Interesting Comments from David Rampy

fredjohnston · 11-17-2016, 08:45 AM

Some interesting comments and views from David Rampy

http://competitionplus.com/drag-raci...-racing-future

cutta · 11-17-2016, 10:59 AM

I still don't know how to fix that young people thing. The money, time, and money involved in racing makes it problematic for most.

SS/1230 · 11-18-2016, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cutta

I still don't know how to fix that young people thing. The money, time, and money involved in racing makes it problematic for most.

If you look around the track in any division, how many young new faces are there that ARE NOT second generation drivers that either race on the 1st generations budget, or race the family's car? Its too expensive to just start racing on your own and NHRA doesn't help. I've been racing 13 years with my Chevelle in Super Stock that was once my fathers, and he covers all fuel and entries. If it wasn't for him, my car would be parked in the garage. I can see the progression of where NHRA is going over my tenure and its literally gotten worse every year with how they treat the sportsman racers. Rampy nailed it when he said "“I’ve raced in the best of times; I truly have.” The days he speaks of, was like when my dad used to race and sportsman racing was respected and appreciated (20 years ago). Now it costs $340 to enter a national and NHRA could care less if we're even there or not. Not to mention trying to wrangle up contingency payments if you win a race. I raced the Keystone nationals in October and after raining all week, I started to think that maybe NHRA forgot we were even there. 1 time-shot and 1st round on Monday morning. I was there 7 days, made one time run, and lost 3rd round, and I couldn't honestly say that I enjoyed myself. I had more fun going out to dinner every night just to get out of the track (which I can do at home). I digress..... this is just years of frustration I'm expressing for my generation of racers. We didn't exist in the "glory years of NHRA.." All I've seen is the decline of car counts and the increase in racers frustration. The most frustrating part is NHRA isn't going to change for the better. They've proven that. These full time Sportsman racers like Rampy and Tommy Phillips, there is a reason that they are deciding whether or not to race full time anymore. Both saying that they're going to race full time one more year? Seems to me that they see where things are going.

- JF
SS/STK 1230

cutta · 11-18-2016, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SS/1230

If you look around the track in any division, how many young new faces are there that ARE NOT second generation drivers that either race on the 1st generations budget, or race the family's car? Its too expensive to just start racing on your own and NHRA doesn't help. I've been racing 13 years with my Chevelle in Super Stock that was once my fathers, and he covers all fuel and entries. If it wasn't for him, my car would be parked in the garage. I can see the progression of where NHRA is going over my tenure and its literally gotten worse every year with how they treat the sportsman racers. Rampy nailed it when he said "“I’ve raced in the best of times; I truly have.” The days he speaks of, was like when my dad used to race and sportsman racing was respected and appreciated (20 years ago). Now it costs $340 to enter a national and NHRA could care less if we're even there or not. Not to mention trying to wrangle up contingency payments if you win a race. I raced the Keystone nationals in October and after raining all week, I started to think that maybe NHRA forgot we were even there. 1 time-shot and 1st round on Monday morning. I was there 7 days, made one time run, and lost 3rd round, and I couldn't honestly say that I enjoyed myself. I had more fun going out to dinner every night just to get out of the track (which I can do at home). I digress..... this is just years of frustration I'm expressing for my generation of racers. We didn't exist in the "glory years of NHRA.." All I've seen is the decline of car counts and the increase in racers frustration. The most frustrating part is NHRA isn't going to change for the better. They've proven that. These full time Sportsman racers like Rampy and Tommy Phillips, there is a reason that they are deciding whether or not to race full time anymore. Both saying that they're going to race full time one more year? Seems to me that they see where things are going.

- JF
SS/STK 1230

I'm pretty much in the same boat as well. Me and my brother are second generation bracket racers and if not for my dad teaching us we would not be racing. We are lucky enough to be able to afford it and we love it. I know we will expose as many people as we can to the sport but the only way I see this thing being accessible to people going forward is shelving your pride to team up with someone. Otherwise, the disposable income probably isn't there.

Michael Compton · 11-18-2016, 11:38 AM

I totally agree. I would never have gotten into drag racing had it not been for my dad. Now that my son is in junior dragsters, we are on our 3rd generation.

