Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

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Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

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Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Agreed! We'll talk soon!

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

How does shipping weights matter if the the factored HP ratings are wrong?

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Correction : All the enhancements some racers have been pushing for and gotten the last 15 years.
Or else it would sound like you blame NHRA for this :D

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

This is quality entertainment.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

"He told me of the importance of making the customer happy. Even if its just a polite hello as we roll through the gate getting parked."

That will work for me. I don't complain much. Been running these classes for ever. NHRA gives me a place to enjoy what I love since I raced my tricycle at the age of 5. I hate losing and waiting to get paired up. Any answer for those two will make it even better for me. More heads up!

Paul Haszlauer
C/SA 7019

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

How about no new HP "hits", unless the car that caused the hit was torn down and found to be 100% legal? It seems unfair that other racers can get a HP increase on their combination, by a car that may ( or may not), have been following the rules. Especially when the offending racer has had Tech "indescrections" in the past.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Ken, Lonnie.

It is always good to ask questions. Of course, you have to be prepared for the answers. Some will like them, and some will not.

Remember when NHRA decided they needed each class to have a Representative in each Division who was supposed to be the go between with the racers and NHRA? Were these the people who were not supposed to be taking our questions to NHRA? No, you do not have to answer that. We all know the answer. Problem was that NHRA did not want to hear us. Lonnie, I would hope you are open to listening to any and all ideas, and thoughts of ALL class of racers.

National events and Quotas. If you are in Division 3, you should get first crack at running your "Declared" home event. Why "Declared"? Not that long ago, Joliet had more out of division racers at it, than were in division racers. Jegs Allstars? Could be the reason. Dont know. But if I want to race at my home event, I should be able to so I can show off in front of my friends and local sponsors. Then again, Indy is home for many racers too. Might not work for every track and division............. Brainerd is a PERFECT example of racers not being able to race at home. It also should be 128 car S and SS if that many will enter. The room is there. Might need to talk to the fishes to race later and earlier though.


Indy. The biggest race of the year. There were always 200 open spots for each class. Meaning S/ SS/ SG/ SC Since adding TS/TD Why not S/ST also? They ran a field due to the allstars.

AHFS. Works well on some, not so much on others. 5, 455 Oldsmobiles vs 70, 305 Camaros. 1 olds guy runs fast in mineshaft air and slaps the rest with HP. 1 305 guy runs fast, and 20 others average it out to .6 under.

Solid Roller lifters. Heard this was already allowed just like roller rockers for Stock.

Track prep. When your starting line crew thinks track prep is some spritzing of vht on a bald spot, you are not prepping a track. THIS is something that needs to be looked at further and has to be better handled.

Similar to the water box. Some water boxes contain a fair amount. Some contain less than a shot and a beer. Standardize this somehow so everyone has plenty. Some lower HP cars can hook in a car wash. Water is good.

Entry fees. They are already too high for what we race for. Adding $100 and bumping the cost does not help. Just like the Insurance fee.

Contingency money. HUGE ISSUES HERE. Need to be required to pay in 90 days or less. Not 1 years time from date of win. Granted, some of the manufactures are SPECTACULAR when it comes to this. It has been discussed time and time again. If you post the money, and someone wins or r/u and its determined by the official you are eligible for payment, PAY THE MONEY. None of these letters stating we are not paying you because a b c d e f g q.......... This is where NHRA needs to take some control on what is going on. Also, decals. If you post, you should be supplying the trailer with your product decal so the racer may obtain them.

Crew passes with entry. EVERY racer coming in should have at least 2 crew passes available to them. Yes that means 3 restricted area passes. Restricted area passes mean you are allowed to be there. Not No, you cant be here because I don't want you here Mr Security guard hired by the track who does not understand what our passes are for. Another area I feel NHRA needs to help train and coach.

Run schedule. Most of the time, I don't see a problem here. However, who goes to a National Event and wants to go home on a Friday? As a spectator, who wants to see only 2 rounds of other cars? Start early Sunday with a round of Sportsman. Then do your track walk and pre race. Just clean up all the shoes first............

Qualifying. Yes, back to Class win and in. Fill in the 128 car field with the fastest cars after. Singles for class......... This can happen. It was the nature of the beast. I personally do not like to see the combo class. But with the addition of new classes, It most likely will need to be kept.

1 free national event T shirt per entry should the racer want one. Where we can buy stuff at 25% off on Thursday in the tent, that's all well and good. If you race a national, you should get a shirt to go with your event decals. Maybe it's just me here, but I thought the first national I went to and got those entrant decals was the coolest thing there was. I still do...........


Enough midnight ramblings.



Aug 5-7 Joliet Divisional race. Come on down.

Anatol Denysenko

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

How about the tech department making some effort to clarify issues presented to it. I ask in writing last January about a clarification and have never got a response. Problem is I was told before I sent it that I probably would not get a response.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

I know I'll take some flack for this, but here goes.

