The State Of Sportsman Racing - Interesting Read

[Alan Roehrich]

At some point, maybe everyone will get through kicking each other in the knees, and stop worrying about how other people approach racing.

Then maybe we can move on to a useful discussion about the sport.

[Jeff Niceswanger]

Originally Posted by Kevin Panzino

Hey guys, the bashing of our beloved sport is getting old....
And enough with the constant ranting over the payouts.
Sub-Single digit percentages of class racers do this for any hope of payout. Literally only a few individuals.

Yes, we want the wally, yes we want the prestige, yes we want the satisfaction of winning in this class. Your damm right we'd rather race at an NHRA national event then some local bracket race, regardless of the payout.

You can go on and on about the big money bracket races. Fine, go ahead get your generic classless bracket car and run against those boys in the high dollar bracket races. Good luck with that. I'm sure its a great plan to make money for retirement. After all, you mention all the time about the big money bracket race payouts, so go ahead and start earning all that money. Let us all know how well that works out.

A great many of us wouldn't even bother to race if all we could do was bracket race generic cars.

Class racing is an entirely different breed and its never been about the money.

Can the never-been-class racers, class racer wannabees, and ex-racers living in an era long gone, please stop beating down what a lot of us are currently have a great time doing. Your on a public forum making our case look far worse than it is!! YOU DON'T SPEAK FOR ME.

I'm inclined to say, you know what guys, if you aren't currently racing in S/SS in NHRA competition, you don't really get to bash the current state of affairs.
Its not 1969, it wont ever be 1969 again, and you know what, that is fine with a great majority of us.

Now all that being said, I must admit, I tend to agree with statements about the amount of "bling", the folks who don't turn a single wrench on their combo just purchase everything, and the need to take several days vacation to attend a divisional race.

Hi Kevin ...

Great Post ... You got me thinking .. I still work in a factory (Union Shop), work a 40 -60 hour week ( weekends included) and carry my dinner bucket and hard hat back and forth to work everyday ... Probably,...... back in the "60's" that you speak of, 90 % of NHRA members were just like me ...... I wonder how many "dinner bucket carriers" there are now days racing Class Cars ? I'd say that has been replaced by business owners..
In the Factory I work in, there are 400 members, and 150 management team... Out of those #'s, there are 2 of us that race cars. 1 that pulls trucks, .... I'm the only class racer, the other guy is into the small tire 5.0 Ford stuff...( We compare notes as he is setting up a new Holley FI system on that mustang ...)
Back in the 60's, ALL guys were into cars, Right? ... Look at how its changed...

[ALMACK]

Originally Posted by Jeff Niceswanger

Hi Kevin ...

Great Post ... You got me thinking .. I still work in a factory (Union Shop), work a 40 -60 hour week ( weekends included) and carry my dinner bucket and hard hat back and forth to work everyday ... Probably,...... back in the "60's" that you speak of, 90 % of NHRA members were just like me ...... I wonder how many "dinner bucket carriers" there are now days racing Class Cars ? I'd say that has been replaced by business owners..
In the Factory I work in, there are 400 members, and 150 management team... Out of those #'s, there are 2 of us that race cars. 1 that pulls trucks, .... I'm the only class racer, the other guy is into the small tire 5.0 Ford stuff...( We compare notes as he is setting up a new Holley FI system on that mustang ...)
Back in the 60's, ALL guys were into cars, Right? ... Look at how its changed...

^^ Good points
I am the only Class racer where I work.
One other employee is a bracket racer, and another into truck pulls.

Back in the 60's and 70's, the NHRA, IHRA, AHRA, etc were the only game in town.
No NMCA, NMRA, Outlaw racing series, big bucks bracket races etc. at the time to choose from.
Younger racers new to drag racing now have a lot more choices, so class racing for some is not an affordable choice.
I wanted to run Stock/Super Stock when I was 21 but had to wait 30 years before I could make my first pass as a class racer due to the buy in cost.

Also, you can count me as one of the "dinner bucket carriers"

I like going to Division events, but the 3 day schedule makes it tough for guys working Mon-Fri.

It would be nice to see the Division meets go to 2 day events, but as it stands right now, I have to make do with 1 qual. pass on Saturdays. ( or slip out of work early on Friday and hope to get there early enough to make a clean up run late Friday afternoon

[Kevin Panzino]

Originally Posted by Jeff Niceswanger

Hi Kevin ...

