Ok Div. 5, 6, & 7 Sportsman racers.....

[Ed Wright]

Danny, that many in that part of the country?

[danny waters sr]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Danny, that many in that part of the country?

Nah, just was looking at all the races in general. 125 races in one year is a lot no matter where they are.....It is hard to schedule no matter what you do. Here at home on the same weekend as West Palm IHRA race we have a racers re-union(that i go to every year) with lots of legends in attendence such as Bobby Warren ,Garley Daniels ,Harold Denton , Ed Mcglawhorn ,Troy Dennis, Roy Hill , and the list goes on and on. The weekend before that we also have a bracket /class racer (Steve Taylor) that will be inducted in the North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame along with Sam Carroll, Charles Carpenter, Ronnie Hood , . Then we have a 5 grander Winter series race at my home track (just 10 minutes from home ). I don't know how to get to do all of these things ,just lucky we got all this stuff going on and to be able to have choices......Some areas are not so lucky as this area in general..........Go look under the EVENTS section and you can see what i will be missing $#@$#@$@%@$@.....

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by danny waters sr

Nah, just was looking at all the races in general. 125 races in one year is a lot no matter where they are.....It is hard to schedule no matter what you do. Here at home on the same weekend as West Palm IHRA race we have a racers re-union(that i go to every year) with lots of legends in attendence such as Bobby Warren ,Garley Daniels ,Harold Denton , Ed Mcglawhorn ,Troy Dennis, Roy Hill , and the list goes on and on. The weekend before that we also have a bracket /class racer (Steve Taylor) that will be inducted in the North Carolina Drag Racing Hall of Fame along with Sam Carroll, Charles Carpenter, Ronnie Hood , . Then we have a 5 grander Winter series race at my home track (just 10 minutes from home ). I don't know how to get to do all of these things ,just lucky we got all this stuff going on and to be able to have choices......Some areas are not so lucky as this area in general..........Go look under the EVENTS section and you can see what i will be missing $#@$#@$@%@$@.....

Danny, you underscored why I started this thread....we have several weekends throughout the season (and I'm just talking about from April-October), out here where there's nothing going on (in all three divisions combined), that could be filled with other semi-pro racing events (regardless of sanctioning body). The seat time, would be good, and the optional points chasing series would be good for racers chasing more than just NHRA's Lucas Oil national/divisional championships...over and beyond the index adjustment and national event entry fee increase...next thing that'll happen is divisional races will cost $200 (or more)! It's taken far too long for this opportunity to come about, and if we don't seize the moment this opportunity brings, then the monopoly will continue and all of us will be weeded out of this our expression of the great sport of Drag Racing, and that will truly be a sad day here in the lower 48 states of America.....

[Ed Wright]

Gary, when we have them stacked on top of each other around here, there are open weekends around them. Guess I'm not smart enough to understand it.

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Gary, when we have them stacked on top of each other around here, there are open weekends around them. Guess I'm not smart enough to understand it.

Ed, since you live in Tulsa, Ok., you have several options that are within a 500-600 mile towing range (one-way and with both sanctioning bodies), of your home base. Unless I moved up to either Boise, Id. or Salt Lake City, Ut. (if not to a mid-western state similar to yours), I don't have that flexibility of 2+ different divisions that I could race in (nor would I have the two different sanctioning bodies I could enjoy (unless Rocky Mountain Raceway either gives us sportsman racers a second chance, and/or S.I.R. becomes an IHRA sanctioned track). Spokane, Wa. is far enough from Denver, Co., that no D6 cars will show for the D5 race (or vice/versa). However, D6 & D7 messed up last year by hosting their Spokane, Wa. & Fallon, Nv. divisionals the same weekend, and because of it they both had meager car counts...they learned their lessons since it won't be like that this year! Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of such stacking of events out here in the western three div's. (especially without the IHRA option), so we have no concept of what you central/eastern racers get to choose from (hopefully the possible addition of Tucson to the IHRA family will start a process that will give us that, and maybe an IHRA division of our own to boot that would start by housing RMR, & SIR within it?). I'm sorry, that you have to choose what championship you want to chase the most, and plan your races accordingly, but it must be nice to have those options....

[danny waters sr]

Gary , i hope it does grow in your area,and i hope it will be IHRA that grows it... Maybe once they get into that area and see the turn outs or the interest it will make it happen..I will not be working the Tuscon race this year ,but hopefully they will include all the sportsman class cars the next event and i can come out that way to work and meet you guys..... Was not trying to underscore at all......Hope to see you guys soon ....and good luck..

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by danny waters sr

Gary , i hope it does grow in your area,and i hope it will be IHRA that grows it... Maybe once they get into that area and see the turn outs or the interest it will make it happen..I will not be working the Tuscon race this year ,but hopefully they will include all the sportsman class cars the next event and i can come out that way to work and meet you guys..... Was not trying to underscore at all......Hope to see you guys soon ....and good luck..

Thanks Danny, for those thoughts....we need all the help we can get to try this, and so far 5 out of 6 sportsman racers I've spoken with are in favor of them giving us another venue for our racing dollars (that allow points chasing championships to chime in with it), so that's a good sign....not to mention the racers who've posted here about their interest in it as well. I also like the fact that IHRA's indexes haven't changed (like NHRA's did last year), and they haven't been raising the competition entry fees or registration costs like our Glendora based buds (?) have done in recent years either! The added benefit of the DP & CJ cars having to run in non-carbureted Stock Eliminator classes should be an added bonus to those who race in the classes currently being affected by the merging of the FI classes into the traditional classes.

It's my hope that if we can get IHRA out here in our area, that the contingency companies will latch onto this as well, with a growing interest in new postings for their events too...a win, win for us racers, the companies involved, and IHRA as well!!!