HDAY SUMMER 2023 EVENT RECAP

HDAY Summer 2023 was held on August 12th & 13th at New England Dragway. Every year, this event is attended by thousands who come out to celebrate the Honda & Acura lifestyle with us here at OGS1320. We’d like to thank the Honda Community who came out in numbers to once again enjoy a weekend of drag racing and activities at the HDAY Lifestyle Stage along with our vendor midway with some of the best vendors in our industry. Patrons also had the chance to see hundreds of Honda & Acura vehicles in our fully-judged car show.

The event was a success as we managed to gain a 28 percent increase of racers. Spectators were also up by an additional 15 percent in pre-event sales compared to last year. The HDAY team worked diligently throughout Friday in preparation for the event, including stage and RV setup. Racers and vendors promptly began to roll into the venue at approximately 4pm on Friday, taking advantage of the Friday afternoon check-in which would allow for extra pit prep time for the racers and booth setup time for the vendors.

The gates were opened at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday, where we saw hundreds of Honda & Acura vehicles in line from as early as 5:30  a.m. Many of these were car show participants who were there with their cars and ready to compete, with a great number of these vehicle being locally from Massachusetts , New Hampshire, Rhode Island, CT and Maine. There were also more competitors from areas further away such as Maryland, Chicago, Ohio and Virginia, in addition an increased number of competitors from Canada attending the event. This was shaping up to be another epic HDAY gathering. 

Around 10 a.m., racing commenced with test sessions by our bracket and fun runs classes. Our heads up racers took their first shot at the track around 2 p.m. Each class had good turnouts as we ran the K-TUNED SFWD, 4-PISTON Racing All-Motor and the newly added OGS1320 Nitro Shootout. Special thanks to the racers who requested the Nitro class, as they made us aware that they wanted the class to return. We agreed and they made sure to purchase tickets online to enter the class. 

Index racers once again came out in numbers, with over 60 index cars running collectively in the index classes. There was side-by-side racing in the Exedy Clutch 11.50 Index class, Competition Clutch 10.50 class and Cylinder Support System 9.50 Index class. Top qualifiers for each class are listed below. Day 1 of HDAY was a success as we finished up the Top-100 Car Show and drag racing at around 7 p.m.

SFWD Top Qualifiers

1 -  Rolando Blano - (DP Raceparts - 7.85 at 193 mph)

2 - Yerral Vargas-Lopez - (Prayoonto Racing - 8.07 at 184 mph)

3- Nicole Elff - (Boston Scientific - 8.08 at 185 mph)

Nitro Shootout Top Qualifiers

1 - Jonathan Marmol - (Tuti Racing - 9.061 at 149 mph)

2 - Carlos Albino - (Pakman Racing - 9.07 at 152 mph)

3 - Julio Mangual - (9.10 at 157 mph)

9.50 Index Top Qualifiers

1 - Justin Corsentino - (9.50 at 135 mph)

2 - Jessel Torres - (9.68 at 141 mph)

3 - Ryan Fralick - (9.69 at 151 mph) 

All-Motor M1 Top Qualifiers

1 - Jamie Marsh - (Marsh Tuning - 9.37 at 145 mph)

2 - Ahmed Aglan - (New England Motors - 9.44 at 145 mph)

3 - Brandon Jefferson - (4 Piston Racing - 9.61 at 139 mph) 

10.50 Index Top Qualifiers

1 - Dan Brissett - (10.50 at 129 mph)

2 - Noel Ortiz - (10.50 at 127 mph)

3 - Brian Lopez - (10.51 at 104 mph)

11.50 index Top Qualifiers

1 - Sebastian Batista - (11.50 at 118 mph)

2 - Jesus Aguirre - (11.54 at 114 mph)

3 - Joseph Morales - (11.57 at 116 mph) 

Sunday at HDAY Summer 2023

We noticed a forecast for Sunday that was questionable going into Saturday evening. Weather forecasts showed high percentages of rain for Sunday at around 50-80 percent between the hours of 4 a.m. through 1 p.m. Regardless of that weather forecast, the HDAY community attended and came out in higher numbers for Sunday! We opened up the gates promptly at 7 a.m. for racers, spectators and car show competitors, where we once again saw all types of builds start to roll into New England Dragway for our 21st year of HDAY events. There were many teams with 6+ cars rolling in that morning, which really shows that the the love for Hondas and its community is as strong as ever and continues to bring people together. To our luck, the forecast cleared up and there was no rain in the morning. We were able to get car show competitors in and parked and racers on the track on-time at 10 a.m.  

There were tons of people flowing throughout the vendor midway checking out our vendors and their products, and the main stage saw a good amount of people who stopped by to take a look at the HDAY Summer 2023 giveaway car. Our right-hand-drive 1997 Honda Torneo which we picked up from Duncan Imports in Virginia was well-received by HDAY enthusiasts, with many commenting on how clean and rare the car was. This car only had 81,000 kilometers and was ready to be won by one of our lucky enthusiasts attending the event.

Bracket and fun runs hit the track first during the test session/time trials, followed by our heads-up racers who took to the track at 12 noon, right after the singing of our National Anthem. We were able to get through the first rounds of racing in each of the respective classes but unfortunately, we were met with rain around 1:45 pm that afternoon. The rain was then intermittent for the next 3 hours or so. 

The New England Dragway track staff assisted us by drying the track after the first initial storms passed. Unfortunately, more torrential rain came through the area and we were not able to finish the drag racing segment of the event. SFWD made it to the quarter finals of racing, while the All-Motor M1 and Nitro Shootout classes made it to the semifinals and could NOT go any further. There was a clerical error on our part which ended up in racers in All-Motor receiving trophies, and we are working to correct that in this manner: We are going to reward the All-Motor M1 class racers with semi-final trophies only. Each driver who made it to the semi-final round will receive a trophy from OGS1320. However, going forward we will ONLY issue trophies at an event for classes which were fully completed. We do believe that this practice will be in the best interest of the sport, as we always look to promote the clear winners of an event as it is a well-earned achievement and testament to their hard work and dedication. Those who were given incorrect trophies at HDAY Summer 2023 have the ability to return those trophies if they choose to do so. 

As mentioned prior, the rain played a pivotal role in determining where we’d ultimately stop the racing portion of our program. However, once the rain stopped, our car show judges worked diligently to wrap up the judging for the Seibon Carbon HDAY Car Show. Just before the winners were announced, we took to the stage to find a winner of the HDAY Summer 2023 project giveaway car. It came down to 10 people, each with a key. One of those keys would start the 1997 Honda Torneo. It came down to the last two key holders, with Angel from Lawrence, MA. ultimately starting the car! Congrats to Angel who has been an avid HDAY attendee for years now, dating back to our events at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. He is the winner of our HDAY Summer 2023 giveaway car and we know he will enjoy it.

Special thanks to all of our event sponsors, and we’d also like to thank all of our vendors who added to a great event. Major thanks to everyone who attended the event, as without you, HDAY wouldn’t be what it is today! This event showed once again why the HDAY brand continues to grow year over year. We're looking forward to being back for 2024. Contact us to be added to our mailing list so you can be first to know once our 2024 event dates have been announced as well as all other event news and updates.