LIVE from IHRA Sportsman Spectacular @ MIR

[THE LEGEND]

I agree with Michael. If it was'nt BB it would be something else.
I was told 405 entries with a 70% BB ratio. I think management was well pleased. They will make adjustments for the future. All I can say for you Classy racers is swallow your pride because BB are coming.

To the ones that stayed home you really missed out. It was very festive atmosphere also. I heard hardly anyone complaining.

Bryan, The did make an adjustment in prep. I think it was 3rd rd they called QR after TS and moved SS behind QR to get more rubber down and help the SS cars.

Chip Johnson

[THE LEGEND]

JR,
One of these days ya'll classy racers will realize you are actually bracket racing as long as there is shoe polish on the window.LOL

Chip Johnson

[THE LEGEND]

I think several things to help this event.
1) A Spring date. The 4th was on Monday lots of people on vacations still.

2) Random pairing first rd and ladder in the second, based off our qualifying runs.

3) Make it a 3 day event.
Friday Qualifying-Class eliminations
Saturday- 1st rd,Re-entry rd, Run the bracket cars
Sunday Finals

4) For the Classy Racers actually have Class runoffs. Maybe have a Comp style race for the top 8 qualifiers.

5) For the .90,TS,TD, Have a Top 8 Qualifier Shootout. Get Contingency sponsors to pay Win and R/U. Would'nt cost IHRA nothing to do that.
Just some suggestions
Chip Johnson

[BKSG1198]

Well I was at Maple Grove this weekend for one of the S/G & S/C association races and speaking with a few guys at the track they told me they would have gone to MIR if it was announced a little sooner and marketed a little better. I mean they really didn't start doing articles on Comp Plus, DRC in Late May, early June and even though you let NHRA Cars enter you can't advertise in the Dragster because you're a IHRA Racing Body. We all know NHRA Has a lot more members then IHRA and if they put something in the Dragster I bet Royce would have to knock down trees to hold all the cars. A lot of these racers plan vacation and their racing schedule in January / Feb and the Sportsman Spectacular was not announced until April 19th (http://www.ihra.com/News/2011/04/19/2/). I'm personally one who plans my race schedule at the beginning of the year and have to take off by March at work or I get denied the time off. When they announced the Sportsman Spec I called my Dad and said "Well if they only announced it 2 months earlier we would prob go". I think VMP will have lots of cars cause people have the time to plan a little better and it's the last race of the season for most. We personally had 27 Super Gas cars at Maple Grove and we announced that race back in January plus you put it on top of the All-Star race in Chicago. Now I know a lot of people say "Not many people from that area will affect the car count" but, I bet you would have had some D3, D2 & D1 NHRA guys go play if they weren't All-Stars or friends with cars driving out with them. The next few weeks would be perfect timing to do the race since the NHRA Circus is out West, really D-1 has New England in 2 weeks and D-3 has Columbus the same weekend and Mid-Michigan the following week so these next few weeks would have been perfect to put the race to grab the NHRA only guys.

[Daran Summerton]

Well I myself throughly enjoyed the event as did Dad and are both very happy we supported it. Facility was OUTSTANDING and well run. We towed 15 hours one way and had a great time. $5000 to win is HUGE!! If it takes buy backs to do it, so be it. No we did not buy back but as Beard, we are also on the learning curve with our car. I would however like to see Class runoffs at the future events. Overall a awesome job. Thank you IHRA and Summit racing. All future parts orders will be with them!!!

[Alex Denysenko]

Originally Posted by THE LEGEND

I think several things to help this event.
1) A Spring date. The 4th was on Monday lots of people on vacations still.

2) Random pairing first rd and ladder in the second, based off our qualifying runs.

3) Make it a 3 day event.
Friday Qualifying-Class eliminations
Saturday- 1st rd,Re-entry rd, Run the bracket cars
Sunday Finals

4) For the Classy Racers actually have Class runoffs. Maybe have a Comp style race for the top 8 qualifiers.

5) For the .90,TS,TD, Have a Top 8 Qualifier Shootout. Get Contingency sponsors to pay Win and R/U. Would'nt cost IHRA nothing to do that.
Just some suggestions
Chip Johnson

I agree with you 100% Chip.
Better date without a MAJOR conflict and we would have been there with all 4 team cars.

[Lambertcars]

HEY CHIP It was I that started the dont like BUYBACKS at a big sportsman class race like the one this past weekend at MIR. Lets just say that it is the 4th round of any race, bracket or class and car #1 has won the first 3 rounds and car #2 lost the first or second round and bought back in and car #2 wins that round so both cars have won 3 rounds and lost 1 round but car #2 is still in the race and car #1 is out because he lost the wrong round. That is the reason that I dont like BUYBACKS plain and simple. Now I know that BUYBACKS will never go away and a lot of tracks need BUYBACKS to survive but I think that BUYBACKS should never be used at a big race like the one this past weekend at MIR. And I do realize that Stock & Super Stock racing is just a bracket race unless it is a heads up run.
Allen

[THE LEGEND]

Allen,
First off it's not a Buyback it's a RE-ENTRY. You have to win the re-entry rd to get back in the race. That means a re-entry car has to go an extra rd.
Re-enrtry- also means you can run for $5,000 instead of $1,000.
Chip

[Dave Turner]

Originally Posted by Alex Denysenko

I agree with you 100% Chip.
Better date without a MAJOR conflict and we would have been there with all 4 team cars.

Alex, you sly devil....#4 would be?????

[j gardiner]

First off reentry made an extra round for everybody in stock, not just the ones who reentered. Second with the amount of people who reentered compared to the amount who possibly didn't come because of reentry, it most likely was a wash.