$305.00 Nat. event entry

[Chris Barnes]

Congratulations Mark. I agree with Toby, you have found the perfect way to beat the high cost of NHRA entry fees. I don't know why I didn't think of it! I guess that's why they pay you the big bucks!

The rise in insurance/entry fees isn't my main concern, although I totally agree with Mr. Beard's point--I would squeal at $500. The price of fuel to get to the event and the uncertainties of owning a small business in this economy are the things that really concern me right now.

Chris Barnes
Wagons of Steel
Stock 6621

[Mark Faul]

Thanks Chris! Yeah, spend thousands and travel thousands of miles to get the gold cards so I can stick it to "the man"! LOL

Michael I was at that race Don was talking about. Art Congdon had the DrG Review that listed the entry fees, but we were told "it was updated on the website about the entry increase for this race" because it cost IHRA more to get there. I think it was $40 more per car if I remember correctly. Lots of unhappy racers! I had driven 900+ miles so I was there for the duration, but a couple people felt cheated so they went home.

[Adub464Q]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

It used to be that stock eliminator was a place someone with talent and a small budget could race National events, and run for a championship, and have a chance at being a champion. Now you need $100,000 plus new under rated cars cars, stacker trailers, and the ever larger motor homes plus a business that runs itself while your away for a week just to run a points race.

My response has the utmost respect, but when did we start racing with stacker trailers and huge motorhomes on the racetrack. The last time I checked we race with cars, not trailers.

Also, Im fairly certain that the guy carrying the number 1 on his car next year, towed his car on a flat bed trailer with a pickup, mistake me if I'm wrong.

Finally, with a glance at the top ten in stock this year, there was not a single challenger or CJ, so no "new underfactored" cars.

Austin Williams

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Adub464Q

My response has the utmost respect, but when did we start racing with stacker trailers and huge motorhomes on the racetrack. The last time I checked we race with cars, not trailers.

Also, Im fairly certain that the guy carrying the number 1 on his car next year, towed his car on a flat bed trailer with a pickup, mistake me if I'm wrong.

Finally, with a glance at the top ten in stock this year, there was not a single challenger or CJ, so no "new underfactored" cars.

Austin Williams

That was last year.....wait until 2011 when more and more new cars hit the track. They just didnt have the numbers last year to cover up the fields. Qualifying will be a whole new ball game. You dont think these new cars wont have an effect on who runs who during eliminations.
P.S. I know you dont race the friggin' trailer or motor home. Its a sign of the times and like someones said in another post.....what do you think NHRA is thinking when they see more and more rigs that cost more than most peoples homes.What about having to take off more and more days to run an event? No wonder they keep jacking up the prices for chassis certs, liscens, etc. entrys and yet never increase the purse.

[Joe Pinkston]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

The funny thing about this whole thing is that NHRA is self-insured! All that premium money goes directly to them. Jim

Someone told me that in the legal fine print of how this NHRA insurance works is if you as a racer gets injured and have your own personal health insurance that might cover all or some of your expences, the NHRA insurance only kicks in after your personal insurance limits are met. Is this true?

I understand that the NHRA officials that work the LODRS races (excluding the division director) all took a cut in pay for their time spent working the division races. The guys that work tech and the ladies working the registration trailer here in Div 2 are some of the most wonderful people you ever want to meet. They continue to do what they do for the love of the sport I'm sure.

The recent fee increases might be easier to take if the racers heard that those higher up have taken a cut in pay to help out during these hard economic times, but thats not happening. Just this last week we got the announcment of 2 new members being added to the board of directors in Glendora, probably with a couple of hundred grand a year salary each.

Merry Christmas everyone!




Hey Dan Moore, you're #1. (Merry Christmas to you too)

RIP Mark Graham

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Marc Kinton

http://ihra.com/article/7075.html

Here's a little article you guys should read.

We would love to have you, sorry if some of you guys/gals aren't in our markets but we're trying to get to you, promise

I hope they hurry up, because I don't have one of those fancy new cars, enclosed trailers, or deep bank accounts to afford these outrageous escalations to our national event entry cost's....THIS SUCKS CANAL WATER N.H.R.A.!!!

[tpoh815]

[QUOTE=Joe Pinkston;228805]Someone told me that in the legal fine print of how this NHRA insurance works is if you as a racer gets injured and have your own personal health insurance that might cover all or some of your expences, the NHRA insurance only kicks in after your personal insurance limits are met. Is this true?

Why not let me worry about my heath insurance. I pay into it every week. Besides the percentage of racers that do not have heath insurance has to be pretty small. If you even try to live a daily life without it (ins) and race, I say you have a priority problem. Impose your will
"O high and mighty" NHRA. I cant waste my money any quicker.

