Why would anyone want to do this?

[Ed Carpenter]

The NHRA has announced guidelines for the selection of category and division representatives for the Sportsman Racer Advisory Council for the 2010-2011 seasons. Individuals interested in applying to become a racer representative on this council should forward their interest to their respective Division Director no later than Sunday, Jan. 31. Notification must be in the form of an e-mail only and should state why the individual feels qualified for this position. The applicant must be a current driver, owner, or crew chief and must include their NHRA competition number when applying.


Each Division Director will then select two applicants for each of the category groups along with the current SRAC member. Should the current SRAC member elect not to be considered for continuing to serve on the council a third person would be selected by the Division Director from the applicants. The category groups include Alcohol, Comp, Super Stock/Stock, Super Comp-Gas-Street and Top Dragster/Top Sportsman classes. The names of the three nominated applicants for each category will be posted on their respective division's web site Tuesday, Feb. 2. Sportsman racers will be asked to vote on their choice of their representatives. Voting will conclude at noon PT, Friday, Feb. 5.


The new NHRA Sportsman Racer Advisory Council members will be announced Tuesday, Feb. 9. The first general meeting of the 2010-2011 SRAC will be held Friday, March 12, at the NHRA Gatornationals. Those representatives not participating at the event will be teleconferenced into the meeting. The agenda of this initial meeting will serve as an introduction of Council representatives, an overview of the Council, objectives of the Council, and the setting of future agenda items and meeting dates.


"Input from the SRAC has become an integral part of NHRA's decision making process relating to racing policies and procedures, rules, schedules and virtually all areas of our business," said Jay Hullinger, North Central Division Director and SRAC Chairman. "How the SRAC functions continues to be a work in progress. While the SRAC has improved communications with our NHRA racers, an area that we have fallen short on is sharing the discussions and input that the various sub-committees have provided with the racers as a whole -- an area that we will improve on."


The SRAC is among many sources for information and views gathered by NHRA in creating policies and procedures and programs that ultimately make NHRA racing more enjoyable and rewarding for all.