Nearly 15 years later and after thousands of passes down the track, the facility billed as “East Texas’ premier 1/4-mile dragstrip” continue to listen to the racers’ requests with a multi-year agreement to remain an IHRA member track.

“The IHRA is more for the grassroots racers, and that’s why we’ve stayed with them,” Bailey said. “The guys get the chance to run the IHRA Summit Team Finals for the division championships and to run for the World Championship. That means a lot to a guy at the local track level.”

Bailey and his staff have gone out of their way to make Pine Valley Raceway a racer-friendly facility. The track is 3,500 feet in length from the starting line, and features a concrete pad of 430 feet from the burnout box until it transitions to asphalt.

In October, Pine Valley Raceway hosted the IHRA Division 4 (Renegades) Summit Team Finals where its team raced to a dominant win. But, the keys to success goes beyond great competition.

There is emphasis on keeping the weekly program organized with rules posted and the track prepped to a consistent level. Off the track, they have worked with local hotels for special group rates on race weekends.

A 2018 schedule is already posted on the track’s website with events from early March to October. It all goes back to Bailey’s philosophy if you work to take care of the racers, they will take care of you.

“We let the racers give their input on what they would like,” he said. “If we can make it happen, that’s what we do. We try to take care of the racers and their complaints to provide the best track for them.

“The racers know what to expect when they show up. We have the rules posted, the track is going to be prepped right, and we have plenty of parking. We do our best to treat the racers right.”