Dallas or Houston
 

Who wants to stay at Dallas or go to the mud bath for next weekends National? Let's hear what you have to say!

I say stay right where we are so it doesn't turn into a mud race rather than a drag race!

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Go to Houston they have the circle track we can pit at.we have parked there before when it was wet.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

All sold to RVs. They would not lose that revenue. Don't think that's an option.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I was at the race that never happened for 4 days. 4 lost days of work, 4 wasted days, lots of money, stuck in the mud had to be pulled out. Never again.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I have friends and family that are going to houston. Hotel rooms booked and they are going to watch me and the pros. They arnt gonna come to Dallas. I wouldn't be happy if they wanted to race it in Dallas. Why am I gonna pay $310 to race in front of nobody? My sponsor wouldn't like that very much and I assume the contingency Sponsors wouldn't either. How about he pour some blacktop road down the back so we don't have to be in the mud? doesn't he own a paving company? The weather looks good from here on out. How long have we been paying entry fees and he hasn't done anything for our pits? I'll answer that, over 20 years. It's a dirt road. People who are coming to watch us have money invested in this already. Not everyone has a motorhome. They rented hotels already. People bought tickets already expecting their friends to be there. And now you want me to pay $310 and I can't even watch the pros?

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

What he said ^^^. I don't run a lot of these, i'm just a backyard nhra racer, but i'm willing to pay that entry fee to race and watch the travelling circus once a year. Hrp's pit area is a joke for the sportsman guys, but it just shows who they are worried about when they dont do anything about it. They have added some drainage to the spectator parking lot though...gee thanks..

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

http://www.nhraracer.com/content/gen...890&zoneid=175


Answer to your question!

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

This motorhome is shaking all over the place. Really bad front coming through. I am not going to Houston if the race is done there. I am going home. I think my son Joey going to Houston. We are having water wings put on the camper. It is really shaking this 45000 lb monster around right now.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I'm not going either Mr. Jeff. I am not interested in sitting in the mud again and having to complete it on Monday or something else. The sensible thing to do would be to move it to Dallas, but since that is sensible, that is not an option as we know it!

Has anyone been asked for input? Isn't this what our sportsman advisory council is for?

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Houston will be a mud mess! I am going because I managed to get a few rounds in Gainesville and hope to continue the luck. The good thing is I have a HOTEL room with my name on it. Yea some of us don't have motorhomes. But just in case I have a hotel room in Ennis as well! Maybe I should invest in a motorhome! I can tell you we had standing water today in Ennis and we are parked on gravel couldn't imagine parking on grass!

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I came to Ennis fully intending to go on to Houston. I talked to several Super Stock racers yesterday and today that decided to skip Houston. I don't remember talking to anybody that has not decided to skip it. Sounds like SS may be a little light on cars.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Many of us who do this (drag racing) are business owners and we're able to do it because we're somewhat successful business owners. Holding onto that thought, I struggle to understand why the HRP track owners can't justify a few hundred thousand in capital investment dollars to make it a premier facility. A guaranteed NHRA national and divisional event in the most competitive division in the country and the potential to be one of the best attended national/divisional events on an annual basis.

It's a puzzling picture.

What am I missing here?

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Mr. Bill,
I think you answered part of your own question. Owners are in it as business - for money only.
NHRA does not seem to care about sportsmen and neither does HRP... They invested in the spectator parking lot. That tells you what is important to them. Selling hotdogs and beer to the huge market of people they have that will come to see the pros. One of the largest cities in the country, they dont need a big sportsmen field. They just need the crowd in the stands for the pros.
With all the issues there over the years, IF NHRA cared, they would tell them to do something about it, but they dont...
Shame, but it is just the same story on and on. National Events are about the pros and getting people in the stands.

Ken

Stock 412

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I think some forget Motorplex used to be a mud pit in the sportsman area. Billy Meyer and NHRA came to an agreement it needed to be taken care of and they laid the gravel. Is it the best solution? Probably not, everyone complains about the rocks but atleast tomorrow when most of the rigs leave they can drive out of the gate rather than be towed out like in Houston.

