Bill Kidd talks Hangover Nationals
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Term
engine freshened up
When someone says they need to 'freshen up' their engine, it means they want to repair or improve it so that it runs better. This usually involves fixing or replacing parts that are worn out.
Term
off season mode
When someone talks about going into 'off season mode' for their car, it means they're not using it regularly, often to take care of repairs or upgrades. It's like putting the car in a break so it can be maintained.
Company
Beyond Racing
Beyond Racing makes parts that help cars go faster and perform better on the track. They focus on racing and provide upgrades for cars to improve their performance.
Part
automatic shifter
An automatic shifter is a part of the car that helps you change gears without needing to do it manually. It makes driving easier, especially in traffic or during races.
Concept
quarter mile drag strip
A quarter mile drag strip is a type of racing track that is a quarter mile long. Cars race each other to see who can finish the distance the fastest, which is a fun way to test how fast they can go.
Concept
NHRA
The NHRA is a big organization that oversees drag racing in the U.S. They make sure that races are safe and fair by creating rules that everyone has to follow.
Concept
Cactus Clash
The Cactus Clash is a race that happens every year on Labor Day weekend. It includes drivers from Mexico and the United States, making it a fun competition between the two countries.
Concept
border bow
A border bow is something special that happens during the Cactus Clash race. It involves drivers and is part of the fun of the event, but the details aren't clear from this conversation.
Car
Chevrolet Chevy II
The Chevy II is a small car made by Chevrolet that many people like for its classic look and performance. The 1966 version is especially popular among car lovers.
Car
Chevrolet Corvette
The Chevrolet Corvette is a famous sports car that is known for being fast and stylish. It has been around for many years and is loved by car enthusiasts.
Car
Chevrolet Nova
The Chevrolet Nova is a smaller car that was made by Chevrolet many years ago. It's known for being easy to modify and a favorite among people who like to work on cars.
Car
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a popular sports car that was first made in the late 1960s. The 1967 version is known for its stylish design and strong engines, making it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Term
big block
A big block is a powerful type of engine that is larger than normal engines. It usually gives the car more strength and speed.
Term
four-speed
A four-speed means the car has a transmission that lets you choose from four different speeds. This helps the car go faster or save fuel depending on how you drive.
Car
Chevy
A '67 Chevy is a car made by Chevrolet in the year 1967. It's known for its classic look and is popular among car lovers who enjoy older models.
Concept
dragster
A dragster is a car made specifically for racing in a straight line as fast as possible. They are built to go really fast in short distances, like a quarter mile.
Car
Pontiac Firebird
The Pontiac Firebird is a type of sports car that was made in America for many years. It's known for being fast and having a cool look, which makes it popular among car enthusiasts. People often talk about it because it's a classic car that many people love.
Part
drum brakes
Drum brakes are a type of brake system that uses a round drum to help stop the car. When you press the brake pedal, parts inside push against the drum to slow it down. They are older technology compared to newer brake systems.
Term
burnout
A burnout is when a driver makes the car's tires spin while the car stays in one place, creating smoke. It's done to make the tires stick better to the road when racing.
Part
blower
A blower is a part that helps the engine get more air, which makes it more powerful. It's often added to cars to make them go faster.
Term
crankcase
The crankcase is a part of the engine that holds oil and helps keep the engine parts moving smoothly. It's important for the engine to work well.
LIVE
Hey, yo.
What's going on, Troy?
I should have had, I should have got some AI to add some jingle bells into that or something,
you know, for the holiday season.
Oh, shoot.
That jingle bounce.
Well, you are Christopher Kringle with all your Christmas lights, so it wouldn't surprise
me if you did come up with something.
I'll get one tuned up ready for next week, buddy.
Perfect.
Man, I'm excited for tonight.
We got a lot of good stuff to talk about, PRI news and all that, but we're just grateful
for everybody coming back to the Most Handsome podcast on the West.
The Most Handsome.
That's right.
One of the things I want to say really quick before we get too started, I just want to
give a happy birthday shout out to my nephew, Knox Wayne.
He's turning nine years old.
Just happy birthday, buddy.
Sure do love you.
Knox Wayne, man.
That's tough.
That's a tough name.
I like it.
Happy birthday, big dog.
But yeah, let's have a good one.
And what have you been up to?
Man, not a whole lot.
I need to get my engine freshened up and there's a couple of people waiting on me
to do some certain things.
I'm starting to get the messages that are like, dude, are you going to do that
or not?
So I need to I need to kind of get into off season mode, just kind of park the
car, put it up on stands and kind of forgot about it minus, you know,
turning it over every couple of weeks.
So time to kind of get into gear and figure out a plan for this off season.
You know, plan A is like a whole bunch of stuff and plan D is like not very much
stuff. So see if we can't compromise with myself and land somewhere in the
middle and at least make some progress this winter.
Get to start getting that thing ready.
So I against my heart, I received my beyond racing package on
this last week. It's got the automatic shifter for a stock eliminator.
I hate it, but if you want to be competitive and be the best, you got to
stay up with the times. So.
Nice, man. I've always been happy with my beyondo shifter.
They don't sponsor us, but Sal, Pete, you should.
Anybody listening from Washington right now, things are crazy up in the
Pacific Northwest with the weather crazy flooding.
My family's supposed to go to Leavenworth this weekend for a Christmas
lights trip and hang out in the village.
But people are really hurting up there.
There's a lot of a lot of flooding power down.
We had dams failing and the rain is still coming.
So shout out to anybody in Washington.
Hope you're all all right.
Not sure what we could do, but if you need something,
Holoradis, maybe we know somebody who can help you.
So hope everybody up there is all right.
Pretty wild stuff with the Atmospheric River.
So we'll see what happens with our trip.
But, you know, hanging around this last weekend,
PRI and SEMA, there's always something that comes out of each one of them.
And PRI seem to be popping pretty good this year.
Oh, yeah, it's there's a there's a lot of crazy news
with the purchase of Maple Grove by the NHRA.
I didn't see that one coming.
Nobody's bingo card had that on it.
I guarantee it. Nobody's.
And Jordan Vandergrift racing for John Forrest.
Just not a surprise.
You know, John said, oh, it's been over a year ago now
that that Jordan would drive one of his cars.
I was surprised when they put Jack in that it wasn't Jordan.
