Kearney Nebraska Buick Challenge

Dave Burns

Member
Joined
May 26, 2001
Hey yall,

As per recomendation by Mike Garrison(racebuicks) I just want to take minute introduce myself and invite yall to Kearney Nebraska to the Great Plains Challenge. This is a small Buick event that we have put together just to have some fun and race our cars. And I am Dave Burns the event director and organizer.

We have used the 3rd weekend in July as our date the last 2 years and again this coming year that is the date we are trying to secure. The weather is hot, but of course it is summer, so what can we expect. And we have to use weekends that won't clash with other Buick events. So we try to set our dates in such that it gives us a chance to make as many races as possible for us in the midwest. For example the Pueblo Colo., Noble Ok., and now the Topeka Buicks vs. Pontiacs race. As soon as the date is set in stone I will let yall know so you can plan on attending.

Using last years race as an example heres what happened -----------

Friday- started arriving, setting up, and had a by donation BBQ. We don't run on friday, but instead park the cars and trailers at the track, crack open the "beverages" of choice and socialize. Donations were collected by several of the girls from everyone, a trip was made by them to market, and they rolled out a VERY nice BBQ dinner for all there. This alone, to me, was worth the trip. Bench racing,visiting, meeting old friends and making new ones, looking cars over, etc. Just pretty much sitting around and having fun. About midnight those that had rooms in town packed it up and made the trip into a poor defenseless parking lot :eek: . Coolers unloaded, lawn chairs set up and, well, basically the festivities were continued. Not to mention a "repaving" of the parking lot with rubber by a couple GN's as a preview of the next days events.

Saturday was raceday. Pretty much your basic get ready to run deal. The gates were opened around 7:30 and business at hand went on as with any other race. Consession stand handled lunch. At about 4 pm the gates were opened to anyone that wanted in, and at about 6 ish' the KRP crew put on a gamblers race(which Steve P. won in his 455" regal, good job Steve). Saturday evening about 30-40 of us took over a local steak house for dinner, then back to the now wounded, parking lot for another evening of fun.

Sunday was a KRP regular event day with a hot rod reunion. Several kool cars and another full day of racing for those that chose to stay and run the regular bracket schedule.

Pretty much this is set up for a fun day, with payouts to the winners, as well as a couple special appreciation awards. I will run it this way again, as a fun day. ALOT of work is involved of course but in the end, my exaustion is well worth it. When I get emails of thanks and phone calls of thanks like I did last year, thats payment in full for me. The track belongs to our Buicks when were there yall. And if you wanna make some laps you can. As a reference in regards to this.............Mikes wife Cindy made 26 trips downtrack in her 70 GS. Thats 26 runs in one day yall !!! If you want to make some laps come on out, have some fun, and ring out your cars. And get to meet and hang out with some of the best Buick people in the area.

If anyone has any questions in regards to this, or would like some more information on attending, my personal email is buickdav@yahoo.com . You are more than welcome to email me ANY time and I will be happy to respond to your questions directly. Also I will try and keep the various Buick websites updated with all the info as I get it. We sure would like to see more than the 6 turbo cars, that we had last year, show up and participate next year. Last year the 455's ruled the roost...........spose' yall could change that next year ??????;) .

Hope to see yall there....................


later........................


**CONFIRMED SPONSORS**

Heartland transmission(Scott King)
P.A.E.(Jim Burek)
Left hand trailers(John Conilogue)
High torque racing and repo parts(Mike Garrison)
 
Let me be the first to attest to the fun atmoshere that KRP provides and allows everyone to have. I grew up racing at KRP with friends and I LOVE the fact that even on a race day you get as many time runs as you can sqeeze in. I make no less than 7 times runs on an ordinary race day and if something ever happens they have allowed us to make a pass or two during the lunch breaks to verify that things are ok with the vehicle. Other places have told us, "to bad".
I have never run at a Buick event there but you won't be disappointed in the staff or the track!

Regards
Kevin Slaby:cool:
 
Fun was definately had by all at last year, Dave did a great job organizing the event. We had cars from Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and of course some from Nebraska. Be sure to add the Great Plains Challenge to your schedule of events to attend in 2004!!!:D
 
Wow, I haven't been to Kearney in forever. That was always just another town to stop for gas in. I never would have thought that Kearney would host something like this. If I'm reminded, I just might go.
 
