The Future of Sportsman Racing?

[Chris "drooze" Wertman]

Im not a "rep" per se, but here is how I see it.

If the NHRA dosent cater to the Sportsmen, a new orginization will sprout to fill the vacum. Simple.

The NHRA does need the evangalism of the Sportsmen racers and their enthusiasm much more than I think even they realize.

The racer commitment is an "honest" commitment, one of love, and passion not of $ , a corporate bottom line and a Company that Happens to race, like some of the pros have become.

A disregard of the Sportsmen will be the death knell of the NHRA as the Primary org should they be that stupid.

Think of What 1 SINGLE active Sportsman racer brings in any given year to the NHRA , Entries, Fees, Web Traffic (dont discount this, do you think the Ads on the NHRA site and here are because they look good ?) The Fans that they bring to and through the gate, family members , co workers, and in many cases youth which become the NEW Sportsmen racers.

In my opinion, the most important branch of ANY for or even non-profit orginization is its foundations in the case of the NHRA its "Sportsmen"

If they dont see that, they will.....it would be the simple end of the NHRA as we know it with the elimination of Sportsmen. Im thinking they are seeing this to.

It dosent take a genius.

Think of how much money the NHRA would loose, and OTHER Attendance across the season if say for example the Sportsmen were to strike for 3 months in the middle of the year, a full strike (Im not saying it would or could ever happen, too many people fail to agree for a collective effort) But for 3 months, no NHRA renewals, no NHRA attendance, by them or their families, No NHRA site frequents, none of it.

The "pros" would be sitting in a bunch of empty pits stroking themselves on how important they are to the sport until, the public and specators stop coming to see a handful of cars they cant relate to.

Im guessing they get it too.

I think Don is right except on one point, I think 3-4 million is a gross undersetimation by the time you add sportsmen fans/family attendance and web advertising revenue. which I am curious, anyone have a filing from last year ?

71.4 cents worth for today.

[John Kelley]

Originally Posted by drooze

If the NHRA dosent cater to the Sportsmen, a new orginization will sprout to fill the vacum. Simple.
.

HA HA HA HA HA H A HA HA.....It'd have to be a national orginizition and NHRA would do their best to SQUASH them !! Just like they have done with other groups that wanted to run meet's on NHRA affiliated tracks !
Say like they did with ADRL......NHRA will get a CUT OF THE $$$$$$$........
And like AHRA is having trouble trying to break into the "market".....

[Robert Swartz]

Originally Posted by John Kelley

HA HA HA HA HA H A HA HA.....It'd have to be a national orginizition and NHRA would do their best to SQUASH them !! Just like they have done with other groups that wanted to run meet's on NHRA affiliated tracks !
Say like they did with ADRL......NHRA will get a CUT OF THE $$$$$$$........
And like AHRA is having trouble trying to break into the "market".....

AHRA, yeah, revamping an old name. About the only thing this or any new organization would be able to do. MAYBE, organize independent or outlaw tracks. Without the NHRA's blessing, you won't get a foothold in their territory. I'm even a little surprised that the S/SS combo races are allowed to run cars from the IHRA on sanctioned NHRA tracks?

[blkjack]

When the "gray hairs" are dead and gone,,,,,,,,,,,,,Stock, S/S and Comp will be gone. Problem solved for NHRA. Easy to police classes will remain.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by blkjack

When the "gray hairs" are dead and gone,,,,,,,,,,,,,Stock, S/S and Comp will be gone. Problem solved for NHRA. Easy to police classes will remain.

This says it all. This way NHRA wont be sued with a class action law suite like the Pro Stock Truck fiasco.

[blkjack]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

This says it all. This way NHRA wont be sued with a class action law suite like the Pro Stock Truck fiasco.

EXACTLY. The Billy Meyer vision may be fulfilled sooner than later if car counts continue to dwindle. To jog your memory look into:

IHRA headquarters briefly moved to Waco, Texas in 1988 after it was purchased by Texan racer and track operator Billy Meyer who made many changes to the organization, some of which proved controversial amongst racers such as completely restructuring the sportsman classes overnight.

