IHRA and Memphis

[Dan Fletcher]

I'm unsure of what the answer is either, but I can almost guarantee you the question won't have to be asked for long. IHRA has tried and tried to put a sportsman series out there in multiple configurations and people just refuse to support it with numbers that will make it a sustainable business model.

Excuses are excuses. Scheduling conflicts, 1/8 mile, don't like the points structure, buy backs, the dog ate my membership card, whatever. Yes, they are far from perfect, they do things that annoy me as well, but it is an option, an alternative, its a venue to compete at, but it will not be there with this level of support. And frankly, I think its too late, this was the last crack at putting something out there in hopes of getting a decent car count.

Sure, the old IHRA national events had more excitement, but so did the old NHRA national events. The events in the current IHRA SSNC format, while considered nationals, are obviously more like points meets, but so what. Timothy won Hot Rod Saturday at Empire and got $1500 purse and 9 stickers at $200. It was the same deal at Pittsburgh when each kid won in Stock and Super Stock. $150 to enter, double events, and only 2 days required. How isn't that a good deal.

Again, they are flawed, but so is NHRA. I'm not throwing rocks at anyone, but sometimes we're our own worst enemy. After all the talk, no one supported Beard's race, so not wanting to lose his *** he bailed. IHRA and track operators can't continue to throw good money after bad, and the complete lack of support, for whatever reasons, is going to make NHRA the only game in town other than combos.

Won't be any need for excuses soon...

[340Cuda]

Well said Dan...

[boxmotorsports]

I agree with Dan, we were at the Empire race this last week end.Were was everyone?? it was two days of racing , well run, and the track and the IHRA staff were great. We need to support the IHRA.

[Chris1529]

How many total cars were at Budds Creek?
I hope to make it to the races at Dragway 42.

[Dwight Southerland]

I heartily agree with Dan. There's a lot more at stake than just egos and preferences. Stock and Super Stock cars are a very specialized definition of drag race cars. If you want to sustain and even grow the sport and someone gives you a place to race, go there and race and be thankful. You can be erased from the landscape with merely a pencil.

[Myron Piatek]

Originally Posted by Chris1529

How many total cars were at Budds Creek?
I hope to make it to the races at Dragway 42.

Don't know the total numbers, but here is a link for results from each class.


http://dragstory.com/forum/index.php/board,310.0.html

[HR9121]

Originally Posted by Myron Piatek

Don't know the total numbers, but here is a link for results from each class.


http://dragstory.com/forum/index.php/board,310.0.html

Looks like around 80 not counting Jr dragster.

[Bill Bagley]

Originally Posted by Dan Fletcher

I'm unsure of what the answer is either, but I can almost guarantee you the question won't have to be asked for long. IHRA has tried and tried to put a sportsman series out there in multiple configurations and people just refuse to support it with numbers that will make it a sustainable business model.

Excuses are excuses. Scheduling conflicts, 1/8 mile, don't like the points structure, buy backs, the dog ate my membership card, whatever. Yes, they are far from perfect, they do things that annoy me as well, but it is an option, an alternative, its a venue to compete at, but it will not be there with this level of support. And frankly, I think its too late, this was the last crack at putting something out there in hopes of getting a decent car count.

Sure, the old IHRA national events had more excitement, but so did the old NHRA national events. The events in the current IHRA SSNC format, while considered nationals, are obviously more like points meets, but so what. Timothy won Hot Rod Saturday at Empire and got $1500 purse and 9 stickers at $200. It was the same deal at Pittsburgh when each kid won in Stock and Super Stock. $150 to enter, double events, and only 2 days required. How isn't that a good deal.

Again, they are flawed, but so is NHRA. I'm not throwing rocks at anyone, but sometimes we're our own worst enemy. After all the talk, no one supported Beard's race, so not wanting to lose his *** he bailed. IHRA and track operators can't continue to throw good money after bad, and the complete lack of support, for whatever reasons, is going to make NHRA the only game in town other than combos.

Won't be any need for excuses soon...

Thank you, Dan. In Root Cause Analysis fashion I believe you sized it up quite well. What a sad state of affairs.

[GarysZ24]

I also agree with Dan The Man, and Ed Carpenter as well. This brings back my memories of the San Antonio Raceways "Summit Sportsman Spectacular"! A disgruntling 10 Stock entries were there, and grossly upsetting "4" Super Stockers made their way to the race. I'm still bummed over that one, partly because I stunk up the joint with my reaction times in the 1st and officially 2nd rounds. Mostly because I am one of the most low-buck stocker racers in the country, yet I traveled 1000 miles to attend the race, and many closer racers didn't. Shocking.....

[SS3718]

For me, it's very difficult and almost impossible to run for a championship in two different organizations plus support our local combo races. We run approximately 12-14 NHRA races per year that are all less than 7 hours from home. We run another 5-6 combo races per year. Then, if you throw in at least 2 weekends of testing, were gone from home approximately 20 weekends a year. When you factor in our racing season begins in April and runs through October, we only have approximately 28 weekends during that stretch. There's just not much time left! Hope my wife doesn't read this!

Nick