[Mike Delahanty]

I’ll start by addressing the topic of this thread “Are Stock and S/S racers getting tired of National events?” Based on the comments from racers that I know, the answer is more yes than no. It’s the time that it takes to compete in a National or LODRS event that is wearing out the racers. Regional STK/SS races provide a venue to still be a “Class Racer” at a local or one day race – or maybe just one night away. A regional race fits into a person’s normal “Life Schedule” without burning vacation days or time away from the family. Regional races are easy. For many of us older racers, this is how we got started at our local tracks before the weekly Stock and SS Eliminators were replaced with Bracket Racing.

There are a couple of key challenges for the regional STK/SS association races – scheduling and participation. Finding an open week between LODRS, National, IHRA and the host track events is tough. In the case of Division 3, there are just a handful of weekends where there’s a free date. And in the case of the Great Lakes Stock – S/S Association, we try to pick dates that have at least one free weekend on one side – and preferably both sides of our race date. With the growth of the regional STK-SS racing, I think we’ve reached a point where the neighboring associations should consult with each other to avoid conflict and possible try some joint races. An example is the John Scotti and the Dragway 42 big $$ Combo races that were held on the same weekend in June.

The most frustrating challenge is participation. We all read the pleas here on Class Racer for “More Stock and SS Racing” and how great it was back in the day. But when race day comes……..where is everybody? We all have lots going on today and not everyone can make it. But if we are serious about preserving our racing passion, we need to be looking for reasons to get to the race, not reasons to stay home.

And while speaking about participation, it’s my opinion that the regional series aren’t for everyone. There are those that want only the pure LODRS level class racing – that means heads up, weighing the cars – fuel checks – qualifying off indexes – etc. And if ain’t that way – they ain’t coming. And that’s OK.

Regional racing is about fun- seeing your STK/SS friends and making new ones – and, yes I’ll say it – we are “bracket racing”. In case of the GLSSA, it’s not only a social event but some of the hardest and best racing most of us see all year. At the 2 day GLSSA race this weekend, there were more dead on and .01 over tight races that you see the “Big Races” with 3-4 times more cars. We got 6 rounds of racing with time trials done in just over 6 hours. And we have all waited longer than that between runs at the Big Races.

What about the future? STK/SS racing is alive and well, with Stocker participation growing. There doesn’t appear to be any relief in sight for the time consuming LODRS schedules and the National Event quotas. 2017 looks to be the best year yet for the number and participation in regional events. It’s my opinion that 2018 will be even better. The racers that are running these events are having fun. They are becoming a big deal to race in and win - and the payouts are simply amazing. The support from sponsors – both in the sport and outside – is generous and impressive.

I’m not sure there are enough of us to support another “Class Nationals”. I’ll stop here to thank Michael and Anthony for the 2 Class Nationals that they did hold and hope that somebody has the courage to try this again. They were fantastic. But maybe there’s an opportunity to have a “Super-Regional” race where 2 or more of the associations come together for a race weekend. That will need the perfect blend of the right date, track and promotion to pull it off.