nitro shortage
 

“I thoroughly enjoy the sport of drag racing and I’m heavily vested in it, I would certainly hate to see it fall on tough times,” Schumacher said. “That’s the responsibility of NHRA and VP to handle the situation as it is currently in place. Until they invite another distributor to come in and sell nitromethane, they face the possibility if VP Race Fuels runs out of nitromethane, the sport will be out. At this point, they are the only distributor to my knowledge. I’m not exactly sure how to define VP’s role since the NHRA’s rulebook states that the legal suppliers of nitromethane are Dow-Angus and Wego chemical.”


there is a long article on comp plus
http://www.competitionplus.com/index...6534&Itemid=24

but the last paragraph sums it up, actually the last sentence. sounds like they need to read their rules again.

cw

http://hemimilitia.com

Re: nitro shortage
 

Just what obligation have to sell his stock of nitro to VP ??
NHRA SOLD "OFFICAL SUPPLIER" of Nitro to VP and the prices immediately shot up !!!
Then NHRA fined Schumacher $100,000 at Vegas for picking up some nitro he had stored there for testing !!
I don't see where Schumacher has any obligation to provide VP with any product just because VP was short sighted.

Re: nitro shortage
 

i would imagine without that $100k fine, Mr. Schumacher would be much more willing to deal

Re: nitro shortage
 

Typical corporate posturing. They're a bunch of cartels. Some have guns, some have lots of money, or both. What'll make this fun is seeing who gets kneecapped first, and who goes down - Schumacher, NHRA, VP, or all the above.:D

Re: nitro shortage
 

That's awesome! Kneecapped....Bwahahahahahaha....

My money is on VP getting kneecapped. They've already issued a press release retracting some of what was said in the CompetitionPlus article. I'm thinking the first specific person that gets it is Wade Gray from VP. But, I'm not sure of his position at VP, so obviously if he's high enough up the chain nothing will happen to him...

Re: nitro shortage
 

Steve, Unless you purchased around $50,000.00 worth of nitro to run your racing operation in the last year or so, I'd be very careful about making strong arm comments. YOU don't have all the facts my friend. There's a lot more to this than is being let out. It's all about making money. And once again the racers are the ones getting screwed. But, that's never happened before. Has it!?

Re: nitro shortage
 

Steve you are very wrong with what you are saying about Don and Nitro. My brother imports stuff from China and I can tell you he had over 6 months notice on the shutdown of just about the whole country during the olympics. That is the main thing causing this shortage. Its not what they have now but he fact the facility is shut down. And why does Don have to sell it to VP. They fined him for a barrel of NITRO he had in the trailer upstairs, not in his pit. If VP wants to play official supplier they need to NUT up and buy stock like my brother had to. No it wasnt nitro but it was a 4 month supply of products. I dont care who you are or what business you are in when you put all your eggs in one basket the birds dont fly one day, that is what has happened here.

Ill bet you guys dont know that NITRO is also sold to the Govt. to build bombs. Wonder how much is being used there.

Herb Jr

Re: nitro shortage
 

The ones getting kneecapped are the Pro racers and ESPECIALLY the Nostalgia Fuel racers.....
Schumacher only has the Nitro he has, because he has been supplying NHRA racers, (for testing) and Nostalgia racers Nitro at near half what VP wants for it.

So let's examine this......Don has fuel stored at Vegas for the Monday test sessions, 4 drums get rolled out to the pits because it just happened that way, no one with access was available for Monday, so somebody squeals (VP ??) and Don gets embarrassed publicly, as well as the Army Team, fined a ludicrous amount of $$$.....fast forward to VP has no Nitro, Don is keeping his, and NOW testing is prohibited for the Nitro classes......theory would be that Don has no market anymore, but guess what, he can get his money back anytime.
There are lots of markets for Nitro.

NHRA is dicking it up again.

Just my opinion.

Go Don!;)

Re: nitro shortage
 

I am not a big fan of Don's but that is the way I see it as Dave explained.

Greg

Re: nitro shortage
 

And they KNEW China was going to shut down for the olympics and didn't stock up ??? Sounds "short sighted" to me !