So seeing that kind of come full circle,
he dug pretty deep into the Fox broadcast stuff and does a great job there.
So I don't know if they're going to try to work that out like they do with Bruno.
Probably a little different deal driving for for John Forrest.
So I don't know if we'll see Jordan on the Fox broadcast anymore,
but certainly capable young face.
He's great in front of the camera.
So, you know, they short things up pretty good over there
and looking good. So see what happens.
One of the things that I really want to touch on is
NHRA announces a 15 percent pay increase
across the board for sportsmen racers.
But what they didn't tell you is there was a 17
percent price increase to the entry fee.
I'm grateful for the pay increase, but you can't double back
and increase the entry fee at the same time
that kind of defeats the purpose, right?
Yeah, I mean, you know, whoever wins is still going to get more than they would have.
And I'm sure the 15 percent increase is more than what there's
in payout is more than what their 15 percent increase was.
For the entry.
So you're probably still ahead, but yeah, you know, it's one of those tough things.
How are you going to pay for stuff like that?
Right? You either have to take it from the gate.
You've got to have partners or you've got to mess with the entry fees, right?
And it's the that's the balance always with any event,
whether it's a bracket race and Saturday night event
or or a series like Lucas Oil is
those are your three sources of revenue, right?
So in this case, sounds like the racers are going to pay for their own person increase.
You know, not an uncommon practice in the world, a big money bracket racing
where there is no gate, but yeah, I don't know.
It'll be it'll be interesting.
So far, I haven't seen a whole lot of feedback one way or the other
about it. So it'll be interesting to see how that kind of pans out for everybody.
I'm I'm hoping they put out a breakdown of how it works.
But I haven't seen one since the 80s, the one from the 80s.
And so I'm not really expecting to see when was the last entry fee increase.
I'll be honest, I do not know from experience or anything,
but it's well before we started racing.
And that was 1995.
So not much has changed since 95.
So I don't know. It's it's good.
It's bad. It's it's indifferent, I guess.
Just yeah, it'll be interesting to see.
Hopefully, you know, hopefully it helps folks and it ends up being a positive thing.
I saw that, you know, Internet drag racing forums got a got a reboot
for the the radio versus bias conversation.
It's been going on since the dawn of time.
I saw the radio, the radio bubble drop from Mickey Thompson
and saw the Internet instantly a buzz with
who's going to be running Bubba radials versus Slick.
So I did we can count on that thread.
Yeah, I did see Gary Don Free with drag champ.
They put a radio on their dragster and seemed to work pretty well.
It picked up a couple of mile per hour.
And I mean, they were running it in semi cool weather.
So it looked good, man.
It's not a thing.
It's hot, but yeah, it looked really good for for testing.
So it'll be exciting to see that on a dragster
and see how the tire companies compete to see who can make it work.
Yeah, man. Not kind of cool.
But another news, Apex Racing Foundation
announced that they are building a track in Utah.
It's not just a drag strip.
It's dirt track and off road track.
I'm not quite sure exactly all the tracks, but they did announce
a quarter mile drag strip and they partnered not not necessarily partnered,
but they are NHRA sanctioned.
So they're working with the NHRA to follow all the rules and regulations.
So if they do that, it's got to be some sort of a quality track.
If NHRA is willing to stick their neck out there like that with them.
Yeah, the certain minimum requirements you got to meet.
If you want, if you want them to be your sanctioning body.
And so, you know, with brand new build, you'd expect,
you know, maybe everything's not state of the art,
but it's going to all be new and in good working order.
And and so, you know, and I'm not going to complain
about another drag strip coming to the West Coast.
You know, too many times the stories is we're worried about losing them.
So if there's momentum,
you know, and I think that model of a complex
is something that seems to be kind of the way to go these days.
If you want to put something like that in my hometown of Emmett, Idaho,
did a similar thing, drift track, circle track, motocross track and a concert venue.
It's a multi purpose kind of racing venue.
And so I think when you can bring in the different demographics
from motor sports, even if it's not all the same one,
just makes that movement stronger.
So hopefully hopefully they get it off the ground.
Yeah, I I'm I'm going to say about I
I struggle, though, with some of the comments I see.
There's a lot of negativity and someone to try and put a put a track together
and they're trying to do all the right things.
We need to be a little bit more positive about it, right?
Yeah, it's the Internet, though, man. I mean, that's.
You know, it's the new version of kicking your dog when you get home.
People go online and they, you know, just just puke out their mouths,
all kinds of stuff that they know nothing about.
You know, or even if they do, so so many fewer people want to be a part of the solution.
It's way easier to be somebody who stands around and points out the issues
and points out the problems.
You know, it's the people who get in there and roll their sleeves up
and do something to improve their their local racing community.
Our guest today is one of those people.
And so I'm I'm excited for our show tonight,
going to get to talk to Bill Kidd in a few minutes.
Yep. One last thing I want to touch on.
There's a couple new races, big money bracket races being announced for the West Coast.
Chad Axford and the team at Flatbill Promotions
announced that they are going to be in Reading Motorsports Park May 1st
through 3rd and October 30th through the 1st.
There's not a official flyer out yet, but we know that they're coming.
And it's really exciting to get some more big money on the on the West Coast,
especially with it being close to you.
I mean, it's probably closer to you than it is to me.
But yeah, it's not too far.
Reading is not too far.
You know, and it's good to see some sort of organized effort
for big money racing coming back to Reading for there for a few years.
You know, Tony and Jesse had the TNA Race Club thing going
and they had some regular events.
I don't know who was behind Doghouse Bracket Racing,
but but they brought a couple of events to Reading.
And now we see, you know, Chad getting in the mix.
I think it's great.
And, you know, it's a challenge out here.
You don't have a frame of reference.
You can't just copy the flyer from some race back east.
It's not the same demographic of people.
It's not the same amount of racers.
But you still want to offer something that resembles,
you know, what what we kind of know nationwide.
So I hope that Chad and the gang are able to put together
a good program.
I have no doubt that they'll do that.
And, you know, you figure out how to balance the payouts
with the entry fees and the car counts and come up with something
that's worth that's worth traveling for.
I love the idea that, you know, we'll have Chris's two races
at at Bakersfield in Tucson at the least.
He's always trying to find a third date
if he can make it work so you never know what's going to happen there.
