Fontana divisional rumor
 

I there is a rumor going around that the Fontana race is going to be 2 days instead of 3.
Can someone confirm or deny that. It is still listed as 3.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

here's the email i got monday.
Hi All,

I learned today that the Fontana Division race will be a two day event. I just wanted to make sure that everyone has this information.

Thursday- Pit Parking from 2-7
Friday- Test n Tune 11-5
Saturday- Qualifying starts at 8am.

They have not posted a detailed schedule on nhradiv7.com yet but I believe they will soon.

Thank you,
Justin Lamb

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

So that probably means the entry fee will be $113.66?

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

The schedule is posted on the Division 7 page on NHRA Racer. Sorry Mike, no discount for this shortened divisional.

Raul

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

More money for Nhra more money for the track Nhra saves money on personal and it cost the racers more money per run, if you don't like it let them know, they will tell you it saves the racer money, but really how many show up Saturday for a division race. I can think of about a dozen out of a few hundred.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

It will save me money. Minus 2 entries at $170. Minus 700 miles at $3.09 a gallon. Minus $200 for the lead after the Tues hp hit for the 302.
I think I will spend my entertainment dollars elsewhere that weekend.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

For non-retired folks like me it is another days pay.

I think the $100 TnT fee is a little steep but since Andy can't go I need the seat time.

We are one of the dozen or so you mention because of work commitments.


Ron

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Mike ,

The $3.09 a gal is only if your able to make the trip back on AZ fuel

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Yep , last night when up again in SoCa now regular is sitting at 4.05 a gal...

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Thanks for a good laugh, Mike!

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Mike,


I am not sure I understand the logic here. You will get the same amount of time runs and the purse will remain the same. Will not running Friday save NHRA a little bit of money? Yes, I'm sure it will. But it will also save a lot of the working class racers money because it is one more day they can stay home and work, and one less night in a hotel.


I personally think that supporting all of these events is important. You not showing up because you do not get to "hang out" at the track for that extra day does nothing to help our sport. I believe the majority appreciates the condensed schedule especially because we end up with the same amount of runs. I also believe we need to get used to it as this is the first of 4 divisionals here in division 7 that will be two day races. Sonoma is also going to a two day schedule with a test n tune on Friday and the Salt Lake Divisional is two, two day divisionals combined.


Thanks,
Justin Lamb

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

^^ lol

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Justin
I am not sure you understand.
Some of us blue collar racers do not have a crew to take care of our equipment. It may be a surprise,but some of us build and maintain our own cars. We enjoy working on and testing our stuff. This does nothing for the racers that want to show up on Saturday. They always had that option. Now we are all going to be parking and teching at the same time. Saturday will be the only time hit. What could go wrong there?
Let me be clear.THIS DOES NOTHING TO SAVE THE RACERS MONEY!!!
Since you are our rep maybe we can discuss this while I am not supporting our sport
Would Bowling Green,Joliet,Bristol, or Tulsa work for you? I will be "hanging out" there
in the next month. I can fire up the barbie and we can dine while my crew takes care of my equipment.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

This is a great topic.

Let me shed some light and be transparent on how a divisional works for the host track.

The host track pays NHRA a fee to be able to host a LODRS. If the host track gets over 300 entries then you pay an additional fee per car over 300. The host track pays 100% of the purse along with the normal overhead of their employees, insurance and so on. NHRA supplies them with the Wally's, a handful of employees (tech, starter, scales etc) and the division director to help run the event.

This year I took as the manager at Sonoma I looked at ways of making the drag strip more profitable for all the events hosted. It seemed like a no brainer to me to extend the Saturday evening curfew to 10pm (we can do this twice a year) and give all the LODRS racers three runs on Saturday and make Friday a test n tune to allow for less overhead for us and less time off for the racers. Division 2 has tried this method in the past and this year every division race is a 2 day format in that division. The majority of the D2 racers love the idea and with the three events they had this year all have shown big increases over last year.

I have also worked with companies to give back to the LODRS racers attending the Sonoma event. I have $6,750 worth of cash to give back to each class at our division race ($250 cash for the best losing package 1st, 2nd and 3rd rounds for every class).

For me it's fairly simple. Give the racers the best product possible while also giving our track the best opportunity to be profitable.

Hope to see everyone July 21-22.

