Div and Nat's,,,why do you race ?

[The LL]

Originally Posted by Dave Steltz

Is it the Pro-Tree ?

Is it the actual racing ?

Is it the partying ?

Is it the Wally (especially for those who dont have one or more yet) ?

yes. add:

hanging with my out of state friends i otherwise wouldnt see very often

playing new golf courses

getting out of town as often as possible....even better when the wife and dogs tag along.

[darkside]

While I only achieve my goal at less than 10% of the Nationals and Divisionals I enter, usually race all them for the same reason....to win them. Oh yeah, hanging with bb and all my friends takes the sting off of the other ones.

[Freddie]

When I raced Divisional races it was for the competition, some of the best drivers in the division show at these events. Not just the same guys every weekend. When you race Nationals you are looking at racing some of the touring pro's whom you would never be given the chance to race against locally. other than that its the people racing for 25+ years have made alot of friends and love to go and see everyone.

[Ron Finney]

Like Bob and Doughboy said, its the people. We love racing and have been doing it for over 30years. But the nice thing about the divisionals is that you have time to talk to friends, get to actually watch some racing yourself and enjoy the weekend. You don't have to live by your car waiting to run back to the lanes all day. Its not for everyone, that's why there are other types of events. I love the wallies, but would like to add to our collection.....the competition and points chases are great and the Jeg's Allstars is awesome. We look at it as a great camping trip that we get to play with our cars....If you try to make it a financial win, you are probably going to be diasappointed. Maybe like Bob said, its that we are getting older. My son gets bored to tears at the divisionals, and usually pulls out Saturday night and hits a local bracket race and then comes back in the morning to race the divisional. To each his own.....And...if you haven't had any apple pie, well, no wonder you don't like the divisionals.......

See everyone in April!!!!

[chebby2]

Don't like to fish

[Wheelie58]

I sit and ponder the same questions, as I shell out the ever increasing entry fees for the Divisional races.
It is always a lot of fun. Heads-up pro tree is good, but I could learn to live without the throttle stop.
Great times with lots of racing friends..any track..any race series, though.

I think that some of the door cars may migrate to the Unleashed series in 2011, after they experience one. It is very realistic to have an effective dual-purpose race car, running S/ST or S/G and the Unleashed indexes. Just make the box and timer removable and the stop either removable or take the solenoids off.
In the Unleashed series, you will find reasonable entry fees, respectable payouts, and a race that starts on Friday and ends Saturday night.
All 3 (Unleashed, Division and National) series are a blast. Now the door cars have a choice of one other type of event.
Add on a few bracket races, and the local tracks' S/ST and S/G association races....and the NHRA Hot Rod Reunion nostalgia races and there is a wide variety of places to burn lots of methanol (or gas...if that is your flavor...).
One example of a fun trip: Travel trom Atlanta to Indy...race the Unleashed event....Get up Sunday morning, put the delay box back in...run a bracket race at Bean Blossom (Brown County Dragway) on the way back to ATL. Gimme some more of that type of weekend!

Race on!
Keith

[Tom Goldman]

Originally Posted by chebby2

Don't like to fish

X2 !, Tom

[billy leber]

Originally Posted by darkside

While I only achieve my goal at less than 10% of the Nationals and Divisionals I enter, usually race all them for the same reason....to win them. Oh yeah, hanging with bb and all my friends takes the sting off of the other ones.

cuz of my my sub average i.q. . oh and cuz lynnie and shannon are fun to hang with. details to be revealed if lynn continues to refuse to pay the blackmail money....

[BKSG1198]

Well if I didn't blow my knee out in college playing hockey I probably would have never started racing even though i've been around it since I was 3 months old.

I do it because I don't like to Fish or Hunt and enjoy the friends that you meet at the track. The party's well that's OK but, the days of that are getting thinner and thinner as I find myself in bed by 10 or 11pm at the track...haha.. Dad runs all the Divisional races and I run MASGA and any local National Opens. Hanging out with my Dad is probably the #1 reason that I do take time off of work and go to any type of National and Divisional races. This past year we had a blast at the Divisional races because we happen to go a few rounds at Maple Grove and became a Top 10 player in the process. Now we missed out on the Top 10 by 1 point but, it was great to have that close companionship and being able to pump each other up before a run. Is money the factor as to why we do it....no freaking way! I mean we all have the extra $305.00 in our pocket or $170 to go to these events but, you want the most "Bang for your Buck" and when the "Bang" is not there I'll go elsewhere such as MASGA where I can have a little extra money in my pocket at the end of the day and still get to hang around with the same people as I do at a D-1 race.

[Michael Pliska]

I have a divisional championship Wally (from back in the days when you had to win a divisional championship or a national just to get one). In those days (when national event entries were a lot cheaper) I raced a lot of nationals. For me I think I had more fun at nationals than divisionals, just because of the big boys and huge crowds being there (and the crowds stayed in the stands for S/G back then). I always wanted to get a national event Wally but never was able to close the deal.

After having the car mothballed for 15+ years, I prefer bracket racing it now. I get my heads-up index fix by running National Open races. At the N.O. races you can race the same car in multiple classes, plus it's two separate races in the same weekend. Around here the S/G entry is $120/day or $200/weekend, and the bracket fees are set by the track (but usually around $40-$50/day). I get to see most of the same friends as the divisional races, but I get in a lot more racing, and my kid gets to see more of her friends (since they run Jr Dragster at these races as well). I had decided that I was going to race a few nationals this year, but will probably only catch one now as my own little protest against the fee increases.

The thing I actually enjoy the most now is a diesel-only racing series (there are two organizations - National Hot Rod Diesel Association and National Association of Diesel Motorsports). There are some heads-up (first to the finish line) classes, brackets, and index classes. It's good simple fun, with sponsor-enhanced payouts that give a decent return on entry fees. I started out doing it with my tow rig in brackets, and now race a friend's truck in the "Pro Stock" class as well.