IHRA Div. 9 Schedule
 

http://www.ihra.com/article/1906.html

"Historically, this division has had the highest participation rate ..."

The only reason I can see that you'd give the least number of races to the division with the highest participation is to get more guys to run the out of division races to the north and south. Roxboro has wanted a Pro-Am for awhile now, and I'd love to see Fayetteville on the schedule...

Re: IHRA Div. 9 Schedule
 

That's the only thing I can see with the Div 2 schedule. Having a 5 month layoff in between races to get more them to race Div 9 races. I would think IHRA would want it the other way around. Unless they are phasing out Div. 2

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I'm still trying to figure out how these tracks pay the light bill having the divisional events, i do the stats, i know the car counts, its ugly!

Bottom line in both NHRA & IHRA, racers need to support SS/Stock racing, or who knows what is going to happen next.

Re: IHRA Div. 9 Schedule
 

They're not phasing out anything... they had two Div. 2 tracks on the '07 schedule that didn't want to have races in '08.

NJ - some of the races that have been promoted well on a local level have actually brought in spectators and made very good money!

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Very Nice!

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Wow, I guess if you are a REAL racer, and have unlimited time and money, you could really stay busy this spring.

Feb 8-10 Immokalee
Feb 15-17 Bradenton
Feb 22-24 Gainesville
Feb29 -Mar2 Rockingham
Mar 7-9 Orlando or Memphis
Mar 14-16 Gators or Farmington
Mar 21-23 Take a break.... whew....
Mar 28-30 Mooresville or Houston Nat
Apr 4-6 Sportsnats in Belle Rose
Apr 18-20 Valdosta
Apr 24-27 Atlanta Nat

That's 10 races in 11 weekends, all within the southeast area. Holy Smokes!!

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I think there is a national and a divisional in San Antionio but I know you were looking more southeast. It's crazy.

Herb Jr

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Wow, imagine that...we have the highest participation rate but they won't give division 9 any kind of sportsnationals. I guess IHRA thinks all the division 9 racers can afford gas to drive to each individual points race and go to Canada to pick up a few nationals.(Ha, Ha) One other scheduling item I'm not sure is a good move is putting the Jackson race on top of the proposed NHRA event in Charlotte. I'm sure there are lots of racers from the Carolina's that would like to be at the first race in Charlotte.

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Bingo! During our last D-2 conference call Skooter asked each of us if we'd seen an increase in class cars on the local level for our weekly bracket racing series events. What he was fishing for was where were the cars that weren't attending some of the National or Pro Am events in certain areas. Were they simply not racing or were they racing more local due to the increase in travel expense and entry fee(s).

Maybe we (D2 tracks) can schedule around the down time and have a little S-S/S Combo action close to home. Give the racers somewhere to race and put on a good show for the spectators.

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Piedmont will have a 6 race sereis for Stock SS this year. Our first race will be in June with the last one being the first week of November. There will also be a points fund that will match the Divisional points fund.


Herb Jr
Piedmontdragway@yahoo.com

Re: IHRA Div. 9 Schedule
 

Class racers are not going to bracket race. You do have a few braket racers that class race though.

Where I live I can run 3 nationals, 10 divisionals, and 2 s/ss combo series and not drive over 300 miles. Take away MIR and Jackson and I would'nt have to drive over 140 miles. I'm lucky. Thats why you won't see class racers bracket race. Thats another reason you won't see doubles or sportsnationals in our div. They don't need to bait us to get us to race.
Kinda like being married to a nympho Hooters girl, Why would you need to go to the titty bar!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Bill Bader once told me they would love to have another national event in the south but did'nt have a suitable market to do so. I asked about doing a sportsnational similar to the old Nitrous nationals they did at one time. He said they lose money on those unless a sponsor would step forward that could'nt happen either.

We need to be happy we can race as much as we can with as little travel as possible. There are a few things I don't like but for the most part NC racers have it good.
Chip Johnson

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I agree with Chip. The closest track to me is Pittsburgh and it is 100 miles. Rockingham is 420 miles.
I am glad to see Quaker City back on the schedule this year. It is 165 miles. KV is 160 miles, but they aren;t running a pro-am this year. None of these tows is particularly easier for us either.
You NC folks indeed have it good.

