Re: Can someone explain??
 

That's a good start, but there are names not on that list that those three have to worry about.

Drag racing is a fair game. The odds are always 50/50 when the starter flicks the switch.

Re: Can someone explain??
 

Yeah, like now Steve Wann, Jimmy DeFrank, Jody Lang, Kevin Helms, Brenda Grubbs, Jackie Alley, and Leo Glasbrenner...not to mention Jeg Coughlin, Scott & Brad Burton, The Emmon's Brothers, Mark Faul....plus countless others. To borrow from a friend of mine who knows a thing or two about winning lots of races and some championships to boot (Keith Lynch), those who race more, win more. God willing, I nearly have my financial house back in order, and although I may never do anything near what these great racers (and even more others have done through the years), there's a lot of history to be made racing a fwd car against the likes of those racers and many others, and I'm hungry like a wolf with regards to making it happen....it all starts with racing more, and my next two races are nearly 7wks away....I feel I have some good company to join me, such as Comp finalist and Stock Quarter-finalist (in Seattle)...Ryan Warter, and recent Stock/Super Stock Combo winner Bill O'Connor, plus Matt & Brad Hawk, and my Indiana/Florida bud Marion Stephenson....

Re: Can someone explain??
 

Good luck, Gary

Re: Can someone explain??
 

Gary I don't mean to be a Debbie downer, but if seat time and becoming a better racer is your ultimate goal why don't you hit your local race track every now and then? The summit team stuff is where all these great names you've been talking about got started. None of us show up to divisionals and nationals and just win.. I understand finances are an issue and for the same money you are spending to make a trip to Salt Lake or even Fontana once and Vegas twice you could probably run an entire season close to home to hone your skills.. Hell the money you are racing for compared to the entry is probably better money.. I would love to race at the highest level as much as guys like Fletcher and Biondo and Faul and the Burtons and all the other guys who are able to do it.. But instead of racing every 6 months and hoping to compete with them when I can show up I get in the car as often as life and money will let me. Someday I hope to be able to hit it as hard as they do..

Like I said I don't mean to be a downer and I wish you luck with your goals. see you at the track!

Brad

Re: Can someone explain??
 

Brad, I'll give you two good reasons I don't race the local bracket sceen and reason #2 carries more weight than reason #1:

1. What NHRA now calls Sportsman (formerly Run-Tuff, especially at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Co), doesn't offer even half of the payout that a divisional race does...heck the pay the Sportsman bracket gets is usually less than half of what the Pro Et bracket gets, and after carving my teeth in the Street Eliminator wars at Bandimere Speedway, where I earned the 1981 Division Five Street Eliminator Championship, I feel there needs to be more of a payout for the Sportsman bracket than there is, and sadly my DF/S car isn't nearly quick enough to run Pro ET, which offers more bang for the buck. Stock Eliminator offers us slower rollers much greater pay for our dollars, and yes there's greater travel involved, but there's also fewer events to need to attend for points chasing, and thus more bang for the buck. When I bought this car, I wanted to race Stock with it. I'd race Sportsman occasionally if I could, but my next reason underscores why I don't.

2. Unlike you (and most/all others who do both), my race car is stored nearly half-way inbetween where you live and where I live, and since I keep it at someone else's place the frequency of bracket races would possibly unnerve them (besides my storage fee is far lower than any place that I'd leave it with locally). I almost forgot that living here where bracket racing is done in the evening-to-night-time (due to our hot summers) contributes greatly to this reason, and there's no one who lives near me who has the space that my racing bud south of me has for safe and secure storage of both my car and trailer. Thus, having my race car 45 miles away from me isn't good for bracket racing (especially here in the desert). Sorry...

Re: Can someone explain??
 

Did u all forget about the best racer all around 1. Scotty Richardson..................................

Re: Can someone explain??
 

No I didn't forget about Scotty (because I know he's still involved in the game), but he hasn't been racing in the Stock/Super Stock races for awhile (and we're talking about the great racers currently racing in our categories), and although I know him to be a great racer, if I were a betting man (and I'm not), I wouldn't place him ahead of either Fletcher or Biondo, and since he didn't intimidate my friend "The Hawk" (aka Lane Weber) in the first round of the Douglas, Wy. (Federal Mogul Drag Racing series) Division V race, back in the mid-90's (like he did everyone he faced in that "Diamond P Sports, Fram/Autolite Nationals in Georgia the year he won the Stock World Championship), I know he's a household word, so I'll include him, but even he best watch out for those guys....