You've got the races that Bill helps run down there in Tucson.
You bring Reading back.
You throw a couple at Woodburn.
Bremerton's got their big money series now.
Super quick series went off pretty good last year
for folks who've got faster rides and like to get into the top.
But super quick stuff.
So, you know, the culture is starting to build out here
and all you need is a few of these races kind of in each corner
to to grab hold and, you know, you build a network.
And and that's how you do it.
And that's what's happening out here.
So it's pretty neat to see.
Yes, sir.
One of those folks that we talked about that knows a little bit
about big money bracket racing on the West Coast is Mr. Bill Kidd.
So what do you say we bring him on?
Let's do it, man. He's been waiting.
What's going on, Bill? How are you?
Hey, guys, how are you?
I'm good, man.
Thanks for taking some time.
I hear you're a little bit tired from all your travels.
But we really appreciate you coming on and joining us.
Yeah, it's been a crazy month or so and it doesn't stop
till the end of the year, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
We hear you're leaving for Gulfport,
Mississippi here in a couple of days
and going to go do some traveling with the kids.
Yeah, we leave Wednesday night.
My my buddies, the Renaults and Kenny Bollie
left on Sunday.
They should be there tomorrow to get us a good parking spot.
And then, you know, the bougie folks like us, I guess,
fly in and drive.
But yeah, it's, you know, Troy, you talked about wishing
you could go to Gulfport.
It is definitely worth making the trip someday.
We've been talking about just doing a family vacation, man.
It's like, you know, it's on the beach, water's warm
and not even racing really.
It looks like an area that's really coming around.
So I assume what?
You're going out there Christmas on the coast
and then the Stars and Stripes deal.
You're going to go through the whole thing or?
So we're going to do Christmas on the coast.
We're doing Christmas on the coast
and then the Renaults and my daughter are going to Florida
for Rob Reynolds race.
I'll fly back and start
buttoning up things for the hangovers.
So Christmas and then hangovers.
Nice. Nice. That'll be fun, man.
Most of the reason we have you on tonight
is to discuss and talk over that hangover nationals.
What do you say we jump right into it?
Let's do it.
So here's the flyer.
We've got the hangover nationals on December 31st
through January 4th.
Looks like we're going to be kicking things off
with a pit vehicle race.
Those are always the freaking most fun.
I love those.
And it gives people who don't always get the opportunity
to drive a race car, still the opportunity to race.
I don't want to still all the shine,
but if you want to hit on the key points here,
I'll just let you have the floor.
Sure. Yeah, you talked about the pit vehicle race.
I think one of the years we had more entries in that
than actually pro or super pro.
It was it was insane.
It was I think it was a 10 or 11 round race.
But, you know, the idea behind this
this whole event is to have fun.
And, you know, as Jim says, Jim Hughes, he says,
we're going to have a party and a race might break out.
And that's kind of what this has turned into.
You know, we I kind of try
to keep it low key enough that it doesn't scare away
a lot of the locals, because if you put a 15 or 20 K
out there, you know, we've kind of seen
where a lot of the people locally won't show up.
You know, the in the downfall of that is if you do a small
enough race, outsiders, you know, people from other states
won't show up.
So I'm hoping bumping this up to a five K this year
and timing where nobody else is racing, whether you know,
that's always a question, but so far it looks good.
Hopefully it'll be a great event.
You know, I think last year we had just under 300 entries
with all the classes.
So not not bad, almost a perfect amount.
And just enough time to get the entries done
in a timely manner, especially this time of year
with the sun going down a little earlier than we'd like.
But yeah, I think 300 300 entries is the sweet spot
in that case, get things done before it gets too dark.
But you guys do have the lights if you need them.
Yeah, great lighting.
And then, you know, I've always said there's nobody better
than a cold track prep than Jim.
You know, there was a couple of years ago, the track temp
was 48 degrees and I watched two dragsters go 441 and 445
straight down.
So, you know, he's the man when it comes to track prep.
Yeah, that'll get it done.
Bill, you started to hint at this.
You guys have been able to make this work for 10 years
now, it's your 10th anniversary, different iterations
over the years trying to find that sweet spot.
You talked about, I promote a race up here at Woodburn
in partnership with the track, I think probably a similar
kind of deal where it's kind of a co-promoted event.
You know, I'm not renting the track or the facility
or anything, but help them put together a strong program
and bring in partners and that what you talk about, right?
It's difficult.
You want to bring you want to bring people in.
You want to give an opportunity, a regional opportunity.
You don't want to cater to just people
from outside of your area though, right?
You've got your local base erasers.
Looks like you guys have found the spot where you think
it's going to work now balance in those entry fees,
those car counts, the top line payouts.
Maybe talk a little bit about, you know,
how that's evolved over the years.
Sure, you get the nail on the head.
You know, I started helping Jim about eight years ago,
I think, with the hangovers and, you know,
he has allowed me to do pretty much anything I want.
And what I want is a race that I would like to go to
that you don't have to wait 10 hours in between rounds.
You know, it's still decent payouts.
There's other opportunities.
You know, we do a practice tree race on Saturday night
and Chris Forsythe every year donates
a Southwest showdown entry.
So that always draws a pretty big crowd.
We have the huge fire pit.
We do a raffle to support our team races
for the next year.
So just kind of like a hometown feel
where everybody kind of knows everybody.
You know, I'll go through the lanes.
I'll greet people at the gate,
just making them feel welcome.
And I've found the biggest key to success is communication.
You know, let people know what they can expect
when they come in the gate.
Run orders, you know, where the buybacks are,
how the buybacks are run.
Just things that we as racers may take for granted,
but a lot of people don't know those answers
and get frustrated.
Yeah, man, make the process simple, right?
You don't want to create headaches for the racers.
People need to be able to come there, have a good time,
have their weekend go smooth.
Looks like you got, well, the triple fives kind of deal
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, right?
Yep.
And then I guess what's kind of unique
about this race for the West Coast is
that pro and super pro pay the same.
You know, you see a lot of, you know,
10, $20,000 entry or purses for top ball
when you'll see a three or 4,000 for bottom ball.
You know, this track, and especially on the West Coast
in general, I think the non-electronics guys,
the bottom ball guys have generally been
the bigger supporter of a lot of races.
