Comp racers seek to show eliminator is very much alive

[Ed Carpenter]

Originally Posted by Mike Mans

I know this forum may not be the right group of people to agree with this comment - but after a lot of thought and looking around the pits I would disagree that money is the reason people aren't running Comp. The pits are full of 75'+ race rigs that are all well north of $200k (RV + trailer), there are dozens of new Top Dragster and Top Sportsman cars being built every year (no cheaper to build than many Comp cars), and there is a HUGE growth in the small tire radial world. These fast growing classes that I just mentioned have no better payouts than Comp, have no qualifying money, or perks that unfortunately used to exist in Comp. But - they have some undefined draw to them that the Comp racers committee is trying to better understand to encourage these folks building new cars and growing their racing presence - to look at Comp as a class they may want to compete in. There are a LOT of people out in our sport with plenty of money to compete in whatever class they so choose, but there must be a reason that just isn't well enough understood yet as to why they aren't jumping into this great NHRA category.

Just my opinion,
Mike Mans

Comp requires a lot of work and maintenance. So people don't want to work that hard at the track. If I had the money I'd buy a D/SM car tomorrow. Comp is awesome.

[SSDiv6]

Originally Posted by Ed Carpenter

Comp requires a lot of work and maintenance. So people don't want to work that hard at the track. If I had the money I'd buy a D/SM car tomorrow. Comp is awesome.

Common Ed, have Allen build you a bullet for D/SM!
It would go fast and you will get smack postings from people like Allen does!

[Mike Mans]

Ben has some very true points in recurring costs. I don't think the T/S and T/D guys HAVE to spend $20k on freshen up routines every 40-50 runs, but I do believe the guys with blowers or a lot of nitrous are certainly requiring plenty of maintenance attention.

Speaking just from an obvservation - Pro Mod and Top Sportsman have been displacing the Pro Stock and Comp participants. If you have the money to compete in the class of your choice - you're still likely going to look at a "bang for your buck" perspective. Financially able business people can run a Pro Mod today for a fraction (call it half) of a Pro Stock operation, and be a contender to win every week. 20 years ago engines like you see in T/S and T/D didn't exist or were not reliable to the point that they are today - so I think the evolution of cost per HP and reliability of these classes have taken mind-share and market-share from Comp and Pro Stock.

There are still many folks that want to compete in the Comp class, and hopefully they start to come back out and participate - but I would recommend forgetting the "good ole days" of Comp with qualifying money, big purses, etc... Those days are behind us for all of the classes, and I don't foresee them coming back. Our economy is booming, stock market is consistently reaching all time highs - and we don't see payout improvements happening? If it isn't happening now, it won't happen. It would really surprise me if the needle moves back in an upward direction for payouts in NHRA - that is not a big enough priority to the organization.

Mike Mans

[cutta]

I just think that the days of relying on more money coming from NHRA are over. I think that a sportsman or class org similar to Nhra Pro Mods "RPM" group is the best chance sportsman racers will have to increase payouts. Create a privatized conglomerate that can seek sponsorship and contingency outside of NHRA. I'm sure there is some difficulty in doing this but it seems like it would be better than expecting NHRA to find or provide the money to increase purses. With as many complaints about how poor NHRA is in this area, it would seem that something like this would be beneficial whether its done in a class specific manner or includes sportsman racing as a whole. You would then become your own governing body and can act and move on your own interest whether that's sponsorship, rules, or something else.

[Dwight Southerland]

There is a direct correlation between payouts and fan participation (not racer participation). A lot of the fan participation is due to the excitement generated (entertainment) and marketing. You want more payout?

[Bobby DiDomenico]

Originally Posted by Mike Mans

Ben has some very true points in recurring costs. I don't think the T/S and T/D guys HAVE to spend $20k on freshen up routines every 40-50 runs, but I do believe the guys with blowers or a lot of nitrous are certainly requiring plenty of maintenance attention.

Speaking just from an obvservation - Pro Mod and Top Sportsman have been displacing the Pro Stock and Comp participants. If you have the money to compete in the class of your choice - you're still likely going to look at a "bang for your buck" perspective. Financially able business people can run a Pro Mod today for a fraction (call it half) of a Pro Stock operation, and be a contender to win every week. 20 years ago engines like you see in T/S and T/D didn't exist or were not reliable to the point that they are today - so I think the evolution of cost per HP and reliability of these classes have taken mind-share and market-share from Comp and Pro Stock.

There are still many folks that want to compete in the Comp class, and hopefully they start to come back out and participate - but I would recommend forgetting the "good ole days" of Comp with qualifying money, big purses, etc... Those days are behind us for all of the classes, and I don't foresee them coming back. Our economy is booming, stock market is consistently reaching all time highs - and we don't see payout improvements happening? If it isn't happening now, it won't happen. It would really surprise me if the needle moves back in an upward direction for payouts in NHRA - that is not a big enough priority to the organization.

Mike Mans

Mike,

Maybe if Wells Fargo clawed this back,
http://fortune.com/2016/09/12/wells-...rrie-tolstedt/
they could provide $1 million a year towards Stock, SuperStock, and Comp.
At 24 events plus the SportsNats divided by 3 is over $13,000 per class?
Oh to work for a company where numbers like this are a drop in the bucket.

[cgall]

I am surprised that they have not already reduced the number of events, running at the regionals such as TAD and TAFC.

[boostedf22c]

I mean you'd be lying if you said that all forms of class racing aren't seeing a decline turnout?

[lynn engels]

for all of you who say you would like to run comp but its to expensive here you go, fastest d/e/d in the country, everything fresh ready to go, no. 1 qualifier at gainsville. price not much more than a new superstock motor, if interested call 605/237/2357 lynn engels