New Era. We are wanting change

S/ST Monte Carlo · 08-07-2021, 09:58 AM

For years rumor's have swirled that sportsman classes (sometimes just the .90's, or just Stock/Super Stock or all sportsman) could be eliminated from national events. When someone mentioned they could replace us (speaking of Stock/Super Stock) I decided to drill down and try to obtain tangible data.

In 2019 (pre-covid data) there were a total of 2215 stock/super stock entries at national events. This totaled $480050 entry fees plus $265800 in insurance surcharges for a grand total of $745850. This is not accounting for gold/silver card or transfers. That info is not easily obtained.

There are only 4 sportsman classes that competed at all 24 national events-Stock, Super Stock, Super Gas, Super Comp. How would they fill the space if they eliminated Stock and Super Stock?

As an exercise I looked at the sportsman classes not contested at all 24 events. I determined the average number of entries for the events where the class was contested. Then I added that to the events were events were not contested. For example if there were 160 entries over 16 races I ASSUMED there would be 240 entries over 24 races. If NHRA decided to eliminate Stock and Super Stock and let Comp, Top Dragster, Top Sportsman, Super Street, Factory Stock, TAD, TAFC, pro mod and Factory Stock race at the events where they are not currently contested they would pull in $555230 in entry fees, $314580 in insurance surcharges for a grand total of $869810.

You may be wondering, wouldn't the above assumptions lead to a lot more entries? The answer is no. Based on the assumptions above, 2209 entries were added. This is 6 less than Stock/Super Stock in 2019.

To be very clear I hope this never happens. I appreciate all the sportsman classes...which is one reason I enjoy divisionals. This exercise made it brutally clear that if NHRA decides to make one group divisional only, they have options to make the money up. And really, do they need to make the money back up? We are part of an organization that pulls in almost $100 million annually. Also, they were the ones that started quota's.

The organization is far from perfect but I'm most concerned about electric cars. We have seen the Mustang and Camaro and Tony Stewart making passes. It's clear to me that the organization sees this as at least part of the future.

6130 · 08-07-2021, 07:47 PM

Racing Dust Busters sounds almost as exciting as not doing it.

Drag racing is not the only motorsports discipline that my wife and I are interested in- when we were on the Isle Of Man for the TT races, the electric motorcycles were by far the least exciting class.

Jim Caughlin · 08-09-2021, 02:20 PM

If you want further insight into where sportsman racer rate with NHRA, read the article in the most recent Natl Dragster, it was captioned 70 reasons why drag racing is great. Not one of those reasons apparently have anything to do with sportsman racing. Maybe we were number 71 and didn't quite make the cut? Oh wait, they did mention junior dragsters, my bad. You may remember this is the publication that recently said they were going to put more emphasis on the sportsman classes.

Jim Caughlin · 08-09-2021, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6130

Racing Dust Busters sounds almost as exciting as not doing it.

Drag racing is not the only motorsports discipline that my wife and I are interested in- when we were on the Isle Of Man for the TT races, the electric motorcycles were by far the least exciting class.

You need to read the article on the Ford site that Tony Stewart wrote about racing the CJ electric car. According to him (an expert on drag racing), the only difference that he noticed was that the electric version did not torque over during acceleration. Considering that the electric motor was attached to a conventional automatic transmission with a driveshaft and rearend, I'm pretty sure the reminder of the chassis was not aware of where the power came from. To make matters worse, no one at Ford was technically aware of the way that the car was constructed to catch the error in his comments and let the press release go out as is. Also, to avoid embarasement, they didn't report the ET's. Not to say it isn't fast but maybe they should put Jeff Lane who knows how to drive it in the car for the exhibition runs.

ausby · 08-10-2021, 10:59 AM

i like it when people with 250 to 500k racing operations complain about entry fees and payouts. I've seen some of yall's motorhomes lol.

Terry Drinkwater · 08-10-2021, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ausby

i like it when people with 250 to 500k racing operations complain about entry fees and payouts. I've seen some of yall's motorhomes lol.

Hey! First World problems are real too!

jmcarter · 08-10-2021, 11:32 AM

Use to be a Tony Stewart fan; now not so much. Leah, Erica and several others have taken on the Pro s..t show mentality that separates them from their sportsman roots. They've gone to the dark side.

People can moan and groan all they want but nobody within the NHRA upper echelon is even remotely interested. Their focus is to continue the emphasis on PRO's since those are the only classes that will be left standing eventually. The RPM act and all the other incremental lifelines for the traditional sportsman racers will one day be exhausted. IMHO our only avenue for change is via the existing SRAC and small improvements may come about but the California centric NHRA has bought into their state's model for the future.

Fireofficer74 · 08-10-2021, 01:32 PM

Drag racing and possibly all auto racing is on a downward spiral.

When your sanctioning body closes a drag strip and sells the property to developers, that is not a good sign.

Time to convert those stockers back to street machines.

Remember who were the fans in the stands back in the 60's and 70's, it was all the old men here.

Carguy49 · 08-10-2021, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

You need to read the article on the Ford site that Tony Stewart wrote about racing the CJ electric car. According to him (an expert on drag racing), the only difference that he noticed was that the electric version did not torque over during acceleration. Considering that the electric motor was attached to a conventional automatic transmission with a driveshaft and rearend, I'm pretty sure the reminder of the chassis was not aware of where the power came from. To make matters worse, no one at Ford was technically aware of the way that the car was constructed to catch the error in his comments and let the press release go out as is. Also, to avoid embarasement, they didn't report the ET's. Not to say it isn't fast but maybe they should put Jeff Lane who knows how to drive it in the car for the exhibition runs.

