Solution for our sport

[Ron Ortiz]

I thought that crazy old men who live on a hill were supposed to be guru's living in Nepal?
After reading Woodro Josey's farewell speech on the SRAC it is evident that the Sportsman racers do not have any rights, or ever will have.
I stated long ago, after the first Cajun SportsNationals in Belle Rose, that this is the begining of the end for sportsman at national events. That NHRA sees this as the begining of just sportsman races at seven geographical locations. Then came Columbus, then the Pacific race. It will not be long until we see another sportsman race in the south, the northeast, the mid west, etc. Once that is accomplished, you will see the sportsman fields cut to a 32 car field at national events.
NHRA will not loose as much money as you think from the loss of sportsman racers. They have been sticking it to the contingency sponsors for years, and the fans do not seem to be bothered too much for the $2 coffee, $7 beer, $5 pork butt on a stick, not counting the $25 t-shirt and daily ticket prices. With the reduction of sportsman will come the addition of carnival type activities. They will add Top Sportsman and Top Dragster as a minor filler. And when the fans are wanting to see all the early iron that used to be there, they will tell them about the "SportsNationals" in their local area. Now the fans will have to cough up more money to see the "remainder" of the show at a different time and location.
Pat Joffrion summed it all at the begining of this post. It is sad, but true.
I remember going to a national event was a great experience and alot of fun. As the years have gone by NHRA has seemed to take the fun out of it.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA soon to be N/U/SA
Nostalga U Stock Automatic