Just how is Schumacher responible for the nitro shortage ?? He has his own buisness dealing in nitro and his own customers !! And he is suppossed to help VP cover their own *** ??? hahahahaha......

Re: nitro shortage
 

Like Greg, I'm not a Schumacher fan, namely for his "business before fun" tactic. But the smart money goes to him because he did what any deep pocket businessman would do during a speculative upturn in a market...he hedged...and won twice. Don is a risk taker, typical of any smart business person. He saw the problem before VP, and NHRA was caught in a catch 22 and made a "panic" move. Don simply reminded VP and NHRA they can't have their cake and eat it too.:p

Re: nitro shortage
 

VP has NHRA, Don sold to TORCO who supplied IHRA, Don sold to all Nostalgia racers but he also sold to AHDRA and other groups. Don sold more Nitro than VP so in the big picture 400 barrells isnt alot to have in stock for everything he was supplying. Maybe if VP wouldnt try screwing the racers Don would have never got in the NITRO buisness anyway. Maybe if VP and NHRA hadnt blasted him on TV for Cheating he would continue to sell VP nitro as he did in the past. Maybe the moral to this story is even a dog wont s&&t in his own playpin if you leave him there. NHRA and VP made a stupid decision and they are now blaming Don for it. All NHRA has to do is admit pubically they were wrong and Ill be the NITRO gets sold to VP or they need to make Don an official supplier and it will happen.

Herb Jr

Re: nitro shortage
 

Its not VP's fault China is shutting down for 2 months. They are not only shutting down production but the ports. Competition is a good thing in business, it keeps everyone a little more honest.

Off subject, a friend of mine was going to change his gas station over to CASH ONLY and sell the gas for 11 cents a gallon cheaper due to no credit card fees and his supplier wouldnt let him. He pays for the gas COD not net 7 like most. Why is that fair.


Herb Jr

Re: nitro shortage
 

The Spinx station in South Carolina gives a cash discount, and they even take cash at the pump, like a vending machine! I think it was 6-8 cents cheaper.

Re: nitro shortage
 

i hope vp and nhra run out of nitro! nhra just plain out sucks anymore!!! if nhra canned dimm light and tom turkey compton, placed non self centered people in there positions things may start to get better, but lets leave them there until they drain nhra into oblivion from every angle possible!! all this nitro testing ban and "official supplier" bull has been creating is racers and sponsors to look else where and let me tell you they are looking!!! to be completely honest nhra has sucked since winston left.

Re: nitro shortage
 

Not only do I agree with this quote, and all of the others like it, this makes me more glad that Sunoco is still allowed/used in Stock Eliminator. It's cheaper in cost, it works better in my stocker, it has a longer storage life, and I'm not supporting the VP monopoly! Thanks to all of the racers and merchants, who choose to carry Sunoco, or Torco fuels---more importantly, "I THANK GOD THAT I DON'T RACE A NITRO CAR!!!

Jarn05, I also agree with your thoughts of NHRA since Winston left (plus Diamond P Sports for that matter). I may be getting a bit off of the primary subject, but let me ask you all this...

1. How many of you prefer the way our categories are shown on tv now as opposed to the days of TNN & Diamond P?

2. How many of you prefer the way our categories are treated with regards to entry fees, field sizes, etc., compared to when the Winston Drag Race Series was in charge?

3. How many of you miss the days when Avgas was legal in our classes?

4. Whatever affects the pro classes now, will soon adversely affect our classes too, if you don't believe me check out the entry list currently for Stock & Super Stock at this years Mile High Nationals---13 out of a possible 60 entries in Stock, and 5 out of 60 (OMG!!!), in Super Stock with Grade 3's being allowed to enter as of yesterday??? I don't ever recall the fields being that small this close to the event, do you "Hawk"???

Don't get me wrong I still love Stock/Super Stock racing just as much as back in the 70's (when I started racing at Bandimere Speedway, and Drag Way Denver ((circa 1975), but it sure seemed a lot easier even back in the 90's when there was no fuel monopoly like now (Hawk, Woodro, Jim, anybody correct me if I'm wrong), but to borrow from the late great actor "Carrol O'Connor", "THOSE WERE THE DAYS"!!!