{"id":41217,"date":"2020-08-10T08:00:56","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=41217"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:37","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:37","slug":"the-drive-doesnt-stop-after-race-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/events\/2020\/08\/the-drive-doesnt-stop-after-race-day.html","title":{"rendered":"The Drive Doesn\u2019t Stop After Race Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two things I know: Racers in the Mopar\u00ae<\/sub> community are a scrappy, driven, and persevering\nbunch, and 2020 had been one wild year! I don\u2019t think anyone can argue either\nof those. But in a year of extreme adversity and hurdles impacting almost every\nperson on the planet in some form or another, there are some scattered tales of\nsuccess and victories. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure most of you are familiar with Mr. Dan VanHorn. Earlier this year, DodgeGarage had the opportunity to chat with Dan about his series<\/a>. For those of you who are not familiar, Dan has organized and run the very successful grassroots race series dubbed Modern Street HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> Shootout since 2009. The MSHS is the only full-season race series dedicated strictly to us HEMI guys, and no outsiders allowed! I was personally planning on participating in the entire series this season until I, like many others, were impacted by COVID-19. My heart was breaking as news was unraveling throughout the country of all the tragic happenings related to COVID-19. While safety, health and well-being became the primary focus for most responsible adults, drag racing was up there on the list with bars, concerts and sporting events as an auxiliary activity that was a necessity in the COVID landscape. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was bummed; I was so ready to race. There were even some\nnew classes that I was super exited about. However, I was even more bummed to\nthink about what Dan must be going through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Putting on a legit racing event is no simple task, at all.\nThen try doing a whole series over the course of several months at different\nfacilities across the country. It\u2019s insanely tough to orchestrate so many\npieces of the puzzle. Throw COVID on top with some quarantine, curfew and Essential\nBusiness lists … surely it’s impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hasn\u2019t good ole Tim Kuniskis taught you that neither Dodge nor\nthe community take no for an answer. GAME ON. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first race of the season was able to get crammed in JUST\nin time before things really started shutting down. VanHorn noted that it was a\ngreat race, but it did in fact suffer from a downturn in racer registration.\nDespite the below-average turnout, the first race was a success. The pandemic\nquickly worsened and businesses started shutting their doors and people starting\nlocking themselves in their homes. Some companies didn\u2019t make it to the end of\nMarch before closing the doors permanently. The country started to see business\nafter business – big, small, mom-and-pops or corporate – all start to throw in\nthe towel. Despite all of this, VanHorn was able to stay focused and driven\nenough to keep the MSHS series alive for 2020 through constant communication with the\ntracks, sponsors and racers, coupled with weekly studying of the nation’s\ncurrent state. Fortunately, MSHS has some amazing sponsors behind it; not a\nsingle sponsor pulled out or pulled a dime from the series. VanHorn and team\nwere able to be fluid and flexible, move dates around, and change some\nformatting and kept the engines running. While the first race is the only race\nthat was held on its originally scheduled date, the year will finish off having\ncompleted every race.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wait, there is more! Not only did MSHS push through\nevery blockade and jump every hurdle during this wild ride we call 2020,\nVanHorn also pulled another rabbit out of his hat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"empty<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On July 7th<\/sup>, a press release surfaced announcing\nthat Steve Earwood had sold Rockingham Dragway, which he has owned and run since\n1992. The new head-knocker? Dan VanHorn (along with partner Al Gennarelli).\nWhat? Companies across the country crumbling while VanHorn was keeping engines\nrunning on the dragstrip AND purchasing a dragstrip?! This guy just doesn\u2019t\nsit around and take the punches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s face it, I\u2019m sure many think that Earwood sold the\ntrack as a fire sale during hard COVID times. It turns out, that wasn\u2019t the\ncase at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

VanHorn explains that he has long had the dream to open or\nown a dragstrip (who wouldn\u2019t?!). About two years ago, VanHorn started\nresearching the business from a track-owner’s perspective and polling many of\nhis contacts in the industry, including track owners. Dan recounts chatting\nwith Steve well over a year ago asking for advice and suggestions on opening a\ndragstrip. Who better to ask than a guy who has run a successful operation for\nalmost 30 years? Steve offered to sell the facility to Dan on the spot! The\nproposition obviously took VanHorn by surprise and definitely started the gears\nturning in his head. The price was certainly out of his price range.\nRockingham, after all, was a much larger operation than VanHorn imagined\ngetting his feet wet with. VanHorn set out to find a way to make this dream\ncome true. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

