NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

South Georgia Motorsports Park hosted its first NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series national event, the NHRA Southern Nationals, to rave reviews and two sold-out days. Track owner Raul Torres talked about what went into making the event such a great success.

How proud are you of your team after a successful Southern Nationals?

I'm extremely proud of my team, of our 40-plus staff members and 89 volunteers. I can't think of one single staff member, that [general manager] Don [O’Neal] and I pointed to or spoke about that we thought "This person needs to go home." Everywhere we turned, our employees were having a ball, and it showed in their service. We were catering to vendors, to the race teams, and we were speaking to spectators. I think our staff members had as much fun as my wife, Jennifer, and I did. It showed, because to sit back and see all the positive responses online and in-person toward the end of the event and the following days after the event was a blessing.

Everyone's pointing out the ingress and egress and the variety of food vendors as big positives. One of our goals was that we didn't want anyone to wait 30 minutes to use the bathroom or 40 minutes to get a burger or tacos. Everyone was able to walk and enjoy the property as freely as they possibly wanted to. That was the result of hundreds of hours that we put into preparation for this event. We're extremely proud of our staff.

We met my expectations collectively as an organization. We didn't expect anything but a Grand Slam, and when it was delivered, it was nice. And don't get me wrong, as a competitor and as a business owner, you set these goals, and more often than not, you fail at those goals. That's what continues to allow you to thrive and push forward. I can honestly say, from my relationship with the NHRA, the guest interaction, and the interactions with the drivers and teams, we've exceeded everyone's expectations, and therefore our goals were met.

Can you talk about the multiple organizations that all came together to make this event a success?

We just played a small role in this success. We could pat ourselves on the back as much as we wanted, but that is certainly not the message I want to portray. Because from the layout from the NHRA to the Cook County Sheriff's Office controlling ingress and egress, to Jodie Kennedy from Gainesville Raceway and her staff covering the entrance and being so helpful, it took so many people to make this event work.

A perfect example of working together and communicating was on Sunday, when my wife, who was mostly supervising merchandise, saw there was a line at the small bathrooms. Within 10 minutes, we had an additional six portable bathrooms moved beside the building that alleviated that issue. This was a collective effort.

The NHRA prepared itself extremely well, and they executed exceptionally. Thanks to all our efforts, the result was that everyone had a positive experience. They were a huge part of this success, and they continued to ask us if they needed us to move some of their staff here or there. It was just a collaboration of so many different agencies and businesses that came together to put on an amazing Southern Nationals.

The adjustment you made to handle weather on Saturday was seamless. How did that come together?

We planned for months how to get the fans into Gate A and Gate C, and on paper, everything looked perfect. We knew that Mother Nature was possibly going to throw a curve in our plans on Saturday, so we started to think of the process. Very early on Saturday morning, Don O’Neal was walking both grass parking lots to see how saturated they were. By 7:30 a.m., we were meeting with every executive of the NHRA at the race, Don, myself, and my wife coming up with an execution plan. We got together and drove the lots once again and came up with a plan to bring everyone in through Gate B. This was a major change, and we came up with a plan, so it wasn’t a free-for-all, and we were able to process tickets and get everyone parked. I don’t think we could have executed that game plan any better.

When you realized Sunday was a sellout, what was your first thought?

The first thing that came to my mind is, "We met our goal" and "What's next?" I suffer from never being satisfied. That's what drives me. I was already thinking, "How do we increase this by 20%, 30%, or 40% next year?" How do we continue to grow this event? That's what Sunday was like for me. I was already thinking 365 days into the future.

What was the racer feedback like that you received over the weekend?

A lot of them were surprised by my request to hear what we could do better. We love being told, "Great job." The truth is, I want to hear the deficiencies, so we can correct those problems. I didn't want to hear "We love this place" and "The parking lot was great" or "The pit area was nice." I wanted their two cents, because they travel the country and have been to more places than anyone else, to tell me what we could do to make it better. I asked them, "What is it that we could do to continue to improve?" Every last one of them was blown away because they didn't know what to expect. They weren’t certain about what they were coming into. Many of them have never been here. It was sold as a small market racetrack and very bare bones. I think they enjoyed this race as much as any other big facility, if not more, because of the intimacy with the fans. The conversations were extremely positive with the race teams and the drivers.

You were the first of four brand-new facilities for NHRA national events. What words of wisdom would you pass along to the next three track operators based on this weekend?

I would suggest they cross their t's and dot their i's from now until the night before they open their gates so that on the day they do open the gates, they're able to take it all in and enjoy it. Moments like that, their first national event, only come but once in a life. I think my wife, my children, and I did a decent job of taking it in and trying to separate ourselves from our employment obligations to just become a fan and act like a kid in a candy store a few times. That's why we were walking through the pits. That's why we were in the staging lanes, just taking it all in. The truth is, we've spent thousands of hours looking forward to this weekend. It's very easy to get caught up with bathrooms needing toilet paper and concessions running out of ice, or one issue or the other. Enjoy the fruits of our labor, and that's what I would recommend to them.