[Alan Roehrich]

Great post, Barry.


And it is great to see honest answers.


Sitting here reading, and contemplating breakfast, I think maybe it came to me why there are successful big money independent bracket races, but rarely are there successful independent Stock and Super Stock races.


The big bracket races don't have NHRA LODRS and National Event races to compete with.



I can understand that. If you have a Stock and/or Super Stock car, you obviously almost certainly built it to compete on the NHRA circuit. Let's be honest, that's where the races for these cars are. There are small independent races and series that are places to race. Our home track, Bowling Green, has a great Combo series, with regular one day and two day weekends of racing. But everyone built or bought their car to run NHRA races. And I'm not saying there's anything at all wrong with that. I'm not saying that anyone is wrong to choose to support NHRA over everything else. It's your money, your time, and your car. You should be doing what you enjoy most with it. And I'd be a fool and a liar to say that I wouldn't love to get that Wally we can within about 0.004 seconds of. I'd be a liar to say that I want "revenge" on Indy for that bad year we had there. I get it. I'm not at all opposed to running some NHRA events, even though I know we can't chase it like we once could, and we're not going to go broke trying.



Honestly, competing with NHRA is really our biggest barrier. So almost everyone is going to try to run their Division LODRS races, the National events in their Division, plus "prestige races" like the Gators, and Indy. NHRA is the biggest obstacle, bigger than time, money, weather, or the calendar.



So what we have is an extreme scheduling/time/logistics problem. Given how many races NHRA runs, and how their schedule is pretty much late February to late October, I'm not sure that it is possible to successfully overcome that one big issue.


Someone suggested a series. That's a great idea, in that it might, just might, be possible to schedule a series that runs its races when a given region isn't having NHRA events. So when NHRA is in Divisions 1,2 and 3, there could be a race in Division 6 or 7, etc.



Here's the problem. What needs to be done is to gather some guys who are Stock and Super Stock racers, who also have successfully promoted races, and see what, if anything, is possible.


So who you need though, is a "dream team". You need Peter Biondo, who has successfully (with Kyle's help, RIP brother) run the Spring Fling Series in several regions. You need Bo Butner, Dave Connolly, and our own board owner, Ken Meile. And ideally, you need Michael Beard. I'm sure that I have missed someone. I know a few of those guys, I've never talked to them about this. Other than we've had a few "in passing" conversations about how this is nearly impossible to pull off.



The next question is, do all of those guys want to take on a project like this, and do they have time? Of course, they have to ask themselves, is it worth the effort? It's a massive undertaking, and a huge risk. Especially given the most common result. For sure, not a single one of us can blame any of them if they shook their heads, laughed hysterically, and walked away.


Also, when you realize that NHRA is currently not even releasing a full 2023 schedule, you have to ask, "how do you schedule even one big race for class racers?" If NHRA were to decide to schedule even an LODRS race on "your weekend", within even 1,000 miles of you, you're pretty much done. You and the track are going to lose a ton of money. Honestly, NHRA has absolutely zero reason or incentive to cooperate with any of this. You pretty much have a large, and mostly hostile competitor, who has the resources to wreck you if they decide to.



What the racers absolutely must understand, is that it's never going to be perfect. The brutal facts are, not every race will have great weather. Not every race will be in your back yard. Not every race will be completely free of conflicts. But the reality is, every race will have to be well supported.


One other thought. It's too late for 2023, really. The fact is, this is something that you need to work on scheduling and setting up for at least a year. We're asking someone to spend a ton of time in 2023 trying to work with, say 3-5 tracks, to schedule 4-6 races to cover the regions. And then they need to spend 3 solid days next December at PRI walking the show with a package to try to sell to potential sponsors, and let's be really honest, this is probably not the best economy to do this in.




I'll agree with Larry Hill, the Bowling Green SportsNational Open is a great race to pattern an independent race after. It does prominently feature Stock and Super Stock. Having class eliminations is a huge bonus. Running Top Stock and Top Super Stock races is a great idea. And a bonus race is also a great idea, it gives those who can't win class and those who get eliminated from the main race something else to race for. If you're running only Stock and Super Stock, there's time for all of that in a three day race. And it allows you to offer something for most every competitor. The only problem with an only Stock and Super Stock event is down time, which the fans do not like.





This post is probably pretty negative to most people. But what we're talking about has been going on for a pretty good while, and the results haven't changed much. If anyone has evidence to the contrary about what I'm saying, I'm all ears. I'm not trying to argue or berate anyone. I'd like to see independent Stock and Super Stock racing succeed, and on a large scale. It would be great for all of us. I'm sure that NHRA would not like to see it. Real competition would be a problem for them.