NO ROOM FOR SPORTSMAN RACERS AT HOUSTON
 

They have given all our pit area to Motor Homes on both sides of the track, consession trailers, all sorts of tents, passenger cars, golf carts, Pro Mods with lots of room for each, and Alcohol Funny Cars with lots of room for each. There's just not any pit space left for us and the track just won't spend any money to make more.

Now I'm sitting at home with no transportation and my truck, trailer, race car sitting in an old rice field with 6" of water all around and piles of dirt in front of the truck and no telling when I'll be able to get it out, at least I'm not hundreds of miles from home like some.

Nhra took a day of racing away this year and charged us more money to get in and some wonder why the car count is down? I believe it maybe even less in the future.

It seems the sport continue's to grow but some of our best tracks are stuck in the mud.

Thanks for letting me vent

Jeremy

They wonder why racers are quitting, after more than 30 years of racing, it just was not fun anymore, miss the racers, don't miss NHRA......

Jeremy, i feel for you, but i am afraid this is a sign of things to come and we keep right on going!

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.

NHRA= NOT HELPING RACERS ANYMORE

THere are other options available where the pressure is less and the people LOVE SPORTSMAN racing. Try NSCA . TONY will treat you right. Maybe racers should set one meet to try as a group so the friends are all still there AS WELL AS the racing. I bet a S and SS race is there as we speak...Good Tracks too.
It is a hard habit to change on your own but if you got 5 or 10 friends to try it the same meet you would like it. Great bunch of SS nostalgia cars too. GOOD tracks also.
National Trail april 28, 29 S and SS combo.

Dick Butler 3529

If I had a Rocket Launcher....

NHRA needs to stop the insanity. How did we ever let it get this far? The only thing we S/SS have ever stuck together on was the mufflers and a lot of you didn?t want to sign the petition back then, but Dan and I with a hand full kept pushing the issue. A great division 3 tech man told me it was a done deal, but we did defeat them on that issue, the tech man remained neutral on the issue.
Who is the best tech guy in division 3?

Everybody in div 3 loves the Red Man.

The other one, think BG.

I am not a person to defend NHRA, most who know me know how I feel about that particular entity. That being said it needs to be known that Comp and PRO Mod and a few alcohol cars were pitted right alongside stock, superstock, super street and super comp. It was a tough situation at Houston, for once I think NHRA made the right call. If the sportsman cars had attempted to move around it would have made a bad situation even worst. It was a huge amount of rain in a short amount of time and nothing would have changed that.

Gary

I think a lot could have been changed, the track owners have a construction company, there could have been roads (or at least high spots) built thru the north field where at least where if you did get stuck you wouldn't have to have your entire rig a 1/4 mile thru the mud, and there could have been drainage where the water would drain away from the cars instead sitting there for no telling how long.
There were no Comp or Pro Mods anywhere near where most of the Sportsman racers were parked.
Maybe theres room for 15 or 20 stockers this year but one more tent and that will be gone.
The problem continues to get worse every year as our pit area continues to get smaller every year with no consideration to the S/SS racers. If they don't want us to come at all they should just say so.

Jeremy

You have to be dreanged to race there as a sportsman.

deranged, cant spell

didn't they keep the stocker and super stockers from even getting in pits , like 1991 i think.had to park in a mall to see if ground dried any.
what about memphis in 1990 told all the .90 cars to go home after sitting in the round track parking lot for 3 days . wet is wet but some tracks never add dirt /gravel let alone pavement.
handwritting on the wall.
jim

Jim, i think they were already pitted and got Fridays class runs in before the Rains came! But you know the sad part is, that after the Gainesville enhancement, racers tell me, oh i am not going to Atlanta and you look on the entry list and they are some of the first to enter!!!!!!go figure!

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.

when I can run at least 5 IHRA races within a 8 hr drive then I will consider it

Chad Rhodes
STK 2113
www.rhodesmotorsports.net

After having attended the IHRA Nationals in Shreveport a few years ago, i can say that IHRA has the same problems. We asked for some help with the mud and all we got was straw. We sloshed through the mud at that race and we just had to live with it. I am not entirly happy with the situation at Houston. We are one of the ones in the biggest mud holes. It looks like Lake Houston around my car and the motorhome. But they were trying to build a road using old pavement and when the rain stops I think that they will reach us. Time will tell if we are treated fairly and if our motorhomes and cars will get out damage free. They need to get us out onto the paved parking and give us time to clean our cars before trying to continue the race. As I said time will tell how well the situation is handled.

Are you and your dad coming to Div 2 race at Steele in June?



Stephen Johnson #2162
Horace Johnson #2167
SS/D 427 Ford Fairlane NHRA-IHRA
Ex-Jim Van Cleve

Stephen 2162
Horace2167

There is PLENTY of open ground north of the cool down area at Houston Raceway Park. But NOTHING has been done to improve it in 20 years. If you spit out there, every one will be buried in mud. It might as well be a lake. It is completely USELESS. It will be that way 20 years from now.

RIP

If you really care, my name is Mike Van Winkle from Lake Charles La.

We may, if it were a 1/4 mile race there would be no doubt. But it would be fun to pull 400lbs out of the car and run AA/SA

Chad Rhodes
STK 2113
www.rhodesmotorsports.net

This is the reason I do not race Houston. It always rains at Houston. I stopped after the same deal about 10 years or so ago. The track is just a lake after a normal rain and has always been that way. Some things never change!!!!!!!

Most Stock and Super Stock racers really don't do anthing about the problems they have with NHRA .All they do is complain to each other and then they do nothing about solving the problems they have with NHRA. All talk and no action with NHRA

Kevin they are running it this coming week-end Friday Time run and Sat 1 run and Race, random pairing is what i was told by some of my guys that were out there!

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.

Kevin they are running it this coming week-end Friday Time run and Sat 1 run and Race, random pairing is what i was told by some of my guys that were out there!

woodro josey
I miss Buster Couch and Lex Dudas.

Woodro is correct, both as to the schedule and the random pairing.

The latter is because it's a rain-postponed race for Stock and Super Stock and neither of them ran the first round on the original weekend.

- Larry