The business side of the largest race track operation in the Northwest included media buying, creative ad production for radio and television, and all facets of press work during a 29-year management career.
Since retiring in 2001, Rockstad has used his experiences to help various charity events. He's also been an Ambassador for Seattle's Union Gospel Mission with the annual "1 Meal, 1 Hope" program, raising funds for those in need. After raising two children, Rockstad and with wife Mo now reside in Issaquah, Wash.
Now he will share his stories with go2geiger.com readers through his new monthly column: Thunder in the Pipes.
Welcome to the first installment of Thunder in the Pipes here on go2geiger.com. Get ready for a lot of interesting, insightful, funny, and maybe even some peculiar stories. Some of the tales will be long and winding; other installments might be a combination of short stories.
I first want to offer a little insight on what will be arriving here each month as we look at this sport of drag racing in a little bit different light.
I began watching drag racing back in the late '50s. I was in grade school and I got a chance to go to the drags in Shelton, Washington. The track was located on a vacant part of an airport runway and was one of the first drag facilities here in the Northwest.
That first day at the drag races cemented my love for all things fast and started me on a long career in and around the sport. Recently, as I researched a lot of old material, I could plainly see I was meant to do something associated with straight line racing. There was just something about hot cars accelerating down a strip of asphalt that seemed to give me direction. I will get into more of this as time goes on.
As I prepare for the months ahead here on go2geiger.com, I thought it best to give everyone a little taste of what will be in store. Here is an off-the-top-of-my-head rough sketch of just a few subjects I will cover.
Funny Cars fields with 64 cars: This event, run for 15 years at Seattle International Raceway (SIR), probably had the biggest impact on the sport of drag racing anywhere in country during that time period. It was the only event of this size and was truly historic for many reasons. I'll share with you how this event came about, what it was like to watch, and even why it no longer exists.
It’s not easy remembering all the details as these 64 Funny Car events took place a long time ago. I will do my best to present all the facts but, in some cases, there has been too much water under the bridge. I promise to approach it with the best details possible, but some things are even a little fuzzy to me.
High School Drag Racing: A concept the sport doesn’t really recognize much but is deeply held as vitally important to race tracks throughout the country. Why is that? Where did it all begin? I remember one event that had more than 6,000 students in attendance and featured so many race cars it couldn't be completed in one evening. Sounds like success for future race fans.
Land of Opportunity: I want to look back on my early years and how fortunate I was to be able to accomplish the things I have. How is it that a kid who took more than four years to get through high school ended up as the president of his own corporation that included management of four race tracks? This story is all about living in the Land of Opportunity -- the USA. I never really understood that until I lived it, retired at age 58, and had a chance to look back to see it all so clearly.
Media Buying: A boring subject? Maybe…but wait, when you have these radio spots that are so critically important for drawing the crowd you need to offset the major costs of an event, the media buy is of major importance. When the big voice ads came on the radio you didn't want potential customers to turn the radio down. You wanted them to turn it up -- way up!
Winter Meetings: These annual meetings of track operators are akin to the baseball meetings. The NHRA always had a canned presentation for these occasions but the important part to me was when the track operators gathered in the evening to discuss their own marketplace and event concepts.
Rain-Outs: A subject we dealt with a lot in the Northwest and an interesting one as track operators attempt to offset major losses due to rain. In fact, rain insurance was developed in the Northwest and has always been a weird but important component of holding a race. All it takes is few days of rain on the dates of your national event and suddenly a track operator's entire business is in shambles. Talk about risk --you could be the best of the best and still crash and burn simply because of water falling from the sky.
Not Keeping the Rubber Side Down: Owning and driving a beautiful blue AA/GS Anglia sporting a blown Chrysler engine probably wasn't the smartest move I ever made. It was in 1971 at Eugene, Oregon, when I went tumbling down the race track and into the spectator parking, wading up my little Anglia into a pile of junk. The amount of dollars and time building that car was substantial and in just a few seconds my car and driving career came to an abrupt end.
The Economy: For as long as I can remember, whenever the economy would sour race tracks would always do better. Although that's not the case now. All the way back to the 50s nothing has had such a negative impact on this sport like what is taking place right now. Even in the early 70s there were gas lines everywhere, the drag races did well.
This list goes on and on and so will the stories. I will give you the inside scoop on many, many subjects and I invite your tales and recollections as well. Drop me a note at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .