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I heard we may have one more division race at Coastal Plains Drag Strip in Jacksonville ,N.C.. Waiting for them to pick out a date ..I would like to see them have a sports national. Nice track good people and lots of room for it .

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I guess that's *exactly* what Skooter had assumed was happening. If a racer can race close to home as often as he/she wants, in their given format S-S/S Combo', then there isn't much incentive to travel.

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Mike,
I've been to your place once and enjoyed it. We tried to go last year twice but had car issues both times. I hope we can make it there this coming season.


DW
can you elaborate on CPD????????????????

Chip

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99% of the people I see at S/SS Combos are people that run the IHRA races, too. Same deal with bracket races. You'll see a few H/R and S/R cars bracket racing, but they're generally the same guys you see at Nat'ls and Pro-Ams. The one place where you likely find a higher rate of someone choosing to do one instead of the other is with dragsters. I'd bet you see a number of bracket racers that just 'try out' Q/R or T/D for a short time and then go back to big money bracket racing.

If they'd check their membership database and license renewals, and compare names in the Nat'l/Pro-Am points vs. the Summit Super Series, they should be able to see who's going where for the most part. (Which should be easier in the upcoming year, since they'll have more data)

Since I was lucky enough to get a Gold Card, my only major expense for '08 is fuel. I took the entire schedule, figured out round-trip mileage for each race, noted how many rounds each race was likely to go, how many races in the weekend, money paid at each race, my round-win %, and plugged it into a spreadsheet that gave each race a 'return on investment' factor. Particularly when different events are scheduled on top of each other, it gave me a way to weigh which one was the better deal for me to go to.

Pickup and open trailer gets good mileage. I'm going to a LOT of Nationals and Pro-Ams this coming year -- while I can!

Re: IHRA Div. 9 Schedule
 

P.S. -- a big thanks to Herb & Mike McCandless at Piedmont Dragway, Mike Bradley at Pageland Dragway, and Allen Carpenter at Roxboro Dragway for holding some great S/SS Combos!

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Michael,
You need a job you have way too much time on your hands.
Chip

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Naw, just a *real* job.

Hey, maybe I can sell the spreadsheet when I get it all prettied-up and sorted out. ;) Spent a lot of time on my Race Purse Calculator, too, but it's actually made a few bucks, and it's saved me a TON of time figuring out what race formats work or don't work. A number of tracks use it now.

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my printer ran out of red ink as I was calculating my "return on investment factor"!

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Chris,
Mine started smoking then all the power went out to the whole city.LOL
Chip

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LMAO He's actually been very productive this week since "Bracket Talk" on Drag Race Results server has been down several day's.;)

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POTENTIAL Return on Investment. Y'know, the one you show your wife!

My printer is out of Cyan ink, so it won't print anything, even B&W.... :confused: That'd be like Chip's vending machine saying, "Sorry, we're outta gum. (sent it all to Myron) I can't give you that bag of chips."

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I see Bradley Auto Parts is busy today, too... :cool: LOL And I'm sittin' here trying to help figure out a S/SS Combo schedule for ya!

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Michael,
The old 2 sets of books don't work at my house anymore. My wife has gotten a lot smarter or a lot less forgiving.
Chip

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I'm ordering your stinkin' Mopar parts.:eek:

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And by the way *THANKS* for the work on the S/SS Combo schedule.:D

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Regarding putting the Division 2 race at Carolina on top of the proposed NHRA National event at Charlotte:
30 of the 43 "stockers" at the Carolina race last fall were Crate Motor, SGT, or Pure Stockers. Of the remaining 13 , maybe 2 or 3 would have the grade points to enter the Charlotte race.

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Hm! Good point, Tom.

Mike Bradley writes:
>> I'm ordering your stinkin' Mopar parts.

See, Mr. Bradley, what would you do without us Mopar guys? :p You'd be like the Maytag guy!

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Where's the Division 2 schedule? When's Jackson? I saw the posted Division 9 schedule on the IHRA website. I'm planning on some S/SS combo races too (Pageland and Piedmont). Roxboro is a little far for us. I enjoy the combos; less entry fee, good competition, fun, helps the local track owners, and sometimes I may race against a Super Stock driver that has beaten my brother or father.
Merry Christmas to everyone!

