[Freddie]

Drag racing in general has gone through some major changes over the past 25 years. When T.V. Coverage was great everyone wanted to be a drag racer thus the influx of racers. Once they found out it is not all glamorous and how low the payouts really are compared to the costs many of them have gone to different hobbies. Drag racing was built on innovation and the ability to make equipment exceed its expectations. NHRA only cares about the sportsman racer when it needs money. The Fuel cars are there show, and that is what they cater to. IHRA used to be great for the sportsman racer, but over time has also gone through changes and now being owned by an entertainment company nothing less is expected. Bracket racing is done for the love of the sport, the people who show up week in and week out are there because they love to race their cars, while a larger payout could bring more car s, it really wont change much about bracket racing.

The idea of Top/Stk is something that I have seen thrown around on these boards for years, with little to NO support or interest from the racers who it is intended for. The best way to get something going for true manufactures heads up racing is a manufactures challange type series. Pit the new Mustangs against the Copo Camaro's, and the Mopars. All of them seem to be int he same realm of E.T and it will truly showcase the original concept of win on Sunday sell on Monday...

Trying to adjust rules and combine current class structure will only discourage the current racers more, and cause even more of them to park or worse yet sell their cars. Now if a local track wants to run a Stk/SStk combo race allow all racers to run off of the current indexes and give a decent payout for the entry fee I am sure you will see a good turnout. The only way to get spectator count up for these types of races is EDUCATION.... As racers we need to be doing more to educate the casual fan on what it takes to race these types of cars, and what it takes to win...