D4 Director
 

check out the National Dragster with Jeggie on the cover page 68 - D4 director Craig Hutchinson lets us know what a idiot he is in his article.

he lets us know that we should just be happy to be there and not to complain about anything - he actually wrote it down in the magazine.

pit space is not his problem - it is ours because we have bigger rigs - I guess we aren't supposed to have anything other than a pick up and open trailer and tracks like Houston shouldnt have any roads in the fields for usable parking so we dont get buried in the mud

track starting line conditions are not his problem - it is ours we should be able to go down any pile of **** he gives us because oldtimers didnt spray tracks

AND A PURSE IS A BONUS - WE SHOULD ALL RACE FOR TROPHYS AND POINTS - THE TRACK OWNERS DONT MAKE MUCH AND THEY NEED TO KEEP ALL THE REVENUE

fuel is over $3 a gal and we shouldnt worry about getting any money if we go rounds because Craig says thay didnt back in the day

i bet division directors didnt get a full time pay check back in the day

Re: D4 Director
 

If this is the case, they should drop the entry fee to $20.0 to $40.00 like in the old days!!!!

Re: D4 Director
 

Pi$$ n moan, is that all this forum is for? Thats all you guys seem to do. No wonder nobody watchs you race, whiners, thats all you are. If you put that much energy into your race car, you wouldn't be bracket racing, you could race heads up.

Re: D4 Director
 

Racing fan, you are completely ignorant to the stocker racing. For most of these guys their cars are where they put in all their energy. You have no idea how much time and effort it takes to build a competitive NHRA stock race car. It's a passion that they have that I think is lacking in top fuel and funny cars. Nitro burners may be fun to watch but it's more of an exhibition than a true race. The guy that doesn't smoke the tires usually wins and they couldn't possibly predict their time race after race. You really have to know your car to dial in a time and be accurate to the hundredth of a second.
The pros are sponsored with a lot of money so it's a job for them. You are one of the typical that leaves the stands after the Nitro guys are done advertising their sponsors to you at 300 mph. I don't think you really appreciate the sport, you just want to see a loud and fast car.

Re: D4 Director
 

racing fan -

yea, your right - a high ranking NHRA official says that we should not worry about track conditions or pit conditions and just race for trophys and not worry about any purse at all and i'm whining because that bothers me - yea, your right i dont know what i was thinking

Re: D4 Director
 

racing fan...get yourself a life...all you do is stir the pot and not contribute to anything just like you have done in a previous post:
http://classracer.com/classforum/sho...?t=6294&page=2
Again...get a life and if you do not have anything to contribute...go back and play with your Lego set...

Re: D4 Director
 

Racefan you have to have an I.Q. on the positive side of the scale to even attempt to understand stock class racing. It might not be rocket science but you have a ways to go. Its not as easy or as cheap as it looks from the stands looking through the bottom of a glass of Bud. IMHO.

Re: D4 Director
 

a "racing fan" youre not! jackass -yes!

Re: D4 Director
 

Did he really say bracket racing????? :eek::eek::eek::eek:


Oh my, I'll get the cooler, someone bring the popcorn......:rolleyes::D

Re: D4 Director
 

I must admit I have been wrong. I used to think that we had the worst Div. director here in Div. 2, but after reading the article in N.D. I now have a higher level of respect and appreciation for Bill. Anything from him is rarely seen on the pages of N.D., and when it is he isn't criticizing the very people that make his job and paycheck possible.

As for "racing fan", he has proved a point that I have made before about most of the people sitting in the stands at any given national event. Clueless. He probably believes S/ST cars, S/G cars and Stock eliminator cars are all $500 cars, and as for Super Stock and S/C cars, they might be $1,000 cars because they can do the neat looking wheelstands and run a little faster. Also, I would guess he believes he could have a car to run any of these classes tomorrow, but these are "amatuer" classes and they are beneath him.

Ok, i'm done now. Maybe I'll go look up Bill's address and mail him a Christmas card.

Re: D4 Director
 

Those who can, Do. Those who can?t, Criticize!

Re: D4 Director
 

OK, Racing Fan... Mission accomplished!! You have deflected (stolen) the directon of this thread. I think the original intent of this thread was to bring attention to the comments of a Division director. As for you.. enough has been said.. As for the Div. Directors comments, they speak for themselves & he has a right to his opinion. Some may agree with him and others may not. I'm just glad they were brought to my attention. I missed the article in ND. Reading the comments helps me understand how Div. 4 is run. That might help me be a better racer.

Re: D4 Director
 

To stay on track, sort of,I was wondering if anyone knew how you get a Division Directors position? Is it totally political or do you have to have some business and people skills as well as a good knowledge of drag racing? Jim

Re: D4 Director
 

Am I the only one disturbed by the fact that this crap was published in the House Publication of the NHRA without any disclaimer? ...........Craig Hutchinson owes not only the D4 racers an apology, he owes it to all of us and so does NHRA for publishing it! ...............If Craig truely longs for his supposed "good ol days", he should resign his position, and go Nostalga racing, Oh wait, those guys want to get paid too, and they probably have enclosed trailers too!! ........Guess he ought to just get out if he thinks things are too out of hand. .........................I would love to hear a comment on this from Len Imbrognio. ......E-mail Craig @ chutchinson@nhra.com. and remind him it not 1969 anymore! ......Tom

Re: D4 Director
 

Nuff said Tom!!

