Both or neither this week in Phoenix!!!

[Julie Jordan]

My husband & I went to Disneyland for 3 days last month. Our tickets were $250 each/$500 for our trip. And I won't even begin to tell you how much the concessions were. Running two divisionals in one weekend seems cheap compared to that expense!

[pauldilcher]

James , I am going to Norwalk Points race two days early , why don`t you come with me ? We could set-up a garage and work on are cars for free . Oh , and we could use all of Bill`s free electric . lol

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Jack Matyas

Toby - Sounds to me like he wanted to enter the first race and hang around with his "buds" during the second race without having to pay .This would be a nitemare for management to figure out who paid and who didn't ...........

No Jack, if I didn't win enough rounds at this race (like I did in 2008) to win the money to pay for the second race, then I would've packed up said my goodbye's (and good lucks) to those who would run the second race, and I'd have been gone. Others may be like that but I wasn't raised to be that way, nor do I choose to be, so now what've you got to say???

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Doug Blackley

I normally don't comment on these kinds of posts but this particular post has boothered me since I read it earlier today. This has to be the most insensitive and ignorant posts I have read on this forum in some time. He is not alone in this current economy that have either had to cut back or sadly park their race cars. You don't know everyones circumstance and to say it in that way is down right rude. Perhaps he or his wife has been one of the millions of laid off workers out there and let me tell you, it's absolutely an employers market out there and the wage offers reflect it. Many of us have seen household incomes shrink to less than half of what they were just four years ago while working more days and longer hours just to make less.

Thanks Doug, and I couldn't agree with you more about Harry. Sorry about one thing though, I'm neither married nor am I laid off. However, although I do have a steady job, my wages have not kept pace with the growing cost of living (or racing...sorry Toby but the truth is what it is, and if my wages were on par with NHRA's entry fee increases since I moved here in '08, I'd be a home owner instead of an apartment renter, and I'd be there with money to throw at a race set-up like this one...like I could back in '99)! Your post was spot on, and I applaud you for it...someday Harry may think beyond himself and realize that too? Just as there are a variety of different cars in Stock & Super Stock Eliminator, there too are a variety of budgets for the racers in those classes, and our sanctioning bodies need to be sensitive to the masses, and not just to the more fortunate...sadly the one that is more so that way, is over 1,000 miles (at their nearest track) away from me where I can race at our level....

[Jack Matyas]

Originally Posted by GarysZ24

No Jack, if I didn't win enough rounds at this race (like I did in 2008) to win the money to pay for the second race, then I would've packed up said my goodbye's (and good lucks) to those who would run the second race, and I'd have been gone. Others may be like that but I wasn't raised to be that way, nor do I choose to be, so now what've you got to say???

What I have to say now is that if your statement is true and reliable the same Nuns who taught and raised me would be proud ....That and the fact that I feel like many other members here - if $165 is going to break the bank perhaps you should rethink about even going to the first one .Seems to me if you're already there its a bargain to stay for the second and race it .Good luck ...........

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by GarysZ24

No Jack, if I didn't win enough rounds at this race (like I did in 2008) to win the money to pay for the second race, then I would've packed up said my goodbye's (and good lucks) to those who would run the second race, and I'd have been gone. Others may be like that but I wasn't raised to be that way, nor do I choose to be, so now what've you got to say???

Ummmm, since you were there anyway, ya know, you could have won the second race.
Gary, I'm going to have to tell you a Billy story.
When I first moved into this area I went to the local racetrack (Beaver Springs)and met this obnoxious young man (he knows who he is) running in Street Eliminator who was/is pretty good. After getting to know him and his Dad a little better I mentioned to them that they should travel around a bit and hit some money meets. His Dad told me that "we need that $100 that he wins up here"! I told his Dad (who has become one of my best friends) that if they needed that $100 that badly then they shouldn't be racing and I told the Son that he could stay there and be the "King of Beaver Springs" and never amount to anything or he could take his show on the road. The Son has done OK.
I guess where this is going is that we all make our place in life. If you can't afford to NHRA race then bracket race. If you can barely afford to NHRA race then make the best of it or don't race. Don't complain about it, you put yourself there.

[Bob Don]

I am still scratching my head as to why you couldn't just run the second race (if you can only afford to run one). Everyone has their economic demons. Some more than others. But to come on to a public forum and complain that it is somehow the NHRA's fault that you can't get what you want is really pushing it. Life can be tough - deal with it.

[Dennis P Chapman]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Ummmm, since you were there anyway, ya know, you could have won the second race.
Gary, I'm going to have to tell you a Billy story.
When I first moved into this area I went to the local racetrack (Beaver Springs)and met this obnoxious young man (he knows who he is) running in Street Eliminator who was/is pretty good. After getting to know him and his Dad a little better I mentioned to them that they should travel around a bit and hit some money meets. His Dad told me that "we need that $100 that he wins up here"! I told his Dad (who has become one of my best friends) that if they needed that $100 that badly then they shouldn't be racing and I told the Son that he could stay there and be the "King of Beaver Springs" and never amount to anything or he could take his show on the road. The Son has done OK.
I guess where this is going is that we all make our place in life. If you can't afford to NHRA race then bracket race. If you can barely afford to NHRA race then make the best of it or don't race. Don't complain about it, you put yourself there.

Good story Billy yep the kid has done very good.

[art leong]

Not having read the whole thread.
I have a couple of questions. That may have been answered.
What if you break something in the first race? Are you on the ladder for the second race?
What if you can't get there for race one? Can you enter race two?

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by GarysZ24

No Jack, if I didn't win enough rounds at this race (like I did in 2008) to win the money to pay for the second race, then I would've packed up said my goodbye's (and good lucks) to those who would run the second race, and I'd have been gone.

I've done exactly that before, and more than once I'm afraid. I probably shouldn't even tell these stories... Kids: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME (or anywhere else).

One was a double-header Pro-Am at Carolina Dragway. After being on the road for several weeks, I came home to realize I had forgotten my truck payment. I paid two months on that to catch up, and after paying the first day's entry fee and Jill's crew ticket for the weekend, I had like $16 in my checking account (and more bills due in the next week). I was R/U Saturday night, and they paid in cash. "Hey, we're racing tomorrow!" I bought Sunday's tech card, and won the second race. "...and we're paying the bills!"

Another one was the first weekend out on a fresh motor. Wish list: Piedmont Pro-Am, race fuel, Pageland points race. I only had enough cash for two out of the three. Some idiot told me "Just write a check, win the race, and then deposit the winnings. It'll cover the check!" Wrote a check for the Pro-Am entry, paid cash for everything else. Made my two qualifying runs at Piedmont, loaded up and drove to South Carolina for the bracket race, R/U there, came back to Piedmont the next day and won the Pro-Am.

Both instances were pretty stupid things to do, but as some cranky old coot (he knows who he is) told me once, "I'd sell my spare tire for gas to get home."

Again, those are extreme and stupid examples, BUT the point is, there are people out there that aren't sittin' pretty in life, but have the will and desire to compete. If you think back, maybe a lot of you used to BE that guy. If a guy only has the money to only run one race, and that's what he wants to do, there's no reason to dissuade him.

You have tech, you have wristbands, you have credit cards, you have open checks, there's any number of possible ways to have a checksum to handle single-day entries. H*ll, you can hold his driver's license.