Re: How competitive are you?
 

Lol Drag Racing is not dying. People need to stop being so melodramatic. :D

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Another thing. There must be a lot of Bubbas, Jim Bobs, and John Boys, because circle tracks are a dime a dozen, and mostly full every night. Good thing they're not as intellectually superior like us, they'd figure out it ain't worth it.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Open your eyes and look around at the car counts......and the number of tracks that were once packed with weekly racers now having very low car counts.

NHRA events with very low car counts...

I was at many races over the years with huge fields in all categories....

I live in an area where car counts have always been large...

They have dwinddled to numbers so low tracks struggle to stay open or in the case of my closest track......closed after 50+ years of operation......

Once a track closes it is very unlikely anything new will come along to replace it........

So I don't think I am being melodramatic.....just calling it like I see it the last few years....

and I started racing nearly 50 years ago so I have seen all the era's good and bad....

I will say things looked bleak once before in the oil embargo era and the sport bounced back bigger than ever......hopefully that can happen again but it ain't happenin right now,,,,,,

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Dirt circle tracks have closed up all over the country. I still have friends doing that. It's still more car handling and driver than killer heads, expensive ultra light rotating assemblies, cams that kill valve springs, extreme RPM, etc. Used to pack in over 6000 spectators here at Tulsa every Saturday night, about that many 100 miles away at Oklahoma City on Friday nights. We used to run both every week, plus a regional points series on Sundays. All gone now. Has been for years. Tracks are still closing.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Drag racing in general has gone through some major changes over the past 25 years. When T.V. Coverage was great everyone wanted to be a drag racer thus the influx of racers. Once they found out it is not all glamorous and how low the payouts really are compared to the costs many of them have gone to different hobbies. Drag racing was built on innovation and the ability to make equipment exceed its expectations. NHRA only cares about the sportsman racer when it needs money. The Fuel cars are there show, and that is what they cater to. IHRA used to be great for the sportsman racer, but over time has also gone through changes and now being owned by an entertainment company nothing less is expected. Bracket racing is done for the love of the sport, the people who show up week in and week out are there because they love to race their cars, while a larger payout could bring more car s, it really wont change much about bracket racing.

The idea of Top/Stk is something that I have seen thrown around on these boards for years, with little to NO support or interest from the racers who it is intended for. The best way to get something going for true manufactures heads up racing is a manufactures challange type series. Pit the new Mustangs against the Copo Camaro's, and the Mopars. All of them seem to be int he same realm of E.T and it will truly showcase the original concept of win on Sunday sell on Monday...

Trying to adjust rules and combine current class structure will only discourage the current racers more, and cause even more of them to park or worse yet sell their cars. Now if a local track wants to run a Stk/SStk combo race allow all racers to run off of the current indexes and give a decent payout for the entry fee I am sure you will see a good turnout. The only way to get spectator count up for these types of races is EDUCATION.... As racers we need to be doing more to educate the casual fan on what it takes to race these types of cars, and what it takes to win...

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Everyone is missing the point. Bracket racing has no crowd appeal. I have nothing against it, but the facts, are the facts. The crowd left, when break-out racing came to pass. The reason the pros are all they show, is because it's the only thing the crowd understands. Remember, I was there in the seventies, mostly as a spectator. I was there when it died. It is what it is, and will never ever, come back. The new stuff is too expensive, and no one really cares, but the owners of said cars. It's over boys, the excitement from the crowd part, that is. I was at Eddyville, and Bethany when there might be only 50 cars, and always 1,000 to 1,500 spectators weekly. I was there next, when there were 100, to 150 cars, and three people. It's just how it is. Bubba, and Jim Bob came every week to no break-out racing. I seen it.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

No you won't (at least not where I live). I've been doing this exact same thing locally (western and central PA and eastern OH) since 1999. Only one race ever (in 1999 at Quaker City) drew more than twenty cars (Hagerstown MD draws well, because of the timing, early November). Any race, with a 23 car field, $100 entry, $1,000 to win, $500 r/u, 200 semi, 100 3rd round, 50 2nd round. And no one comes out. We might get 17-18 cars on a GOOD day, with several races less than 12 cars (three cars at Numidia one year). Other similar series, with the same rules, same format, same entry/payout, get sometimes double the cars I get. Maybe people just don't like me. Oh well. It's probably going away next year (for the second time) so I won't have to worry about it anymore.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Okay, this thread came up at just the right time. I just recently watched the re-run of Pinks All Out 2009. In the words of Roy Hill "this is the way we remember drag racing." The pits were full of cars and spectators and all of the seats were full. Working on your car was a challenge due to all of the spectators that wanted to watch and take photos. Especially after the first round of quailfying on the pro tree. Old and new race cars and street cars heads up. The wheels were up in the air almost every run. A white chevrolet station wagon kept the crowd on their feet everytime he came to the starting line. He carried the front wheel almost to the 1/8th mile marker.

The classes were A thru K, if I remember correctly. A being the quicker cars, K being like 12.5 to 13.00 in a quarter mile. Our class was 11.50 and we had 68 cars in our class. You checked in and tech inspection on Friday, after you met tech then time runs began on Friday. And yes you could fail tech inspection, several did, you could fix it and then go back through again. Tech officials were there from Zmax, Bristol and Atlanta to get all of the cars teched. If you ran quicker than your class you either slowed the car down or at 5:00 on Friday you changed your class. Breakout and your out. We ran several of the Pinks All Out races with street cars and full out race cars competing together. To register to race the track used computers for early registration. Zmax Dragway in 2009 filled up in 9.5 minutes, 540 race cars. Virginia Motorsports filled in a little over 10 minutes if I remember correctly. Friday morning at 11:00 am Zmax sold out spectator seats with standing room only available. Saturday morning at 8:30 am the spectators were lined up to the round track waiting to get in.

Also, tracks have to go back to advertising races. I have pointed this out before, some people don't even know that there are still drag strips racing in North Carolina now. We have had our car at some car shows and people have made that comment. If they don't know that drag strips are open, their not going on the internet to see what is going on.

A track operator who wants to be brave and set up a race like this and advertise, other than waiting for someone to see it on the internet, he may be in for a big surprise. Heads up, races ending in inches not feet, without cars on and off of the throttle. Some body in North Carolina try this and lets see what happens.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

What is the difference between this and Stock/Superstock? Go to fast and lose.

Re: How competitive are you?
 

Art, it is similar to Stock/Superstock racing except I forgot the most important rule. There is no lifting. Track personell were station along the track with radios, if you lift before the finish line you are also disqualified. The name of the game was run all out everytime down the track. If your times changed then you were "sandbagging" and disqualified. In other words no playing games. Two cars down the track both running "all out" and consistently running the same et there was no reason to get on a fender and think you might run him out and you win. If you race Stock/Superstock or are a spectator you know that at about 1000ft it sounds like both cars are about to run out of gas.