IHRA and Memphis

[Pat6868]

Ihra and Empire ran a tight show. Quality cars and great racing by the drivers. The two Barracuda stockers were impressive. Pat.

[Marty Buth]

I always liked making the 600 mile tow to Memphis when it was NHRA. They had a bigger draw for cars when it was NHRA. I agree with the poor scheduling comment above, but for me, no way I am towing that far for IHRA. Just my $.02.

[Larry Hill]

There was also a double Combo race at Bowling Green this past weekend.

[Ed Carpenter]

I love Ihra races. Went to San Antonio this year for the double had a great time. Here's the problem. Too many "I'm to good for IHRA" nhra racers out there. It's nhra or nothing. Whatever......

[HR9121]

I don't have any specific answer but Stock and SS car counts have always been a little low but solid. They have always had very respectable .90 class counts to make up the difference in my opinion but I have noticed the last several races a steady decline in those as well. The alarm really sounded for me with the Maryland race which is very nice facility and they also had a bad turnout especially in the .90 classes.
Maybe these guys are concentrated on more big moneybracket races, just a thought.
For me it is simple, I like running 1/4 mile races and I don't have the time to run both series so I have opted to spend my time running NHRA. I also like the NHRA nationals so its really just a matter of preference. I had planned to go to Budds Creek, even purchased my membership but had a problem come up and couldn't go. That was several weeks ago and I still haven't received my membership card.
Ed is right there are some out there that will not run IHRA but what has happened to the ones that were? I hope for their sake they figure it out soon because 54 cars will not cut it for long, I see them having a real issue trying to sell a national event program to a track next year right now!

[Dan Fletcher]

I'm unsure of what the answer is either, but I can almost guarantee you the question won't have to be asked for long. IHRA has tried and tried to put a sportsman series out there in multiple configurations and people just refuse to support it with numbers that will make it a sustainable business model.

Excuses are excuses. Scheduling conflicts, 1/8 mile, don't like the points structure, buy backs, the dog ate my membership card, whatever. Yes, they are far from perfect, they do things that annoy me as well, but it is an option, an alternative, its a venue to compete at, but it will not be there with this level of support. And frankly, I think its too late, this was the last crack at putting something out there in hopes of getting a decent car count.

Sure, the old IHRA national events had more excitement, but so did the old NHRA national events. The events in the current IHRA SSNC format, while considered nationals, are obviously more like points meets, but so what. Timothy won Hot Rod Saturday at Empire and got $1500 purse and 9 stickers at $200. It was the same deal at Pittsburgh when each kid won in Stock and Super Stock. $150 to enter, double events, and only 2 days required. How isn't that a good deal.

Again, they are flawed, but so is NHRA. I'm not throwing rocks at anyone, but sometimes we're our own worst enemy. After all the talk, no one supported Beard's race, so not wanting to lose his *** he bailed. IHRA and track operators can't continue to throw good money after bad, and the complete lack of support, for whatever reasons, is going to make NHRA the only game in town other than combos.

Won't be any need for excuses soon...

[340Cuda]

Well said Dan...

[Bill Bagley]

Originally Posted by Dan Fletcher

I'm unsure of what the answer is either, but I can almost guarantee you the question won't have to be asked for long. IHRA has tried and tried to put a sportsman series out there in multiple configurations and people just refuse to support it with numbers that will make it a sustainable business model.

Excuses are excuses. Scheduling conflicts, 1/8 mile, don't like the points structure, buy backs, the dog ate my membership card, whatever. Yes, they are far from perfect, they do things that annoy me as well, but it is an option, an alternative, its a venue to compete at, but it will not be there with this level of support. And frankly, I think its too late, this was the last crack at putting something out there in hopes of getting a decent car count.

Sure, the old IHRA national events had more excitement, but so did the old NHRA national events. The events in the current IHRA SSNC format, while considered nationals, are obviously more like points meets, but so what. Timothy won Hot Rod Saturday at Empire and got $1500 purse and 9 stickers at $200. It was the same deal at Pittsburgh when each kid won in Stock and Super Stock. $150 to enter, double events, and only 2 days required. How isn't that a good deal.

Again, they are flawed, but so is NHRA. I'm not throwing rocks at anyone, but sometimes we're our own worst enemy. After all the talk, no one supported Beard's race, so not wanting to lose his *** he bailed. IHRA and track operators can't continue to throw good money after bad, and the complete lack of support, for whatever reasons, is going to make NHRA the only game in town other than combos.

Won't be any need for excuses soon...

Thank you, Dan. In Root Cause Analysis fashion I believe you sized it up quite well. What a sad state of affairs.

[Stirk18]

IHRA has lost its place in the racing world. Thats mainly why attendance is low. For those who want to class race on the biggest stage and win Prestigious races and Coveted World titles you have the NHRA World Championship . Which also offers moderate purses (subsidized by sticker money)

For those who want to chase a points championship but can only run regionally, you have the Lucas Oil Series. It still offers a sense of prestige to win and also pays moderate purses (again subsidized by sticker money)

For those who want to run locally without large time and money obligations like NHRA tours demand you have local S/SS S/St, S/G, or S/C series, which in most cases pay decent round money and decent - moderately good winners purses for what the entry fee is.

Then you have the current IHRA sportsman system. It unfortunately is not contested on a big stage anymore (like you could argue it did from 2001-2008), It does not offer a regional points option anymore (even when it did it was abit difficult to follow for some). And last it doesnt offer much in sticker money, purse money or a good purse-to-payout ratio.

So back to my point of what do they offer thats any different then the above three options currently dont offer to everyone?

I'm still a big IHRA fan, I think there is a place in the market for them with the right plans in place , but its going to take an ownership and management team that understand the economics of motorsports not just economics to turn this ship around.

Andrew