[Ken Miele]

Hey everyone,

I wanted to post this last week, but with the back to back racing from Indy to Etown, I just did not have the time.

The photo below shows Dan Fletcher with Peter Clifford and Graham Light presenting Dan with the National Dragster cover of his 100th win signed by them. While that was pretty cool and a exclusive photo, the conversation with Graham Light was very enlightening on how NHRA views the sportsman racer.

It was a very positive conversation and it makes me feel pretty good about the future of our sport. When Dan introduced me to Graham I thought, wow this is not going to go good. After expressing my concerns about the stacking and parking issues at Indy on Class Racer, I was thinking that he may not want to talk much about it or to me.

I could have not been more wrong. He was very concerned about our issues after reading the posts on Class Racer. Yes, NHRA does listen to us, even though we may not think they care or read our posts. He was cordial and polite and eager to talk about our concerns.

He told me that they were prepared with extra staff on hand and instructed all staff to get us parked in a timely manner along with keeping the credential line moving fast, which is what happened. The entire NHRA staff did a great job in getting us parked and ready for racing the next day.

When I ask Graham why the change for Indy, he said it was to stream line and make it easier for the racer when attending these racers. They want to cut some of the time racers have to wait to get tech and credentials. If we can eliminate one day, we can save the racer and NHRA some of the cost. He feels if the racer can take one day less off of work and have one day less for the NHRA staff, it can reduce cost for both. He said financial reasons always come into play with these decisions, but he emphasized the sportsman racer is just as important as cost savings. I told him I can understand the reasoning behind this, but not for Indy. At Indy most racers take the whole week off. And many are racing the weekend before Indy. The extra day being parked on Monday gives all of us a chance to work on our cars. Hopefully this can be worked out for next year, they do listen.

I did not have time to ask him the dozens of questions that were in my head, but I came away having a better understanding. I was always taught not judge someone decisions unless you have walked in their shoes. I thought this years Indy was one of the best I have ever attended. Despite some of the negative posts, (I being one of them ) it turned out to be a great race. Tech was alive and well with many cars in the barn. The track was in very good shape with the amount of cars that went down, and most of all no major incidents or anyone getting hurt. I'm already looking forward to next year.

I never got a chance to talk to Peter Clifford as Evan Smith was talking to him about the Factory Stock Showdown cars. Evan did say he came out of the conversation with a positive outlook for the future of that class.