Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

I was wondering why there isnt much support at Ihra divisional races?The Nhra seem's to draw 40 or more at there divisional races.The Ihra offers 2 races for the price of 1 during a weekend and a free live feed on the internet for exposure.What kind of publicity do you get from the Nhra?I use to be a fan of Nhra Pro Stock,but i have really warmed up to the Super Stock racer's.The Super Stocker's put on a heck of a show at the Northern Class nationals that was put on by Micheal Beard.Just a fan looking for some input.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

In our case theres not a ihra event close for us... the nearest one is 10hrs away... we have 5 nhra events/tracks within a 7hr drive... kind of an easy decision. ...

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Mike Beard did an awesome job on Class Nationals..!

I think the new owner of IHRA is getting it right.

Ideas:
Night time entertainment for the racers and fans.
BBQ Cook Off Contest
More Vendors

Great job at the NitroJam and ProAm at MIR this last weekend.
I even signed T-shirts ....

D

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

I thought it was 2 races for $ 135 each .... ( = $ 270 for both races) ?

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

We had a great time at an IHRA divisional race a few years ago and were planning to go back. the next year they put the date the same weekend as an NHRA race in same division and didn't get a good a good turn out. they canceled the race after that. The race was at Skyview Dragway in N.Y.,great track run by good people. I hope the new IHRA does more in this area , maybe at the new track they are trying to build in CT.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Mostly because alot of us can't afford to race both the HRA's just the cost of fuel to get to some of the races from here is stagering. Prescott is looking better to me everyday,40 mi round trip $60 $65 to enter, home same day.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

In a word support on all levels from the top management down as a former 5 time SS divisional champion of a division that no longer exists for the second time I think I know of what I speak payouts and contingency is at a all time low track prep is iffy at best especially at the smaller remote tracks our high powered high strung, high maintainance SS cars need a good track to work places like dragway 42,clay city,roclingham,etc. need more help than even God can provide I can still remember very well the last ever points race at dragway 42 in the early part of the decade when I was on a terror pretty much qualifying #1 anywhere or anytime we wanted to IHRA or NHRA, and IHRA starter Bill came to me and Tony in the pits after him and the late great Jim Wienert confered told us not to bother juicing up the car as the track was in such poor shape there was nothing they could do with it. we still qualified #1 anyway had a great race won 2heads up rounds got to the finals and redlit to richard doane
aftyer a quick tree another story for another time suffice to say it was old age and treachery over youth and exhuberance at the time whatever kool-aid IHRA trys to feed us they in all reality could care less about us class racers the new president operates 3 tracks and wants butts in the seats to buy burgers and beers, but trust me he is not and never will be Bill Bader jet cars, fuel queers and wall banging Pro Mods are what brings in the spectators as far as he's concerned.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

He's not God, but Super Stock racer Ron Matcham bought Dragway 42 and they're not just doing a facelift. They are building an entirely brand new facility, relocating the track and the pits, and building everything from the ground up. (That ground has been mud all spring, so they're not where they would like to be, but all in good time!) Check out www.dragway42.com

On another note, I've personally worked with Scott Gardner, and his passion for sportsman racing is genuine. That does not make it mutually exclusive with shows.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Every time there is a discussion about IHRA VS. NHRA participation, the same excuses arises, Too far, No Contingency $...etc. I know racers that race only NHRA and that state the above reasons why they do not race IHRA, but they travel even farther for NHRA events, do not win enough rounds to collect $, get to the track on Thursday to start 1st Round on Sunday. No, Thank You.

It is entertaining to read Michael Beard's common sense/ intelligent responses to complaining/excuse posts on this topic.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Me and my brother raced IHRA for quite a few years, we absolutely enjoyed ourselves, good tracks good people we never gave a thought to going to an NHRA race. Times as they say have changed, there is not a "decent" IHRA track closer than 5 hours for us, and being as we can race as much as we want staying close to home, well there's your answer.There is really only 1 IHRA race that I would be interested in going to and that's their Martin race, love the track but doesn't make sense to join IHRA for 1 race...that and the last one I went to a couple years ago was an absolute cluster...all due to some poor decision making by my 2 favorite folks. Guess we got spoiled with Norwalk, Milan, Martin, Liecaster NY, (spelling) had a lot of good tracks, now not so much. I for one would love to see IHRA get back to where they were in the 80's & 90's but cannot see it happening any time soon.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Jeff Taylor told me one time "don't pass a race track that is having a race you can race at to go to another race track that is having a race you can race at". So,..........................I guess whatever letter is in front of the HRA will do. I like them both.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Many feel like IHRA's new, or added, classes are bogus too.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

What new classes? You mean that they actually have some separate classes for the new factory race cars, instead of forcing them to run against the traditional Stockers like NHRA? :confused:

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

What new classes? Everything in the rulebook is 10-15 years old, or older. Except for the new FI classes for 2008-newer cars in Stock (which NHRA should have done).

Great minds think alike, Michael (we typed the same thing a minute apart).

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Crate motors, pure stock, etc.