[will prater]

Originally Posted by blkjack

When the "gray hairs" are dead and gone,,,,,,,,,,,,,Stock, S/S and Comp will be gone. Problem solved for NHRA. Easy to police classes will remain.

No offense to anyone but when we were at Topeka my son commented about the age of most of the stock and super stock participants as being old like my age. (54). Thanks son. I could see Top Dragster and Top Sportsman becoming the 'Sportsman' classes in the future. Easy to tech and most Super Pro dragsters at local tracks all over the country can turn off the stop and run fast enough.

[Chris "drooze" Wertman]

Originally Posted by John Kelley

NHRA would do their best to SQUASH them !! Just like they have done with other groups that wanted to run meet's on NHRA affiliated tracks !
.

I have no doubt they will try but if the Geniuses who limited TF to 4 "test" runs keep that up, they will cross a line that is called "Unfair Competition" it is quite obvious to anyone that rule is intended to limit TF cars and drivers to the NHRA events and venues. THAT can cross a line of attempt to structure a monopoly, and unchecked they will.

All that needs to happen is for them to keep "squezing" and imposing rules like that and a line will be crossed they will wish (IF someone has enough stones to contest in a court of law)

The AHRA if they want TF cars, just got Nuked by that rule, IF they want established "Big Names"

Unlike the 70's and 80's where they would cross compete and match race.

The NHRA learned how to avoid this this time. (I believe)

There may be another reason the NHRA did this, but Im not aware, if it looks like a rat, smells like a rat, well......

Whats next a rule saying if you want to run Sportsman at a National event you cannot have run at any non-sanctioned tracks in the last year ? Yeah right, Glendora would have to hire armed guards.

Im not saying a Big National org, I would be VERY curious at IHRA and NHRA turnouts both cars and spectators over the last 2 years, Im sure both are down because of the economy but which is down further in terms of establised market share percentage ?

[Pete Beau]

As the saying goes, "actions speak louder than words".

[Mike Dahl]

Clearly, the sportsman racer is a large part of the financial ecosystem for NHRA, and for that matter, all drag racing sanctioning bodies.

That said, I think the future of sportsman racing is probably secure for at least a moderate term. However, the premise of this discussion is based on a broadly worded statement, "The Future of Sportsman Racing." Surely, it is not lost that sportsmen drag racers represent many different categories.

Now, if we wanted to focus more directly on the future of Stock/Super Stock and Competition Eliminator Racing, I would say the future of these categories is less certain. Notwithstanding the positive discussions from the SRAC, the root problem is, in my opinion, a simple one to understand and accept.

Roughly two weeks ago a thread titled, "Unscientific Informal Poll," was posted and I followed it, but as I read the posts, I took a few minutes to average the ages of the responding members. Of course this is not scientific or qualified, but here are the stats, should anyone find them interesting.

90 people responded
Their reported ages ranged from 18 to 75 years old.
The average age of the responders is 57.4 years old.

My questions are these:

Is there enough people with the interest, ability, and resources to follow in the footsteps of our amazing veteran racers? Remember the bar is pretty high.

My intuition is maybe, but I think if there was a way to look at the historical average ages since, let's say 1990, I believe it would reveal that the average racer age has climbed steadily to this day.

Again, this is far from scientific, but I would speculate NHRA has this data, and has considered these statistics as any business should.

Therefore, if younger racers are not cultivated, then what does it matter if the SRAC is successful or not? Forgive the analogy, but if NHRA were in the baby bottle business and people started having dramatically less babies, is it not reasonable for NHRA to sell something else to stay afloat? I know I would and suspect many business owners on this forum would too.

So, if my observation is true, and it may not be, then what should be done to lower the average age of our racers, while at the same time preserving the very spirit of who we are? Hopefully, the SRAC will consider the perceived barriers to entry that keep racers from making the commitment and realizing the rewards from Class Racing.

Mike Dahl