Who treats you better?
 

Who treats the sportsman racer better NHRA or IHRA? I've had a better "experience" with IHRA tracks.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

I have always been treated great by NHRA and IHRA. I think for the most part both organizations try and do treat us right. I have not raced IHRA in about 5 years since they have moved away from my area. As they have returned I haven't attended their races however I hear of racing way into the night all the way up to the early morning hours and that is not the kind of racing that I like.
I think that NHRA has the better deal of racing in the daylight hours when they can and only going into the night when absolutely neccessary.
Bottom line it's your choice. They both are trying to please the customer.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

I H R A

Re: Who treats you better?
 

nhra by far is better
got down to the final 4 and ihra gave me $80, i have not been back to a ihra race

Re: Who treats you better?
 

vic how many grade points did you need? how much is it to enter? these things need to also be addressed when comparing ..

Re: Who treats you better?
 

When and where was that, and how many rounds was it?

Re: Who treats you better?
 

$80 for a SF. I think that equals a 3rd rd loss at a div race. What did you expect? What would you get at NHRA div race for a 3rd rd loss?

About racing late at night. IHRA tries to condense the program down to the least amount of days as possible to save everyone money.

If you are racing late at night you must be going rds so it should'nt matter. I always said I would race til sun-up for a Standup Trophy and a Mailbox full of checks!!!!!!!!

That being said I hav not run a NHRA race since the bracket finals in 98 (r/u 2 years in a row). I can't pass judgement on them. I do know first hand IHRA makes more sense for me in Time and Money, and they do try to make everyone happy.
Chip Johnson

Re: Who treats you better?
 

Comp does get treated much better. When I left in 1979 we all parked together, etc. Not that way now. Wesley Roberson and Chuck Nelson have been very friendly to me since I started trying to race again, but they were way-back-when also. First met Wesley when I tore down, at Houma LA, for a record. He had just started helping Red Anderson. That was about 1975 or so. The rest of the div 4 tech guys I don't yet know. They don't seem to smile much or have much to say. The NHRA guys in div 5 seem, maybe, to be a little more friendly and outgoing. The IHRA tech guys I have encountered have all been very pleasant and friendly. As far as I can tell, Super Stock gets treated the same as Stock. Both places.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

James Lee just got a check from the Ennis div 4 race for $100.00, lost 3rd round.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

Actually Hot Rod runs first for IHRA and the only IHRA final i was in I wasn't the last pair down the track Top Fuel was Stock was the first pair.. the only time ive ever seen IHRA run late at night is to finish a race in one day for threat of rain on sunday.. not a bad idea

Re: Who treats you better?
 

A friend told me once that when he went to a IHRA race he was asked to step out of his tow vehicle so they could kiss his *** before they took his cash....

Re: Who treats you better?
 

Again, if you're going to compare round money, you need to also compare entry fees (let along time off work for additional days)

Earliest start time for IHRA is 9am, which starts with Hot Rod. Stock is second out. Super Stock is either 4th or 5th in the run order. They try to stagger the door car and dragster classes -- helps to keep bald spots from forming.

Last year, I won Piedmont. It was 5:33pm.
Semi at Douglas, GA, 6:14pm
Semi at Maryland, 4:55pm
Runner-up at Kinston, 5:30pm

Carolina Dragway's double-header Pro-Am experienced a lot of rain last year, and had tremendous problems with the track to start out with. Instead of telling everyone "deal with it", they took *many* hours to scrape the *entire* track, re-prep, and make it RIGHT. Still gave everyone two time trials, ran a complete show, and yes, we finished up at 2:30am. I was tired, but happy to be in the winner's circle. Oh, BTW, that was Saturday night. We got another time trial Sunday morning, and ran another complete race. I won that one, too, at 4:34pm.

So.... 5:30 is *late* for some people? :confused:

Re: Who treats you better?
 

Living in Colorado,I`d have to say NHRA. As far as I know,IHRA stands for Imaginary Hot Rod Association,it doesn`t exist out here. Actually,where I`m from,there isn`t much NHRA stuff either. Lane

Re: Who treats you better?
 

I think a lot of it has to do with the track personell themselves. I live within 125 miles of two IHRA tracks. One is a little mom and pop track and the other is owned by EK. I've heard many people talk of the disappointment they encountered at the big track. (NOT the fault of the owner!!!!) I've personally found the small track more friendly. .

Re: Who treats you better?
 

NHRA and IHRA both treat you about the same. But if you want the best bang for your buck NHRA is the way to go. Pit crew pass are out of control on the ihra side. There is no way a pit pass for a ihra nationals event should be between 70 and 90$ to watch 16 half *** pro cars.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

Charley I back you on this! I had a friend come & watch a Div. race @ tri-state a couple years ago $40 bucks for him & his wife! Hell Marissa can get in all 3 days @ a NHRA Div. race for $30 ! Ya know I don't think she has ever paid to get in @ the Indy Div. race! she comes in on Friday evening & they just let her in...& they both treat you about the same...With the the exception of Columbus (it would make a great IHRA track) they don't run you late into the night (Div 3 anyway) so you have time to grill out drink a few cold ones & ENJOY the event! I will say this the IHRA Div 9 races are GOOD races! they have Top-Stock on Sat evening. they also have a combo race if you want to do that & the tracks are pretty good...their all 1/8th mile so that may turn some people off. Thing ya need to do is race both & see what one ya like. I ran both for years untill Div.3 IHRA went to all double headers...in a way I'm glad...11 points races a year got to be a bit much! ;)

Re: Who treats you better?
 

i went to the semi (4 cars left) IHRA ad said $XXX dollas.
I don't care if it was one round or 10 rounds that's the money that should have been paid out.
Round money had nothing to do with it - it was advt. as semi X amount, runner up x amount
and winner x amount.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

I have Drag Reviews sitting here back to 2004, and the Pro-Am ads specify Winner, Runner-up, and round money. But if that was in fact the case, then my apologies.

In any case, I'm sorry you had a bad experience, and hope that you'll give them another shot someday.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

Last year at Pine Valley(IHRA D-4) I was still in when it was down to 3 cars in Super Stock. I got "0" they said due to the low car count only the finalist were going to be paid. I've never race at an NHRA event yet so I don't have an opinion yet. Most of the D4 guys I know say IHRA treats you better.

Re: Who treats you better?
 

Vic,

I feel your pain. The semi-finals at the recent NHRA meet at Great Bend KS paid $125.00. Considering the extra entry fee, it's about a wash. But then if was about the money, most of us wouldn't be racing anyway.

Jerry

Re: Who treats you better?
 

While it is neither your fault or the track's that there was an extremely low car count of 5-6 cars (blame all the guys that didn't show up!), the fact is that 2nd round loser does pays "0". (unless there were even fewer cars, and it had been the finals!) They paid exactly what was advertised, and lost money. I'm sure the guys that only had to win two rounds to make it to the finals and collect both the purse and contingency money were more than happy.

No offense intended -- it's just that someone not familiar with the whole situation would read your post and say "He made it to the semis, and they screwed him out of money!" Although you were in fact the "semifinalist", there is no semifinal money at Pro-Ams, just round money, and 2nd round loser is still just 2nd round loser.