IHRA at Columbus.

[Steve Grady]

It's Raceday here at the IHRA Outlaw Nitro national event. The Sun is out with a nice breeze with everyone getting ready for final eliminations. Spectator lots are filling up. Looking forward to a great afternoon of racing and Good Luck to all the competitors Here. Trophy's and Nice checks await the Winners.

[Cglrcng]

Sad the car count is low, but their other loss (I know none of the reason(s), as none of my bidness'), is our gain, up in the N.W. in Div. 6 LODRS Double at Woodburn, and we have our Golden Voice on the Mic. Alan R., and we are also low at 43 entries in Stk. for race 2, of course that low count (and the great temps, low altitude, and a great tune, allowed me personally to qualify in the turtle of a sled in the top half of the q-sheet ever at -790 under the EF/S index).

Not Indy ready by any means, but improving slowly, and seeking low elevations/temps to run at from now on.

C'mon east coast class racers, support those IHRA races, so they can buy a couple of track out west too! Sounds like the New IHRA owner(s) are really trying hard to accommodate and have invested heavily, and that is good for all as competition leads to innovation. But, miracles also cannot be expected, growing pains are usual and should be expected. (And fuel costs today are a race killer).

[Cglrcng]

After saying all that...if I was not retired, it was just an LODRS Double a 24 hr drive w/west coast fuel costs I would not be here. But a 37 day trip, racing at 3 tracks or more. (2 Doubles, 1 Nat., 3 Bracket's 1 track and a few more at another close by, and 4 straight weekends of solid racing and some very accommodating track locations and great people, and the absolute best wife in the whole world! Makes that fuel bill a bit easier to swallow.

Out and back for 1 event or even a double over 6- 8-10 hrs drive is rough enough.

[CMcAllister]

Watching the final rounds this morning...

Racers have nothing but good to say. Of course they're the ones that got on camera.

Other than a few hiccups, looked good from here, for a first race..

I remember when Bader took it over. We ran some of those races and had a great time. I'm cautiously optimistic that they can reclaim some of that legitimacy and get the participation.

[Bo Fowler]

I had a blast at this race. It's been a long time since I actually enjoyed being at the race track. Over the last few years racing
I was considering finding a different hobby,but this race give me a little spark. They treated us like Kings. I actually felt like a race car driver not a nuisance in the way. The only downside of the hole thing was the cowards that didn't show up and the fear that this thing won't last. Compared to my runner up finish last year at the divisional here and this race this year the difference is night and day. As a racer that was at both events nhra looked like the 2nd rate organization to me. So for you keyboard warriors to scared to give it a chance the water is fine come on in.

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by CMcAllister

Watching the final rounds this morning...

Racers have nothing but good to say. Of course they're the ones that got on camera.

Other than a few hiccups, looked good from here, for a first race..

I remember when Bader took it over. We ran some of those races and had a great time. I'm cautiously optimistic that they can reclaim some of that legitimacy and get the participation.

Few observations as I spent every day there. The track workers and staff remind you of the old Norwalk days back when Bader was showing people how it's supposed to done. We didn't get a homemade bag of cookies when we pulled out of the gate and headed home like that, but the hospitality was thru the roof. I was walking back from the starting line and hospitality stopped and picked me up, delivered me to my pit spot. That storm yesterday was torrential. And their drying time was Nascar style. It was fast, A ton of people out there with blowers, brooms, squeegees, tractors...Plus two new kick *** track dryers and a HELOCOPTER! I expected another hour. Larry Eagle was talking to the staging lane pit steward about how hot it was, and Larry made the commit that you must really want to do this for minimum wage. He said, WHAT? "I make 5 times that". And their staging lane choice is like a NFL game. The pit steward had the coin, (a big weird looking coin with a #1 on one side and a #3 on the other) he asks who wants what lane, he flips it. I'm sure when the car counts go up this will be tough to do, but it sure was different. I mentioned in one of previous post the lack of fuel checks, but at the National Event they did them. There were some glitches. The lights went out a couple times. Andy was talking to the electrical contractor the next morning and he said. "Yes, we had to get all these new lights up and this was all temporary wiring running to the poles.... it's all to be buried underground. We just had to hurry like heck to get it up and running for this event". Anyway, you guys need to support this, it will be something we don't want to get away...

[CMcAllister]

They had it all. Fuel cars. Both flavors of Pro Stock. Pro Mod. Tops. Factory Stock. Top Alcohol. Stock & Super Stock. Sleds. Hemi Shootout. Fuel Harleys. Probably missed some.

Maybe not the Big Show hitters, but I thought it was cool to see Scott Palmer and Krista Baldwin in the final.

[Bo Fowler]

One more thing. I was not trying to disrespect any of the people on the ground at nhra, the track workers and tech are wonderful people and do there best with what they got. Maybe even some of them could get more if this can turn into a friendly competition. What I saw was a owner that loves drag racing and might have some deep pockets vs suits in California the only care about the numbers. The legend on that trophy we all love does not run things anymore. Irp is my home track and indy is what I race for. I just hope that a little competition could make it better for everyone.