I choose to skip the Houston national and head to Holly Springs, MS for the southern footbrake challenge. Not a hard decision at all to be honest Houston is going to be a mess even if there's no rain from Thursday-Sunday.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

By looking at the entry list, looks like more cars are entering the race than leaving it. We added over 8 cars in stock and Superstock in the last 2 days... the ones who entered are here at dalas, so go talk to them. Like I said, weather looks promising the whole week. Do some of you guys think water doesn't dry up with a little sunshine? We've got 5 days till we park. Relax. Don't ruin our National Event by making it a $310 divisional race and screwing over our friends who are coming watch just because you think it might be wet. Seth Angel isn't going to give up all that money anyway. He knows how many people come with the sportsman because he had to refund all of their tickets in 2013. He isn't going to wanna pay for us to run it in Dallas. I would think he'd rather pour us a few roads, that's all we need. Now, if they wanna give me the $100 insurance and my friends money back, I'm with yall. Let's run it here if it looks like mud. But I still don't know what they are going to do about their hotel rooms.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

i just backed out of Houston.i thought they would put us at the circle track but i forgot they put Motorhomes there. i have been in the Mud to many times. the last time for the race that never happened i broke my flatbed wrecker pulling myself out of the mud. the owners of the Houston track need to update the sportsmen pits. every year it rain's for this race. the NHRA needs to step in and do something. Dallas track took care of there pit problem.the owners of Houston own a paving co.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Hagen may mistaken. (Whoda thunk it? LOL) SS car count is way down for Houston. Last I looked today was only 41 cars.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I just wanted to let all the NON motorhome owners know that the Holiday Inn gave me a full refund for my room and my friends room. Thank goodness I didn't lose any money! Oh and I didn't lose my $310 for withdrawing from the event either! I get to use that hard earn money to go to another Nation Drag Race event that won't be a mud fest. I surly would like to know how much money will be lost by those attending the race when it's canceled at the last minute. I'm sure the hostels won't understand when you cancel on Thursday or Friday.

I still believe there would have been a better turn out if the race was kept in Dallas!

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Ed. look at my time stamp. I posted that Sunday morning. I was correct then. Your post came on Monday night. btw, there are just as many stockers now as there was when I posted. I'm actually happy people pulled out. Now we might not even have to go down the dirt(mud) roads. There is gonna be plenty of room to park along the paved roads. Thanks guys. I'll be at Houston trying to adapt and overcome, as National event winners do, while you guys stay home and wonder when its going to be your turn to win one. And if I have to camp in the mud and watch the pros with all my friends for free because their tickets get refunded, well that ain't so bad either. I'm not going to ruin it all just because it "might" be more convenient for me. Nobody ever said winning a National was easy.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Wow nasty reply

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I see the NHRA has extended the pull out date to thursday. word is that you will not go to the track till monday!!! you will be stacked at the Mall till after the pro's pull out.so if that happens you will not be able to park along the side of the return rode and watch the pro's run. that is the word on the street. Sportsmen Racers need to stick together and all pull out. but we all know that will never happen.if Houston had hard pits for the Sportsmen this would not be a problem. NHRA need's to step up and let the Racers know what is there plan. PS thanks to Billy M. for fixing the pits in Dallas. that problem is solved. and Billy does not own a paving co.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

please elaborate. Because I insinuated that You have adapt to different circumstances to win? How about Ed insinuating that I'm wrong about everything? If I am, I'll admit it. If we sit in the mud and get screwed over then I'll say I was wrong. But I'm not going to mess up the whole race because there is a chance it might get messed up. When we get the race in and nobody gets stuck in the mud, you wont see anybody saying they were wrong.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Hagen i hope by the grace of god that the sportsmen get to race but we both know that is very foggy with the weather forcast. you my man may have a job where you can sit at the Mall for five days but most of the Sportsmen Racers don't. we both know that if the Sportsmen pit's were hard we would not be talking about it. Word on the street is that the Sportsmen will Race next week. NHRA is not going to park you in the mud!!! NHRA is doing the best they can with what they have to work with it's not there fault. but they need to talk to managment and fix the problem this is to many times with no dry hard pit's for the Sportsmen. and the Track owners are in the rock and paving business!!!

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Hagen, I said how many I talked to that said they were *going* to withdraw. I was kidding you about the "Whoda Thunk it." Don't take me so serious.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

RUMOR HAS IT.....




....that they are bringing in water-proof asphalt, coated with RAIN-X in the sportsman pits. Also, the race will be run 1/8th mile for all sportsman categories to speed up the race. No heads ups, weighing, or fuel check also to cut down on time.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

You are right Ed. I read that as you saying who would have Thunk I was wrong. When I guess you were saying who would have Thunk you were right about the withdrawals.

I don't know where you are getting that info from Sammy, NHRA has made it clear on their website that they are parking us on Thursday.

