What would it take for you to attend a Sportsman Race

[Ronnie1858]

I, too, am disappointed that there will not be a CRN this year. I finally have a car that runs below the index without breaking every run, and I am consistent enough that I won't totally embarrass myself. I would run a sportsman race anywhere within 1000 miles of home, if I know about it in enough time to work it out. Am seriously thinking about going to the SportsNationals again this year. I think having class eliminations at a race like this is a great idea. I am perfectly content to run the divisionals, the ASRA races and the NED brackets, I will run the Epping National race next year, if I get enough grade points this year, but it is not that big of a deal to me if I don't make it. I am racing to have fun and hang out with the folks. If I am lucky enough to win a Wally/trophy someday, that would be cool, but I am just as happy to win a few rounds here and there and swap war stories with the folks parked next to me.

[Joe Santangelo]

A race or races with higher payouts than Lucas Oil and National Event races are great.

[Larry Hill]

The first Class Nationals had Class, Top Stock, and to win the eliminator it took eight rounds.

For us working on new car and distance were big factors for missing Ken's race.

The Sports Nationals Open in the end of May is a very good race. I think it has class for Stk/SS, plus a separate eliminator for each. It has The Clay Jones race $5000 to win and a BIG CHECK. The Clay Jones race is a combo race with Stock vs Stock and Super Stock vs Super Stock until the late rounds. In case its a heads up round its just like Indy. The year we got to the finals, that was the only time we had to race a S/S car.

Beach Bend is the best family track in the USA. An amusement park, with a wooden roll a coaster, a great family pool, a camp ground with full hook ups, almost forgot a great 1320'.

Access is good a few easy miles off of I65, close to I69, little south of I64, and a little north of I 40.

Make plans to be there! Come early and stay late and skip the Holliday traffic.

I don't know this but Top Stock might be an option.

[Ron Ortiz]

SFG Promotions seem to be working pretty good with bottom heavy payouts scheduled for this year.
Maybe we can get Kyle Riley, Pat Joffrion, Bo Butner, Jason Line, Dave Connolly, Ken Miele, Michael Beard, and others that promote drag racing to somehow come together in a zoom meeting or phone calls, come up with a series for Stk/SS in different geographical areas.
50 car quota at a race, really. Only a $2,000 purse with a high entry fee. Four days to complete a single race. This is what we get with a national event, and people can't even get in due to low grade points.
I know a big $$$ races would work for Stk/SS, a lot of cars out there. We have to try again, because if we don't, we won't be racing at all.
It killed me not to be able to attend the Sportsman race because the car wasn't even close to being ready. Can't understand why racers wouldn't attend.

[MR DERBY CITY]

Originally Posted by Ron Ortiz

SFG Promotions seem to be working pretty good with bottom heavy payouts scheduled for this year.
Maybe we can get Kyle Riley, Pat Joffrion, Bo Butner, Jason Line, Dave Connolly, Ken Miele, Michael Beard, and others that promote drag racing to somehow come together in a zoom meeting or phone calls, come up with a series for Stk/SS in different geographical areas.
50 car quota at a race, really. Only a $2,000 purse with a high entry fee. Four days to complete a single race. This is what we get with a national event, and people can't even get in due to low grade points.
I know a big $$$ races would work for Stk/SS, a lot of cars out there. We have to try again, because if we don't, we won't be racing at all.
It killed me not to be able to attend the Sportsman race because the car wasn't even close to being ready. Can't understand why racers wouldn't attend.

Kyle Riley and SFG promotions promote races that cater to bracket racers. That is ONE of the reasons that SFG is so successful. Bracket racers ACTUALLY show up to race for BIG $$. The late Alex P. Denysenko is the ONLY promoter that hosted a large scale stock/superstock race that was successful. It was a ONE and DONE in 2001. Lee Zane,Brian Van Poppel, Bo Butner, Jason Line , Dave Connolly , Michael Beard and Ken Miele all promoted large stock/superstock races that were NOT supported by the stock/superstock racers. History shows that they WILL NOT be supported in the future, it’s time to move on. One promoter that I have omitted is 25 year old Tyler Bohannon. He promoted a stock/superstock race in 2021. He had a wonderful vision, a hard working team , a CIC race, sponsor give a ways, the race was held at a beautiful track and he too, LOST MONEY. Beating his head against the wall, Tyler has another stock/superstock race scheduled this August in Madison,Illinois. Here is your big chance Ron ……it may be your last …..with warmest regards ………MJ …..

