Auto Meter Northern Class Nationals event planning
 

We have talked about it, kicked the idea around, hemmed, hawed, pondered, and pontificated about reviving the famous US Class Nationals concept for years now... really, ever since the inaugural event was completed. Having promoted a couple of successful big-money bracket races now, I'm distinctly aware of the massive amount of preparation and promotion necessary to make an event a reality -- and among those things is time. It takes time not only to reach all of our potential customers, but also to line up dates, sponsors, advertising, etc. It seems like the final step of taking the plunge and just *doing* it is always a little behind the timeline, and it just never gets done.

What I am proposing is to get the ball rolling now for a 2014 event. Let's hash out and test the concept first.

To complement the significant number of truly great S/SS Combo events and series out there, I believe having an event where Stock and Super Stock run separate, as well as having Class Eliminations, would provide a greater draw.

Northern Doorslammer Nationals -- Event format: My goal is to have a 2-day event, featuring Stock and Super Stock as separate classes -- really need to be able to draw 64 cars per class to be viable.

Friday: Parking & Registration. Potentially a track-run test n' tune.
Saturday: Time Trials and Class Eliminations. Minimum of Iron Tree trophies for each Class winner, and will work on sponsor contingency/awards
Sunday: Main event eliminations, minimum of $5,000/win, with round money starting 3rd round, similar level to a Sportsnationals event.


If y'all are on board, I'm willing to work for YOU, the racer.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Michael

It is a huge undertaking on your part, but knowing you and your accomplishments and what you can bring to the table I believe that you would be able to do it and do it well. There is a extremely short list of people that i feel that could accomplish it and you are on it in my opinion.

Location would be very important, not only from the competitor point of view, but also from yours. Having it centrally located may be the thing to do, but being able to appeal to a larger population of racers in a particular area is another.

I believe that you will have a large percentage of racers who have the desire, but maybe not have the where with all to attend, based on travel, time off, expense and such.

Good Luck and count me in.

RJ

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Bowling Green would be a great central location for a lot of racers. I will help you if I can.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

i am game sounds greate i cant waite if you need any help just let us no

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

With more than a year to prepare, I can't see why I should miss an event like this. A venue within 18 hours of Toronto would be preferred, but I'm likely to tow as far as it takes.......might even have the car finished by 2014. :o

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Tri-State Raceway, Earlville Iowa

Tough to beat a track run by people who participate and support our class.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Michael , dont forget to consider MIR , the car count you need would be easy

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Mike, Norwalk if possible!

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Quite honestly, already looking at National Trail Raceway. Been studying on doing a No-Box/Footbrake and/or a door-car only Box race there for quite awhile, but I don't think the region is strong enough for any one of them to stand on its own at this time. I've done my homework on cost, availability, weather history, etc.,, already have a comfort level with much of the staff, and we have a lot of "support group" close by in the form of potential sponsor/advertising partners, I will threaten Nitro Joe to be there, etc. :p Whatever reputation Columbus once had, I think it is quickly turning around with two *very* good events this year between the LODRS and Sportsnationals. With a couple more repeat good experiences in the coming year, I think it can once again be a place to which people can look forward to going.

All that being said, I'd like to concentrate on the format of the event primarily. A given venue does have a particular draw, but I believe that the event and promotion weigh heavily on the scales: There's been some great ideas run at some great tracks that just never worked, for one reason or another. First and foremost, people have to care. There are certainly a number of awesome supertracks out there: Norwalk, MIR, Bristol, etc, but then you have uphill battles with scheduling and rental costs. With location, a race in one person's backyard is necessarily not in someone else's. There are a large number of variables to consider.

I'm leaving in the morning to handle our $20K Footbrake event at Coastal Plains this weekend, so I'll be out of the loop for awhile, but in the meantime, please feel free to throw a bunch of schtuff at the wall and we'll see what sticks. ;)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Thanks, Michael. I'm voting to have individual class elims at national trail.Win or lose , I like the heads-up racing! Bob Michael.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Sounds like it's on the way to be the "Back East Nationals"

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Jeff, I've made at least two proposals to have a Class type Nationals out here @Speedworld
I got ZERO responses both times....

