Larry Carrier's IHRA

[Rose Racing]

Originally Posted by joespanova

I know that..... those racers "prioritized" the NHRA first .........they ran both.......my point is , as far as I recall , none , zero , of the IHRA champs , that focused almost exclusively on the IHRA have ever won an NHRA championship and in most cases , an event.
Steve Spiess , Rickie Smith , Clay Millican and so on......... for example.

Its called budget....... How much of a budget did Doug Herbert,Rickie Smith and Clay M or( Frank Gugliotta most recently) race on compared to other NHRA racers?If you dont have the finances you generally wont win in THE NHRA PRO $$$$ GAME Its kinda like the ABA vs NBA when DR J came into the NBA with th 76ers and got beat by the Celtics and Lakers DR J may have been the best player but the celtics and Lakers had better teams...... I know i know not drag racing but a similar comparison

[chris ok]

Originally Posted by joespanova

I know that..... those racers "prioritized" the NHRA first .........they ran both.......my point is , as far as I recall , none , zero , of the IHRA champs , that focused almost exclusively on the IHRA have ever won an NHRA championship and in most cases , an event.
Steve Spiess , Rickie Smith , Clay Millican and so on......... for example.

Guess you never heard of Dan Fletcher. Saw him first when his super stocker was orange and racing IHRA at the empire nationals in 1990. There are also alky funny car drivers in Nhra who were stars in IHRA. I went to both the summer nats at w town and empire nats. Both great times in their own rights. IHRA could race well into the night or even morning on Saturday night qualifying which were some great shows. Best was a quick 8 showdown finishing at 3 in the morning. Great night after a late start from New York rain.

[joespanova]

Originally Posted by Rose Racing

Its called budget....... How much of a budget did Doug Herbert,Rickie Smith and Clay M or( Frank Gugliotta most recently) race on compared to other NHRA racers?If you dont have the finances you generally wont win in THE NHRA PRO $$$$ GAME Its kinda like the ABA vs NBA when DR J came into the NBA with th 76ers and got beat by the Celtics and Lakers DR J may have been the best player but the celtics and Lakers had better teams...... I know i know not drag racing but a similar comparison

So Glidden , Johnson , Iaconio and Shepherd only won because of a "budget"? LOL
I think it has a lot more to do with engine building "prowess" than simply a budget.
I don't think ( for ex.) Smith is / was even in the same league regardless of $$$. Truely the level of talent was like you say AAA baseball to major league.

BTW , I'm talking "Pro" here........not sportsman.

[Dave1695]

I applaud IHRA's effort to keep entry fees stable, in the face of rising cost across the board. They do a great job of running the Pro Am races when weather forces a double up in one day. I hope more people support them in coming years, to insure we all have a choice of where to race!

[Bret Kepner]

Wow! John Scott kicked my head in! I forgot all about the brief TNN relationship at the turn of the century and Michael Beard backed it up!

Thanks for the concern on the health front, too. I'm well ahead of the recovery curve and haven't had a "bad day" yet. It took a lot of work to put me back together but, apparently, everybody involved did a great job!

[Rose Racing]

Originally Posted by joespanova

So Glidden , Johnson , Iaconio and Shepherd only won because of a "budget"? LOL
I think it has a lot more to do with engine building "prowess" than simply a budget.
I don't think ( for ex.) Smith is / was even in the same league regardless of $$$. Truely the level of talent was like you say AAA baseball to major league.

BTW , I'm talking "Pro" here........not sportsman.

okay whatever good for them they were supperior racers................

[Mike Taylor 3601]

I'm not getting into peeing contest here,but will say this Rickie Smith practically dominated IHRA mountain motor pro stock for several years and everything he has raced since he has done well,won pro mod championship last year.
Mike Taylor 3601

[joespanova]

Originally Posted by Mike Taylor 3601

I'm not getting into peeing contest here,but will say this Rickie Smith practically dominated IHRA mountain motor pro stock for several years and everything he has raced since he has done well,won pro mod championship last year.
Mike Taylor 3601

OK...since you "poked" the Hornets nest again I'll come back with my last shot..........as far as I know , the NHRAs premier Pro Stock racers never had the interest in IHRA racing that they did the NHRA and only toyed with the larger " IHRA " engines briefly and even competed in the IHRA events with their NHRA 500 inch combos , since they were as quick or quicker. You can believe that the best talent in the NHRA ranks would collectively clean house in any IHRA events if given the same level of interest they had with the NHRA.
In other words , Glidden , WJ , Sheperd , Iaconio and so on spending as much effort on the mountain motor combos...........Smith likely wouldn't have the record he had.......................I've never regarded Smith as an engine builder per se.....only a "customer" .

[Frank Castros]

Originally Posted by Bret Kepner

Wow! John Scott kicked my head in! I forgot all about the brief TNN relationship at the turn of the century and Michael Beard backed it up!

Thanks for the concern on the health front, too. I'm well ahead of the recovery curve and haven't had a "bad day" yet. It took a lot of work to put me back together but, apparently, everybody involved did a great job!

Bret,

Wishing you a speedy and full recovery.

Your coverage of the IHRA back in the day was too cool.

[ALMACK]

Originally Posted by frank castros

bret,

wishing you a speedy and full recovery.

Your coverage of the ihra back in the day was too cool.

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