IHRA & Division 1 Racers

[cal]

Hello All
Has IHRA given up on Division 1 Racers, or has Division 1 Racers given up on IHRA?
(could also replace Div 1 Races with Sportsman Racers)

I have only been a sportsman racers for about 6 years now. I have enjoyed my time racing IHRA, but now I'm starting to wonder.
VMP is gone, Richmond Dragway is gone, I feel Capital is gone to.
MDIR (as it is now called) Last year only had a signal race after announcing a double after the rain out at Richmond. This year MDIR did have a double with a bad turn out again.
Why is IHRA so hard headed to put the Presidents cup race on top of NHRA's Bristol race is beyond me.

IHRA Has a track 60 miles from Capital raceway, why didn't they reschedule the race for that track, they do own it. Show the sportsman racers we want you to race with us and we are willing to have you at our race track !!!
Guess it is ok for other tracks to lose money, but not IHRA owned tracks to lose money?

But now they want us to travel 10 to 12 plus hours to Carolina dragway.
For a Division 1 claim, with what 3 weeks notice!!! GREAT

It was not that long ago MDIR had a Pro Am in April, and a Presidents Cup race in September. Why not try that again.

I ask why are we the racers not supporting IHRA? Is it other races on top of their races. Is it attitude, is it track prep, is it to far to travel, is it pay out, is it entry fee's, is it double races. (I would hope not) Is it their way of Crowning a National Champion.
It is the best of the best racing for $10K and the Championship.

A couple years ago IHRA went to bat and had the Sportsman Spectacular races.
$5000.00 to win plus National event contingency. The big draw back was BUY BACKS. I'm really not a big fan of buy back, but $5K to win. I thought it was a good idea. But again poor participation from the races.

I don't know what the answer is, but I was at ATCO this weekend and there were 550 Plus racecars entered in the race.

IHRA please step up to the plate and fix this. Look at what your History is, and bring it back to the Glory days. Before it is to late, if it is not already to late.
It is your sand box, and if you want us Sportsman racers to play in it the sand needs to be deep.

There is so much more to be said.
But I'm done with this for now.

Maybe I'll just go bracket racing the rest of the year.
Just a little fish in a big ocean trying to hid from the sharks.

Cal
SST HR 1177

[gbur]

Division 1 director is a poor body with no merit , add in Mike Dunn and its like two stoned gold fish , and it continues

[MR DERBY CITY]

Sooner or later, everyone jumped off the Titanic, ....life rafts or not.

[jwsamuel]

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

[cal]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

O I believe it is lopsided in IHRAs favorer.
In the end, it is all about the money for sure.
Something needs to be done, to help the tracks make money.
Something needs to be done to get racers in the gate.
What can we as races do to help this happen?

Cal
SST HR 1177

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by cal

O I believe it is lopsided in IHRAs favorer.
In the end, it is all about the money for sure.
Something needs to be done, to help the tracks make money.
Something needs to be done to get racers in the gate.
What can we as races do to help this happen?

Cal
SST HR 1177

The only thing the racers can do is go and support the program. One of the issues with the current Pro Am format is the one day multi race weekend. If you have more than about 20-25 cars per class its real hard to get the races done before the wee hours of the morning. If you arrive at the gate at 7 am and don't run the final until 3 am the next morning that is too hard on the racers. To build the car count they need to go back to more of a schedule like the NHRA LODRS races. If lets say each class had 45 cars show up it would be difficult at best to run two races in Two days. Scheduling is also an issue. If IHRA is scheduled right on top or within a week or two of the NHRA race in the same local area that will effect the car counts. With the high cost to race most of us have to pick and choose which events to attend. Especially the guys that run both sanctioning bodies. In Florida there is only a few IHRA specific cars running. Most run IHRA and NHRA. All but one of our tracks in Florida are now IHRA with the exception of Gainesville.

[ss wannabee]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

I wanted to try Skyview...at least to put my fanny in the stands...now it's gone. Always juggling schedules at home...job...family etc... Hopefully I can catch Empire...might be for a day only!

[Lee Valentine]

Went to Skyveiw and loved it, the next year they put it on the same weekend as the New England divisional and we went to NE because we were running for points in NHRA. Not just me quite a few others. What is IHRA thinking,most of their problems are self inflicted.

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

For a couple of years, I covered every IHRA D1 Pro Am race. I don't think any of the races had more than 200 cars show up. At tracks like Skyview and Richmond, they'd get about 175 cars at the most.

When you take in account the IHRA fee for the event, the tracks are running on a very thin margin and everything has to go totally according to plan for the track to make any money.

If you have a postponement or a cancellation because of rain, the weekend is going to be a money loser for the track. At least two of the track owners told me the Pro Ams are just not worth the money and the hassle.

Jim

When I talked to Scooter Peaco he told me they needed at least 130 cars to break even at a ProAm. Jim

.

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by Jim Wahl

When I talked to Scooter Peaco he told me they needed at least 130 cars to break even at a ProAm. Jim

.

Sounds about right. But that probably assumes that the event runs according to plan. If the race is postponed, the track operator has to pay people to come back another day with no additional entry fees. Delays can mean overtime for employees, etc.

Some of the races I went to got 170 cars or so. So if 130 is break even, 170 does not leave a lot of profit margin for the track.

Jim