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

This sounds like a winner to me.
Now; I am the Rep. for B.I.R. It's location is not as good for getting the car count we need.

Tri-State Raceway IN Earlville Iowa Is "a winner" with all the racers in the area.
It is also very well received by any visiting from far away.

An excellent track with well respected owners who are responsive to "our type"
of drag racing.

To put it in a nut shell....
"They get it!"
Please consider this fine facility for this race.
As always I'll help with it any way I can!
It is up to us to keep our sport alive!

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Another vote for Earlville, the place just rocks and is in a good central location!!

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Speedworld is too far west. Keep it somewhat central.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Just curious because I haven't seen any reference to it yet in this thread, but will IHRA cars be allowed ?

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

I don't think there could be a better place than Bowling Green. I am, of course, biased because it's close to me, but if a place can get 60+ cars for a combo race on a regular basis, a Class Nationals type race would likely have full fields.

I saw quite a few people have suggested Earlville. We went there for the first time this year, it's a very nice place, and fast!

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Wouldn't that greatly complicate class eliminations? Differences in rules being another sticky point...advocates should probably PM Michael on their ideas to make it feasible.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

The original US Class Nationals allowed ALL cars, NHRA and IHRA, that were legal S/SS cars. That's the only way to do it. For concerns in Class Eliminations situtations, if a car can fit both sanctioning bodies, use the NHRA class and horsepower. Use the NHRA/IHRA-only rules, for cars that only fit one (Pure Stock, Stock/GT, Crate Motor, etc).

Making a race like this (or ANY combo race) an NHRA-only event is near-sightedness at best, and assinine at worst.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

I don't think there are any rule differences in regular stock anymore are there? I think IHRA allowed roller rockers first, but NHRA does now.

In my opinion, IHRA cars should be allowed. If it fits an NHRA class, it runs the NHRA class at the NHRA HP rating (FI classes, etc.) and if not, the IHRA class is used.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

michael,
if you need anything ,am retired from work and can help.
terry dye

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Probably would be better to run an IHRA format. No one gets hurt that way. If you use an Nhra format the crate motor cars are screwed.
As far as location goes If you want a high car count locate it in Division 1 or 3 (NHRA)
If you centralize it the distance for a lot of the cars would be a problem. I know it's not fair How about an east coast and a west coast race. (2 races)?

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Tire rule comes to mind...I personally don't have an objection given my plan to move over to Super Stock, just pointing out that if Michael hasn't already thought it out (however unlikely that is) that he would probably appreciate a PM with inputs rather than getting into a p***ing contest on the forum.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

There has been conversation on this recently between the South Dakota and Minn/St Paul guys and Earlville was the location discussed. It was also talked about Joliet but knowing how well recieved racers are at Earlville plus the ability to comfortably host 600 racers, felt this would a better fit.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

The track manager at Joliet is Randy Simpson, who is a stock racer, and an all around good guy. I think you will find Randy very cordial to Stock racers.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

I'm on board with ya Michael. I'll have a car in both categories provided there is enough interest to run S/SS separately.

What date are you kicking around?

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

this sounds like the best thing i herd for racing in a long time i support the idea 100 percent

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

The original US Classnationals was truly a historic event for those that follow our sport, and a blast for all of us who were there, both racers and spectators. We all left there hoping for a second edition, but it didn't happen. Hopefully this project will come to a fabulous finish. I know there were some headaches along the way for Alex and his team, but in the end, it was a well run event, and the track people got it in on time each day. I would hope the same format could be followed if possible, but with the demise of Top Stock, I'm sure there will need to be some changes made.
Some pros I remember: NHRA & IHRA cars coming together.
All Stick cars opened the qualifying.
The Quick 32s on Sat. afternoon.
The Outlaw SS cars( I'd never seen those before)
Some cons I remember: The terrible heat and humidity.
Scheduled same dates as a national event,
although the car count was still tremendous.
I truly hope this can be pulled off,, I've never been to Earlville before, but I've seen photos that show it could handle an event like this, and its somewhat centrally located, which could help some racers decide to participate, instead of passing due to travel costs.
My 2 cents,, good luck with your efforts.
Danny Durham

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

It would be a great race, count us in! If possible have it on a weekend between two other race weekends, of close proximity, so racers could make the race coming or going.

