Live from Lebanon Valley-- NHRA Lucas Oil Series

[keith ohanesian]

Dave, not to much is thought out in our division.


What happened to our reps? Is this still going on or was it just a little wool for a while. If they are going to push the top ****s on us( us is stk and ss) I'm sure people are going to lose it soon. There's more money in these two classes than they think. Its time to elect a community. Almost like a town hall. We need to address these issues together. I can just hear what there thinking " Lets use top sportsman and dragster to push out stk and ss!!"

[George Mirza]

I don't think stock and SS have anything to worry about. Now Super Gas and Super Comp are going to take the hit. Look at the Super Gas car count and it has dropped way off from a few years ago and Super Comp looked a bit light also. Face it the Top classes put people in the stands, their loud, fast, on the edge and they run flat out and hard just like us class guys. I couldn't believe it, but one of the Top Dragsters was dialed 6.22, it sounded like an alcohol car. Top Sportsman #1 qualifier was 6.80 and I think the bump was around 7.50.

I do agree, if they are not earning division points they shouldn't be there, but it just a matter of time until they are.

Dave is right about the traffic, for us guys that live up north, Sundays aren't to bad once we get north of the NYC bridges, but I have seen the traffic going south on a Sunday afternoon, bumper to bumper from New London Ct. to Brunswick NJ. Thats about 200 miles and that wasn't a holiday and there wasn't any accidents just all volume.

[Jack Matyas]

[QUOTE=George Mirza;128818]I don't think stock and SS have anything to worry about. Now Super Gas and Super Comp are going to take the hit. Look at the Super Gas car count and it has dropped way off from a few years ago and Super Comp looked a bit light also. Face it the Top classes put people in the stands, their loud, fast, on the edge and they run flat out and hard just like us class guys. /QUOTE]

George -- The SuperGas count at Lebanon Valley was a whopping forty-four -- they should be worried .

[joe176]

Originally Posted by Dave Ficacci

NHRA will lose that battle. The crowd is there for the dirt cars..not us. What they should do is move the divisional to a different weekend. I think Div 1 likes to sit in traffic. The Virginia div is the same wknd as the Nascar race in Richmond. Maple div is Memorial day wknd where you have holiday traffic. Lebanon is 4th of July wknd where you have even more holiday traffic. Our schedule is not very well thought out.

Amen to that Dave.

[Doug Blackley]

Maybe that Div''l will move back to Epping once they finally switch back to NHRA. Though I realize it will mean a longer tow for you guys to the south at least there won't be a dirt track next door.

[BKSG1198]

Not to beat a dead horse and ruin Jacks great posts on this site but, Sportsman racing in general is in danger. NHRA is trying to find anything they can to fill in a show so they can cut the sportsman guy out. They tried a few years ago with PST, then the imports and now Pro Mod. They can easily run a national event with T/F, F/C, P/S, PS/M, TA/FC, TA/D, Comp and T/D and T/S. People understand these classes alot easier then other classes because T/D and T/S are similar to classes that they can see at their local racetracks on a saturday night. With the budget constraints that NHRA is under and complaining about money Stock and S/Stock would be the first to go because thats LESS TECH People they have to employee at National and Divisional Events. Trust me I'm not trying to start a war cause the "Super Classes" are not on safe water either as we can see by the car count in S/G at L.V. but, as Dave F. said with the way the schedule rolls out people are choosing to do other things during these weekends with their familys. Also don't forget that Atco D-1 race usually falls on Father's Day in June. A lot of people have been rubbed the wrong way at Leb Valley and have chose to skip that race plus a lot of the base of S/G is in the states of NJ, PA, MD, DE, VA. There are a few teams that come from up north (Kenny's, Sawyers, Ryan O.) to run the D-1 races with us. I know of a fact that there were 5 or 6 D-1 Super Gas guys running the $ 5, 10, 5 grander to win bracket race at Atco over the weekend and I can't blame them for doing it. Why drive 5 hours to win 1,800 bucks when you can drive and hour for 5 to 10 grand. I know I'm going to rub a few people the wrong way and maybe get eggs thrown at my trailer but, the writing is on the wall for the sportsman racer. I hope that things do change and NHRA makes a decision to better the sportsman teams cause A LOT of us have A LOT of money tied up in our operations and it's not so easy to just sell everything in this economy. Let the bashing begin!!!

[Angelo DiTocco]

The situation is what it is - it really isn't fair to blame the NHRA - sometime in the past 10 years or so it was decided that it would be run more as a business and not necessarily in a way that would please the competitors. Whether or not they are a 503c (tax exempt) organization, they still want to find ways to make the business profitable, and that's where the new classes come from. The Foxwood Casino sponsors the Top classes & they are paying for exposure. I have no idea how much, but they are paying. Look at the nationals.. its all marketing now... it has very little to do with being sportsman friendly, and that hasn't been any kind of secret for some time.. No one is being forced to be there. Go if you want to go and don't go if don't want to. People need to do what's right for themselves. Things are going to change and that is inevitable. When you enter through the gates you are agreeing to their terms, like it or not. Somebody always feels like they are getting corked.

I will say this, after having to sit it out for that last ten weeks, I was happy to be there and I did have a good time. I've stopped worrying about other classes, getting jerked around when it rains, not getting a straight answer from any one.... and all of the other BS. I don't think the NHRA guys have it easy, as a matter of fact, I bet it's a pain in the ***, so I try not to be critcal towards them and I don't bust their balls. I'm not going to torture myself. This is how I deal with it...... If I feel like going I go & if I don't, or if I have something else to do, I don't, and that's that. I don't think they notice or miss me when I'm not there, and I don't worry about that either.

At least the Super-Class cars are protected to some degree from the B/S as they have a host of alternative venues to compete in. They can jump right in to any bracket program or attend many of the high-dollar races either locally ot nationally. You can't run these races with a Stocker or a Super Stocker because they are not set up for it and couldn't take the abuse. Outside of class racing, they are very expensive and virtually useless (unless you like to throw money away).. As one of my good buddies always says..... "I'm gonna keep it simple because when this house of cards comes tumbling down I won't lose as much" .

[Brian Oakes]

Nice writing Ang. 10 weeks is way too long for you to have off. LOL

Brian