Great Post ... You got me thinking .. I still work in a factory (Union Shop), work a 40 -60 hour week ( weekends included) and carry my dinner bucket and hard hat back and forth to work everyday ... Probably,...... back in the "60's" that you speak of, 90 % of NHRA members were just like me ...... I wonder how many "dinner bucket carriers" there are now days racing Class Cars ? I'd say that has been replaced by business owners..
In the Factory I work in, there are 400 members, and 150 management team... Out of those #'s, there are 2 of us that race cars. 1 that pulls trucks, .... I'm the only class racer, the other guy is into the small tire 5.0 Ford stuff...( We compare notes as he is setting up a new Holley FI system on that mustang ...)
Back in the 60's, ALL guys were into cars, Right? ... Look at how its changed...

Very true Jeff. Like wise around 100 guys at my plant, and Im the only one who races. Couple of street car guys, but thats it. I will say that you do see plenty of cars at our local track for test n tune, and street car nights. But those are far from NHRA class cars, thats for sure.

[Lee Valentine]

I agree with what Kevin said in a lot of ways,l came from the best time for a car guy. Yes we had Vietnam and the draft,everyone was coming home and buying muscle cars and going racing. I've been doing this since 1962 and still enjoy it. The only thing that will stop me would be health issues or something out of my control.You only get one chance at life live it doing what you want. I don't buy the money excuse because I managed to race on a budget for years by doing everything possible myself.

[Bob Lasko]

Originally Posted by Lee Valentine

I agree with what Kevin said in a lot of ways,l came from the best time for a car guy. Yes we had Vietnam and the draft,everyone was coming home and buying muscle cars and going racing. I've been doing this since 1962 and still enjoy it. The only thing that will stop me would be health issues or something out of my control.You only get one chance at life live it doing what you want. I don't buy the money excuse because I managed to race on a budget for years by doing everything possible myself.

No truer words spoken for the majority of racers and the racers from the 60's including me
Bob Lasko

[cicero819]

Can anyone explain why in Div.1 the turn out of cars is so poor when Napierville was offering $20k for a win, they should have had more than 100 cars! Too many primadonnas out there. NHRA doesn't pay that much. Please don't bash Bracket Racing because if it wasn't for that type of racing Drag racing would be gone by now. Great article.

[Chris Barnes]

I think that bracket racing and class racing are mutually beneficial. Bracket racing is excellent practice for Stock when I don't mind putting my beautiful Stocker on the line against some primer Frankenstein Pinto driven by the track champion. And the tricks that we have to use to remain "Stock" can sometimes translate into cheap tricks for bracket cars.

I was at the Good Guys races last weekend and I was amazed at how many people showed up. Sure there were nostalgia funny cars but I didn't see the stands empty out when the slower hot rods were running. It made me think about how do we get these people to show up regularly?

I love racing, I've been doing it for 22 years now, 12 in Stock and always bracket racing. I'm self employed and I've made my fair share of sacrifices for this. I love to win but that money is pure gravy.

[Ed Carpenter]

Originally Posted by Jeff Niceswanger

Hi Kevin ...

Great Post ... You got me thinking .. I still work in a factory (Union Shop), work a 40 -60 hour week ( weekends included) and carry my dinner bucket and hard hat back and forth to work everyday ... Probably,...... back in the "60's" that you speak of, 90 % of NHRA members were just like me ...... I wonder how many "dinner bucket carriers" there are now days racing Class Cars ? I'd say that has been replaced by business owners..
In the Factory I work in, there are 400 members, and 150 management team... Out of those #'s, there are 2 of us that race cars. 1 that pulls trucks, .... I'm the only class racer, the other guy is into the small tire 5.0 Ford stuff...( We compare notes as he is setting up a new Holley FI system on that mustang ...)
Back in the 60's, ALL guys were into cars, Right? ... Look at how its changed...

Try running super stock on a state trooper salary.......I really can't afford it....im currently out of racing because of 2 back surgeries....I do plan on coming back I got new engine from J Allen and hope to kick some *** in SS/H when I get back.

[Ed Carpenter]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

At some point, maybe everyone will get through kicking each other in the knees, and stop worrying about how other people approach racing.

Then maybe we can move on to a useful discussion about the sport.

Alan you gonna make some races this year? I hope to see some et's soon!