So I talked to Jim a couple of years ago
about let's make the payouts equal.
You know, and again, he was all for it.
So I think it's a good combination,
but you know, it's up for discussion, I guess.
Well, I like that idea, man.
And we noticed with the summer showdown,
the first year we hit the minimum car count in no box,
but not in box.
We just missed it by a few.
Second year out last year, we were able to, you know,
far exceed the car count in both,
but I think still more no box entries
than top ball entries, you know,
which is I think a unique dynamic out here on the West Coast.
If you look at the big money racing scene as a whole,
you know, you'd see a flip-flop of that
the farther east you go.
Yes.
One of the things that I like to see is your pre-entry
is 325 bucks.
So if you do pre-enter
and that ends December 20th, right?
That's Saturday?
If you do pre-enter,
you're racing for a five-year enterprise
over a hundred bucks a day.
That's the greatest value on the West Coast.
The Thanksgiving Nationals is pretty dang close to that,
but I love the five grander for a hundred bucks.
If you break it down like that,
it sounds really, really good.
I agree, I agree.
And one other, you know, always trying to think of,
I guess deep down I'm a gambler,
so I like action, right?
So one of the things that my brother and I came up with,
I would say six, seven, eight years ago,
is within this race, we do a three-person team points battle.
So teams of three pay 50 bucks, it's 150 bucks a team,
and you earn a point for every round that you win.
And at the end of the weekend,
whichever team has the most round wins gets $1,500 cash.
And what it's evolved into is crew members and spectators
are going and paying the 150 bucks,
picking three racers that they think are gonna be the best,
and they've got some action now.
So it's really become something kind of cool,
or, you know, I may pick a racer
that I don't necessarily know or like,
but I know that he's really good.
I might put him on my team without him even knowing.
He wins, I get the money, you know?
So it's different, but I think it's kind of cool.
Man, I love that.
I wanna steal that idea.
That is, that's a pretty cool idea for sure, man.
I like that.
Yeah.
So you don't necessarily have to be the racer
to be involved with that, no way.
One thing I noticed on the Flyer,
it's an inclusive event, right?
You're letting motorcycles run.
You've got juniors.
You've got sportsmen who oftentimes, you know,
my race, if you can race,
if you're a sportsman but you gotta race with pro, right?
It's just bottom bulb.
You've broken them out.
You've got high school.
Do you see an increase in your pro and super pro entries
when you open it up for juniors,
high school motorcycle like that?
Or are you just trying to be all inclusive
of everybody or a little bit of both?
So a little bit of both, you know,
I do like the whole family feel like, you know,
we've raised juniors since my older daughter was,
you know, eight years old.
So I've been around this for a long time
and I would definitely be more tempted to go to a race
that included both of us being able to race
and just one or the other.
So that's part of it.
It definitely gets hectic with all the categories sometimes,
but, you know, we do what we can.
We do our best.
We usually finish.
I think we finished every race, you know,
minus a weather delay or something,
but pretty efficiently run.
But yeah, it's, I do like the all inclusiveness.
You know, it's something that's close to my heart anyway.
No, that's pretty neat, man.
It looks like you built out a pretty good program.
I was thinking about, you know, us having you on
and trying to think about what do I think about
when I think about Arizona Bracker Racers?
And I think about your name.
I think about Chuck Hawk and I think Tim O'Mour.
Yeah.
And I see you got Chuck Hawk on the flyer.
Looks like you got some good partners there.
Talk a little bit about that, the, you know,
bringing partners in and how that all works.
Yeah.
So I would say I'm probably the worst at asking for help
or money for sponsorships.
You know, and it's a very limited circle that I'm in.
So Chuck has always been one of the first ones to step up.
What do you need?
What can I do?
You know, he sponsors our summit pro category.
He sponsors this.
Donnie from Don's Hot Rod Shop is always willing to help.
It's just, you know, I feel guilty every year
asking the same people for money,
but they don't hesitate there.
They're always willing to do it.
I'm more apprehensive about asking.
And I guess I need to get better at that
if I want to, like you were saying,
there's only three ways to make bigger purses, right?
It's getting help from someone or the fans
or increasing the entry fee.
So.
Well, you've got a, you know,
you've got a solid partner in Chuck
and, you know, you've kept things reasonable, right?
No one's going to go there
and win life changing money, probably.
I don't know.
I feel like 15 grand might change my life right about now.
But you're competing for real money, right?
High stakes, big money bracket race
and you're paying all the way back to the eights,
reasonable entry fees, something for everybody
during a time where there's really not much to do.
You know, the holidays have just finished.
You get to celebrate new years
over the course of that race weekend.
You got wallies on the line.
So incorporating, you know, wallies into a big money race,
something that's not, you know,
typical across the country.
Another neat little deal you guys do.
So it looks like there's really no reason
that if you're within a reasonable distance from Tucson,
probably know where you ought to be
over the turn of the new year.
I agree.
One of the, one of the things that you said
that those people remind you of Arizona, right Troy?
One of the things I think about
when I think of Arizona bracket racing is
they always win the team spirit award at the ET Finals.
They're the Tucson slash Phoenix crowd,
but especially the Tucson crowd.
They're as close as family as you can get in my opinion.
Sometimes I envy you guys, not that I live too far away,
but I wish more tracks.
You guys are on a pedestal to me
on how a track should treat each other.
And it's very impressive.
But one of the things I like to hear
about you guys is your family.
And here's your family.
Can you tell us a little bit about them?
Yeah.
So I consider myself one of the luckiest guys out there.
My wife is never ending support for all three of us.
She's never driven a race car,
but she's been at every race she could be at.
She's on the starting line.
Couldn't be more thankful for her.
And then I've been lucky enough to be blessed
with two beautiful daughters
who love to do what I love to do.
So we've been able to keep it family oriented
because I've never pushed it on them,
but they've always enjoyed doing it.
And now as they're getting older,
my older daughter Savannah just got married
to an awesome guy in Tennessee, Taylor Bowling.
He's a racer.
He's probably one of the most genuinely kind people
I've ever met.
And probably one of the best racers I've ever met too.
And then Sarah, my younger daughter,
she's my little buddy.
She's my helper.
She goes out in the garage with me.
She'll help me rebuild an engine, pull one out.
And she just started dating a guy
from Oklahoma named Brett Spence,
who's also a fantastic human being.