I don't care, but I have heard some talk about them.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

If you want to talk about bogus classes nhra is the industry leader in that dept. Even though I love the new cars.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

All I'm saying is many think those classes are bogus, and don't care about running with them. It's just become bracket racing anyway with these bogus slow indexes.
I don't care myself, since I have pretty much retired, the NHRA races require buying more diesel than I care to anyway.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Why are they bogus? Pure stock is theost legit class in all of class racing.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Beard Vs Carr :eek: and Beard gets the light!! :D
Mike, Looks like Beard got you by about 1 minute!!

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

You would think those people would *rather* run IHRA, where they don't have to run heads-up against the new factory race cars. They also don't run heads-up against those "other" classes, either. It's also worth pointing out that there are 0 Pure Stockers in Div. 4, and only a couple of Crate Motor cars. It stands to reason that it's not the cars that are bogus, but the argument.

I used to work for IHRA back in the day, and all we heard was, "We'll come race with you if you change such-n-such." If that got changed, they still didn't come, and they came up with another excuse. The bottom line is that they simply didn't want to. Not enough people supported them when they were at their strongest, so now they're having to rebuild from a weaker position. NHRA *needs* competition to make them better.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Thanks Jeff

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

The what? LOL

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

First off I want to say is Michael nailed it like he usually does. While I don't run a pure stocker it is the closest thing we have nowadays to what stock started out as, stock camshafts, stock valve springs etc. So don't lol think about it. Its just not a nhra class.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Uh, I don't think it's stock camshafts or valve springs. If it is, some are cheating. LOL

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Ed, I believe you hijacked the thread, there is no Pure Super Stock classes or even Super Stock crate motor classes of which this entire thread was about, he asked why Super Stock didn't support, if you don't support IHRA Super stock because of some stock classes you don't agree with, then you probably ought to retire,....... no personal attack intended on you sir, just saying!

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

We have ran both...Not too much IHRA, mainly because my big brother don't think much of them. I remember him making the statement one time "we could show up at one of their racers and run a holley and no one would know the difference", "It would take a other racer to point it out to them." . What he was implying is their tech knowledge is not stellar. He went on to say" they (IHRA) are all based on those throttle stop cars"......Is he right? I don't know, but a lot of people in my circle think like he does. They are a bracket racing organization. I think its just a perception, but if you notice, most of the fast guys flock to NHRA tracks. There are the majors...and then there are the minors. To each his own. Many class racers think IHRA is ok in a pinch or for testing, but if they have a choice, it will be with the big dogs........ IHRA are Very, Very, nice people, ....but you keep asking

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

How about Super Stock specific: SS Production. Another joke.
Many Stockers don't like it because of what I mentioned.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

New track in CT?!?
Where at ?

Mike A114 P/SA

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

What about SS production is a joke?

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Really? Maybe someone would get away with it, but no more or less likely than they would in NHRA. Both do tech and periodic spot-checks on different things at various events.

HUH? :confused: What do you mean you don't know? You said you've run some IHRA events. IHRA was only an all-index racing association for 1-2 years back in the late '80s, when it was owned by Billy Meyer.

IHRA runs Stock. NHRA runs Stock.
IHRA runs Super Stock. NHRA runs Super Stock.
IHRA runs Top Sportsman. NHRA runs Top Sportsman.
IHRA runs Top Dragster. NHRA runs Top Dragster.
IHRA runs Hot Rod. NHRA runs Super Street (same thing).
IHRA runs Super Rod. NHRA runs Super Gas (same thing).
IHRA runs Quick Rod. NHRA runs Super Comp (same thing).

They run all the same classes, so how does that make them a "bracket racing association"?


What exactly makes it a joke? The class has been around forever, with deep historical roots. It's basically like the SS/Modified classes (which both NHRA and IHRA contest), only with more rules. (Refer to the Camaro driven by NHRA 4-Wide Nationals Super Stock Champion Pete D'Agnolo.) Rules are available online, free: http://www.ihra.com/competition/itemlist/category/123

Number of SS/Production cars in Div. 4: Zero, so that cannot be what's keeping the cars home in your region.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

If you study the SS production rules you might see a very similar blend of modified and NHRA SS/GT. Stock bore & stroke for the engine claimed keeps it from being a full blown Modified - Comp style engine. Yes, there are a few other things besides Carb, heads & compression, but I just look at it as a the IHRA version of a modified SS/GT class.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

"Deep historical roots" in IHRA maybe, but we have a lot of Super Modified SS cars in Div 4 NHRA, but most don't fit the IHRA rules. If they want to draw NHRA cars they need to make the rules the same. There aren't a lot of IHRA-only Stock or SS cars around here anyway.

Considering the IHRA tracks around here, they likely still wouldn't draw many cars. I ran several IHRA races a few years ago. I tried to support them. Other than Tulsa, which couldn't make any money with IHRA, none of them had room for the number of cars and big rigs an NHRA points race draws. They couldn't fit them all in.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

[QUOTE=
Considering the IHRA tracks around here, they likely still wouldn't draw many cars. I ran several IHRA races a few years ago. I tried to support them. Other than Tulsa, which couldn't make any money with IHRA, none of them had room for the number of cars and big rigs an NHRA points race draws. They couldn't fit them all in.[/QUOTE]

That's hilarious right there Ed, if you think Tulsa made any money with 322 cars then it's obvious you don't have a clue about cost of events and as for your statement about IHRA tracks in your area, I am assuming you mean Oklahoma area, IHRA pro am tracks in div 4 are SAN ANTONIO( not very good racing surface but will hold whatever is needed for car counts), Baton Rouge( good facility and great people and former nhra track and can hold the cars needed) Pinevalley ( very good track and great racing surface and room for plenty of cars).Are they as good as the Texas Motorplex? No but neither is Noble or any of the LODRS tracks around.

