Speaking of Divisional Schedules: NHRA D2

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Keith Bennett

I say we get Alan for President.

And I say the department will fire you if they find out you even consider associating with the likes of me.

[Mickey Whaley]

It would be nice to get charolette & bristol back atleast for the div 2 cars in the carolinas if we have to do it without alcohol classes lets do it so the track owners can make a profit my closest race is atl 440 miles and im suppose to be in the div 2 map area.

[Chad Rhodes]

Originally Posted by Mickey Whaley

It would be nice to get charolette & bristol back atleast for the div 2 cars in the carolinas if we have to do it without alcohol classes lets do it so the track owners can make a profit my closest race is atl 440 miles and im suppose to be in the div 2 map area.

Mickey, I agree that things need to be more spread out. Gainesville is 350 miles, Reynolds 300~, and atlanta is 375. We are in the bottom southwest corner of the division. Heck No Problem is the closest NHRA Div race at 202 miles away. I almost wonder if we need a "mid atlantic" and a "heartland" division. Let the mid atlantic be maryland to the carolinas and the heartland OK, Kansas, MO etc. More divisions could make it easier to have 5 in division races (even if you go to a few tracks twice a year), and easier to attend out of division races. Purely just an idea, not even sure it would work or would be worth the trouble.

[Rollins_2241]

Let's look at the constraints and then optimize within those.

Facility: The candidates are Bradenton, Gainesville, SGMP, Silver Dollar, Atlanta, Bristol, ZMax, Orlando (barely and only without alcohol). Everything else is either IHRA, 1/8 mile, or not up to the task. Economics favor NHRA-owned tracks as frankly most LODRS events are money losers, especially those with alcohol.

Weather: Mid-June through mid-Sept. is almost out of the question from middle Georgia south. Mid-Dec. through mid-Feb. is dicey anywhere and is off season anyway.

Timing: Close to but not on top of Nationals is preferable, with a fatigue factor (e.g. three big races in a row) considered.

I would like to see two LODRS before the Gators, one before or after the Southerns, one before or after the second Zmax race, others in between. It's well known that Rowland wants the previous Orlando date. So, I suggest

Bradenton, Gainesville (the weeks they are now)
SGMP (the week after the Gators or less preferably, the week before)
Atlanta (the week after the Southern Nationals)
Bristol (sometime in the summer)
Reynolds (the week after the Zmax second national)
Orlando (the week Reynolds is now).

The Reynolds race does well where it is now, so you could add an early October Orlando race and leave Reynolds alone.

[SCOTT SST2871]

For my own reasons i would like the races spread out some,i went from racing all the div 2 races for the last 8 years to one this year!!the reason for me is money,i lost my sponsor this year after 10 years with them and to pay all costs out of pocket 3 times in a month plus the time off work that i wont be paid for is impossible!!
Im sure there are others in the same situation.as far as racing in the summer,i dont prefer it and dont particularly like it but i havent noticed much of a car count diff.at least not in s/st but, i have noticed the car counts declining because of the economy!! Now i may be wrong but if the schedule was spread out some it would help the little guy get to more races and those are the ones that are not racing right now(this is just my opinion but i do research my opinions)
scott fifield

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Rollins_2241

Let's look at the constraints and then optimize within those.

Facility: The candidates are Bradenton, Gainesville, SGMP, Silver Dollar, Atlanta, Bristol, ZMax, Orlando (barely and only without alcohol). Everything else is either IHRA, 1/8 mile, or not up to the task. Economics favor NHRA-owned tracks as frankly most LODRS events are money losers, especially those with alcohol.

Weather: Mid-June through mid-Sept. is almost out of the question from middle Georgia south. Mid-Dec. through mid-Feb. is dicey anywhere and is off season anyway.

Timing: Close to but not on top of Nationals is preferable, with a fatigue factor (e.g. three big races in a row) considered.

I would like to see two LODRS before the Gators, one before or after the Southerns, one before or after the second Zmax race, others in between. It's well known that Rowland wants the previous Orlando date. So, I suggest

Bradenton, Gainesville (the weeks they are now)
SGMP (the week after the Gators or less preferably, the week before)
Atlanta (the week after the Southern Nationals)
Bristol (sometime in the summer)
Reynolds (the week after the Zmax second national)
Orlando (the week Reynolds is now).

The Reynolds race does well where it is now, so you could add an early October Orlando race and leave Reynolds alone.

The air in Bristol in the summer is horrible. When it was postponed and held in July, it was near 100 degrees, and the corrected altitude was 4000 feet. It was miserable for the racers and the spectators, as well as the cars. It wasn't as bad as the genius decision to run Memphis in August, but it was real close.

Again, the reason Atlanta did so poorly this year is that it was an LODRS race on the third weekend of a four weekend stretch. Had there been a weekend off between Indy and Atlanta, there would have been more cars there in Atlanta, and possibly more cars would have gone on to Charlotte.

Reynolds needs to move to a week later in October. And we could still have something the 1st weekend of November, or even the second. Considering the people at SGMP wanted to be away from the early part of the year, following two races at Gainesville, plus Bradenton, I'd bet they might go for a race a week or two after Reynolds, if Reynolds was a week later. A lot of racers who want to go fast would like it, as the air would probably be pretty good, and the track is good. It would also draw well because it would be the last LODRS of the year in the region, racers would want ot get that last race in before the off season.

[KingReptile]

Originally Posted by Bill Grubbs

Races early in the season, and close together are what brings the car count to Div II. Racing in the summer surely won't; at least not in FL, GA, or AL. Personally, I like the spring and fall races.

The only problem I see with back to back races is if there is a problem with the car, then I do not have time to properly prosecute the problem and get testing in. That is what has bit us these past couple of years. But I still like the schedule the way it is. Just add a couple of more tracks to fill up the schedule.

We all cant spend a month and a half in florida ..The spring and the fall races is where it is at forsure..

[Mike Pearson]

Alan,

We are both in similar situations. You live at the northern edge of the division. I live at the southern end of the division. The difference is the nearest out of division race for me is at least 750 miles. Makes no sense to spend that much money to travel for the meager purse. You can run the division 3 events. That makes you a little bit luckier for scheduling the points races. To run the division schedule with the current number of races with a 3 week spread would take 27 weeks. I know this is not possible but its nice to dream. With my work schedule and budget I usually try to run 5 div 2 races in NHRA and 2 IHRA div 2 races plus the gators and the Atlanta race. Running 4 or 5 weeks straight in the beginning of the year is brutal. One broken part and you might miss 2 races. These are just some of my ideas that would allow me to participate in more events.

[Alan Roehrich]

Mike, I actually agree with you. We can never run the full schedule early in the year. At best we've made the Orlando race, and both Gainesville races, but had to skip Bradenton and South Georgia. Now, we've lost Memphis and St. Louis, so that kills two out of division races and two National Events that were a reasonable drive. Now we have Indy and Bowling Green for close out of division races.

[Daran Summerton]

Bradenton
Orlando (week before Gators) always 100 stockers
Gators
SG
Bristol (Give us the adjustment back!)
Gainesville
Atlanta
Silver dollar (November) 2 days of record runs HEHEHEHE Bring fire wood!


I as well use to run every div race but cannot swing 4 races in a month time span so I as others just quit going.