So I couldn't be luckier.
That's something that we have in common,
all three of us were all girl dads.
So we don't know how it rolls, sir.
I thought you were a fry burger
in that picture for a minute, man.
You could probably sneak into some places.
You mentioned Taylor, yeah, definitely super nice guy.
I got the chance to meet him a couple of years ago
at the summer doorcar shootout out there.
So keeping the race and blood going there.
It's a family deal now.
Has that always been the thing for you guys?
Was it a thing for you as a kid?
Was racing always part of your family?
And how'd that come about?
Yeah, so my dad, my dad raced,
I can remember probably three, four or five years old
going to the original Tucson Dragway.
And as I got older, getting pulled out of school
to go to the winter nationals for the weekend.
So yeah, my dad, I definitely can thank him
for getting me into this sport.
The only problem with that is my dad
didn't really know anything about cars.
He could drive, but he couldn't fix them.
So when something would break,
he would have to take it somewhere.
And it was gonna be done Friday, so we could go racing.
And it wasn't done.
So as I got older, 13, 14 years old,
I decided to kind of teach myself about cars.
And through high school and worked at tire shops
and stuff, and I became a mechanic at a dealership.
So I just didn't wanna have to rely
on people breaking promises for something I loved.
And it's worked out pretty good.
It's kind of, both daughters have kind of taken that on
a little bit too, so they'll be all right once I'm gone.
Well, I remember reading this story.
I don't remember all the details exactly,
but you headed out east for a trip,
I think to Eastern Conference Finals.
This was four or five years ago.
I think you guys were gonna parlay that with the WFC race
and something happened and you hauled Sarah
all the way out there and she wasn't gonna get a runner,
junior dragster, something like that.
And didn't they let you guys send it down the strip
at Bristol to maybe tell us that story?
Yeah, so that's probably my favorite racing story
of all time.
In 2020, I turned 50.
We had planned to go on a cruise and then COVID hit,
so everything was getting canceled.
So kind of talked with the wife,
I'm like, what about going to Bristol?
We've always wanted to go there,
the Eastern Conference Finals,
and then the week before, like you said,
go to the World Footbreak Challenge,
which is every year is a huge mistake for us
because we're not footbreakers, but we try.
It is definitely a bucket list thing and love doing it,
but so as it got closer, I had called Jared Pennington,
told him this is what we wanted to do,
would it be okay to kind of stay at the track in between?
Because we knew nothing about Tennessee.
He says, absolutely.
And he was blown away that someone from Arizona
was gonna come out there and run his race.
So as it got closer, he called me and told me
that the restrictions were starting to lift from COVID
and they were gonna move
the Eastern Conference Finals to Charlotte.
So where's that?
He says, it's just a couple hundred miles away.
It's like, okay, did you still wanna come?
I'm like, absolutely.
We're committed at this point.
We'll be looking forward to it for months.
So we get out there and of course I get lost.
I turn into the NASCAR part of the track
and not the drag strip part.
I call Jed and I'm like,
can you point me in the right direction?
So he meets me at the gate,
walks me in, parks me next to him
with full hookups for the weekend.
He's just the most kind human being I've ever met.
Couldn't believe we showed up.
And he goes, but I gotta tell you something.
I'm extremely hurt.
I know how much Sarah had looked forward
to running at Bristol.
And I'm gonna do something I've never done before
and I'll never do again.
What is that?
Cause on opening ceremonies on Thursday,
I'm gonna let her make a pass down the track.
She'll be the first and only junior
to ever do that at my event.
So I still get goosebumps today.
It's just the Southern hospitality
that you hear about is so prominent out there.
I mean, it's on our trip out there,
we stopped at a Bojangles,
like a chicken sandwich restaurant.
And I'm sitting in there
and there's these two old ladies
getting out of their car, walking up to the door
and this guy bolts up and runs to the door
to open it for them.
Stuff you don't see out here.
And then as I was driving to the track,
this guy rolled up next to me
and he's honking his horn and waving
and I'm looking in my mirror thinking
I've got a blowout.
And I roll my window down and he goes,
welcome to Tennessee.
He gives me a thumbs up and drives on.
Nice.
Just stick in your mind forever.
Yeah, and you talk about that moment for Sarah.
I mean, even then or even now
as much as she might recognize how special that is,
that's probably a moment that will continue
to grow in magnitude as she, you know, I mean,
imagine that Bristol all to yourself.
I mean, I'm in my mid forties.
I haven't raced forever or anything,
but as a grown ass man,
I'm like, man, that would be something, you know.
And to be a kid who certainly has some awareness
of what Bristol's all about
and to get a buy run all to yourself
to kick off an event like the WFC had to have been.
I'm picturing that ride, man, down the track
and what a cool moment.
Yeah, you'd have to go there
and just stage your car once
because the scenery is just, it's amazing.
Yeah, that's pretty cool, man.
One of the things that I like to touch on here
is I know you go back and forth a little bit
with Ryan Gleig horn on East Coast racers
and in West Coast racers.
I just want to hear out loud verbally
where your stance is on East versus West.
God, you're putting me on the spot here.
Well, he's kind of married in now too,
so you got to be careful now.
Right, right.
So by and large, I think we have
some amazing racers out in the West Coast.
You mentioned Chuck Hawk, Timmelmore, your family,
my brother, you know, Henry, who was on last week,
the Hopers, like, I really believe
if they went out East, they could pull their own
with any of them.
But, you know, I think overall
there's a larger group of better racers out there,
if that makes sense.
You know, there's a, I have dreams, right?
There's another race I do over Labor Day weekend,
it's called the Cactus Clash.
Part of that race, we do a thing called a border bow.
And it started out with my friend Gabriel Hernandez
in Mexico and we started with 16 drivers from Mexico,
16 drivers from the U.S.
And the first year was, I think was still the best
because it came down to, you know,
you can't always make it a Mexico-U.S. final,
but we split them as much as we can
and it came down to a USA-Mexico final
and they won and the amount of people
that were on the starting line in the burnout box
when they won was absolutely amazing.
And then all year long, you know,
I bought the crown and the cape,
the guy Flaco Moreno was his name.
When he won, he wore it to restaurants down there.
He put it on the Border Battle King on his trailer,
like it just made me feel like I did the right thing.
