I don't think we're

[63corvette]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Just FYI, I had a nice little talk with Mr. Clifford at the World Finals. I asked him if he knew that all of the rest rooms are locked after dark and a security guard(who doesn't have the key!) is stationed at them. I also asked him if he knew that all(every one and the Fairplex is a big place) of the public rest rooms that HAD shower stalls have had them removed. He did not know either of these things and he wanted to know what the problem was. I explained to him that I was sleeping in a LQ trailer with not a whole heck of a lot of LQ in it and the lack of showers and rest rooms was going to be a bit of a problem for me. After my explanation, he assured me that he would look into it and then suggested that I go down to the Hilton(he did). Now THAT'S sarcasm!

Probably why I haven't gotten my membership yet, check was cashed in October.

I'm sure that he has taken upon himself to rectify this situation for me as quickly as possibly though. Now THAT'S sarcasm too!

By the way, same problem at Vegas too.

Billy, I also had a chance to talk to Mr. Clifford at the Las Vegas race. He was being shown around the pits by Mike Rice the Div 7 Director. They stopped by a pit I was in with a group of racers and Mike introduced him to all of us who Mike knew already.
His first comment after the nice to meet all of us was to ask us if there were any issues we would like to bring up. I spoke up quickly and asked how much time he had. He quickly changed the subject to how important the sportsman racers are then into just wait and see there are changes coming to support us. He hinted about the changes to the license programs and how that would cut our costs to race at NHRA events. I have not yet seen any cost cuts on my part as I get a physical every year anyway due to my age. So NHRA just not requiring one for my license did not change anything for me. Then the cost of running a National did increase so no savings there. The only savings is the cost of diesel and I don't think NHRA had much to do with that cost.
So far I have not seen any real changes to benefit the Sportsman racers. I keep hoping but hoping in one hand and you know the rest.
My 2 Cents
Rick Cates

[ken robinson]

Billy , somebody said he was at the lebanon race in 2014 looking round ? I didn't see him in the pits . And I didn't see him at the hotel I was at ...lol....

[Michael Beard]

While I did not get a chance to meet Mr. Clifford at PRI, I did speak with a couple of NHRA officials. "Oh yeah, we got your e-mail. You made a lot of good points."

.... and? Nothing. That's it. At least they acknowledged receipt this time.


I thought the interview was pretty telling when Clifford said he'd had ideas to improve NHRA for 18 years. And they're just NOW seeing light of day? That's life within a corporate behemoth. I heard much the same from another NHRA official. People within the organization that could actually make a difference have their hands tied.

[MAURICE BLENDHEIM]

People that use terms like "grow", "initiative" and "team" generally wear shiney shoes. "Gear Heads" don't, 2 completely different worlds. MB.

[Dragsinger]

Maurice,

we have a horseshoe pitching league in Kilgore. One of the teams is named "Shinny Shoes"

[Frank Castros]

Clifford's primary objective is to grow the brand and let's face it, it starts with the Professional categories. The NHRA is a mess and he clearly understands the issues. In business it starts at the top and trickles down to enhance the entire program.

He's correct about appealing to younger people, the Millennials and Generation X, many of us are Baby Boomers.

I hope a healthier NHRA translates into better opportunities for and respect of the sportsman racer.

I believe he will be measurably better than Tom Compton.

[Mark Yacavone]

Here is Billy's post from the other thread. I was thinking about posting something about it myself.If Dwight has the original copy, that's fine with me.
If anyone is interested, we can explain it further.
If not ,we can forget all about too. Apparently NHRA already has.

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Ya know, I should probably make myself perfectly clear here. I personally believe that what NHRA did with the 302 FFFords, whether it was a mistake or not, was good for Stock Eliminator and the Sport. It brought a significant number of cars(and in some cases Racers) that wouldn't have been built into the game.
I have another thread on here somewhere bringing up Mr. Clifford and what, if anything, he is going to do with the Sportsmen. A few months ago, Dwight Southerland, Mark Yacavone and I sent a letter to the NHRA about De-factoring an awful lot of the 70s and 80s cars that were just arbitrarily given unrealistic factors at the time that they were put in the guide. Kinda like the 302 FFFords. As far as I know, we've not received any kind of a response to it. But if a half-a-dozen 302s were built, wouldn't it be safe to say that some kind of equal response could be expected from other combos?
Seeing as Dwight wrote the letter, I'll leave it up to him as to whether he wants to post it but if Mr. Clifford is looking for a way to involve more young people in the sport, I think that this could be the best "entry level" way to go.
I also realize that this probably doesn't belong in this thread but my finger is too tired to start a new thread now.

[Adger Smith]

To quote Frank "I believe he will be measurably better than Tom Compton"
So, is he taller?
I like numbers.
All this reminds me of a song that covers the numbers we will probably get out of all this.