What Rampy said is the truth. NHRA is driving sportsman racers away with the lack of respect and ridiculous cost of entry. Take for instance what happened at Noble at the division race in October. Comp was called to the lanes for a qualifier. Everyone was in the lanes and ready when Trey decided to run alcohol instead. At the point he made that decision, every Comp car was in the lanes and not a single, I repeat, not a single Alcohol car was in the lanes. Noble had a total of 15 Comp cars so running those cars would have taken maybe 10 minutes. His reasoning was sticking to the schedule. After a pair or 2 of the alcohol cars, all of the comp guys headed back to their trailers. Trey never once came out to the lanes personally to explain why he made the decision. Instead, he made the staging lane guys tell all of us what was going on. Not a single one of those guys was happy about it either.

I am to the point that a national event is not worth the time and effort either. I will go to a couple close ones maybe but other than that, I do not really care to go and be treated like a red headed stepchild. Not any fun!

Michael Compton
SS/BS 5016

PozQB14 · 11-18-2016, 12:38 PM

People may talk poorly about them, but IHRA Pro Ams are ran great and the racers are treated with great respect. Some tracks are better than others, but for the most part if you want to race your vehicle with other class cars in a highly competitive environment, there is nothing wrong with Pro Ams. You get the same cars that race NHRA and the entry is half the cost and the environment among the racers is the same. And sadly for the NHRA, the payouts are pretty comparable.

And like the few previous posts said...I'm building a super stock 86 Camaro, ONLY because my father has the necessary parts laying around and I was able to find some good quality used parts for sale. AND he has the all the knowledge and expertise. Now, if I can only find better driving skills for sale I'd be good to go, HAHA!! Me and my brother wouldn't have 2 cars each if it wasn't for our father, but its a bummer that no one in our circle of friends really have an interest in this stuff. Which is why a weekend at the racetrack with like minded people is so great.

SS/1230 · 11-18-2016, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Michael Compton

I totally agree. I would never have gotten into drag racing had it not been for my dad. Now that my son is in junior dragsters, we are on our 3rd generation.

What Rampy said is the truth. NHRA is driving sportsman racers away with the lack of respect and ridiculous cost of entry. Take for instance what happened at Noble at the division race in October. Comp was called to the lanes for a qualifier. Everyone was in the lanes and ready when Trey decided to run alcohol instead. At the point he made that decision, every Comp car was in the lanes and not a single, I repeat, not a single Alcohol car was in the lanes. Noble had a total of 15 Comp cars so running those cars would have taken maybe 10 minutes. His reasoning was sticking to the schedule. After a pair or 2 of the alcohol cars, all of the comp guys headed back to their trailers. Trey never once came out to the lanes personally to explain why he made the decision. Instead, he made the staging lane guys tell all of us what was going on. Not a single one of those guys was happy about it either.

I am to the point that a national event is not worth the time and effort either. I will go to a couple close ones maybe but other than that, I do not really care to go and be treated like a red headed stepchild. Not any fun!

Michael Compton
SS/BS 5016

That's exactly the kind of treatment that's been getting worse every year. It takes the fun out of it sometimes. I remember the days that we barely had enough room in the motorhome to put all the stuff that NHRA national events gave us. Anyone remember the blue Powerade coolers that were full of stuff? Or how the divsionals used to sponsor cookouts for the racers? I believe one year at Numedia when they used to have D-1 divisionals there, they had semi-pro wrestlers show up, after a crew of guys built a wrestling ring between the stands and the guardrail at the 330' just to entertain the racers. NONE of that stuff exists anymore.

- James Fontana
SS/STK 1230

Kdw1403 · 11-21-2016, 05:39 PM

Great post Mr. Rampy. I was just getting into racing when David was driving the High Times opel and Nova . I not only agree with Davids post but with everybodys post. I severely cut back my racing about 10 years ago because of the kid thing. Always God and family first. I have been saying for about 8 years that NHRA has been trying to seperate the pro racer from the sportsman racer and only run the professional catagories at national events and the sportsman guys only run the points meets. In my eyes the TV money for the pro classes is the only thing keeping NHRA afloat. The future doesn't look good for NHRA. IHRA and NMCA and a couple others are much more fun to run. The future of all racing is very uncertain right now. I wish Mr. Rampy could get with some of some wealthy people and start a grass roots drag racing organization that truly thought the sportsman racer was the back bone of the sport. Mr. Rampy will always be an ambassador for the sport of drag racing. Happy Thanks giving to everybody.

