[Jason Oldfield]

Maybe its just me, but I don't see this increasing car counts above and beyond the level that they're already at. I don't think racers are consciously making the decision to not go to IHRA national events because they don't feel that they have a chance to win the world championship. I think its the standard stuff:

1. Too far / travel expenses too high
2. Entry fees too high
3. Conflicts with another race on the schedule
4. Is an NHRA snob (you've met them, the ones that wouldn't even think of possibly lowering themselves so much that they'd actually attend an IHRA race).
5. Are intimidated

Most of the local racers from a particular track usually use #2 and #5 as their reasons. I know plenty of racers in WNY that would never consider spending $150 for car & driver entry, even if the race was at their local track. Then there are all the local racers that have the perfect car for a particular class, but because they don't run it regularly don't enter. That's probably logical thinking, as their chances of winning are going to be pretty small, and though the stakes go up, their chances don't get any better because the stakes are higher.

Only time will tell, but if car counts go up next year, I think it will be more of a reflection of gas prices and the economy, and will have less to do with the new points structure (though you might pull one or two more people out of the woodwork to each race as they play the lottery).

How about we just do it like boxing? You're the champ, until you get beat, then that person's the champ, and so on and so forth...