No Sportsman at Northern Nitro Jam

[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.

[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".

[Harry 6674]

Originally Posted by Mike Carr

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".

You must have meant to say There are bracket racers and there are Wally chasers. Right?

[Charley Downing]

You guys crack me up. Bracket racers and wally chasers. Buff Daddy most people build a class car to run NHRA, that's just the facts of life. STK/SS combos are a filler and bracket racers are just that, bracket racers.

I can remember in 2002 I went to my first IHRA National event at 131. Over 150 class cars and the stands were packed. After Top fuel ran that night it took some people 3-4 hours to get out of the parking lot. I went the last time to the nationals at 131 in 2011 and it was a sad excuse for a national event, maybe 50 class cars and maybe 250 people in the stands.

Why are class cars and other classes not running national events in 2014?
Why are car counts down at Nationals and Pro-Am?
What is IHRA plan to improve car counts?
Why are racers that ran with us before not running with us now?
What is next years plan to improve IHRA?
Why are our car counts down if everyone likes the Tournament of champions format?

These are the question you IHRA racers should be ask IHRA management now.

[Jim Kaekel]

Originally Posted by Charley Downing

You guys crack me up. Bracket racers and wally chasers. Buff Daddy most people build a class car to run NHRA, that's just the facts of life. STK/SS combos are a filler and bracket racers are just that, bracket racers.

I can remember in 2002 I went to my first IHRA National event at 131. Over 150 class cars and the stands were packed. After Top fuel ran that night it took some people 3-4 hours to get out of the parking lot. I went the last time to the nationals at 131 in 2011 and it was a sad excuse for a national event, maybe 50 class cars and maybe 250 people in the stands.

Why are class cars and other classes not running national events in 2014?
Why are car counts down at Nationals and Pro-Am?
What is IHRA plan to improve car counts?
Why are racers that ran with us before not running with us now?
What is next years plan to improve IHRA?
Why are our car counts down if everyone likes the Tournament of champions format?

These are the question you IHRA racers should be ask IHRA management now.

Bill Bader was at the helm of IHRA back then. Unfortunately, he went on to greener pastures. IHRA then jumped on the Evan Knoll/Torco Racing Fuel band wagon, yet they didn't have the common sense to wonder where Knoll's money was coming from, they just took it. And now, IHRA is at another fork in the road....