No Sportsman at Northern Nitro Jam

[Mike Fuller]

I know how you feel Bill. Not only is St Louis the most remote place in Division 3 but the time of the event could not be any worse. Why wouldn't you schedule event the weekend before or after the national event. Look at the average high tempurature for these dates andf you will see exactly what I'm talking about. Unless I am in the top three in points I would not be caught dead at this event.

http://www.weather.com/weather/wxcli...7?climoMonth=8

[Bobby Lundholm]

I would run the Nitro Jam race if they ran a combo.

[Greg Hill]

I know NHRA would still like to have a race in Michigan, but Stanton is not a safe race track anymore. Last year Andrew came back after his first run and commented on how much his car was moving around on the big end. We didn't have working scales last year and the comp guys almost revolted. I also know how much the d3 guys would like to have Martin in the NHRA camp. I really think they could do close to what Norwalk does for a points race.

[Daran Summerton]

Bradenton is kinda weird??? Is it a National? Is it a Divisional? Is it a Divisional at a National??? Someone needs to fix this and put the sportsman classes back on the schedule.

[Alex Denysenko]

We really had high hopes for the comeback of IHRA when we heard about Scott Gardner taking over
Boy were we wrong apparently there is someone still there with enough influence to inhibit IHRA from growing and going forward as a organization.
We more than most have promoted and supported IHRA in the Midwest even though like thousands of others I was screwed by Billy Meyer when he took our money then sold out but we went ahead and paid Ted Jones and co. again in the same year, because we just wanted another place to be able to race S/SS and at the time great lakes dragway in union grove wisconsin had just gone IHRA and was awarded a national event, so it seemed like a good idea at the time

[Myron Piatek]

Originally Posted by Daran Summerton

Bradenton is kinda weird??? Is it a National? Is it a Divisional? Is it a Divisional at a National??? Someone needs to fix this and put the sportsman classes back on the schedule.

From what I recall when it first started, most divisions would get one of their ProAm divisional events incorporated into a Nitro Jam "national" event. For Sportsman racers, the "national" tag provides a higher contingency payout and the opportunity for Sportsman cars to race the final rounds in front of a crowd. Good for a little extra money, ego and sponsor exposure. But it still is a divisional event as far as points and qualifying for the Tournament of Champions/World Finals is concerned.

I would like to see "real" national events or Sportsman Spectacular/Sportsnational type events return. But history had has shown that not enough racers supported it. IHRA tried, got burned and changed their championship format.

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by Alex Denysenko

We really had high hopes for the comeback of IHRA when we heard about Scott Gardner taking over
Boy were we wrong apparently there is someone still there with enough influence to inhibit IHRA from growing and going forward as a organization.

I don't think that's fair to Scott at all. Would we like to see more changes overnight? Sure! That's not how it works. He wasn't even brought in until November, so most 2014 plans had to have already been in place. It's going to take time to turn the ship around.

I was counting on the US131 Nitro Jam following tradition on its date and format as well. We scheduled one of our events for the following week, not knowing that there would be no Pro-Ams at that Nitro Jam. With the conflict the week after, my schedule just doesn't work with IHRA this year. I'm not going to throw my hands up in the air. It is what it is. I'll root for them to grow, and look forward to possibly returning next year.

[Rick Blake]

Originally Posted by Myron Piatek

From what I recall when it first started, most divisions would get one of their ProAm divisional events incorporated into a Nitro Jam "national" event. For Sportsman racers, the "national" tag provides a higher contingency payout and the opportunity for Sportsman cars to race the final rounds in front of a crowd. Good for a little extra money, ego and sponsor exposure. But it still is a divisional event as far as points and qualifying for the Tournament of Champions/World Finals is concerned.

I would like to see "real" national events or Sportsman Spectacular/Sportsnational type events return. But history had has shown that not enough racers supported it. IHRA tried, got burned and changed their championship format.

The race at Immokalee was awesome when they ran a three day format of 2-divisionals and a sports-national on Sunday.....just my .02

Why not:

IRR - 2-day
Bradenton - 3-day
Lakeland - 2-day
PBIR - 3-day

Done......???????

[Myron Piatek]

Originally Posted by Rick Blake

The race at Immokalee was awesome when they ran a three day format of 2-divisionals and a sports-national on Sunday.....just my .02

Why not:

IRR - 2-day
Bradenton - 3-day
Lakeland - 2-day
PBIR - 3-day

Done......???????

The concept is good, but the car counts won't support payouts bigger than what they have now for ProAms. There are ProAms with even less cars showing up around the country.

The Sportsman Spectacular races were great with $5,000 guaranteed purse and no re-entries if over 64(?) cars to entice more NHRA racers. Some had classes with only a handful of cars. Even with what appeared to be a good turnout, like at Budds Creek, I heard they lost money. I still can't understand why more cars didn't show up for that kind of money.

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by Myron Piatek

The concept is good, but the car counts won't support payouts bigger than what they have now for ProAms. There are ProAms with even less cars showing up around the country.

The Sportsman Spectacular races were great with $5,000 guaranteed purse and no re-entries if over 64(?) cars to entice more NHRA racers. Some had classes with only a handful of cars. Even with what appeared to be a good turnout, like at Budds Creek, I heard they lost money. I still can't understand why more cars didn't show up for that kind of money.

Myron, it's actually very simple--it didn't have that magic 'N' in front of it (NHRA). Many racers simply will NOT GO to a race that is not NHRA-sanctioned and offer a Wally to the winner. F*** IHRA, S/SS combos, and bracket races, regardless of payout. Hence why I came up with the term a few years ago--"There are drag racers, and there are Wally-chasers--and they are NOT the same".