[Jason Oldfield]

This is essentially the same message that I posted over in the .90 forum:

I have an idea...how about Tom Compton takes a reduction in salary from $700,000/year to something a little more reasonable so that all of us sportsman racers don't have to take it in the *****? With 23 national events and assuming approximately 100 cars per class in S/S & Stk, you end up with about 5,000 total S/S & Stk. competitors at NHRA national events. If Tom Compton reduced his salary from $700,000 to a VERY HEALTHY $450,000, we could reduce the insurance surcharge by $50 per entry to $40.

Now, if we could get Mr. "I work 10 hours per week for NHRA" Dallas Gardner to reduce his yearly salary from $325,000 to $200,000, we could reduce the insurance surcharge another $25 per entry to $15. I know it might be a little much to ask a guy who only works 10 hours per week to reduce his yearly salary to a paltry $200,000 per year, but to me it seems that the circumstances may warrant the sacrifice.

Oh, and let's not forget Graham Light ($325,000), John Siragusa ($425,000), Peter Clifford ($375,000), Gary Darcy ($375,000), and Glen Gray ($300,000). Asking them to each take a $25,000/year reduction in salary would not only eliminate the remaining $15 of the insurance surcharge, but with the surplus we could actually reduce the entry fee by $10/each as well.

http://www.dragracingonline.com/anal...ge-4-Large.gif

I won't include the few other paupers on the above list as clearly they're just scraping by with their $225,000 - $250,000 annual salaries, and we couldn't possibly ask them to to reduce their compensation from a not-for-profit company.

My guess is that Mr. Compton is looking to buy himself a new Aston Martin V12 Vantage, and can't quite figure out how he can justify the purchase to his wife. So, raise the insurance surcharge $35 (about a 60% increase) and BINGO! Instant $175,000 from the S/S & Stk. racers to pay for the Vantage.

I can't believe all you guys who are just shrugging it off and saying, "Eh, who cares...it's only an extra $35 per entry, and that's a drop in the bucket compared to what I pay to race at one of these events." Though that may be true (it's only going to be about a 3.5% increase for the TOTAL cost to attend one of these events, assuming you're only bringing one car), what NHRA is doing is the 2011 version of nickel and dime-ing us to death. Where does it all end?

[Ed Fernandez]

Originally Posted by Jason Oldfield

This is essentially the same message that I posted over in the .90 forum:

I have an idea...how about Tom Compton takes a reduction in salary from $700,000/year to something a little more reasonable so that all of us sportsman racers don't have to take it in the *****? With 23 national events and assuming approximately 100 cars per class in S/S & Stk, you end up with about 5,000 total S/S & Stk. competitors at NHRA national events. If Tom Compton reduced his salary from $700,000 to a VERY HEALTHY $450,000, we could reduce the insurance surcharge by $50 per entry to $40.

Now, if we could get Mr. "I work 10 hours per week for NHRA" Dallas Gardner to reduce his yearly salary from $325,000 to $200,000, we could reduce the insurance surcharge another $25 per entry to $15. I know it might be a little much to ask a guy who only works 10 hours per week to reduce his yearly salary to a paltry $200,000 per year, but to me it seems that the circumstances may warrant the sacrifice.

Oh, and let's not forget Graham Light ($325,000), John Siragusa ($425,000), Peter Clifford ($375,000), Gary Darcy ($375,000), and Glen Gray ($300,000). Asking them to each take a $25,000/year reduction in salary would not only eliminate the remaining $15 of the insurance surcharge, but with the surplus we could actually reduce the entry fee by $10/each as well.

http://www.dragracingonline.com/anal...ge-4-Large.gif

I won't include the few other paupers on the above list as clearly they're just scraping by with their $225,000 - $250,000 annual salaries, and we couldn't possibly ask them to to reduce their compensation from a not-for-profit company.

My guess is that Mr. Compton is looking to buy himself a new Aston Martin V12 Vantage, and can't quite figure out how he can justify the purchase to his wife. So, raise the insurance surcharge $35 (about a 60% increase) and BINGO! Instant $175,000 from the S/S & Stk. racers to pay for the Vantage.

I can't believe all you guys who are just shrugging it off and saying, "Eh, who cares...it's only an extra $35 per entry, and that's a drop in the bucket compared to what I pay to race at one of these events." Though that may be true (it's only going to be about a 3.5% increase for the TOTAL cost to attend one of these events, assuming you're only bringing one car), what NHRA is doing is the 2011 version of nickel and dime-ing us to death. Where does it all end?

So Jason,have you emailed this to Uncle Tom?Did he respond?:>):>):>)

[Jason Oldfield]

Originally Posted by Ed Fernandez

So Jason,have you emailed this to Uncle Tom?Did he respond?:>):>):>)

I did, and surprisingly he didn't respond. And neither did Dallas Gardner, Graham Light, John Siragusa, Peter Clifford, Gary Darcy, or Glen Gray.

I can't imagine why....