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GALOT Track To Reopen Soon, Switch Sanctions
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GALOT Motorsports Park, which will open soon after a two-year total makeover, switched from IHRA sanction over the weekend to NHRA, joining zMAX Dragway and Rockingham Dragway under the NHRA banner in North Carolina.
Rich Schaefer, the NHRA's Southeast Division director for the past five years, said Tuesday that all the paperwork hasn't been finalized, but added "it's going to happen."
Schaefer was at the track, located near Benson, last weekend. To say that he was impressed by what he saw is an understatement.
"It's the most modern facility I've ever seen in this sport," Schaefer said from his office in Gainesville, Florida. "Excluding national-event tracks from the mix, I've never seen a place that spectacular in my life.
"So now, we (NHRA) have (Rockingham Dragway owner) Steve Earwood, one of the greatest promoters the sport has ever seen, and GALOT, one of the nicest facilities I've ever seen, right there in North Carolina."
The track will host an NHRA National Open at a date to be finalized, he said. That event will feature most of NHRA's sportsman categories, and competitors can use that race for "grade points" that allow them to enter full-blown NHRA national events that include the pro categories.
The track, with seating procured from Daytona International Speedway's recent facelift, is scheduled to open March 24–26 for testing. A Thursday test-and-tune event is slated for March 31, with a pair of NHRA Summit Series bracket races (Super Pro, Pro and Junior Dragster) slated for April 2–3.
Pro Modified cars will be on the scene May 7, with an NTPA-sanctioned tractor pull set at the pulling track elsewhere on the property May 26–28. Pro Mods return July 29–30, and the PDRA's Dragstock XIII is on tap September 8–10. The September 30–October 1 dates are set aside for Monster trucks, and Pro Mods return Oct. 28–30.
Rich Schaefer, the NHRA's Southeast Division director for the past five years, said Tuesday that all the paperwork hasn't been finalized, but added "it's going to happen."
Schaefer was at the track, located near Benson, last weekend. To say that he was impressed by what he saw is an understatement.
"It's the most modern facility I've ever seen in this sport," Schaefer said from his office in Gainesville, Florida. "Excluding national-event tracks from the mix, I've never seen a place that spectacular in my life.
"So now, we (NHRA) have (Rockingham Dragway owner) Steve Earwood, one of the greatest promoters the sport has ever seen, and GALOT, one of the nicest facilities I've ever seen, right there in North Carolina."
The track will host an NHRA National Open at a date to be finalized, he said. That event will feature most of NHRA's sportsman categories, and competitors can use that race for "grade points" that allow them to enter full-blown NHRA national events that include the pro categories.
The track, with seating procured from Daytona International Speedway's recent facelift, is scheduled to open March 24–26 for testing. A Thursday test-and-tune event is slated for March 31, with a pair of NHRA Summit Series bracket races (Super Pro, Pro and Junior Dragster) slated for April 2–3.
Pro Modified cars will be on the scene May 7, with an NTPA-sanctioned tractor pull set at the pulling track elsewhere on the property May 26–28. Pro Mods return July 29–30, and the PDRA's Dragstock XIII is on tap September 8–10. The September 30–October 1 dates are set aside for Monster trucks, and Pro Mods return Oct. 28–30.
