Motor City Nationals R.I.P.

[Dave Turner]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

Hey Dave! We all know they don't make a truck wide enough for you to sleep in! Hell, they probably don't make a bed long enough either! See you at PRI? Jim

They do make a truck "bed" of sufficient length; at least they do now - are the days of the 8ft box numbered? Heck, even my namesake, Ed "TOO TALL Jones from those '70's Cowboys could take a nap in the back of a Nissan. Remember those ads?

PRI is a definite...got my tickets. Can't wait to escape the snow!!

[Jason Oldfield]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the HQ moved, especially now that they're owned by Feld. I don't know where Feld's HQs are, but it can't possibly be any worse locale-wise for IHRA than Norwalk is now. Other than the hardships of the current IHRA staffers having to move their families (which can be traumatic), I'm sure guys like Skooter and Aaron would appreciate the reduced travel to their races (and their families would probably appreciate them being around more). As it stands now, there isn't an IHRA national event within 200 miles of Norwalk (Grand Bend and Martin are both about 225 miles away).

What I don't understand with IHRA is, why do they NEED to run at their own sanctioned tracks? ADRL doesn't. NMCA / NMRA doesn't. The Hot Rod Power Tour doesn't. So, why does IHRA only need to run at IHRA sanctioned tracks? Why can't they simply lease the track for 4 days like these other sanctioning bodies do? By not doing so, they're missing out on HUGE markets because they don't have tracks that are up to national event standards in many parts of the country. Drag racing is simply not a big enough sport to be able to support 2 national event caliber race tracks in every major metropolitan area (a track can't survive simply on the revenue from one national event per year, as it needs other shows / bracket racing to be able make it).

Granted, knowing NHRA, they probably have it written into their contracts with their sanctioned tracks that no IHRA races can compete there. But, could NHRA and IHRA really not come to some type of agreement? Why not lease Columbus to IHRA for one national event per year? There's got to be other decent NHRA tracks that could support an IHRA national event that wouldn't directly compete with NHRA's events (i.e. in the exact same location), aren't there? Columbus was the first that came to mind.

All I know is that by losing Milan, IHRA has probably lost racers in the Cleveland, Columbus, and Pittsburgh areas that previously were going to attend that race. Sure, Martin and Grand Bend are somewhat close, but I'm sure that extra 100 miles will simply push many over the edge (especially with the border crossing issues with Grand Bend).

[Michael Lyons]

Columbus is a decent track?!! :P LOL Reminds me of some other tracks that most people grip about...

[Michael Lyons]

How bout IHRA rent Summit Raceway Park and give us back the World Nats?

[Jason Oldfield]

Mike,

You've got to remember what you're comparing Columbus to, and when you compare Columbus to the standard IHRA national event track, yes it would be considered a good track.

As for Norwalk, I wouldn't ever see NHRA leasing out existing national event track locations for IHRA events because it COULD hurt NHRA at the gate. We all know that spectators come to see the fuel cars, and IHRA has Top Fuel (Nitro F/C is gone, right?) So, spectators in that particular geographic area might decide to only go to one of the events, and its possible (though highly unlikely at this point) that they might choose the IHRA race over the NHRA one, especially if the NHRA date wasn't particularly convenient for them.

Now obviously, they are 2 completely different shows, but now what's to say that some of the NHRA teams don't start running IHRA races if they are taking place at the exact same venues? I wouldn't expect them to go to an IHRA race if it conflicted with an NHRA date, but who knows if the weekend is free. And if the fan wants to see Tony Schumacher and he's going to be at Norwalk for both the IHRA and NHRA races, which one does he choose?

Sure, the NHRA race makes more sense, but from a business standpoint, leasing out existing NHRA national event tracks to the IHRA would seem to be a risky proposition (it might be a short term gain for a long term loss).

So, that's where I was leading with Columbus. The typical IHRA national event track is not as nice as an NHRA national event track, and is probably more up to snuff with an NHRA divisional event track. So, why not an IHRA national event at Columbus, or Bradenton, or Tuscon, or ???