I'm confused about IHRA's Sportsman friendliness

[Michael Beard]

With 14 cars, you win 4 rounds, you make $4K-$5K. Dude, that looks like a paycheck! (Not to mention it qualifies you for a free entry $10K to win + contingency race) You should be able to win a 4-round race by accident. What does 4 rounds get you anywhere else?

IHRA pays back a much higher percentage of the gate than NHRA. By asking for a T/S purse, you increase that rate substantially. I understand supply and demand, and I know what you're getting at is that $2K net would be better than $300 net, despite the dramatically lower ROI % net, but...
1) With the existing purse and 40 cars, net is $4,500. They're going to want to try cheaper ways to draw cars first. It would take 62 cars to reach the same $4,500 absolute net, and 80 cars to reach the same % net.
2) Raise the purse at low car count nationals, and you have to raise it at successful nationals, too. Explain to those tracks that THEY have to take a $10K hit.
3) You really think an extra $1,000/win is going to draw 26 more cars? It's already been done, and failed. Remember this from last summer?
"Think we had 32 entries total on Friday, around 20 Stockers each day, so that leaves about a dozen SS cars. ....Now, where were the other 100 cars that should've been there?"
S/SS, $200 total weekend entry, a $5,000 to win and two $2,000 to win races, at Belle Rose, by all accounts a favored NHRA facility. People have to break their dependence on NHRA. Until they do, promoters have no reason to trust that people will show up, regardless of the carrot.

$10K S/SS races sound great, but require huge fields to cover the track rental, let alone make any money -- and that's even with significantly lower overhead than a sanctioning body. (See "3" above) It's easy to gamble with other people's money.

How can you justify the TS pay out.

You can't, from a self-sustaining standpoint, and no one has argued otherwise. They are akin to TA/D and TA/FC, which make even less 'cents'. But again, that's a whole separate discussion.