What would you do?
 

http://competitionplus.com/drag-raci...king-for-a-day

In the article they ask some of the "Pros" and others what they would do if you were "King for a day"

Note that Robert Hight does not know that sportsman exist, but John Force at least recognizes "all catagories need to sit down", and that we do exist.

The time that the sportsman are racing would be a perfect time to take a young child and try to explain the basics and history of our sport, maybe as a lesson. Creating the interest in another generation is what is needed. My father used to play games with me asking who I thought would win and he nearly always won, he had the experience. I have now attained that same experience and intend to continue.

Re: What would you do?
 

Steve, I don't think Force meant Sportsman categories, I'm sure he was referring to Pro categories. He has made some pretty snide comments about Sportsman racers in the past. You notice when he said if he were KIng For The Day the first thing he wanted to do was raise the payout for Top Fuel and Funny car ONLY to $500,000.00 and $1,000,000.00 for the champion in each of the two categories. Nope, he doesn't have a clue either! Jim

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Re: What would you do?
 

Oh yeah, I almost forgot! If I was King For The Day I would make the Pro categories pay $10,000 for entry T/F & F/C....$5,000 entry for Pro Stock and Pro Cycle. They can afford it! Then lower Sportsman entry to $50 per event. $50 is about all it's worth to run for the current payout. Take the Sportsman insurance fee out of the Pro entry and raise the Sportsman payouts to 32 places. They could pay for all the Sportsman payouts and insurance and have plenty left over. Jim

Re: What would you do?
 

I think Force did mean sportsman, he has 1 1/2 daughters still racing in alcohol dragster.

He He.

Re: What would you do?
 

Oh come on.....Just because NHRA calls them sportsmen how can you even consider the alky classes as a sportsman venture ?

Re: What would you do?
 

technicality Terry, that is all it is.

Re: What would you do?
 

I don't think any of them are talking about sportsman. I think they could remove "sportsman" from the national events and these pros and most average "joe's" out there wouldn't know the difference.

I don't always agree with Paul Page either, but he is right about speeding up the show.


as far as the 4 wide, why don't they still just run two lanes at a time. While one pair is running, the second pair could be getting ready to run. That way the crews, drivers, and fans could see the action better.

as far as the real sportsman goes, I think if you win one round you should get your entry fee back and the purse should build from there. Tracks need to get sponsors to step up to help pay the purses instead of making the racers pay it themselves. Dirt tracks already do that for the most part.

Re: What would you do?
 

I certainly don't have the answers. But until we (Sportsman racers) fill the stands, it isn't going to change for us. And, I don't know why we don't fill the stands. Huge wheel stands, and cars that spectators can relate to. I know time does not go backwards, however, in the early days of Pro Stock, if a track had a match race between "The Grump" and Ronnie Sox, the stands would be full. It didn't matter who was running Top Fuel. Not that way anymore. The spectators go to see the fuel cars. Watch the stands clear out when we run after them. When we are not the ones bringing in the spectators, we are in a terrible negotiating position for larger payouts. At National Events, we are the fill in so something is going down the track while the pros get ready to run again.

As much as some grumble about the new CJ's and Drag Packs, they might be our salvation. This generation can relate to them and perhaps buy a new car based on the performance they saw at the drag strip. Just like I did in the late 60's. In that regard, I would like to see a special class for these cars...........ie: FX

Until then, in my opinion, we will have to pay our own way plus a portion of the insurance premiums that are largely a function of the dangers of fuel cars.

With than said. Yes, I am going to keep racing. When the day comes that I get frustrated and angry with the situation.............I'll quit and go fishing..

Re: What would you do?
 

For the one millionth time,WE ARE NOT A CAR CULTURE LIKE BACK IN THE 1960s
ANYMORE.Excuse me for raising my voice.

Re: What would you do?
 

One thing I have noticed when comparing the racing from the "old days" to current racing events.

In the "old days" racers and spectators both were close to the action. At local Track Anywhere USA you could get near the starting line no matter what class was running. Of course, some times folks were too close and presented a safety issue so the "closeness" needs to be balanced with common sense. Even today tracks like Texas Raceway in Kennedale and North Star Dragway in Denton TX allow both race crew and spectators to be reasonably close to the action.

To contrast, at most national events spectators must be a considerable distance from the action. Only selected crew members can be near the line and that is with big eyes watching everyone. As a spectator you are simply too far away from the action when the "slower" cars are running. All the sounds, smells, smoke are too far away.

When the Nitro cars are running the distance is reasonable, but not for Sportsman cars.

In my opinion, this distancing of the spectators greatly takes away from the Sportsman experience. As we understand, being at or near the line during a stock super stock race is very cool.

The solutions are many, here are a few ideas:

*Move fences and seating much closer to the track so folks can experience the action up close
*Move folks somewhere else when Nitro cars are running:)