[Michael Beard]

You cannot compare payouts without comparing entry fees, amount of track time, travel, and amount of time off work.

Myron is dead-on about the Sportsman Spectacular events. $5K to win guaranteed, and racers failed to support them, so they went away. We had a great format race with the Combo in the Hills, and later the NitroPlate S/SS Shootout at Numidia, and people failed to support them, so now they're gone. At least people will have another opportunity to support and fun and rewarding event, with the Class Nationals next summer. If it's supported well enough, there's a chance that the program can expand. But it takes *you*.

We promote a number of big money bracket races. Racers have continued to show more and more support for what we're doing, and they have been rewarded with more events, more event coverage, and frequent purse increases. Success begets success.

Be part of the solution.

If you think NHRA should improve things in their programs, coverage, or payouts, the best way to force them to do so is with competition. I didn't run any IHRA events last year, as I couldn't fit them into my schedule. With improvements in many areas of what they're doing, I'm looking forward to supporting them again in 2015, and being part of the solution.