The whole truth is if a racer don't want to go, they will make enough excuses to not go and the original question of this thread was why super stock didn't support IHRA, you have come up with every excuse why but none of them are relevant to this thread IMO ...... Just my .02

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Its not nhra plain and simple. Not trying to pick on one person because there are a lot of racers that are that way. Ihra does do things a little different, who wants a carbon copy of nhra. Sometimes they come up with some good ideas because they are allowed to think outside the box, top stock, top sportsman and top dragster are examples.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

This just keeps getting weirder...

So are you trying to say that Production cars are a joke because they have MORE stringent rules than an unrelated NHRA class? :confused: Or are you not defending the Production cars are a joke statement? What are you calling Super Modified cars, because that's a Comp class. Yes, IHRA does not run Competition Eliminator. If you're referring to Modified Stock (AS, BS, CS, etc...), IHRA also has them. (As for "a lot", there appears to have been 4 Modified Stock cars in NHRA Div. 4 last year) Did you mean the MX classes? Both sanctioning bodies have those. What cars are you talking about, what rules do they not fit, and how is any of this relevant to SS/Production?

So... how are they keeping anyone else at home then? :confused:

So if the facilities were larger, they'd draw more cars? Huh? :confused: Tulsa's a nice facility, and IHRA had a great program there with an added FREE race one year, and people still didn't support it. Many tracks have switched sanctioning bodies throughout the years. Tulsa, Shreveport (Thunder Road Raceway Park), Virginia Motorsports Park, New England Dragway, Norwalk, and Montgomery among many others were once IHRA. Hanging an NHRA flag at the gate must confer magical powers.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Michael, you're saying IHRA didn't have enough racer support when they were at their peak? Maybe I'm misremembering but I seem to recall a lot of races rigs crammed in pretty tight, heck I think it was the last "world nationals" some racers were pitted in Linders lot. If that's not racer support I'm not sure what it is. Again at least in my mind IHRA has changed dramatically...and not in a good way.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

If you want to make a legend of yourself (or at least get a reputation), you need to win in the NHRA. I think this is a prevalent, underlying factor to many racers... even though nobody will admit it. It's tougher to get that reputation in the IHRA.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Yeah, that was Norwalk. There were a couple of other races in Div. 3 and Div. 9 that did well for a few years. Other areas, not nearly so much. But I do agree that they made some decisions that moved them in the wrong direction.

True, but only because of perception creating that reality. Anthony Bertozzi, Mark Nowicki, Pete D'agnolo, Jimmy Hidalgo, Brent Darroch, Scotty Stillings, Monty Bogan... and the list goes on. It doesn't matter what flag is hanging at the gate. Guys like these are always a threat to win.


Let's turn this around and make something positive out of this thread: what can they do to rebuild?

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

Do you know and talk to the people running Tulsa? I do. I live here. I'm almost fifteen minutes from the track. Been racing there since 1964. BTW, they kept announcing 370 cars last weekend. I didn't check out their numbers, as I really don't care.
Many Pro Stock cars test here, also Comp and Super Stock. Well run facility. I'm lucky.

You have been to Pine Valley? Doesn't sound like it. It's a "nice little, rural, et bracket track". Not sure where they would put a hundred or more totters & stackers, plus everybody else. I don't know where they would park everybody for an NHRA LODRS race. Spectators either.

Been to Baton Rouge lately? I wouldn't go back. Certainly not what it used to be. Very run down last time I was there. Long drive from Tulsa, for not much. They had to drive me across to the far side of the property on a golf cart to another building so I could pay my entry with my Visa.

Memphis was still pretty nice a couple of years ago, always like it. Not that bad a drive.
San Antonio isn't much. Wouldn't call it a dump, but I likely won't ever go back there. Long drive.

The track at Gilliam, LA (Not far from Shreveport, used to be called "Red River Raceway") is OK. Not a long drive from here (5 to 6 hours), but it really fills up during the points races. I have raced there under both IHRA and NHRA. It's not bad.

Yes, we have Noble. It sure isn't much. I always wonder when all the traveling "pros" that stop there on their way to the NHRA World Finals, if they think all our Div 4 tracks are like that?
If it weren't so close (less than 2 hours), I wouldn't go there either. Starting line is always great because our regular Div 4 NHRA crew preps it. Rest of it ain't much. Either dust or mud. Don't bother testing there beforehand. Been there, done that.

With your made up screen name, I don't know who you are, or what you race, but surely you aren't from here in Div 4. I'm afraid you are very mis-informed about a lot here.

Re: Question for the Super Stock Racer's
 

I agree