Gators

[MR DERBY CITY]

Originally Posted by oldskool

Speakin of the Gators, there is a guy on the entry list named Bruce Noland, from Leesburg VA. He's listed with a '69 Firebird 400.

I found that he raced a 2nd gen Camaro Stocker. Not many '69 Birds in competition nowadays. So, does anybody here know anything about this car ?

https://www.nhraeventreg.com/ListEve...=GF1&cc=8&rn=3

It’s a brand new car, AND I am sure that it’s nice,

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY

It’s a brand new car, AND I am sure that it’s nice,

Thanks for that info !

I'm lookin forward to seeing how it does this year. Assume it will see action in lots of div 1 competition. Wonder if any of the other div 1 Pontiac guys are helping him with it ?

Seems like most of the Pontiacs are up in the Midwest, in div 3 & 5. Will be nice to see another div 1 Pontiac. I hate to look at a Q-list & see just 1, or maybe no Pontiacs at all.

[Casey Miles]

I'm kind of annoyed at myself that I drove all over gods creation to get 6 grade points and I can't even smell an entry into the Gators. I really don't think that it's fair that a division has at least 3 national opens that their grade points count towards national events held in other divisions when the hosting division doesn't have any national opens to get points. I know I'm going to hear that I could have went the national opens, but the traveling just to get the 6 grade points was over 8000 miles. At this point in time, I have to rethink any kind travel to get points since I'm in the same boat as when I had 2 grade points, can't get in.

Casey Miles
248H Stock

[Bruce Noland]

Originally Posted by MR DERBY CITY

It’s a brand new car, AND I am sure that it’s nice,

This one will be a bit of an ugly duckling for the first year, until this old Chevrolet guy figures out a Pontiac. I have had a lot of good help so far so we'll have to wait and see how it runs before locking it up in a bodyshop for months on end.

[Chip THELEGEND Johnson]

Casey
I'm in NC and other than Rockingham and Galot the closest one to me is 300 miles. Also the 1/8th mile opens are open to NHRA cars too. All you have to do is enter to get grade point. You dont have to stay.

[oldskool]

Originally Posted by Bruce Noland

This one will be a bit of an ugly duckling for the first year, until this old Chevrolet guy figures out a Pontiac. I have had a lot of good help so far so we'll have to wait and see how it runs before locking it up in a bodyshop for months on end.

Great to here about the car !

Sorry to hear about the long wait for paint. I thought it was about ready to race.

Anyhow, lookin forward to it's debut. Good luck with it !

There are a some good Pontiac guys in div 1, that will probably help, if you ask. There have always been VERY few Pontiac guys in my area. So, we've always been a pretty close knit group, helping each other.

[MR DERBY CITY]

Originally Posted by Bruce Noland

This one will be a bit of an ugly duckling for the first year, until this old Chevrolet guy figures out a Pontiac. I have had a lot of good help so far so we'll have to wait and see how it runs before locking it up in a bodyshop for months on end.

I hear ya,....they don’t call it PAINT PRISON for nothing....

[Bruce Noland]

We are responsible for these quotas. I have been telling people that this was coming for years. But most racers were not interested in getting together and at least attempting to push back against these obvious attempts to push us to the margins. NHRA has gotten away with victimizing the racers while blaming them for their actions. There were 626 sportsman racers at the Gators in the early 2000's and barring bad weather they always finished the races. We gave them an inch when Tom Compton took away our 4th qualifying round and now they have taken the proverbial mile. What to do now?

[Brian Oakes]

Ok could not sit here and not says anything about this topic., i will not pick at ea. person that posted on this, it's racing and should be FUN. Ok i agree with so many of ya.s about grade points Quota's for National events, its a circus and we all know and all it,s all about the WALLY. Ok Traveling, you guys south of the border have no idea about traveling, lets say Nova Scotia to Maple Grove 18 plus hrs ONE way, and figure out what it cost for fuel, and look at the entry list there normally is at least 20 to 30 Canadian cars there. Know talk about OPENS yes they have 6 in DIV 1. All doubles and here is the best part,Napierville race PAYS 5K US dollars ea.day CASH, last year i believe there was 48 cars. it takes 7 1/2 hrs from S.Jersey to get there, the track hooks so good, ya better have good sh(^ in it. For the border NO guns, or drugs, (that leaves 1/2 of the Americans out with the guns) lol . don't worry i pac and i leave mine at home. and fuel is no problem, so getting back to my point, if ya want to run the Circus, ya better get out and race these div. and opens, be safe everyone, see ya at some of the races. Brian

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Bruce Noland

We are responsible for these quotas. I have been telling people that this was coming for years. But most racers were not interested in getting together and at least attempting to push back against these obvious attempts to push us to the margins. NHRA has gotten away with victimizing the racers while blaming them for their actions. There were 626 sportsman racers at the Gators in the early 2000's and barring bad weather they always finished the races. We gave them an inch when Tom Compton took away our 4th qualifying round and now they have taken the proverbial mile. What to do now?

Yup.. I predicted this would happen, over a year ago.
So ,where do we go from here? 15 gp's all from Div. 1 ? Easy enough, huh?
Likely... National events will become a millionaire's club, exclusively.
Unlikely .. Racer will again , read the charter and tell NHRA to go and pound sand ..Doubtful..Very doubtful.