Could someone link the Ford article, I seem to not be able to find it, might be a good read.

Jeff Lane or Pat McCue would be good choices to drive the car, with all the development time they have with the car. Don't forget all the time with the eCOPO, also. Pat has tremendous knowledge in electric cars. They could just put Bob Tasca III back in the car. He ran 8.12, I believe. With time car should be able to run in the 7's.

08-07-2021, 09:58 AM	#1
S/ST Monte Carlo Junior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: PA Posts: 7 Likes: 0 Liked 6 Times in 4 Posts	Re: New Era. We are wanting change For years rumor's have swirled that sportsman classes (sometimes just the .90's, or just Stock/Super Stock or all sportsman) could be eliminated from national events. When someone mentioned they could replace us (speaking of Stock/Super Stock) I decided to drill down and try to obtain tangible data. In 2019 (pre-covid data) there were a total of 2215 stock/super stock entries at national events. This totaled $480050 entry fees plus $265800 in insurance surcharges for a grand total of $745850. This is not accounting for gold/silver card or transfers. That info is not easily obtained. There are only 4 sportsman classes that competed at all 24 national events-Stock, Super Stock, Super Gas, Super Comp. How would they fill the space if they eliminated Stock and Super Stock? As an exercise I looked at the sportsman classes not contested at all 24 events. I determined the average number of entries for the events where the class was contested. Then I added that to the events were events were not contested. For example if there were 160 entries over 16 races I ASSUMED there would be 240 entries over 24 races. If NHRA decided to eliminate Stock and Super Stock and let Comp, Top Dragster, Top Sportsman, Super Street, Factory Stock, TAD, TAFC, pro mod and Factory Stock race at the events where they are not currently contested they would pull in $555230 in entry fees, $314580 in insurance surcharges for a grand total of $869810. You may be wondering, wouldn't the above assumptions lead to a lot more entries? The answer is no. Based on the assumptions above, 2209 entries were added. This is 6 less than Stock/Super Stock in 2019. To be very clear I hope this never happens. I appreciate all the sportsman classes...which is one reason I enjoy divisionals. This exercise made it brutally clear that if NHRA decides to make one group divisional only, they have options to make the money up. And really, do they need to make the money back up? We are part of an organization that pulls in almost $100 million annually. Also, they were the ones that started quota's. The organization is far from perfect but I'm most concerned about electric cars. We have seen the Mustang and Camaro and Tony Stewart making passes. It's clear to me that the organization sees this as at least part of the future.

08-07-2021, 07:47 PM	#2
6130 Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Texas Posts: 409 Likes: 295 Liked 117 Times in 50 Posts	Re: New Era. We are wanting change Racing Dust Busters sounds almost as exciting as not doing it. Drag racing is not the only motorsports discipline that my wife and I are interested in- when we were on the Isle Of Man for the TT races, the electric motorcycles were by far the least exciting class.

08-09-2021, 02:20 PM	#3
Jim Caughlin Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Woodburn, Or Posts: 685 Likes: 82 Liked 805 Times in 245 Posts	Re: New Era. We are wanting change If you want further insight into where sportsman racer rate with NHRA, read the article in the most recent Natl Dragster, it was captioned 70 reasons why drag racing is great. Not one of those reasons apparently have anything to do with sportsman racing. Maybe we were number 71 and didn't quite make the cut? Oh wait, they did mention junior dragsters, my bad. You may remember this is the publication that recently said they were going to put more emphasis on the sportsman classes.

08-10-2021, 10:59 AM	#5
ausby Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2019 Location: springfield tn Posts: 49 Likes: 4 Liked 34 Times in 18 Posts	Re: New Era. We are wanting change i like it when people with 250 to 500k racing operations complain about entry fees and payouts. I've seen some of yall's motorhomes lol. __________________ Ausby Brewington A231 S/G

08-10-2021, 11:32 AM	#7
jmcarter VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Richmond Hill GA (and Port Ludlow WA) Posts: 4,297 Likes: 2,386 Liked 3,184 Times in 973 Posts	Re: New Era. We are wanting change Use to be a Tony Stewart fan; now not so much. Leah, Erica and several others have taken on the Pro s..t show mentality that separates them from their sportsman roots. They've gone to the dark side. People can moan and groan all they want but nobody within the NHRA upper echelon is even remotely interested. Their focus is to continue the emphasis on PRO's since those are the only classes that will be left standing eventually. The RPM act and all the other incremental lifelines for the traditional sportsman racers will one day be exhausted. IMHO our only avenue for change is via the existing SRAC and small improvements may come about but the California centric NHRA has bought into their state's model for the future. __________________ Jim Carter 2340 Super Stock 2340 SST/2340 Stock Set another place at the table

08-10-2021, 01:32 PM	#8
Fireofficer74 Member Join Date: Mar 2021 Location: Davie, Florida Posts: 158 Likes: 79 Liked 47 Times in 36 Posts	Re: New Era. We are wanting change Drag racing and possibly all auto racing is on a downward spiral. When your sanctioning body closes a drag strip and sells the property to developers, that is not a good sign. Time to convert those stockers back to street machines. Remember who were the fans in the stands back in the 60's and 70's, it was all the old men here. Last edited by Fireofficer74; 08-10-2021 at 01:36 PM.