I'd advocate moving Stock, Super Stock, Comp, etc. out of the National Events.

Instead, have every division hold a Sportsman National event. The Sportsman racers would be the show, not the filler. There could be a World Champion crowned based on points earned at these Sportsman National event, class eliminations could be run at every one of these Sportsman National events, no ridiculous quotas, etc, etc.

Way more on the 'Plus' side of the paper than the 'Negative'.

Race safe! :) -Al

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

One thing that I would like to see is the "Movement" of quotas. We are told the quotas are for TV times & considerations, then NHRA has timed how
many cars they can run etc. and still be on time for their live broadcasts.
Case in point, the New England Nationals. Stock has been full for a while,
and a lot of people have done a lot of work to try to get in. Meanwhile, S/S
is at 31 (minus 29), Super Comp is at 42 (minus 18) Super Gas is at 15!!
(minus 45), Super Street is at 32, (minus 13), and Top Sportsman is at 10,
(minus 26) for a total of 131 Minus Entry's!! Now, can we not take 5 entry's
from each class, or 5x5 =25, and reallot those to Stock? I don't care what kind of accounting you use, more entry's means more money, more money is better than less money( I took a college course and they told me that).
You would now have more money, happier racers saying nicer things about their racing experience, who knows, with a happier group saying nicer things, it might inspire someone to build a car!! And to keep the costs down for our non-profit sanctioning body, I will manage it for free for one year, after that I get 10% of any additional funds I am able to bring in.

J.R.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

I’m not very much a numbers guy, but it looks like NHRA has lost a little bit of appeal to us lowly sportsman racers.

Ms. Louie what rights do we have as members with NHRA ? Vision is almost 20/20 when members know where they stand!

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Except the U.S. Nationals where there should be no quotas, no AHFS, a 128 car field including class winners. Last but not least, technical inspection and random tear downs.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Frankie, Sounds like you fixed one race anyway.
One more thing. Put the All Stars back at the Columbus Sportsnationals

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Noticed a lot of commits on the contingency's. My town is loaded with round track racers as there are three local tracks. My next door neighbor runs modified and Zanesville sports some pretty well known teams. Donnie Moran and Bart Hartman are well known hitters that you guys might have seen on TV broadcast.. I've known Donnie since we were kids and he goes to our church. His son Devin is doing the driving now. On top of that we ended up with Gale Powley as an engine builder, who was Dale Earnhardts and Jeff Gordon's cylinder head and Intake manifold specialist from the Nascar World. Every time contingency's came up in conversations, I always found myself defending NHRA as round track contingency's are so much friendlier to the "Little Guys". And when I would mention the payouts were (a good bit) less than they were when I started racing in 1986 I would instantly get these "You can't be serious" looks. Here is a little article on the sportsman series payout (Not the purse, the contingency's) in the round track world. I'm not posting this expecting anything to change, but thought you would find it interesting.
And BTW, Didn't Len Imbargo make all these attempts previously ? He spent quite a bit of time in our pit area (super nice guy), and I'm remembering him going through all this several years ago.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mot...oad/ar-AAX4vHE

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Hell no. Nationals are one of the main reasons I got into class racing. We need that crowd to grow our exposure. We can't walk before crawling. We can't ditch the crowd before they've really found out what we are all about. Is there any crowd at the current Sportsnationals? I do agree with Class at each event and ditch these quotas but we need to work with NHRA on this.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

My personal opinion is that if a racer has been racing for over 40 years or more we get a senior citizen discount on entry cost LOL:D

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

It’s been more about the Pro Show for a long time. We are the mayo filler between the bread like it or not. A lot less mayo now.
Hardly anyone in the stands Wed/Thurs unless they are die hard S/SS fans.
The FS class is getting more attention and so will the new class.
That pushes us backwards again.
Lonnie has his work cut out for him. I wish him luck and hopefully some good for us.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Make a National event for the sportsman. Make us the show. Have the Factory shootout cars. Stock and Super Stock needs some show time by ourselves. I think the Manufacturers would be for the exposure and the sponsors would get their day in the sun.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

A lot of delusion in this thread.

I can understand the frustration around quotas and especially the lack of class eliminations. Sportsman racing is not the show, and is never going to be the show. If an event is held with Sportsman racers at the center, there aren't going to be a lot of spectators or support.

The current situation is much easier to digest once this is understood.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

When you went to a National event many years ago. You saw nothing but race cars everywhere. Fans/spectators were looking at each car. Taking pictures. You look at old photos of one car with a back ground of 4 others.
Now a days you see a sea of white box trailers. The way we are parked in between trailers. Most folks see a rear bumper and aren't going to enter your space. Fans aren't allowed in the lanes. Sportsman racing is for the early bird. Seems to me there were cars present on Sunday. Now there is 3-4 stock/superstock cars for a fan to even see if out of the box. There use to be a great car show that now is not used.