[Timothy Fletcher]

After doing this with Ken for 3 years here is what we've learned it takes...

•It has to be at a facility that is reasonably close to everyone in the country.
-but the facility has to be flat and level for parking.
-and the facility has to be "fast".
-but the facility has to be easy to get to from the highway.

•It has to be a weekend that you can loop it with another race.
-but it can't be too close to other races because then it’s too many in a row
-and it can’t be too early in the season because no one is ready
-but then it can’t be too late because then everyone has encountered problems
-but then it can’t be in the middle because there’s too many races
-and it can’t be this weekend or that weekend because it’s my nephews bar mitzvah

•It has to be a weekend with a good forecast.
-but then it can’t be too hot because then it’s too hot
-and then it can’t have a 1% chance of rain because then people don’t want to sit in the rain
-but then it can’t have a head wind because then the cars go slow
-and then it can’t be too sunny because then it’s too hot

•It has to be a reasonable entry fee for reasonable pay.
-but then it can’t cost too much because a lot of racers are on a budget
-and it can’t cost too little because then it’s not worth the wear and tear
(basically, it needs to be $15 to enter and $15,000 to win)

•It has to be on the weekend because people can’t take off work.
-but then it can’t start Friday because people have work
-and then it can’t start early Saturday because people don’t want to drive through the night Friday after work to get there
-but then it can’t end late Sunday because people have work Monday

With all due respect and no offense, THERE IS NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO TO PLEASE THE STK/SS COMMUNITY. You all deserve NHRA and the **** they put you through.
$350 or $200 to enter
$100 for your wife
3–4-day long events
1 race
BUT A WALLY!

See "ya'll" at Gainesville!

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by timothy fletcher

after doing this with ken for 3 years here is what we've learned it takes...

•it has to be at a facility that is reasonably close to everyone in the country.
-but the facility has to be flat and level for parking.
-and the facility has to be "fast".
-but the facility has to be easy to get to from the highway.

•it has to be a weekend that you can loop it with another race.
-but it can't be too close to other races because then it’s too many in a row
-and it can’t be too early in the season because no one is ready
-but then it can’t be too late because then everyone has encountered problems
-but then it can’t be in the middle because there’s too many races
-and it can’t be this weekend or that weekend because it’s my nephews bar mitzvah

•it has to be a weekend with a good forecast.
-but then it can’t be too hot because then it’s too hot
-and then it can’t have a 1% chance of rain because then people don’t want to sit in the rain
-but then it can’t have a head wind because then the cars go slow
-and then it can’t be too sunny because then it’s too hot

•it has to be a reasonable entry fee for reasonable pay.
-but then it can’t cost too much because a lot of racers are on a budget
-and it can’t cost too little because then it’s not worth the wear and tear
(basically, it needs to be $15 to enter and $15,000 to win)

•it has to be on the weekend because people can’t take off work.
-but then it can’t start friday because people have work
-and then it can’t start early saturday because people don’t want to drive through the night friday after work to get there
-but then it can’t end late sunday because people have work monday

with all due respect and no offense, there is nothing anyone can do to please the stk/ss community. You all deserve nhra and the **** they put you through.
$350 or $200 to enter
$100 for your wife
3–4-day long events
1 race
but a wally!

See "ya'll" at gainesville!

nailed it!!!!!!!

[Pistol Pete]

Barry
I think an association race like Dave Ley’s race or the ASRA races in D1 are great.

Maybe at either one or both they could have one race that you pay double and that’ll
make for a bigger payout.