Thanks for the kind words Scott I appreciate it. BUT don't let me take all the credit......for those of you that don't know, Scott is my "local" expert with this deal. He helped me last year with host motel arrangements so that we all had a central place to land when we arrived, and invited Kris(my wife) and I out to his home on friday so we had a place to wait for the participants to arrive. He also helped out in sponsoring the event through his business(Heartland transmission) as well.

**shameless plug for a sponsor**- I have a Heartland tranny in my BB 64',lol.

For you others...........hope to see yall there next summer. We have a good time I promise and like I said before thats the goal for me personally. For everyone to leave wanting to come back next year.

Also just to add to Scotts list of participating states, John Schmidt was there from Ohio with his BAD A$$ twin turbo v-6 opel as well. Talk about "the show", that car is just wild !!!

And I have heard from guys in Texas as well as North and South Dakota already in regards to this event. So watch out..............I have said it before and I will repeat it now........................

1- I am learning more all the time about directing an event,
2- we're growing, and........
3- if I have my way about it, we're gonna build a "must attend" race here in the central states pretty darn soon...........

It's starting to come together, we just have to keep working on it. This is the 3rd year for this event, and soon, us midwest guys won't have to travel for hours on end to get to a weekend event. Participation is the key of course. The more of us that come out as individuals, the better the odds for us as a group.

Looking forward to seeing yall at KRP next summer.


c-yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
 
Don't forget that car museum thats real close by....I think its in Minden, Neb. Fun to look at a bunch of cars that are not typically in a car museum. :)
 
In reference the museum in Minden YES it is kinda kool to see how things were a few hundred years ago. I have been there a couple times now and enjoyed the visit both times.

And........as a note of interest to the Buick family, as I recall they have in their museum, the oldest remaining Buick car on the planet as documented by Buick. I not exactly positive about all the info and particulars but it is a neat thing to go see.


later...............................
 
Just a bump for the thread................

I know there are several that make plans in advance in regards to setting schedules of the summers racing. I hope that everyone keeps our event in Kearney as an option also. The first of the year has come and gone, and while I keep contacts updated and do some of the smaller jobs, the first brings the race to the front of my constant "to-do" list. So I am arranging papers and preparing for phone and email contacts to prospective sponsors. I know the race is 7 months away for everyone but for me its starting now. First task at hand.......information flyer.

Hope everyone had a happy and safe new years beginning and I wish yall the best in the months to come. And again........Hope to see some new faces in Kearney in July.............


c-yaaaaaaaaaaaaa
 
where abouts is kerny, i've heard of it before and almost went a few times for jr. drag racing. if its close to colorado i'll try to make it.
 
Originally posted by denn454
where abouts is kerny, i've heard of it before and almost went a few times for jr. drag racing. if its close to colorado i'll try to make it.

denn454,

Its not that bad a trip. For some reason I am thinking around 5-6 hours for the guys in Denver that came last year. It s right on I-80 close to halfway but cheatin to the west some. I am a member of the Rocky mt. GS club out there and know several guys from your area that will be coming down again this year. Shouldn't be too hard to get you in on the caravan. Drop me an email and I will try and get you met up with some of them. They are the crew that put on the Buick race at Pueblo every year. The more the merrier..........


C-Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
 
i know a few of thoes guys, i missed the pueblo race this year thanks to a busy schedule at work, but hope to make it this year. i'll talk to a few of them at the tack when it opens back up. sounds like fun!
 
denn,

The Rocky mt. club is having a meeting this thursday I believe. If you could I would recommend dropping in on one. Those folks have a good time. And you could maybe meet some traveling friends for the run out to Nebraska in July. Just an idea.

John,

I hope you will consider putting us on your schedule for a return trip to our small raceday. It is always nice to see you and folks REALLY look forward to seeing your cars run. I understand it is quite a pull for ya, and you will, I know, be busy helping finalize the 1rst BPG nats schedules and such. None the less, it's always a pleasure, I personally look forward to seeing you, and your always welcomed. And, maybe this year we could have some better luck setting up a match race for ya. I have a couple prospective victims in mind, lol.


later.........................
 
And awaaaaayyyyyyyyy we go...........

Hello all I'm back and I have some info for yall. We have a date that is confirmed and the check is GONE so we are a go......

3rd annual Great Plains Challenge

Kearney Nebraska

July 16 and 17. Friday and Saturday just like last year.