Re: D4 Director
 

I've got to add my $0.02 cents to this. Racerfan is one of those uninformed people who
buy the worn out funny car/top fuel slick or the burned up piston as a souviner of his day
at the races, maybe even drinks a bit too much of the $8 beer they sell.

If you look at any stock eliminator car that is for sale in the $15-20K price range it is a
bargain. A scienced out car for the price of the parts? Yes Superstock costs even more
but also takes the same time and effort to be competitive.

I own a lowley bracket car, still not cheap, lots of fun and maybe someday if I can
accomplish some of my goals it will move up to GT/FA.

Race for trophies and still pay high entry prices, I don't think so....

Re: D4 Director
 

just read the article and cannot belive what I read. It amazes me that a) he wrote it, b) NHRA published it, c) this person is in charge of a division full of sportsman racers

Re: D4 Director
 

I just had to go find this issue to see what everybody is talking about.
Truly amazing stuff.Racing for a purse is a Bonus?People should race for trophies? Sorry dude,but unless there is some sort of retraction of that article,I'm thinking the I side has a future that never looked brighter.What do you think Stockracer?

Re: D4 Director
 

and this man is in charge? What a complete jack off!

Re: D4 Director
 

hey guys...Craig hutchinson is racing fan.

Re: D4 Director
 

Most Nostalgia Superstock Eliminators pay $1000 to win, with a $100 entry. No Stock Superstock, or any other sportsman racer can afford to race for trophys. You can tell who the real racers are.

Re: D4 Director
 

Last year I stumbled on an event @ Phoenix International Raceway (a NASCAR track). This was some sort of sanctioned road race event. You should have seen the serious race (not street legal) Viper's and Porshe's battling it out and wearing tires and brakes out....for a big trophy. I couldn't believe it!

Re: D4 Director
 

To be honest, I would race for free IF the entry fee were reduced to close to zero. But, when you charge me $250 to get in (multiplied by 100+ cars, plus all the pit crew personnel at $150/each), I'm not about to run just for a fancy blob of bronze on top of a wooden pedestal.

Of course, when you REALLY think about it, we basically race for free now...

Re: D4 Director
 

Some Carolina tracks have "free entry" races, where you just pay general admission, but they usually have two rounds of buybacks, where the track makes their money.

Re: D4 Director
 

It is called "EGO Trophy" :) :) :)

Re: D4 Director
 

Sort of like a class trophy??? Some are contested, many are not.

Re: D4 Director
 

A Division Director is a position of high responsibility; he's in charge of a LOT.
As such, he's not exactly a "bottom feeder" on the NHRA Totem Pole.

What Craig Hutchinson said in that article probably mirrors the feelings of NHRA's "higher-ups." If it didn't, it never would have made the pages of Dragster.

After reading this guy's assessment of how Sportsman racers should regard what they do (race for trophys), is the mind-set of the braintrust in the Ivory Tower at Glendora a little bit clearer?

Is it a little bit clearer now, how FAR REMOVED from reality these people really are???

If not, go back and re-read the article by this sadly deluded individual, who seems to live in a time-warp of twenty-eight-cents per gallon gasoline, seventeen-cents per gallon Diesel fuel, six-dollar motels, and $20.00 entry fees...

If you're not convinced by then, well... don't worry; be happy.

Re: D4 Director
 

Here's some Div. 4 racing for y'all....

March 14-16.....Div. 4 Double Pro-Am ..... San Antonio
April 4-6..... Amalie Oil Texas Nationals .....San Antonio Raceway
April 18-20..... Div. 4 Double Pro Am ..... Tulsa Raceway
May 2-4..... Div. 4 Double Pro Am ..... State Capitol
June 20-22..... Div. 4 Double Pro Am ..... Pine Valley
August 22-24..... Skull Shine Sooner Nationals ..... Tulsa Raceway Park
August 29-31..... Div. 4 Pro Am/ Sports National ..... Dallas Raceway

New this year, all the events are 1/4-mile.

Re: D4 Director
 

It is yet to be finalized for the race at State Capitol. My understanding is when NHRA sold the Track to Ronnie West that in that contract it stated that it would always remain an NHRA Track. Even though someone new ownes the track, that stipulation stays with the contract. Also it is my understanding that the top end of the track is still owned by NHRA. I can not see NHRA giving permission to use that part of the track for a IHRA event. I am not sure that thes still apply but that was my understanding a couple of years ago when Ronnie owned the track

Big tires belong on the back !!

Re: D4 Director
 

I think the D4 director has forgotten that he has a nice motorhome he travels in and stays in at the track. He also gets premier parking. If he wants us to shrink our operation, then maybe he needs to sell his coach and ride his pitbike back and forth to the local roach motel? It's time for NHRA and it's tracks that get divisional & national events to step their operation up and spend a few bucks on parking and track improvements. Talk about crying, all we ever hear is how much money the tracks are losing, yet they keep building new ones! WTF?

Bigshot