Re: Solution for our sport
 

I wish all sportsman racers wouldn't go to NHRA meets in 09. then they'll see the difference in what holds the sport together

Pistol Pete
1374 STK[/QUOTE]

I think one National event without sportsman racers would get their attention !

Re: Solution for our sport
 

How long do you think something like that would work for?You have to many out there with too much money,concern for their own agendas,fear of straying from the straight and narrow,etc,etc.
Think of the logistics of running all these organizations around the country9and Canada).You'll
eventually have orgizational squabbles that would make our discontent with NHRA seem minor.
These races would settle to small fields due to either economics and or travel distances.
As much as NHRA sucks in it's present configuration it's what we have to work with.And it comes
down to how many sportsman racers will boycott national events to send a message?I'll guarantee,
not many.Everybody praised Alex on the Class Nationals,then there was bitching about lack of being paid and other issues.Got to the point (i was told,wasn't there)that he would never do another one.
In the end we are our own worst enemies.Like it or not that's the bottom line.
Just my humble opinion.

Ed F.

I have the most respect for Pat and the few other track operators who have the vision to try to make the sport better for everyoue.They are to far and few,most care only about a sure route to profit.

Re: Solution for our sport
 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Sportsman racers (as a whole) are so stupid that it's amazing that we manage to feed ourselves. I wish that somebody would prove me wrong! BTW I was at the Class Nationals and Alex and co. did a great job.

Re: Solution for our sport
 

I think one National event without sportsman racers would get their attention ![/QUOTE]

John DiBartolomeo printed an editoreal in his magazine a while back about maybe it being time for NHRA to not include Sportsman Racers at National Events anylonger and it received a really negative response. I would LOVE to see some kind of a Sportsman boycott of NHRA events but the more than likely response would be just some new eliminators to fill in between rounds of the Pros. In the early 80s we racers somehow gave up / had taken away our right to vote on the policy making decisions inside the NHRA. The big thing (in my opinion) that the Sportsmen need to work towards is getting oun voting rights reinstated. Don't ask me how, I'm just a crazy old man living on a hill in Pa. and a stupid Sportsman racer.

Re: Solution for our sport
 

I thought that crazy old men who live on a hill were supposed to be guru's living in Nepal?
After reading Woodro Josey's farewell speech on the SRAC it is evident that the Sportsman racers do not have any rights, or ever will have.
I stated long ago, after the first Cajun SportsNationals in Belle Rose, that this is the begining of the end for sportsman at national events. That NHRA sees this as the begining of just sportsman races at seven geographical locations. Then came Columbus, then the Pacific race. It will not be long until we see another sportsman race in the south, the northeast, the mid west, etc. Once that is accomplished, you will see the sportsman fields cut to a 32 car field at national events.
NHRA will not loose as much money as you think from the loss of sportsman racers. They have been sticking it to the contingency sponsors for years, and the fans do not seem to be bothered too much for the $2 coffee, $7 beer, $5 pork butt on a stick, not counting the $25 t-shirt and daily ticket prices. With the reduction of sportsman will come the addition of carnival type activities. They will add Top Sportsman and Top Dragster as a minor filler. And when the fans are wanting to see all the early iron that used to be there, they will tell them about the "SportsNationals" in their local area. Now the fans will have to cough up more money to see the "remainder" of the show at a different time and location.
Pat Joffrion summed it all at the begining of this post. It is sad, but true.
I remember going to a national event was a great experience and alot of fun. As the years have gone by NHRA has seemed to take the fun out of it.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA soon to be N/U/SA
Nostalga U Stock Automatic