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Tom that is a good point for stock, however, I know of at least 7 or 8 super stockers that would run both events if they could. When you only have 25 cars showing up in ss at a div. 2 race and take 7 away it makes the field look like division 4. I'm sure you will see more of the .90 class cars try NHRA after the new track is completed too.

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Good point, too, Tracy. I thought of that after I posted. But what if the track doesn't get done and the event is in Gainesville? On a somewhat different topic... I wonder what the .90 class racers really want - 1/8th or 1/4 mile? They always have to run 1/4-mile at National events, but at least in the Carolinas, there's no place to get data for 1/4-mile races on a regular basis. I've always been told, "Those Carolina guys won't run anything but 1/8th mile." Is that the case, or not? Don't much matter to me either way. Interesting to see that Div. 4 went completely 1/4-mile.


Stacie - from http://www.ihra.com/article/1891.html

2008 IHRA Division 2 Summit Pro Am Tour presented by Mr. Gasket Schedule

Immokalee Regional Raceway February 8-10
Darlington Dragway August 29-31
Carolina Dragway September 12-14

Re: IHRA Div. 9 Schedule
 

2008 IHRA Division 2 Summit Pro Am Tour presented by Mr. Gasket Schedule

Immokalee Regional Raceway February 8-10
Darlington Dragway August 29-31
Carolina Dragway September 12-14

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Most of the .90 class racers have an easy conversion to go back and forth between 1/8 and 1/4. I know I did.

I see the difference being whether they chase NHRA points or not.

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We are very fortunate to have so many tracks in NC, the problem is they were built back in the '60's and '70's when you didn't have 200 mph top sportsman and 160 mph super stockers. Most don't have enough land to extend tracks back to 1/4 mile. Personally I would love to have more 1/4 mile and I think a lot of the racers from the Carolina's feel the same way. Maybe we can talk Herb and Mike into extending Piedmont and we can have a 1/4 mile division race there? I never have understood why the Rockingham division race is 1/8 mile...anyone know the answer?

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Tom Gould has got it figured out.

Tracy if they lose 7 of 25 that is still more than they had both days at Steele last year.

Michael and Lee, I think I can comment on the 1/4-1/8th .90 thing since I do both.

In a stocker it does'nt really matter to me which I run. In my 10.90 car I like 1/8th. It's much easier to sit on that 7.00 than a 10.90. The 1/4 mile racers may find it easier but I for one have had issues.
Chip

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The 1/8 vs 1/4 deal really comes down to personal preference. I would personally choose 1/4 because I found it easier to judge at 160 vs 120. But that is just me.

I would say Rockingham is 1/8 because the rest of the division is 1/8.

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Division 1 and 3 both have 1/4 and 1/8 mile events, why shouldn't division 9?

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Actually, there are two different issues. How would car count be affected. And, racers who would like to run both. My previous comment addressed car count in Stock(this year). Tracy is probably right about Super Stock. But, 17-32 cars is still 5 rounds.

A number of racers may be positioning themselves in 2008(run Immokalee, Bradenton, and Gainesville) to get grade points(it will take more than that) for the 2009 race at Charlotte. We may even see some Crate Motor drivers switching to an NHRA Stock Class combo for both sanctions (will IHRA adopt the "any valve job rule"?). One thing is for sure, Charlotte will be a big deal. It's going to be an interesting year.

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[QUOTE=Michael Beard;51268]Good point, too, Tracy. I thought of that after I posted. But what if the track doesn't get done and the event is in Gainesville? On a somewhat different topic... I wonder what the .90 class racers really want - 1/8th or 1/4 mile? They always have to run 1/4-mile at National events, but at least in the Carolinas, there's no place to get data for 1/4-mile races on a regular basis. I've always been told, "Those Carolina guys won't run anything but 1/8th mile." Is that the case, or not? Don't much matter to me either way. Interesting to see that Div. 4 went completely 1/4-mile.


Honestly, being a .90 guy. i would rather run the 1/4 with my big motor. and 1/8 with the 427. it keeps the mph gap down...