Where were you TEXAS, & D4 racers???

[THE LEGEND]

NC has the highest membership and we:
Have to drive 600 miles to the nearest Nitro Jam race.
Have to drive 300 miles to the nearest Sportsman Spectacular.
Have to drive 600 miles to the season ending TOC Championship race.
COME ON IHRA. We feel like we have been left out in the cold.
Chip Johnson

[HR9121]

Originally Posted by THE LEGEND

NC has the highest membership and we:
Have to drive 600 miles to the nearest Nitro Jam race.
Have to drive 300 miles to the nearest Sportsman Spectacular.
Have to drive 600 miles to the season ending TOC Championship race.
COME ON IHRA. We feel like we have been left out in the cold.
Chip Johnson

Chip atleast you don't live down here on the coast, you can add 2 hours to all your tows but the fishing sure is better out here! If they don't get more in line with the membership or atleast me I'll be using my super street # some next year.

[THE LEGEND]

They have surely opened the doors for the N crowd to swoop in.
Zmax- 2 hours
Bristol- 5hrs
Atlanta- 5 hrs
VMP 3.5hrs
Thats 7 races total right there.
Chip

[RJ Sledge]

They had a race in San Antonio?????

Most people know that I have been working on getting my car back together after a wreck at Dallas last year. Been slow and the guy doing the work is not too talented. If I had my car together I would have been there. I sold Kirk's car back to Bennie Latham the week after he won the Sunday event at the Nitro Jam. We are also building a new car for next year, so most of our time, energy and money are spoken for.

I was surprised at the lack of entry's, but some things to consider. It has been 95 to 100 degrees for the last two weeks, San Antonio is not the best hooking track around and IHRA does not spend the time or money to make it a decent hooking facility. Did I mention the temperatures during the last two weeks?? If you have a mid to high Class car good luck with getting the car to hook with any consistency.

Hows that for an excuse??

RJ

[Jason]

When the heat is 100 degrees in Texas, are there any other tracks in the state that have a good starting line?

[THE LEGEND]

Sounds like you have 3 options
A) Work on the car so it will work
B) Get a car that will work
C) Stay Home

At Least RJ had a good excuse (building a new car). How about the other several hundred racers in that region. If it was on this side of the Mississippi i would probably have gone.
Chip Johnson

[C and W Racing]

My opinion is that most NHRA racers don't have any interest in 1/8th mile racing. I know that I don't. Now me saying that I don't know that it was 1/8th mile, but I know all of the IHRA races around me are, so that is why I don't go.
Chuck

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by R J Sledge

They had a race in San Antonio?????

Most people know that I have been working on getting my car back together after a wreck at Dallas last year. Been slow and the guy doing the work is not too talented. If I had my car together I would have been there. I sold Kirk's car back to Bennie Latham the week after he won the Sunday event at the Nitro Jam. We are also building a new car for next year, so most of our time, energy and money are spoken for.

I was surprised at the lack of entry's, but some things to consider. It has been 95 to 100 degrees for the last two weeks, San Antonio is not the best hooking track around and IHRA does not spend the time or money to make it a decent hooking facility. Did I mention the temperatures during the last two weeks?? If you have a mid to high Class car good luck with getting the car to hook with any consistency.

Hows that for an excuse??

RJ

RJ, I'll accept the excuse of your car being in the building stages, and the other one not working, but given that I had to race a wheel-standing "Jammin" Jerry Emmons in the first round, he surely didn't appear to have any problems hooking up to the track. Neither did Matt Hawk who doubled up with his 11-12 second Mustang. Oh and there was a '65 Dodge Coronet there that was either a 9sec car, or a 10 sec car, and even he didn't have traction issues, so I'm not so sure about the track prep not being up to par...

What I don't get is why there was 21 Stockers there in March, and only 7 (maybe less) of those racers were here for this one? NHRA doesn't pay a non-contingency purse that's even half of what IHRA posted for this event, and for only $200 bucks!!! I've been in this sport for 37yrs, and racing Stock Eliminator for the last 17 of them, and I've never seen anything like this....I'm sorry but I wasn't about to be silent here because that was the best damn tasting water that any HRA has offered to all sportsman classes (including the newest pair, Top Dragster, and Top Sportsman), without contingency money falling into play. Why don't you Texans go ask Pete Peery why he's glad he showed up for that race? Thanks to his win, he not only went home with well over the posted $5,000 bucks, but now he (if he's an IHRA member), qualified for the upcoming Tournament of Champions race, where he'll have the chance to be a world champion in Super Stock W/O having to traverse much of the country to earn a bunch of points to out-point Peter Biondo, Dan Fletcher, Jody Lang, et.al....I hope he is, because it'll come down to who's game is best on World Finals Day (like it used to be long before I got into this category) !!!

I just don't get it....well I know one thing for sure, you all who could've showed up (and didn't), just proved one thing to be not completely true...everything is bigger in Texas. That may have been true and many things, but with this field size (especially in Stock and Super Stock), it definitely WAS NOT BIGGER IN TEXAS, & THAT'S TEXAS SIZE SAD!!!!

Oh, and one more thing, this website even carried the thread about the race at the top of the list of threads, so that everyone who browses this website would've seen the advertisement for the race, and they did this way back in March (if not earlier), so it's not as though no notice was given about the race...plus that when IHRA posted their 2012 schedule, it was in their first Drag Review Magazine, and I believe the notice was made about this race as far back as December, so that's one excuse I won't accept from any of you who had better/faster cars and more money to spend to go racing than I do (it would be harder to find those who have less than I do than more, but I still came)!!!

[RJ Sledge]

Gary

If makes a difference if you put an extra150 lbs in the trunk, which several people do when running at San Antonio. Track prep is virtually non- exsistent after initial "morning" prep. San Antonio is my home track and I have made a pass or two down it. Hawk is to be congradulated for the win, but he was running 12.60's, not exactly a high HP combo, good thinking on his part to not risk spinning a tire. Didn't see any 65 Cornet running Stock/Superstock, big tires/glides do make a difference.

Maybe if IHRA would spend the extra $200.00 (?) and spray/dust/drag the track every now and then, people would be saying and remembering how "great" the starting line was and want to return?? A one time track prep at 7 am will not hold up with the weather conditions we have here during the hot Summer months.

And you ask why there were only a handfull of people at the race!!! Here are some questions and answers you should remember. Most people down here with Fast Stockers know from bad experiences about the lack of track prep by IHRA, its Summer Time and its Hot, high HP cars running 9" slicks have a real problem, why would IHRA schedule a race in San Antonio this time of the year, duh!! and why don't they take a few lessons from NHRA Div 4 starting line personnel about how to prep one. I have been in Houston for a Div 4 race and temperature around 100 degrees and never had a problem, the difference is the people in charge of the starting line and the powers that control them. Its all about money and really not caring about the racers who depend on a consistent starting line and being limited by Class to a 9" tire. Run the Race in the Spring or Fall and it would be competely different, you would have thought that somebody in charge would realize that.

So you really answered your own question about the lack of turn out.
How many times have you had a unpleasant experience while spending your own dime and wanted to repeat it.

An extra $200 spent on starting line prep and it would have been different. Too bad they did not start doing it a few years ago when it would have made a difference.......then and especially now.

RJ

[Dale Hulquist]

I may have missed somthing in this rant but, IT WAS MEMORIAL DAY IN TEXAS. Alot of people spend it enjoying their familys and friends relaxing and remembering why were able to do that.Sorry but i bit my finger as long as i could. Maybe they ( IHRA) should consider that alot of people will celebrate the holiday away from the races.