Friday BBQ and Saturday racing, just like last year. If we have half as much fun this coming year, as we did last year, this is just gonna be a blast. I have talked to "team Colorado" and they are coming in force this year(more than likely doubled in car count). And I have also gotten phone calls from S. Dakota and Oklahoma already, so we are spreading out. There is a post on the turbo Buick board and there is interest there. That means that the big blocks may not rule the day like we have in the past. We'll just have to see won't we ? Anyways.....I am moving onto an info flyer now, and I will be contacting prospective sponsors in regards to prize funds and awards. We had some of the GREATEST pros in the Buick business help us out last year, hopefully they will be back on board again for yet another return trip(just as a hint, we already have 1 new major and 3 returning confirmed ).

I have recently heard that "Little Joe"(yall know the car) has moved into my neck of the woods(about 28 miles away to be exact). I will be working the new owner over to get it there to run with us. Andddddddddddddddddd

An intersting thing happened tonight via a private conversation..... Seems that our own "Racebuicks"(Mike Garrison) has agreed to parade the pits **in a dress** if we make the car count hit 100. Now that is a HUGE order to fill I know, but think about it, if somehow, someway, we could pass the word around and pull this off, ummmmmm . I can hear me now....."quick honey gimme a new disk for the camera this ones full".

Anyways there yall go, we have a date and I am getting into gear on this. EVERYONE I have talked to, with just a couple exceptions, are planning a return trip. So come on back, see the group again, meet some new friends, and ....if you wanna be like Cindy the "mankiller" Garrison.........put about 25 laps on your car (and then be too tired to run the evening gamblers race,lol).

More info to follow gate fees, arrival times, host motel etc. And I am gonna prepare a information flyer AND a sponsor specific flyer this year. As we get the sponsors confirmed I will let everyone know exactly who they are. Sponsors make the show yall. I hope we remember that. I know I do, thats why there is always work to be done behind the scenes,lol.

See yall in Nebr. in July and look forward to seeing everyone again. I got plans in mind for another full weekend of racing and such so get ready.............IT'S ONLY 6 MONTHS AWAY...,,


c-yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
 
Just wanted to let yall know that as of right now we are working on finishing the information flyer for the event. At a later date we will release a event schedule flyer also. But as of now I wanna get the info out there for everyone that may attend, and for anyone that may know of a potential sponsor that wants the contact info. It will contain the info on the classes (yes thats multiple hopefully this year ) and will have all the contact info included. If anyone has any questions after we post it up feel free to drop me an email and I will, of course, reply back to ya.

I have already talked on the phone with a couple of our sponsors from last year and I think we will have them back on board again this year. As is my practice I will let everyone know, on every board I post about the race on, just exactly who they are. We as participants are limited in our direct contact with some of these fine people, so we HAVE to show them we appreciate all they do for us at our small event. Give them a call, drop them and email of thanks, or maybe a card, and by all means if you can, use their services or buy from them. Who knows ? I don't, but I do know we have to let them know we appreciate what they do for us. So first off I wanna, once again, Thank Mike Atwood for working over the flyer info for me and laying it out. Thanks Mike..........

So thats about it for now. In the next couple days I will have the info flyer up for all to see, pass around, etc. Print them off and get them to your Buick buddies in the area. I am getting information from other folks that the car count is definately going up this year. I can't predict that(and I really try not too, to keep myself mentally in check,lol), but I hope it does. It's better for all of us..................


See ya soon and watch out for the flyer. It's almost done..........
 
I'll se everyone thier agin this year. Last year was great, except for the even lusy for NE heat and humidity. But still a very good time and look forward to making it again.

Doug Jacobson
 
OK gang,

Thanks to Mike Atwood we have a link to the information flyer. If yall want to copy it and pass it around that would be fine. If you know or can think of anyone that may be interested in sponsoring your race let them see it and tell them to drop me a line or give me a call .

http://www.fourguysauto.com/mikeatwood/GPBC2004.pdf

That will get you there and get you the info .


C-yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
 
update

I have talked to the track manager and I have found out that they are going to be redoing the whole track this spring. So from start to finish we are gonna have a new surface to run on at Kearney this year. It will be green for us that race there all the time but by the time the challenge rolls around it should have a nice new groove in it.;) Just a small update for yall..............


later....................
 
Hey everyone,

Just thought I would toss this link out for anyone that wants to look at it and see(kinda) what we're talking about here. This is a link to the tracks website and they have once again posted some pix up for all to see. Check it out if you like, there are 2 pages. This is a direct link should take you right there.

http://www.krpi.com/buick2003.htm


later..........................
 
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