2nd Annual Combo in the Hills???

[Terry Knott]

"We had 88 cars show up. It was on a weekend when nothing else was going on in an area that within 6-8 hours probably has 400-500 cars and we had 88 cars? "

One observation from the race is that was a nice contingent of IHRA regulars in attendance. Myron Piatek even made the trip up from Florida!!! Despite the weather it was still a well run race and we had a great time.

[Mike Bassin]

I sure hope we will see a 2nd Annual Combo in the Hills race in 2012 at Numidia. Lee and Brian did an excellent job putting this event together. The payout was huge for entry fee charged and the sponsors added even more to make this a great event for the racers that participated. Bob Dimino and family gave everyone a great track. The Dimino family gets it, they love all forms of drag racing and are really big on sportsman class racing. Friday nights gamblers race for the early arrivals was fun. It seemed the racers really liked the two hours, 4 - 6 pm where track was all theirs only. Some racers made five or six passes, that's never gonna happen anywhere else other than maybe a private track rental. Friday nights street car group also loved watching the big wheel standing cars run while they were doing their usual friday night deal.

Now to the lower than expected car count. As the race approached my guess would be about 125 cars or so would show on race day. At my home track, Quarter Aces Drag-O-Way, Boiling Springs, Pa. any time a long range weather forecast shows any sign of rain on the weekend, even as little as 30% chance of rain on race day we can count on a big drop in car count and race fans no matter what type of race we have scheduled. Give us a good, clear race day forecast and we have a solid car count and lots of race fans. Most of our racers are within an hour drive or tow to the track, those who make longer trips are going to think twice before coming if the weather forecast shaky. Secondly, every time we run a "Wally" race, which is twice a year, we get much bigger car counts. Seems everyone wants a "Wally". When I announced at Maple Grove at our 2004 awards banquet the five track champions received a fabulous trophy that anyone would proudly display, it was a Autometer 5" tach mounted a solid wood base and a brass engraved plate with the class, year and racers name. This thing would make anyone proud to own and display. Is it possible that money matters a lot to the racers but also when it has been spent a great award lasts for years. I still cherish the trophies and awards won and received in this sport and think everyone else feels the same about their "hardware" that they aquirred over the years.

These are just two thoughts that may have played into the car count. I sure hope we have another Combo in the Hills II in 2012. I had a great time announcing it and would love to do it again! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all on this site!

Mike Bassin

[Michael Beard]

Weather forecast and the (relatively) short notice about the race, and Mother's Day weekend probably all helped dilute the car count. Kudos to the racers that showed up and supported the event. It was well-run from top to bottom, and my hat's off to Lee and Brian for sticking their necks out. As we recently completed a big money footbrake race here in NC that I was co-promoter of (Race coverage at www.staginglight.com/footbrake/), I know first hand just how much work goes on behind the scenes! (and even though I've been involved in a lot of events in different capacities before, I'll admit there was even more to it than what I expected!) We had a great, successful event, though, kicking off the weekend with 191 entries. We started handing out flyers two weeks before Thanksgiving LAST year. I'm hoping to have the 2012 event flyer out in January, and already feel like I'm way behind, even though the race is 12 months away.

I would love to see a 2nd Annual Combo in the Hills, and will help out any way I can. We need a good date, a good forecast, and promotion waaay out in front. I think NHRA racers in particular plan their schedule way far in advance. I don't even have the IHRA schedule yet, and it already looks like the first week or two in May is about the only hole on the schedule, so you're in the same boat as last year.

Glad somebody did a poll. It can't be about the money, because you have these racer-run events, and IHRA's Sportsman Spectacular (90 S/SS cars combined at MIR, 109 at VMP) none of which drew the numbers necessary to make one of these deals live on its own. What were the car counts at your deal, Rob?

I looked at trying to pull off a US Class Nationals revival in 2012, and did a lot of ground work on doing an event, but I let it go. Some races go gangbusters, and some are a bust. If the S/SS community really wants these kind of races, they need to actually support them when they come around.

$.02,

[Michael Kilduff]

I'm just throwing this out there as something to chew on as a way to generate revenue to help these events be successful all the way around.

What would it take to set up a 'live timing' video kind of thing and stream it via the internet? The promoters could set it up as 'pay per view' and I would think racers from all over the country would buy into it, the combo races might do okay with it but something like another 'class nationals' would likely hit a home run with it.

Sometimes local colleges have film, theater, photography, production programs and camera operators can be had pretty cheap. Some would even volunteer I bet.

The guy that lives across the street from my brother is an instructor of photography/video/producing at a local college...last friday he had a gaggle of students and people at his place and they did a motorcycle stunt in the street (bike crashes into car, really they did this- yes these guys are kinda crazy ) as a very low cost production deal.

Such a production might not be as intimidating as it seems upon initial inspection.

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by Michael Kilduff

What would it take to set up a 'live timing' video kind of thing and stream it via the internet?

$4K, to do it right.

[Lee Zane]

Just a tease,,,,,,,, Stay tuned

Combo in the Hills II

Lee

[Brian VP]

Originally Posted by Terry Knott

"We had 88 cars show up. It was on a weekend when nothing else was going on in an area that within 6-8 hours probably has 400-500 cars and we had 88 cars? "

One observation from the race is that was a nice contingent of IHRA regulars in attendance. Myron Piatek even made the trip up from Florida!!! Despite the weather it was still a well run race and we had a great time.

You are right Terry. Lee and I have said many times how it was so great that the IHRA racers supported it so well. From the pre-entries to the entries at the gate the "I" guys were awesome. They came and they loved it and all commented on how much they enjoyed the race, it was so great having you all there.