Input on Stk/SS ladders in Class Eliminations

[Jeff Teuton]

As most people know Class Eliminations are laddered based on a Sportsman Ladder. Someone from NHRA approached us at No Problem with a problem that has developed. A little history; Some years I approached NHRA about the ladders after Indy which became a problem with everyone trying to get someone, miss someone, or pulling straws all of which made Class in Indy a mess and hard to administer and keep the program on schedule. In my proposal, I only intended Indy to get this treatment. NHRA instituted it at all National Events which was OK at the time. However with three day races becoming the norm, it is almost impossible to get the ladders done and so the delays that now exist and with sometime one time trial and then class it gets worse. His suggestion to keep laddering was to institute a regulation that you had to run the class you entered in. We had no problem with that, but told him we would need someone to change class from when we entered until registration closed usually on the Monday before the race. And we know there would have to be a couple of things worked out before this could be done either way. This is asking for comments on this idea, and the NHRA person is looking at any problem from their side. We did not address the fact that you have to have a run to get a time before the ladder can be done, but he seemed to have this handled. Comments, Ideas, or what have you.