11-17-2016, 08:45 AM	#1
fredjohnston Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Posts: 341 Likes: 0 Liked 55 Times in 14 Posts	Interesting Comments from David Rampy Some interesting comments and views from David Rampy http://competitionplus.com/drag-raci...-racing-future

11-17-2016, 10:59 AM	#2
cutta Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Little Rock, AR Posts: 347 Likes: 0 Liked 5 Times in 2 Posts	Re: Interesting Comments from David Rampy I still don't know how to fix that young people thing. The money, time, and money involved in racing makes it problematic for most. __________________ Adriel Paradise, Paradise Racing Team Driver/Crew Chief(at least my dad claims me to be) B.S. Mechanical Engineering, University of Arkansas

11-18-2016, 11:38 AM	#5
Michael Compton Member Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Neosho, MO Posts: 215 Likes: 0 Liked 59 Times in 13 Posts	Re: Interesting Comments from David Rampy I totally agree. I would never have gotten into drag racing had it not been for my dad. Now that my son is in junior dragsters, we are on our 3rd generation. What Rampy said is the truth. NHRA is driving sportsman racers away with the lack of respect and ridiculous cost of entry. Take for instance what happened at Noble at the division race in October. Comp was called to the lanes for a qualifier. Everyone was in the lanes and ready when Trey decided to run alcohol instead. At the point he made that decision, every Comp car was in the lanes and not a single, I repeat, not a single Alcohol car was in the lanes. Noble had a total of 15 Comp cars so running those cars would have taken maybe 10 minutes. His reasoning was sticking to the schedule. After a pair or 2 of the alcohol cars, all of the comp guys headed back to their trailers. Trey never once came out to the lanes personally to explain why he made the decision. Instead, he made the staging lane guys tell all of us what was going on. Not a single one of those guys was happy about it either. I am to the point that a national event is not worth the time and effort either. I will go to a couple close ones maybe but other than that, I do not really care to go and be treated like a red headed stepchild. Not any fun! Michael Compton SS/BS 5016

11-18-2016, 12:38 PM	#6
PozQB14 Member Join Date: Jun 2015 Location: Youngsville, NC Posts: 129 Likes: 24 Liked 42 Times in 17 Posts	Re: Interesting Comments from David Rampy People may talk poorly about them, but IHRA Pro Ams are ran great and the racers are treated with great respect. Some tracks are better than others, but for the most part if you want to race your vehicle with other class cars in a highly competitive environment, there is nothing wrong with Pro Ams. You get the same cars that race NHRA and the entry is half the cost and the environment among the racers is the same. And sadly for the NHRA, the payouts are pretty comparable. And like the few previous posts said...I'm building a super stock 86 Camaro, ONLY because my father has the necessary parts laying around and I was able to find some good quality used parts for sale. AND he has the all the knowledge and expertise. Now, if I can only find better driving skills for sale I'd be good to go, HAHA!! Me and my brother wouldn't have 2 cars each if it wasn't for our father, but its a bummer that no one in our circle of friends really have an interest in this stuff. Which is why a weekend at the racetrack with like minded people is so great.

11-21-2016, 05:39 PM	#8
Kdw1403 Member Join Date: Nov 2016 Posts: 205 Likes: 49 Liked 68 Times in 22 Posts	Re: Interesting Comments from David Rampy Great post Mr. Rampy. I was just getting into racing when David was driving the High Times opel and Nova . I not only agree with Davids post but with everybodys post. I severely cut back my racing about 10 years ago because of the kid thing. Always God and family first. I have been saying for about 8 years that NHRA has been trying to seperate the pro racer from the sportsman racer and only run the professional catagories at national events and the sportsman guys only run the points meets. In my eyes the TV money for the pro classes is the only thing keeping NHRA afloat. The future doesn't look good for NHRA. IHRA and NMCA and a couple others are much more fun to run. The future of all racing is very uncertain right now. I wish Mr. Rampy could get with some of some wealthy people and start a grass roots drag racing organization that truly thought the sportsman racer was the back bone of the sport. Mr. Rampy will always be an ambassador for the sport of drag racing. Happy Thanks giving to everybody.