Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Walking out the door in about 30 mins, its a little over a 3 hour ride. Have to go to the Raxx club to get credentials before we get to the track. Will keep everyone posted as well as I can. This will be my first IHRA race, very excited to meet some new friends and people from this site and see some old friends as well. Also hope to go some rounds with the new car.

I hope I can live up to the job of "pit reporter" as well as the others have.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Good luck Chad....enjoy !

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Chad, I'm Really glad you are coming! I'm flying in with the fire crew this evening. If you get the chance please come down to the top end and say hello. Would love to meet you. I also hope you have a great experience with us and want to come back again and again. Most of all HAVE FUN! I expect to see you riding around on the double decker Mardis Gras float throwing beads out!

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

And we're in Louisiana. Smooth sailing so far.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Myron's there and settled in. Said it seems busier than last year already.

Good luck this weekend!

Still home working. :( May try to sneak out to Coastal Plains tomorrow for a $3K.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Here, parked and in the tech line. Looks to be a lot of cars so far, place is almost full

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Hope they have a great turnout.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Chad don't let the country dog get you in any trouble.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

My impression so far........ Disorganized. An hour and a half to get through tech, then you are caught in the staging lanes with no way out. Finally get out of that and there is no one at the scales, and they are off. Would it kill anyone to turn the screen around and leave the scales turned on. They Said they would be on at 9 AM.

On the positive side, everyone was very friendly and thanked us for being here.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

When I was there for a Div race in 2009, the local track personal were not real organized. Nice friendly people, just disorganized like you said.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Hey Chad, be sure and go by and meet Larry Stewart Sr n Jr, Stewart Performance, good people,,,, good luck to ya!!!

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

They are not disorganized. It's just a laid back way of doing things. Enjoy it and Good Luck.
Chip Johnson

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

I told y'all before i left we were gonna be short on help..Sorry as i really busted my ***** along with a couple more guys (they were back and forth teching the pro cars......) trying to get you guys through tech.....Glad to see some of you guys for the first time.. Well we got two drag packs ,one in B/FIA and Mr Teuton in D/FIA. I saw it run and was fast as you would expect. The B car did not make it in time for t & t ,but from talking to the owner it is going to be fast also....We even got a super stock Viper (no class for stock for it ) and it was in the guide. That was cool too.... Talk to y'all tomorrow nite if not burnt out ......Drinking a few Miller Lites and then Lites out til the AM....Nice to meet you Chad . I tried to get you through as quickly as i could . Just had to double-check a lot of cars to make sure we got it right. Enjoy tomorrow.....I will see you at the scales...

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Danny, I hope you didn't take the disorganized comment to personally, I realize you're shorthanded, and were doing the best you could. It was just a little frustrating gettin hemmed up in the lanes. I will say there seems to be a good car count, everyone is very friendly, and we are having a good time so far.

It's a little after 730 and it's pretty foggy out. Gonna get some caffiene in my system and go find some fuel. First round is scheduled for 9, not sure the fog wil lift by then. Hope to meet some more of you guys today

Danny, see you at the scales :)

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

It wasn't the IHRA officials that were disorganized when I was there. It was the locals. I had to ride across the property with the ownner (?) to another gate to use a credit card to pay for my entry. He said "IHRA could take credit cards at the pit gate at the national event, but we aren't wired for that."
Yeah, laptops with wireless cards are really cool. Lol

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

you're absolutely right Ed. IHRA's staff did an excellent job. Even had a chance yesterday evening to talk to Scooter for a few. I like what IHRA is doing, its the exact reverse of what NHRA is doing. IHRA is using a booked in pro show (which packed the house Sat night) to be able to give the sportsman racers a National event. Due to a massive oildown at some point yesterday afternoon a few classes first round were postponed till this morning. That was the only real hiccup either sat or sunday. There were 38 stockers, and 22 SS. I think the stocker count was decent considering there was an NHRA points race a little more than 500 miles away (g'ville). I think the biggest issue at state capital was space, I'm sure the track will work on a better flow into the staging lanes for next year.

All said, I had a good time despite Cooter welding me to the starting line with a .002 light. I tried to take the stripe but broke out by .001 and still got there second. Of course had I even come close to having a pulse on the starting line, that would have helped.

I will definitely attend more IHRA Nitro Jams and Pro-Ams this year, I think everyone should give it a shot if there is one near you.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Cooter will do that to you. Lol

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

We have a Nitro-Jam here at SAR in April.
I am looking forward to shoot the class cars
that show up.

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Chad, thanks for coming and supporting IHRA, wish we had gotten to meet during the weekend but hopefully at the next NitroJam you attend we will be able to get together. Go out and get into Div. 2, there are great guys down there and I'm sure you will enjoy the divisional set-up too. Two races, two days, no time off work unless you want to come in early Friday, it's a great bang for the buck imo. Look out for the Locomotion car, he's kinda dangerous in that division, but so are many many other cars from that division.

Glad to hear you had a good time, at the end of the day, that's what is most important. The fact you have made a point that you would attend more IHRA races is Huge also, thanks again.

Danny and the tech boys had a good problem when there were more cars than expected. They did a heck of a job keeping the schedule on time, it's a total team effort!

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

I'm so glad the car count was up. Hope some new guys tried it saw that it's a good group of guys to race with.

Congrats to all the winners!

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

I'm scared to ask ......lol

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Danny,

I am sure once they attend the IHRA races, they will come back and try it again .... You guys are making a great effort to keep every racer happy , you know that's impossible ... It's great to be treated nice & feel wanted, keep up the good work... They will come around sooner rather than later , it's still early in the season.

You notice no-one is having great turn-outs ? I think the Memphis track will be a Big plus in the mid-central area ... Time will Tell ...

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Caps lock key is stuck.

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The car count was BETTER than West Palm . Hopefully that trend will continue... Oh , and nobody said anything on here but we did try to spot check a few things as second round qualifying was going on in stock and superstock . So that was an improvement also... I would like to personally thank all the racers who did join us at this race. I had fun (but wore out). Also enjoyed the Cajun cookin (paying for that now) lol......Congrats to all winners and runner- ups.....We had some of the best of the best at this race and the winners had their work cut out for them for sure. THANKS again !!!! HP gifts coming soon for some of you !!!!

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

Danny you're absolutely right, i forgot y'all making everyone pop their hoods

Re: Soon to be live from IHRA Mardi Gras Nitro Jam
 

NHRA has not been doing that as far as I can remember.