[Dan Fletcher]

I'm unsure of what the answer is either, but I can almost guarantee you the question won't have to be asked for long. IHRA has tried and tried to put a sportsman series out there in multiple configurations and people just refuse to support it with numbers that will make it a sustainable business model.

Excuses are excuses. Scheduling conflicts, 1/8 mile, don't like the points structure, buy backs, the dog ate my membership card, whatever. Yes, they are far from perfect, they do things that annoy me as well, but it is an option, an alternative, its a venue to compete at, but it will not be there with this level of support. And frankly, I think its too late, this was the last crack at putting something out there in hopes of getting a decent car count.

Sure, the old IHRA national events had more excitement, but so did the old NHRA national events. The events in the current IHRA SSNC format, while considered nationals, are obviously more like points meets, but so what. Timothy won Hot Rod Saturday at Empire and got $1500 purse and 9 stickers at $200. It was the same deal at Pittsburgh when each kid won in Stock and Super Stock. $150 to enter, double events, and only 2 days required. How isn't that a good deal.

Again, they are flawed, but so is NHRA. I'm not throwing rocks at anyone, but sometimes we're our own worst enemy. After all the talk, no one supported Beard's race, so not wanting to lose his *** he bailed. IHRA and track operators can't continue to throw good money after bad, and the complete lack of support, for whatever reasons, is going to make NHRA the only game in town other than combos.

Won't be any need for excuses soon...