And in this last year, we did 50 cars from each side.
So it was a hundred car shootout.
And I hope to grow it more next year.
But back to the East-West thing,
I would love to someday figure out how to do,
you know, East Coast versus West Coast
kind of border battle thing.
Yeah, you know, the closest thing we get to that,
I think, as of right now, right?
Spring Fling Vegas, where you get a ton of East Coasters
that travel out and obviously,
the West Coasters show up in force.
And over the last four or five years,
the West Coast has showed up strong, right?
Whether it's Andy Schmall, whether it's Shaffer,
Sean Shaffer, you know, Cooper, all the, right?
Whitfield, yeah.
Everybody has showed up really strong race kid.
I think one year D6 won like five out of the six events.
You know, so yeah, I think I'm with you, man.
And you know, you think about the amount of seat time
that folks are able to get out there
where they race, you know,
some tracks race three nights a week, you know,
at least two nights a week.
And Parker and I have talked about it.
If they got 600 feet asphalt somewhere out there,
there's a drag strip on it, you know?
And so for us to be able to hold our own the way we do
with the limited amount of opportunities,
I think relative is just another testament
to some pretty awesome racers.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
And they're just, you know,
I think they're just genuinely happy to be racing.
I feel like they could roll in the gate
expecting one race and you could tell them,
we're staging with our back tires to 330
and they would be happy.
They would be okay with it, you know?
It's just different culture out there for sure.
Yep, yep.
Well, Bill, we've talked about your promotion side.
We've talked about your family.
We've talked about Tucson Dragway.
How about a little bit about you, your racing
and what you drive?
Yeah, there's my car.
It's a 66 Chevy II.
It's always been my favorite body style out there.
My dad and I built one right out of high school
and I raced it probably probably from the early 1990s
until mid 2010, so like that.
And I love that car.
And it got to a point where it needed more work
than I could afford to put into it.
So I ended up selling it
and I bought a 27 Roadster
that I turned into a 57 Corvette and then a Dragster.
And, you know, they were nice cars
but Blake Williams had this Nova and it came up for sale.
I guess now it's probably been five or six years
but I had to have it.
I just, I love the body style.
I'm not nearly as good as I used to be
but I still enjoy it.
That's a beautiful car, man.
67s are my favorite.
I like the 66s too.
I like the headlight bezel a little more on the 67.
I think they're the most proportionately perfect car
to ever roll out of Detroit.
My dad gave me his 67 Supersport Camaro.
It's a factory big block car, four speed car.
Has less than 50,000 original miles.
I'm currently restoring it.
And I would trade it in a second for a 67 Chevy.
He'd kill me if he was still around
but man, those things are slick and that's a beautiful car.
Thank you, appreciate that.
Cliff Hall checking in.
What's up, Cliff?
Cliff's coming for you.
He went last year and he's looking forward to it
in a couple of weeks.
Yeah, I met him last year
and he seemed like he had a great time
so I'm glad he's coming back.
Cliff's good people, man.
And he does whatever he can to support the races out here.
He's made the trip up here to Woodburn
multiple times to some of our races.
Good bunch of people.
Yeah.
Bill, you mentioned in your segment there,
you raced a dragster before.
Can you go over the first time you staged a dragster with us?
Oh, I got some rats in the family, huh?
Yeah, so it was probably 1990 at Firebird
and it was just an old hardtail with drum brakes on it
and I had no clue what I was doing.
So I did the burnout and I'm backing up
and I watched the lights flicker, so I'm good.
So I put a neutral, cleaned it out
and put it back in first and roll up in stage
with my back tires.
That's why you want to go raise back keys
because you can stage that tires.
You can go put a new race.
But that was your first time ever, right?
It was.
Yeah, well, David Chun still stages
with his back tires up here
and he's went a lot of different times, so you're fine.
Perfect.
We had to back him up this year.
Well, if we're gonna tell on people,
I'll tell on Savannah a little bit with her dragster.
Absolutely cannot back it up straight.
One time I may or may not have taken my shirt
and tucked it in like the girls did back
in the back of days and backed her up
and she got it after that, so yeah.
She didn't need that embarrassment again.
Nope.
All right, speaking of Savannah,
she wanted you to tell about her first time
driving a junior dragster down the street.
Oh, okay.
So if you've met Savannah, she is a very literal person.
She'll do exactly what you say
and she won't veer off at all.
So, you know, we spent a couple hours
sitting in the car, the gas pedal, the brake pedal,
the shut off, the steering, everything.
We finally got to a point where
said, are you ready to go out on the road and try it?
She said, yeah.
So I pushed her back and I started her.
I'm like, I'm gonna run up here.
You're gonna floor it and come up here
and slant and hit the brakes and stop.
She's like, okay.
So she does everything perfect,
but I never told her to let off the throttle.
So she had them both still floored
and finally freaked out and let go of the brake
and drove off, jumped over the driveway
and was heading right for our neighbor's house.
And I didn't think I could run that quick,
but I ran, ran, ran and I dove
when I was able to pull the spark plug wire off
at the last second.
You know, I'm upset, of course.
I'm like, what was that?
She's like, you never told me to lift off the gas.
You're right.
I didn't.
Exactly what she said, Pa.
Oh, okay.
Another question.
We're on a little bit of a rapid fire here.
We need to know about an incident in Vegas
with a turkey pot.
Oh, okay.
So this was probably three years ago now.
So it's kind of another tradition that we have
as we go up there and, you know,
I start bringing in another people from Tucson, Dragway,
my brother and we'll deep fry turkeys
and have a big old potluck.
It's fantastic.
About three years ago, I think we deep fried some turkeys
and then someone needed to borrow the container
to do a turkey for themselves.
So they set it behind Savannah had like a 95 firebird
and they set it behind the car full of oil.
So in the morning she gets up, she walks to the back
of the car to turn the power on, gets in the car
and backs up over the oil and spills it off.
You know, I think we probably went through three cases
of brake clean, trying to get the oil off the tires
and, you know, yeah.
It is five gallons of turkey oil, man.
I never lived that one down.
And I'm trying to kill her, stop, stop.
And she waving at me, you know, keeps going, but yeah.
It was bad.
So we kind of have a tradition up there now
where the next year she bought a dragster.
We put a blown, I had an old small block
that was in the Nova when I bought it.