One of Dave’s races that used to be at Englishtown was the Bigger payout race.
Now that big money race is at Atco.

The great thing about Ken’s races & why I liked coming up from Florida is:
He Only Ran S/SS cars and it was 2 separate categories, no offense to any other categories.

Another thought is: Since the Dutch Classic is a Big Hit with car counts maybe the weekend
before you can have the S/SS race ?? Providing it doesn’t interfere with MG’s schedule.

Just my 2 cents.

[Mike Pearson]

I think Tyler’s race has the best chance for success. He just needs some good weather and a good weekend. That track is a much better location to attract racers from a wide area. The Numidia location is good for the D1 racers but has limited interest from other division racers. For me it would be at least a 24 hour tow. My limit is about 14 hours. Atlanta would have been a great location but we all know what happened there.
The last few years have been very difficult for all businesses. The Covid crap and then the huge inflation with fuel prices doubled. All this has an effect on peoples ability to travel long distances. I think this has a negative effect on last years Class Racer Nationals.
There is a couple of independent associations that are healthy. CCRA and the East Coast association are both well attended.
I don’t know what the break even number for Ken’s race was last year. Or what the actual count ended up being. Most divisional races struggle to get above 70 cars in each class. To get 100 car fields in each class you have to be able to pull from several different divisions.
The only way to really make any of these private races work is to have sponsors to assist with the cost of the track rental and improve the pay out structure. That way the promoter does not have as much exposure

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Timothy Fletcher

After doing this with Ken for 3 years here is what we've learned it takes...

•It has to be at a facility that is reasonably close to everyone in the country.
-but the facility has to be flat and level for parking.
-and the facility has to be "fast".
-but the facility has to be easy to get to from the highway.

•It has to be a weekend that you can loop it with another race.
-but it can't be too close to other races because then it’s too many in a row
-and it can’t be too early in the season because no one is ready
-but then it can’t be too late because then everyone has encountered problems
-but then it can’t be in the middle because there’s too many races
-and it can’t be this weekend or that weekend because it’s my nephews bar mitzvah

•It has to be a weekend with a good forecast.
-but then it can’t be too hot because then it’s too hot
-and then it can’t have a 1% chance of rain because then people don’t want to sit in the rain
-but then it can’t have a head wind because then the cars go slow
-and then it can’t be too sunny because then it’s too hot

•It has to be a reasonable entry fee for reasonable pay.
-but then it can’t cost too much because a lot of racers are on a budget
-and it can’t cost too little because then it’s not worth the wear and tear
(basically, it needs to be $15 to enter and $15,000 to win)

•It has to be on the weekend because people can’t take off work.
-but then it can’t start Friday because people have work
-and then it can’t start early Saturday because people don’t want to drive through the night Friday after work to get there
-but then it can’t end late Sunday because people have work Monday

With all due respect and no offense, THERE IS NOTHING ANYONE CAN DO TO PLEASE THE STK/SS COMMUNITY. You all deserve NHRA and the **** they put you through.
$350 or $200 to enter
$100 for your wife
3–4-day long events
1 race
BUT A WALLY!

See "ya'll" at Gainesville!

AZ S/SS Double Header combo this past weekend...
20 cars ,Saturday, 16 Sunday...Trophies, package awards, cash on the barrel head...Good , tight racing...and that's all we can get for a turnout?
Pathetic, in my opinion..
I talked to the Hawk Brothers before they did their first race. I told them AZ would be an uphill battle all the way. You'll get your 12-13 dedicated supporters, your few who can make some of the races, and some who you'll never see.

Okay, so let's set aside AZ racers for a moment. Tucson is not real close to much of anything else. SoCal about 400 mi. Vegas? About the same.
But here's the thing..There will be 150 or so S/SS cars a hundred miles up the road by tomorrow.
So, if they want to put all their eggs in one basket, in pursuit of the Wally, all well and good. But if NHRA Sportsman ever goes away, some of these independent races won't be around. I can tell you that for a fact.