-Kyle
510.912.4160

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Mike I'm not sure you get the picture here... you dont sound like much of a blue collar racer you sound more like a retired wealthy man that apparently can afford to travel the united states and go racing whenever he wants and show up on Wednesday tech then have the option of test and tune on Thursday and besides if you need to test your cars why not support your local track on any other off weekend and prepare your car before you get to the race that way you are race ready when you get there , and i believe Mr Justin has a job and works and has 2 young children and maintains 4 race cars i dont recall ever seeing him with a "crew" ..... as a majority of us "blue collar" Working class people that cant afford to take multiple days off to race and test on Thursdays we have to take long nights after work working on our race cars then driving into the night and showing up late in the evening to wake up early in the morning to tech and race ....how do you expect new people to get into stock or any other class if it only caters to the retired people that dont have to clock in and out and work overtime just so they can show up on a Thursday when you can show up on a Friday night and still get the same amount of runs in on Saturday and race on Sunday and besides fontana is still going to have a test session on Friday so if you really need to test your car you can on Friday and be ready for sat

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Let me make this issue crystal clear. These Two day points meets are not about SAVING racers money. That is a friggen laugh. If I can’t afford to take the extra day off work then I don’t need to be racing anyway...I applaud Kyle Seipel for recruiting sponsors for his points race. If he needs to trim the overhead to increase his bottom line then so be it. I believe he has proven himself to be an excellent race promoter.....Yes, all D 2 points races are two days....sorry, I won’t be attending any.... You can schedule two day points racers when you have small fields.... but when Mother Nature intervenes good luck with that.....

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Who ever you are?
You don't know me. You have no idea When and where I race. I don't need to test. I enjoy it. We race both cars at the summit and ADRA races and support multiple combo associations. Having a 3 day race does not require you to attend all 3 days. Some very successful racers show up Sat for one hit and then go racing. That is your OPTION. Going to 2 days takes away my OPTION of showing up early. I have no problem with the track making a profit. If they don't we will not have a place to race. If they are not making a profit then raise the price. Anyone that believes that the $170 that it costs to enter one these races is a significant percentage of the cost to race is either very efficient or delusional. I am going with delusional.
Things go wrong at races, so when you compress the schedule there is no time to recover. Track prep will suffer. Safety will suffer. The fun factor will suffer. If this works then great. D7,Fontana,1 day, I don't think so. I choose to sit this one out.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

LOL.......You go Commiefornia !

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

lol

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Comments:

Div 6 has raised entry to $185 so be happy you are only paying $170?

Why are crew passes sometimes more expensive than spectator passes?

I agree with Mike's comments about 2 day races, supposedly we are doing this for fun, if this is a business venture why don't try to squeeze into one day and make it even more cost effective?

Regarding comments that 2 day races should have prorated entry fees, that brings up another question; where does the extra money go to when there are either 5 cars in the quarters of 3 cars in the semis? Why doesn't that get prorated back in?

Jim Caughlin
SS 6019

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

if the entry fees bother you look at other venues the weekend after the divisional theirs a big dollar bracket race 3 races that pay 3k 4.5k 4.5k for 325$ 3 races that pay more then the divisional that cost only 108$ per race sounds like a lot more fun with a lot more opportunity's to win

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

In response to the two day divisional our division has had that inhacement some people are at the gate camping out complaining they can't get in on wendsday others are trying to expalne to there boss how they need 7 fridays off make it kinda hard to race with no qualifying on Saturday tell that to the truck driver carpet layer collage kid wife can't figure out we're all the participation and car counts are going!,,,...?.....?...?. MAYBE ASK THE PEOLE THAT PAY MEMBERSHIPS. .?.....?..?..

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

If you would actually read both posts you would not see anywhere I bashed Justin. Just stating my opinion on 2 day races. On the other hand he did question my commitment to NHRA racing without checking the facts. Like I said, not bashing Justin. (you on the other hand, that might be fun)

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

then i apologize but it seemed like you were

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

I think 2 days on Saturday and Sunday is fine if they have a test and tune Friday it is pretty much like a 3 day race. I do disagree with having Friday Saturday 2 day races. That hurts the working guy trying to make the races.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

I agree I don’t think anyone here really wins no matter what you do someone will always be un-happy only people that win here is NHRA

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Wow, there's a lot of different takes on this.

I'm retired myself but if I can arrive Friday and get the same number of qualifying runs as I would have in a 3 day event, I like that. It does save me the extra day in a hotel and some food expense as well.

