS history books.
Thanks to all...
KMF"
I wont throw my opinion in the ring because frankly, I have zero experience as a dedicated grudge racer. I don't want to pollute the air with wisdom without a base of knowledge. That being said; here are the brackets to evaluate! Bear in mind, these aren't like NCAA brackets, every round there is a redraw to line up racers. This cuts down the chance of someone running through weaker competition etc.
There you have it! If you couldn't make the event, make sure to mark your datebook for the next Spring showing! This fall KOTS had to be the largest turnout yet. Parking was scarce in the pits, and the merchandise sold out by 2-3pm. We want to extend a huge thumbs up to Boost12 and the Deans Performance crew for shredding on their car and getting it done. Joey and Hans have had a rough season with breakage and issues, but it's safe to say the car is on a mission!
Heyyo's car in the pits, couldn't count the number of times we heard "what the hell does 'Clapd Out mean?'