VanHorn went back to some of the industry friends and\ncontacts he had been bouncing ideas off of to get a feel for if his peers\nthought this was something he could pull off. One major yet odd detail to how\nthis started to take shape was Dan\u2019s desire to start getting involved in\nhalf-mile races. Half-mile and standing-mile racing is, you could say, its own\nlittle subculture. There is an even smaller group of crossover racers that\nenjoy and have a vehicle that can race in your typical quarter-mile racing, and\nthe longer half-mile races. Dan had done some digging trying to piece together\nthe plans to get into hosting half-mile races and quickly found out that it was\nno easy task. Many of those events are held at airfields and runways. Getting\npermits and permissions for that seemed to be getting less and less obtainable,\nwhich has ultimately lead to very few of these events existing anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, guess what? Rockingham\u2019s dragstrip is 5,000 feet long, as\nit was originally designed to double as a landing strip for Nascar drivers in\nthe early days. Drivers would fly in, land and go race NASCAR \u201cnext\ndoor\u201d. Dan mentions that there are no\nother dragstrips out there anywhere near this length. So hold up, not only could VanHorn use\nRockingham for regular old-fashioned quarter-mile drag racing, he could also\nuse it to get into half-mile racing? You bet! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This small tidbit lead VanHorn to his friends at Van Drake\nracing, an outfit big into Mopar vehicles, drag racing and half-mile racing, who\nimmediately said they were on board with partnering up to purchase Rockingham.\nContracts were drawn, things were rolling and the deal was looking final. Enter\nCOVID-19. Due to circumstances forced on the company from the COVID pandemic,\nVan Drake was forced to back out of purchasing the dragstrip. Thanks COVID,\nperfect timing. Who is going to purchase an event space, when most states won’t\nallow groups of more than 10 people to gather together? It definitely seemed to\nbe the most inopportune time to go out and spend large sums of money and just\nwish upon a star that the pandemic and economy turn around quickly. VanHorn went back to Steve with the bad news\nin an effort to find some sort of last-ditch effort to make the deal happen. He\nwas not ready to hit the brakes (never lift!). Steve definitely appreciated Dan\u2019s passion for the sport and the\nfacility and was willing to make it work from his side as much as he possibly\ncould. VanHorn contacted his long-time friend and fellow racer Al Gennarelli\nand brought him up to speed on what had transpired over the past year. In the\nmidst of (our favorite term) uncertain times, Gennarelli said, \u201cI’m in, lets do\nit!\u201d Not this time, COVID, not this time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan and Al partnered up 50\/50 and secured the contract and\nthe deal was done. A slightly unorthodox plan followed, with Steve staying on\nboard for two years to phase in and teach Dan and Al the ropes of running a\nfacility like this. The group claims that it will be business as normal under\nthe new ownership. All employees are staying on board and no major changes in\nprogramming will occur. While part of me wanted to hear Dan profess that no\nvehicle shall be allowed on the property unless it was of Mopar descent, those\nwords never came out of his mouth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dodge<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I asked Dan if us folks in the Mopar community could look\nforward to any additional Mopar-only festivities, to which he replied, \u201cYou\nbetter believe it.\u201d I don\u2019t want to spoil any surprises or plans, but Dan did\nmention that they hope to start creating some events for the community that\nwill call Rockingham \u201chome\u201d. Why does the West Coast get all the fun? Me,\npersonally, if I were on the payroll up at FCA HQ, I would be sending anything\nthat needed to be tested down to Rockingham. Half-jokingly, I asked Dan, \u201cWould\nyou say that FCA is welcome to use Rockingham as a test facility and event\nspace?\u201d Dan responded with no qualms, \u201cDefinitely!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking over a large operation like this will take some time,\nno doubt. But I can\u2019t wait to see my fellow racer, Mopar enthusiast and friend\npursue his dream encompassing everything horsepower and drag racing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want to see the remaining 2020 Modern Street HEMI Shootout schedule, head over to Hemirace.com<\/a> and be on the lookout for some really cool events to come from VanHorn, Gennarelli and Rockingham. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a year of chaos, uncertainties, collapse and the\nworst economic downturn the world has ever seen, VanHorn showed us all that\ngiving up just isn\u2019t an option. And us Mopar guys, we WILL fight, the underdog\nagainst the world! And you DON\u2019T want none of THIS!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two things I know: Racers in the Mopar\u00ae community are a scrappy, driven, and persevering bunch, and 2020 had been one wild year! I don\u2019t think anyone can argue either of those. But in a year of extreme adversity and hurdles impacting almost every person on the planet in some form or another, there are some scattered tales of success and victories. I\u2019m sure most of you are familiar with Mr. Dan VanHorn. Earlier this year, DodgeGarage had the opportunity to chat with Dan about his series. For those of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":41227,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[497],"tags":[528,547],"class_list":["post-41217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","tag-drag-racing","tag-mopar"],"acf":[],"custom_fields":{"post_thumbnail_image":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/drivedontstopfeature.png","icon_selection":"article","external_link":"","featured_article":[],"upload_background_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41217"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41217"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41796,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41217\/revisions\/41796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}