But I can see for others it adds up differently. Can't please everyone. For my money I'm fine with either 2 or 3 day events. What I won't do is still show up on Thursday and spend a lot of money for a couple of test & tune runs.

Of course it doesn't matter for me this year as I have a schedule conflict. I'll be racing the Summit Series race at Wild Horse Saturday night.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Explain to me how this is the same? Under this situation, you have to pay the extra test and tune fee to get the runs on Friday that used to be included in the previous three day entry fee plus they don't count toward qualifying and that's fair?

Jim Caughlin
SS 6019

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

At almost all D7 LODRS events, racers in each category get three qualifying/time trial runs. This event's expected car count (based on previous years) is such that we can accomplish this in a single day and allow for all eliminations on Sunday (no Saturday first rounds for fields over 64). This WAS done to help racers with saving time off and lowering the overall cost of competing in this event/series. I spoke with a number of racers about this last year explaining that I wanted to try and do a couple more events in this format to help everyone and hopefully increase participation a bit. Nobody I spoke with was against this idea.

Will the track make a little more $$? I certainly hope so as they are saving a day of insurance, wages, track prep materials, etc. Will it make NHRA more money? Not really, as the amount saved by not having a few tech personnel on Thursday, plus the associated costs (wages, hotel, etc.) will most likely be offset by running an extra three hours with a full crew on Saturday, and possibly make Sunday a little longer as well.

For those that haven't noticed, we've also made some changes at the previous two events to try and grow participation in the SST and SMC categories by only having one run on Friday and two Saturday. While I didn't expect an overnight increase, I'm still positive that this format will increase those classes going forward.

The events at Phoenix and Las Vegas have car counts large enough that this format would not work. For those events that this would work, I can't see any negative it. I appreciate all comments as to why you would be for/against, just want to make sure that facts are laid out as Kyle did.

Mike

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

At our three day points races, several guys just show up Sat morning, that could not get off work for Friday. Why should the guys that can be there Friday be penalized?

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Mike, Thanks for the response but why does a crew member pass still cost the same when you are losing a day of racing

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Am I the only one wondering who Onestocker is?

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Here in D2 it's been a two day race all year. Sunday is for the rain date. Jim


.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Kyle, Slightly o/t, but does NHRA still help with the local advertising? I believe that was the case in previous years.
Also, I remember when I was at Edgewater, we'd need 500+ to have a good weekend. (I don't remember the 300+ clause)
Is that still the case?

Thanks, bud

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Let's hope it rains really hard on Friday maybe no one will see we all went racing ! Maybe you don't need your roof finished it wait till Monday maybe your wife don't need her carpet finished till monday that part u need may be delivered Monday? Jim you remember a time shot on Saturday or the good ole days don't look for your checks in the mail Friday the mail man went racing LoL !!!!!!!

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Seems like a good portion of Divisional races are two day events. Might want to get used to it.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

So..... here is one guys take. Im a working class dude with a family. And a budget. I personally like a 3 day divisional. However, this idea of a Sat/Sun format allows people to take less vacation time to attend races.

With the demise of car counts allowed at National events, acquiring more grade points (for those who care) is more important than it used to be. This system may make it easier for people who are not retired to attend more divisionals.

As more tracks close, I have a hard time watching people gripe and complain about this and that. If you enjoy drag racing, all the great people and memories you have compiled with them, stop looking for reasons to NOT attend races. Start looking at what you value in the sport and go have fun.

No place, thing, person or situation is perfect. If we don't put up with the little things. There will be no where left to race, and that would suck!

Also, I LOVE to hang out at the races. But admittedly being done with one time hit on Friday morning at 8:26am then watching all my buddies can sometimes be a long day. I like the idea of getting 3 hits one day, and having the entire eliminator in one day. It helps with the rythem part of competing sometimes.

Please....... Please.......... Please......... keep it all 1/4 mile!!!!!

I could'nt stomach a continuous dose of 1/8 mile.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

Maybe I should have made it a little clearer. Thursday is early parking and tech, Friday is qualifying, Saturday is eliminations. If eliminations gets rained on, we have Sunday to finish. Jim



.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

I like it. Except that Stock is always first or second out. A bit tough on guys who drive all night Thursday after work.
If you've ever watched them dick around , getting the booths open at Wild Horse , you'd understand my concern.
Tucson..Different story. They act like they appreciate your business.

Re: Fontana divisional rumor
 

That's funny do you know me..... LOL