Weather don't look to bad from what I see. One from weather channel, the other from weather underground

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I also hear they are not going to put up all those hospitality suites and motorhome parking on the pit side to let us sportsman park there. And they aren't even going to set up a huge Traxxas display with dirt track and all. That's going to save about 45 sportsman spots. They also aren't going to have all those T-shirt factories set up in the pits. There is another 30 spots. Man, Rumor has it we are all going to be on the blacktop. And those who aren't will have the grass coated in a special compound developed by D, that is if they don't get tangled up at the scales.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I'm out of racing at this point so I dont have a dog in this hunt this weekend. What I will tell you is two years ago I was at the debacle in Baytown. I wrote a well written(not nasty) letter to the Angels,Royal Purple HQ and NHRA. I did get replies but guess what their not going to to do anything. Its been two years since then. If they were dont you think it would have happened by now. Ashton Hudson and I had this discussion at Pine Valley. We agreed never again to go to Baytown for a national. Oh by the way my son has lived in the Houston area since 2007. It rains every fricken afternoon in the spring time! So if you think it wont rain at all the rest of the week put there your sadly mistaken.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Hagen i hope so for the Sportsman. i read it on Facebook from another Racer from Houston. maybe it finally got through to NHRA.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I do hope they wait to run the sportsman till Monday. Im sure they may have a few more racers show up that werent planning on going. I know 4 entries for sure. That would give us non national event winners another chance to race like the traditonal national winners. Im guessing NHRA offers 24 National events incase races like this happens. Just because the asphalt is dry doesnt mean the grass will be. If you really think they will park S/SS on the asphalt before ALCHOLO, COMP, TS, or TD you are kidding yourself. Houston doesnt have that much pavement guys, be real. S/SS will be the last guys on the pavement.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Well you might get your chance now Hagen. I have info that has RVs already parked on the pit side in their normal spots sold by the track. Don't know about the rest of the rumors, but that one doesn't seem that it's going to happen, unless they move them out. That seems unlikely since they let them park there today.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

My first thought was that the sportsman racers need to unite and withdraw in protest, this surely would get NHRA's attention and possibly get something done about this situation.
After some consideration I've come to the conclusion that they extended the withdrawal period hoping that everyone would, so that in my opinion shows they really could care less.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

I agree with you. All rumors running around like crazy. Yet not one factual statement or update from NHRA or the track to assist racers in making their decisions. Aren't we all dues paying members? Sad.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Brett i am with you. were would they park the Sportsmen!!!! there is no hard ground to park now that the motorhomes are parked behind the grandstands. i hope they figure out something.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

As the result of hard work by the Royal Purple Raceway staff and favorable weather, pit parking will begin tomorrow at 2:00 PM and continue till 6:00 PM for competitors in Comp, SS, STK, SC, SG, SST, TD and TS. Competitors in these categories will need to proceed to the Gate 3 where they will be directed to a holding lot. Access to the holding lot will open tomorrow at 1:00 PM. Upon arrival, competitors will be issued a number based on the order in which they arrived. An NHRA Pit Control official will direct competitors from the holding lot to the facility for parking. Anyone arriving past 6:00 PM will be stacked in the holding lot at Gate 3 till pit parking resumes on Thursday at 8:00 AM.

There you go guys. Just posted on NHRARACER. It remains to be seen if the weather does puts a hamper on things, but I'm glad we didn't ruin a National Event, even though some tried real hard to. I don't blame some for having a little PTSD from 2013 but it sure is looking like there will be no problems. With only 250 sportsman who stuck with it, we should all have a decent spot in the pits. I'm assuming NHRA won't let you guys back in the race now? Thats a tough shake.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

If there is 250 sportsman there that's awesome! Hope yall get to race! But let's be honest there was over 500 racers in Dallas so did NHRA make the right choice??

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

While we are being honest, the quota for all sportsman is 416 if the fields were full. And they never fill up at Houston. They lost less than 100 cars, and that's a pretty good hit. That's $10,000 in insurance they aren't getting from the sportsman, plus all the entry fees and Crew tickets they lost from people who based their decision on the pit conditions in the past. I'll be sure to post some pictures for you to see what they have done to them this year.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

WOW Hagen you did the numbers and NHRA took a Big hit. they must be reading all of our post's and looks like it struck a NERVE!!!!! and they made the track go to WORK !!. that would be great if you would take some pic's and post them. and i guess for us that pulled out helped make room for our Sportsmen friends. i look at it as we wrere Organ doners.we had to donate our organs for others to live!!! hope it does not RAIN so they can get the Race off.good luck to all the Sportsmen Racers.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Hope everybody gets to race without a lot of drama over the mud & weather. Just looked, the Weather Channel says 50% chance of rain Friday, 80% Saturday, and 50% again Sunday. Hopefully just very early or late light showers, if any at all. Good luck to everybody there.

Re: Dallas or Houston
 

Now with the total sportsman entries in a a whopping 355 cars did NHRA make the right decision..? 500+ in Dallas which most everyone would have stayed companied to 355 in Houston..! NHRA could care less what the sportsman have to say! They could care less about losing 250+ entries just to have it on the scared ground of the PRO's. Yes sportsman get to rase this weekend but it shows that NHRA will continue to race rather the sportsman are there are not.