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[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

I was in the tower with a Division Director some years ago just basically bi**hing about my inability to make any money at his races anymore. He pointed out the window into the pits and told me "Billy, looking out this window at all of those $X00,000 coaches and trailers, they don't seem to have a problem"! "You've got to understand, I don't sanction drag races anymore, I sanction alternative lifestyle weekends"!

If it is the same conversation I am thinking of, I was sitting right there. The same Division Director also asked the group of racers whether most racers were there to race or for a social event with some racing thrown in. The answer was that for most, it was a social event with some racing thrown in.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

If it is the same conversation I am thinking of, I was sitting right there. The same Division Director also asked the group of racers whether most racers were there to race or for a social event with some racing thrown in. The answer was that for most, it was a social event with some racing thrown in.

Yeah, we have a good time at the races. For us, we get up in the morning, and we flip the "race mode" switch on, and it stays on until we're done for the day. Then the "fun mode" switch gets flipped on, and we get out and enjoy some time away from the rest of the world with our friends. For racers, at least most of us who have a "day job" and/or a business, going races is a much needed vacation, and a chance to compete, something that we're fortunate to enjoy.

When the Nitroplate racer appreciation deal went on at Bristol, we had a lot of the professionals down there having fun, too. Does that make them any less professional? Or any less a racer?

Again, I fail to see how the cost of some racer's rigs, and the fact that we are enjoying ourselves, has anything to do with how poor a business model NHRA follows.