[Michael Beard]

Tri-State Raceway IN Earlville Iowa Is "a winner" with all the racers in the area.

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.

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).

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. ;-)

Tire rule comes to mind...

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 know it's not fair How about an east coast and a west coast race. (2 races)?

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

If possible have it on a weekend between two other race weekends, of close proximity, so racers could make the race coming or going.

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.

- Round money start with round one win. Winning a round of stock or super stock is very difficult and they are badges of honor when achieved. I still have the round pay stubs from the Bill Bader days and use them as starters for bragging. Even though the majority are the $40.00 1st round checks

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.

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.

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?