Paul Haszlauer
7019 C/SA

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Here is some hate mail. Put the 1 1/2 hour of S/C first. Sorry but boring.

Paul

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

The big problem I see with this idea is the manufacturers couldn't care less about a U/SA car that is 40+ years old when they can't squeeze a Nickle out of it from any angle. Their money is better and more wisely spent on Pro stock and FS where the old "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" adage still holds true.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Who buys a top fuel dragster on Monday after Steve Torrence wins? Stock and Super Stock are car show classes and with present-day cars in the mix, there is more win and sell appeal than in the pro ranks. I do think Factory Stock and FX will carry that mantle to the fullest but clearly there are other classes that get virtually no fan interest that could be pushed back or up before class racing gets the axe.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

You're kidding right? There is no more "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday"! There's no way that winning PS or FS on Sunday is going to influence any number of people to go and buy a new Camaro on Monday! The "fans in the stands" are showing up in their SUVs and sub-compacts to be "entertained" and that is what the NHRA is catering to.

What WE (the NHRA S/SS Racers) need to find a way to sell is the incredible "Car Show" that we put on at every event we're at. And enclosed trailers and early rounds on Friday don't help OUR cause.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

“Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" …If that was true wouldn’t there be millions of new Camaros running around? Maybe I can get one with the Chevrolet Hemis like Force runs?

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

What's really cool to see is a Stock or Super Stocker on a open trailer

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Every time I win on Sunday or even get close I’m spending on Monday. Buying parts for the car or drive train on Monday. I’m trying to catch up with, Boudreaux, Emmons (Tilburg), Gove, Wann, and a host of others from up north

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Maybe they can find a way to set up some pre-staging lanes and call classes 1 call earlier and let fans have access to that part of the staging lanes. Then go from there to regular staging and you won’t have to wait for stragglers and it might be easier to pair up when everyone is already at a pre-staging area. I know when I go spectate at Pomona I can’t access the staging area to see the cars and my only way to check them out is to wander around the motor homes and enclosed trailers to see if I can find anyone.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

fellow dinosaurs ....
currently we are like the last group of dinosaurs when the ice age came ... we're huddled together trying not to die talking about the good old days ... i can see our breath

dear lonnie > you most certainly can fix a few issues and make our "hospice" way better.
common sense is the tool least used in nhra's attempts to keep us alive.

first of all id love to see more teardowns but dinos we all know the guys who can tear down a 62 413 cross ram and know what is right & wrong are too damn old to be working 14hour 100 degree days ... so we maybe the engine builders need to make themselves available to nhra or maybe some retired racers ??

the ahfs wont work unless as paul wong said you make it WORTH taking a hp hit : qualifying, points for records, increase quotas not field sizes, awards)

we are a killer car show ... however if we always run 1/4 till the rooster crows no one sees us most put cars in box asap so pit pass is like a trailer / motor home show.

now here is where my fellow dinos will roar maybe we chenge the classes a bit .... like all (s&SS) flat hood non FI mostly pre 78 into yesterday drags class and all the new 160mph hood scoop guys go to comp >> yall hate me but that be cool

and concerning the weights nhra has published for 40 years ... as a business person why would your tech department just "choose" to piss off 75% of your customers ... if someone wants to question what my car weighed in 1960 bring them to me

thanks and good luck sir its getting colder

oh a suggestion after track is secure if you would wander around the sportsman pits we'd really feed you good and several trailers have well outfitted bars... weve had TWO announcers RIP that we all loved and this is what they always did they knew about us !!!

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

One improvement I would like to see-if you go faster than 1.20 and get torn down and found legal, if the run is faster than the current record for the class they should give you the record. You should get something besides HP.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

I'm going to take a different approach here.
1. Lower the entry fees to $100.
Don't think they will raise the winnings enough to pay for the high dollar heads
and motorhome.
2. Class at every national event. Back the car off of the trailer ready to race. No time
trials, class instead. No one in your class, one run and if you are under the index
you win class and go to eliminations. All class winners are in and the rest of the
field is made up of cars most under the index.
3. Top ten cars get points 10 to 1 for 1to 10.
4. Record holder at end of the year gets 10 points.
5. Records are published in every edition of ND.
6. When the first pair runs the line is closed.

The young man doing the interviews for NHRA is correct, Stock Eliminator is the biggest car show on earth.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

That would be an added bonus to push it to the breaking point of 1.20 for sure. I used to enjoy setting records multiple times a year but it cam to a point where that appeared to be a nuisance to the tech officials.

Re: Lets talk NHRA Stk/SS with Lonnie Grim - Ideas - Comment
 

Forgot to add, unlimited entries. Pick a number run for the eliminator win.

64 everywhere but Indy sounds reasonable.