Its has to have Class, I'm not fast enough to win but man do I love heads-up.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Tell me when and where. Last time I arrived a day early just to help. Same this time. It seemed to work great last time.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Sounds like an event worth traveling for.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

[QUOTE=Larry Hill;357695]It would be a great race, count us in! If possible have it on a weekend between two other race weekends, of close proximity, so racers could make the race coming or going.

Count me in, also!

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

I recall you had an enjoyable and successful weekend there Jeff!

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Any race running class goes to the top of our list!

Many racers show up Thursday or early Friday for divisionals. Why not have a scheduled smaller $ race on Friday with or without the test and tune? That makes it a double race weekend for many, which makes a longer tow worth the expense. I know some worry about the $, but some of us just wantore races/runs for the time we give to the sport. Race1/class/race2 makes it three races for one tow if you can get there on Friday.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

Sounds like a great idea Mike; I would like to attend a race like that, keep us posted on the progress.

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

I will do some research and take it into consideration. I looked at 5 years of weather data and it generally looks pretty good there. Another track I'd looked at and talked to a couple of years ago was Cordova. I'd worked with Scott, Laura, and Taz at a number of bracket finals, and I noticed they have a strong base with S/SS cars at their LODRS.

That was my thought. I would use the IHRA indexes (aka old NHRA indexes)... y'all can go stupid far under and enjoy it without getting horsepower. ;-)

Most crate motor cars run the 9" radial to begin with. That's an issue we could discuss and get input from both sides, but that's getting into details before we even fully develop the big picture.

I'll do the east coast if you do the west. ;-)

That would make it better for some, and make it impossible for others. There's always a trade off, and we just have to weigh those. Scheduling is very difficult, as there are a TON of races going on when you consider Nat'l and Div'l in both sanctioning bodies. Inevitably, you're going to be on top of *something*, and no one date and location is going to be perfect for everyone. I'm looking at first weekend in May in the "eastern mid-west". I realize that in 2013 that would be on top of the Atlanta national, but 1) we don't know the 2014 schedule, and 2) the 2012 Atlanta national was not well attended -- and those that were there were primarily "locals" to the region. This race would have to draw from the most populated areas/divisions, then hope to draw some percentage of support of surrounding regions.

Unfortunately, that is a mathematical impossibility. In order to cover track rental and all of the misc expenses (advertising, trophies, extra staff, hotels, etc) and pay first round winners, you'd either be running for peanuts to win, or pay an astronomical entry fee.

Small money races and test n' tunes will not cover a day's track rental unless you have a substantial turnout and participation. Plus, if you schedule on-track activities on Friday, everyone will bump up their planned arrival by yet another day, incurring more costs in hotels, staffing, time off work, etc -- for both the racer and the staff. It's always possible that the track would choose to do a test n' tune on Friday night themselves. Now, if we could be assured that we would have a very strong turnout in both Stock and Super Stock (100+ cars in each class), then I'm all for it, and would be willing to make it an all-S/SS event like the original Class Nationals, instead of having any bracket cars to cover expenses. If we're looking at 50 cars per class (which would be an impressive turnout these days), then it can't stand on its own. Perhaps the bigger it "can" be, the bigger it "will" be. It would have to be done on a pre-entry basis, not only to confirm the viability of the event, but also to get a ballpark on Class trophies to order. That's just one more reason why we're planning a year and a half in advance and not trying to rush something to market for next year. If we're going to do this, I want to do it *right*.

Hey Nitro Joe -- Are you up for making a ladder bigger than 128 again? :cool:

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

This thread was way back on page 3. Too little interest?

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

I think everyone is busy complaining about the new cars on another thread. I think it's a great idea, I would be interested, racing and throwing a little sponsorship help in.

Dennis Breeden

Re: Class Nationals event planning
 

I agree with Dennis, I also think it is a great idea, but I also think it is very difficult for anyone to plan for anything next year when we don't know for sure about the coming tax burden or our job situations, cost of fuel, cost of just about everything ..