Racing fairness versus Circus attendance

[Michael Beard]

If they can put on a couple of big foot brake bracket races at Bristol, then the two biggest obstacles to doing a big class event at Bristol, Norwalk, or Charlotte, would be the sanctioning body and getting the racers to "walk the walk" and show up.

Charlotte is cost-prohibitive. I know people who have tried to rent the facility there, and the cost is astronomical because they "can't afford to open the gates for less than $XX,XXX" due to their overhead. That place is a tax writeoff. They just want to use their palace a few times a year for their huge events, and that's it.

Bristol is extremely expensive, too, and the only way that the World Footbrake Challenge works there is due to buybacks. Even with 200+ cars, they're probably about break-even without buybacks. And round money doesn't start until 4th round. Completely apples and oranges.

Norwalk's got an extensive show-filled season schedule. Would be tough to get the weekend you'd want, and although it'd have to be pricey, too, I know that Bader had expressed an interest in doing something like the USCN after Alex pulled off the first one. I could talk to Bill and just stick the toe in the water.

Just use the IHRA index and add the odd class that NHRA has vs what IHRA does not have. No way would using 2 seperate index systems work for the same class structure. Mass confusion would set in. How hard is that to do?

I believe the USCN used the NHRA weight breaks, combinations, and indexes whenever possible, and just had IHRA version available in U and V where the weight breaks were different. IHRA still uses what could be called "the old NHRA indexes", and still has the Truck and Fuel-Injected classes (which I believe was the case at the USCN as well), as well as all of the FWD classes. IHRA also has AA/FI for the CJ's and DP's. I think it would make sense to use the IHRA categories and indexes (i.e., the old NHRA categories and indexes), and use the NHRA HP factors for everybody, as it's readily available online. Agree/disagree?

- NHRA indexes, current or old?
- separate FI and Truck classes or not?
- new or old FWD class structure?
- separate classes for CJ's DP's? (RUMOR in another thread this may be coming next year... who knows?)