We put a blower on it.
Shouldn't have done it, but we did it.
Ended up cracking one of the cylinders
and it filled it, you know, the crankcase up with oil.
So we drained it, not knowing it was broke yet.
We drained the oil and went to eat our dinner,
the pilot dinner.
We came back and the 10 quart pan that we had
had about another 10 quarts outside of it.
Like it was water and oil everywhere.
I didn't have a tradition of making a mess up there.
Sorry, Jeff, but this year I think we were pretty good.
I thought you were going to say you have a tradition
of putting the turkey pot behind some of it
on the following day.
Hey, next time she comes back out here, we're going to do it.
We're just going to have turkey pots at every race at this point.
Yeah.
Have to carry speedy dry with you, if wherever you go.
That's right.
Well, if there's nothing else you want to cover
on the Hangover Nationals, anything else, Troy,
you got any more questions for them?
Well, I just, you know, one thing
we talk about a lot on this podcast is,
and just I think a lot of us West Coasters talk about
is the distance out here between between tracks.
You know, we're just far from from everything.
I think that's not any more true for anybody than you guys.
You're down there in the Tucson area, right?
It's like I imagine that leads to that kind of isolation
leads to a pretty close knit group of local racers.
But then I also, when I watch, when I watch, man,
I love the Southwest Showdown.
I think it's one of the best events of the year.
The competition that I see there is amazing.
And you guys are often the ones that are in the mix
and out there cutting each other's heads off.
So, you know, I know we all want to win,
but maybe you could just talk about that close knit relationship
that I think is probably somewhat unique in your guys's case
just because of the isolation.
Yeah, I agree.
You know, I've got definitely have a good team behind me
with people that help me do the team stuff
throughout the year.
You know, our first couple of team races are on Saturday
Sunday races.
We'll do potlucks on Saturday night and around the bonfire
because they're January, February, so it's still cold.
But it's just that camaraderie, you know,
where people can talk about how they did that day
and, you know, look forward to racing tomorrow.
It's just something that Gemma's allowed us to build up
and it's fantastic.
And you're right, I think this track in Vegas
are probably two of the hardest tracks to dial
on the West Coast.
And I think that's made our racers, you know, tougher.
We can go anywhere and do well.
And it's shown, you know, the people that do travel
are almost always coming back, covering their tabs.
You know, it's just knowing how to race
to the track and this is one of the toughest, in my opinion.
Well, there's a few years ago a performance
that has stuck with me.
It will stick with me forever.
It was at the Southwest Showdown
and Timmy O'Mour was on an absolute mission.
And I saw him beat Whitfield,
Peeps, Peter Biondo and Luke Bogacki.
I think in that order.
It sounds right.
Yeah, back to back to back to back.
And it was the most incredible run.
I think he might have actually,
maybe he lost in the finals or maybe he won the big check.
But one of the most amazing performances
that I'd ever seen by anybody coming right out of your area.
And that's kind of what kind of turned my attention
to what's going on down in Arizona
because guys are for real, man.
Yeah, I agree.
You know, when he gets hot,
him, Paul Lorton, Leroy Durant, all those guys,
when they get on roles, they can't do anything wrong.
And I'm very thankful that they're on our team
for the ET finals.
And we've been fortunate enough,
last three out of the last four years,
we won the ET finals championship, team championship.
And this year we tied and we lost on a tiebreaker.
So almost four years in a row.
So not only is it the Chuck Hawks and the Tim O'Mores,
but our entire group of racers
can put solid performances up at any time.
And that's, I'm so proud to be part of this team.
Yeah, man, that's cool.
You guys are gonna go do that against the other tracks.
But then also on a weekend and week out basis,
high levels of competition for your weekend bracket
programs and local races.
So a pretty good situation to begin.
That's really all I got, Parker.
I don't have a whole lot on my list.
We covered the Hangover Nationals pretty good.
Bill talked to us a little bit about Cactus Clash
and Border Battle.
So I think that's pretty well done.
Yeah, we're lucky to be on one of these days.
We're, it's on my radar.
Tanner, my brother is coming for sure.
I'm seeing how the family's doing
and how the holidays go.
But I have five days to get that pre-entry.
And so I'm gonna do my best to get that in.
So deadline for the pre-entry closes on Saturday.
Yep, very good.
Yeah, pre-entered.
Is there anything else you wanna talk about
about the Hangovers?
No, I think you've hit all the hot topics,
the Wally on Saturday is always a big hit.
I do give the Happy Gilmore checks out
to the winners and runner up.
So that's always kinda cool.
Something to hang on the wall besides a trophy.
Yeah.
But yeah, the three person points battle
is always fun to do too.
Yeah, just an overall funny then.
Perfect.
One last question before we let you go.
And this is kind of Troy's question
where he likes to ask people, what are you chasing?
What's next on Bill Kidd's bucket list
or thing that he has to cross off
before he can sleep at night?
Well, something I'd love to cross off is
I've never won a Wally.
I've gotten three or four courtesy Wallys for doing things,
but I've never won a Wally for racing
and both of my kids have.
So I don't run a lot of races,
I don't do a lot of divisionals or stuff.
So the opportunities are not that many,
but maybe next year Jim and I are talking about
maybe partnering up and doing some super comp,
super gas stuff.
So we'll see how it goes.
But yeah, winning a Wally would be a bucket list item.
Man, I want to stay right here for a minute if we can
because we were talking last weekend,
I talk a lot about,
I think one of the things I love about this sport
and draws me to it is the characters, right?
And all the different stories
and everybody on these different planes.
And you can have guys like you
who are amazing racers, well-respected competitors
and have been able to do that and become that
without ever winning a Wally,
which tends to be kind of a majoring stick, right?
Especially on the West Coast.
You go other parts of the country
and I don't know that that trophy means
what it used to,
but out here there's something about it, man.
Whether it's a big giant national event one,
a divisional event one or one of the little track ones,
it doesn't matter.
We want one and maybe talk about the Allure.
I think it's such an interesting thing
so unique to the West Coast.
The Allure of the Wally,
like that still exists out here in a big way.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you're right, you know, back East.
I think because there's so many high dollar bracket races,
there's so many five granders,
you know, like you said,
you can race Wednesday through Sunday for five grand,
pretty much anywhere in Tennessee.
