IHRA & Division 1 Racers

[jwsamuel]

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

[cal]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

O I believe it is lopsided in IHRAs favorer.
In the end, it is all about the money for sure.
Something needs to be done, to help the tracks make money.
Something needs to be done to get racers in the gate.
What can we as races do to help this happen?

Cal
SST HR 1177

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by cal

O I believe it is lopsided in IHRAs favorer.
In the end, it is all about the money for sure.
Something needs to be done, to help the tracks make money.
Something needs to be done to get racers in the gate.
What can we as races do to help this happen?

Cal
SST HR 1177

The only thing the racers can do is go and support the program. One of the issues with the current Pro Am format is the one day multi race weekend. If you have more than about 20-25 cars per class its real hard to get the races done before the wee hours of the morning. If you arrive at the gate at 7 am and don't run the final until 3 am the next morning that is too hard on the racers. To build the car count they need to go back to more of a schedule like the NHRA LODRS races. If lets say each class had 45 cars show up it would be difficult at best to run two races in Two days. Scheduling is also an issue. If IHRA is scheduled right on top or within a week or two of the NHRA race in the same local area that will effect the car counts. With the high cost to race most of us have to pick and choose which events to attend. Especially the guys that run both sanctioning bodies. In Florida there is only a few IHRA specific cars running. Most run IHRA and NHRA. All but one of our tracks in Florida are now IHRA with the exception of Gainesville.

[ss wannabee]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

I wanted to try Skyview...at least to put my fanny in the stands...now it's gone. Always juggling schedules at home...job...family etc... Hopefully I can catch Empire...might be for a day only!

[Lee Valentine]

Went to Skyveiw and loved it, the next year they put it on the same weekend as the New England divisional and we went to NE because we were running for points in NHRA. Not just me quite a few others. What is IHRA thinking,most of their problems are self inflicted.

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

When I talked to Scooter Peaco he told me they needed at least 130 cars to break even at a ProAm. Jim

.

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

When I talked to Scooter Peaco he told me they needed at least 130 cars to break even at a ProAm. Jim

.

Sounds about right. But that probably assumes that the event runs according to plan. If the race is postponed, the track operator has to pay people to come back another day with no additional entry fees. Delays can mean overtime for employees, etc.

Some of the races I went to got 170 cars or so. So if 130 is break even, 170 does not leave a lot of profit margin for the track.

Jim