National event chaos?

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

With all the changes the IHRA is making for 2017 it might be worth looking into for some of you. Starting next year they will be checking fuel in S/SS. S/SS will return to National Events. They have gone back to a National Points program where there are no more "Divisional" boundaries.You will be allowed to claim points from your best 7 of a maximum of 10 races. Whom ever has the most points at the end of the year is the Champion. Just like NHRA is now.

"The renewal of the partnership with Summit Racing Equipment also includes some updates to the existing sportsman programs. The Summit Pro-Am Tour will be replaced and move from a divisional based system to a national based points system in 2017.* The change in structure will eliminate “divisions” and return to utilizing a national points based system that will improve a competitor’s ability to pick and choose the races he or she wants to attend without having geographical constraints. Additionally, the Summit SuperSeries will feature an increased and expanded Summit World Finals purse.
“The sportsman racer, at every level, has been and will continue to be one of the most important components of the Summit Racing Equipment family,” said Summit Motorsports and Events Manager Jim Greenleaf.* “We are proud to support the men, women and kids who gather at their local IHRA track to participate in the Summit SuperSeries or travel throughout their region chasing a class racing championship.* It is a great feeling for us to see Summit SuperSeries champions from all over North America show up at Memphis for the Summit World Finals to race*for a World Championship.* It takes the entire family of IHRA racers, member tracks, sanctioning body staff and Summit Racing Equipment working together to move the sportsman racing component of IHRA Drag Racing to the incredible level of support and enthusiasm we have today and we are proud to continue our efforts in these programs,” Greenleaf continued.
The new partnership will provide unprecedented live stream coverage of each Summit Sportsman National Championship event in its entirety with an industry leading provider of sports content. This partnership will be announced shortly and will further demonstrate IHRA’s dominate role in providing national exposure to sportsman competitors."

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Jim, sadly the IHRA option didn't work out for us southwestern class racers. However, thanks to Matt and Brad Hawk, plus the Arizona Stock Super Stock Association and our two Az drag strips, we have an option for our class Racer loving dollars like you do, and I am damn glad to see it. It's a six race championship combo series with total entry fees that are about half the cost of our divisionals, and with some great sponsors like California Car Covers, and AZ Differential Specialists, we got off to a good start with a 23 car field, and some fun and great times for those who came out to the 1st race 01/28. I hope it'll grow to attract more racers from neighboring states as well, since our series is similar to yours for points and a series championship! I can enjoy three of these races for the cost of ONE national event! The more racers entered, the higher the purse. Ask Al Corda how he likes it, given he won the 1st race. I would've liked it if I was a 1st rnd runner-up, but I luckily made the quarters. The D7 Points Races, and this series are my main focus of this season! 😀