So it's not as important to them,
but yeah, out here for so long,
I think that's all we've had.
You know, there weren't hangover nationals.
There wasn't Chris's races, the Southwest showdown.
Beyond all, it wasn't out here.
So for so long, the Wally was all we had to chase
and I think it's still kind of holds its value.
Yeah, I think so too, man.
It's even as, you know,
the culture of big money racing starts to be built here.
It's something that people want them so bad, you know,
and whether it's someone chasing their first one like you
or me or someone chasing their, you know, 57th,
like Justin Lamb, right?
You want that, you want that thing so bad
and it's a cool pursuit, man,
something I think super unique out here.
And it's a, you know, it's an interesting study
in why that thing means so much.
Yeah, I do know if I ever win one,
there's gonna be a party like the Mexicans had
for the border battle.
So I hope to get to do it someday.
For sure, man.
I hope you do.
On your trailer after you win it.
Yeah, there you go.
Bill Kidd, Wally winner.
Yeah.
Maybe like a cardboard cutout of you.
There you go.
Yeah, yeah.
How many does he want?
Just one.
It don't matter, man.
It's like, that's one of those things.
I'm someone who, we'll see what happens with racing.
I get into a hobby.
I only have time for one ever, right?
With my family and work.
And so I just go all in like head first.
And usually what happens,
I get to some level of achievement or accomplishment
that like that next level, isn't worth it to me.
And I stop and I go do something else, right?
Because most people could be good at most things, right?
To be great though,
it takes like a whole bunch of extra work
for not a whole lot extra return, you know?
And so I always think about, you know,
especially if it was like a division or a national Wally,
like if they ever hand me one of those,
man, I might hang it up that day.
Yup.
Because it ain't gonna get any better than that.
It's funny you say that because every year
I start out like excited about the divisional stuff.
And I'll usually do the one at Firebird and, you know,
I'm a bracket racer at heart.
So if I'm going to be at the place for four days,
I want to race for different races.
Going up there for, you know,
time runs on one day and elimination is another day.
It just, it doesn't entice me,
but you know, the dream of winning the Wally does.
So, you know, hopefully one day I'll actually,
like you said, put the hard work in and the effort
and chase it for a full season.
We'll see.
I hope you do, man, and I hope you get it.
Thank you.
Well, Bill, it's been real.
It's been fun.
It's been real fun.
We look forward to, well, at least I look forward
to seeing you here in a couple of weeks.
And we really appreciate you spending some time
with us this evening.
Absolutely.
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, man.
Not just that your time this evening,
but you're a guy who's been in the racing community
for a long time.
It's given you a lot and you're at a season of your life now
where you are giving back to whatever extent
than you can back to the sport that's given you so much.
So, appreciate what you're doing for our sport
in this region.
Really appreciate what you give back.
Thank you.
Appreciate the kind words.
For sure, man.
Merry Christmas.
Happiest of holidays to you and your family.
Yeah, Merry Christmas to you guys too.
Hopefully we'll see you guys soon.
Thank you, sir.
How are you, Bill?
Bill Kidd, baby.
What a show.
What, man?
I mean, I don't get better than that.
Heck no.
It's fun to hear about more bracket racing on the West
Coast, especially coming up in a few weeks.
If your hot rod is put together
and you're on the West Coast, you should be here.
What else are you going to be doing?
Mine still is, man.
I could change oil and still go race right now.
I wish I could figure that out.
The distance is just too insurmountable for me at this point.
But sooner or later, I'm parlaying this here, man.
Over time, I will build relationships
that I will eventually get the call.
And someone's going to be like, bro,
got a car without a driver?
Get in the plane and get down here.
So it'll probably be a couple of years still.
But someday, baby, hired gun, 60 take 90.
That's kind of what you're going to get with me.
If you want to put me, if you want
me to be your hot shoe, I can deliver 60 take 90 all weekend.
All day.
All weekend.
You never know.
It might get it done.
It might get it done.
There is some odds.
I wouldn't say good odds that that could get it done.
I don't know, man.
I look at drag race results sometimes and it's like, you
know, I go racing every time and you could be five dead nine,
go home and I get on drag race results.
And it's, you know, 132 left first for the win.
You know, it never happens to me, but it does happen.
I see it.
Never to me, though, never to me.
Well, maybe that could be your Christmas present.
You could get the old 137 pack gets it done.
Yeah.
Oh, here.
Cliff Hall says 60 take 90 puts me on the trailer.
So just one up against Cliff in your goal to Cliff.
That's why I don't have any of those wallies, man.
But, you know, they said consistency was the key, man.
I'm 60 take 90 like all the time and it doesn't work for me.
I don't know.
Well, Troy, it's been another fun week here on the bracket
breakdown.
I don't know.
Next week is getting pretty close to Christmas.
We'll see if we can round something up or if either of us
have time to put something.
Yeah, I don't know if my if my vacation goes through, I'm out.
So we might be taking a week of vacation.
Maybe we'll see you next week.
We'll see how the how the weather holds.
I'm glad we were able to tell just one more story.
So many stories out there.
Certainly we didn't tell the whole thing, but a ton of fun
getting to know Bill, I've never got the chance to meet him,
just hear about him and know about him.
So that was a lot of fun, man, and I'm looking forward to it.
If I don't see you or we don't see you all here
on the most handsome podcast and all drag racing next week,
I hope you have a merry Christmas, happy holidays,
all that good stuff to anybody hunkering down for the weather.
I hope you make it through that OK.
And to to any of you where the holidays may not be
the happiest time of the year, because I know it can mean
that sometimes to hang in there, the new ones right around the corner.
And we'll be off and running in 2026 real soon.
Merry Christmas, y'all. See you next time.
We out.
About this episode
Bill Kidd joins the hosts to discuss the latest happenings in the drag racing world, including the recent PRI news and the NHRA's pay increase for sportsmen racers, which has been offset by a rise in entry fees. They also touch on the new Apex Racing Foundation track in Utah and the upcoming big money bracket races on the West Coast. The conversation highlights the challenges and opportunities in the racing community, emphasizing the importance of positive engagement and support for new initiatives.
Original notes
Breaking it down with Bill Kidd to discuss Hangover Nationals, PRI News, New Tracks, and New Races
Bracket Breakdown
Bracket Breakdown
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