If an advocate could be found - what would you say?

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by Bruce Noland

What would you say to an advocate who agreed to help with the important issues that are confronting the Sportsman racer? No, this isn't about any type of legal complaints.
Thanks in advance for any and all responsible responses.

Allrighty then, first of all, I personally believe that in most of the country NHRA Sportsman Racing is in better health than the pro program. I am very concerned about how the NHRA management appears to be putting all of it's efforts into the "big show" and neglecting the "Grassroots Program" although it appears to me that the "Grassroots Program" is where they get their working capital from.
I worry about how fragile the function of the "big show" actually is. With the small number of actual team owners that exists today, it wouldn't be impossible (not probable but not impossible) for the "big show" to lose 1/3 of it's teams. If the "big show" catastrophically folds, what happens to us?

With that off of my chest, let me get a little bit more realistic;

The costs of admission, membership, permanent numbers, crew entry (remember when a Natl. Event entry came with 2 crew passes?) etc. have steadily gone up with or beyond the rate of inflation. The NHRA "Cash" Purse hasn't risen in over 25 years. Why is that? How could Wally Parks pay out the cash purses that he could with less incoming cash? Where is the money going? To the pro show?

The NHRA Contingency Program is a shadow of it's former self and IMHO, a joke. Why is that? Does it no longer concern or benefit the powers-that-be? Did the price of entry into the program from the Manufacturers standpoint get too high? Is there no-one in charge of this program who cares about the Sportsmen?

Stock and SS Eliminators are "Performance Based" eliminators. Over the years, the powers-that-be have seen fit to "retire" (eliminate?) the knowledgeable Tech Inspectors and Tech people who are supposed to be at the Races to "police" the entries. Excepting the U.S. Nationals, there is no more "tear down", there is very little in the way of class eliminations and with the ridiculously low entry quotas, class eliminations don't mean what it used to. Who sets National Records anymore? Why is that?

The AHFS system is in dire need of fixing. What is there is way too easy to manipulate and is being over seen by people who don't understand the concept. Superseded/replacement parts has declined into hearsay.
Knowledgeable people are needed back in positions of responsibility.

I truly hope that the "Baby Gators" is a look at things to come. Class Eliminations at Divisional Races would be a pretty nice thing AND a pretty nice show!