Ortiz Unleashed-Gators-Final NHRA vs IHRA

[Ron Ortiz]

The Gatornationals are over and I have had the opportunity to attend both sanctioning bodies national and divisional races. When I first started 'The Ortiz Unle***hed threads it was for different view of IHRA and NHRA. There were quit a few threads that were going on at the time with people having very verbal disputes about the two. I have posted after every event with my findings and observations, so here are / is what I saw at the Gators and a final view.

Started out early Wednesday and got to drive right on in and get pitted on the inside of the track, yes, the inside, it has been three years since I was pitted on the inside, see what low car counts do. I was parked next to Jim Roberts and the neighborhood looked as if it was a D1 area. The New Yorker, James Perrone, Bubba Linke, and for a little Cajun flavor, the Country Dog and Puppy. If it was'nt for the Dogs I'd probably have a northern accent after this weekend. Perrone was quite protective of all these NY/NJ people as he continually was shouting chants of supremacy. Then I found out that somehow they are all related to each other, what gives with that, must be "family"
I explained that the small canal/ditch next to us had real life alligators that needed to be fed and that a little different foriegn food would be good for them.

I have to say we all had a blast, it was alot of fun. The Imperial Palace was a hot spot. Got to meet alot of people and had them over too. Bryan Phillips, Brad Burton, Mark Faul came over for ribs Friday night, but we got a late start on the grilling. But, Perrone had killer lamb, rice, and green beans. Then it was off to Cajun land for venison stew that was really really good. By the time they got to The Imperial Palace they were getting a little full. The BBQ ribs came out good, but the dry rub slabs got a way overdone. Sorry for that but it was Sean's fault as he could'nt get away from Cajun land. Had alot of different people come over on various nights for dinner and the complete Imperial Palace experience.

The results were awesome. The names are witheld to protect the guilty.
One fun person went back to his motorhome around 2:00 AM. He was awakend the next morning by Jim Roberts who thought that it was someone else sleeping on his floor covered up in the others jacket. After seeing the other working on their car he went back in his motorhome for identification of who was sleeping on his floor. That person thought they actually stayed at the Palace.

Had a birthday party Saturday for Ashley and had a bonfire and Bubba's Beer Pong table. One guy fell into the canal and another person wiped out one of the BBQ grills. Good thing there were plenty of trash cans around, and the Lil Johns right around the corner.

Had alot of great racing coversations with very talented individuals over beverages late in the evenings on different occasions. During daylight hours I got to meet alot of really nice people, David Ficacci, who I lost too, Ken Miele, Joe Santangelo, and all the other racers that I knew previously.

This year they had the Race Of Champions Sportsman event which was great for the representatives of different tracks. Out of the four categories, Bradenton won three and runnered up in the fourth, good job.

There was a car corral there with alot of nice cars and old dragsters parked at the end of the bleachers. When I came into the gate on Wednesday they were going to send me to the corral. I thought that I was going to get an amazing pit spot until I explained that I was a racer. They also had the usual different forms of fan entertainment like the Army area, Harley Davidson section, car displays, ect. I did notice that there seemed to be more attractive young ladies manning some entertainment areas. Both sanctioning bodies have fan entertainment. It is necessary. NHRA is bigger so it has more of a Midway selection. My grand-daughter was able to hold a rifle at the Army place and a pistol with a laser light. That was cool as I may need her in the future to take out any unruly individuals. Hello Kitty.

I was able to get all the decals that I needed in the Midway this year. That was a first time in over 15 years at the Gators that that has happened. Spoke with Merrill Schrimscher at the contingency check off area after he runnered up in SS. His car is clean of decals and stated to the official, "this won't take long" He is doing real good lately and the car is nice looking.

Did not like the idea of running at 8:00 AM. On any day. IHRA has the advantage as their start times are at 10:00, but the fields are lower so they can do it. Still, 8:00 AM sucks, start at least 9:00 AM. It's nice to see more spectators walking around at that time too.

I almost became the #1 qualifier as on my last time trial they mistakenly entered my number as a C/SA car. That pass I picked up but it showed that I was way off the C/SA index. I went to the tower and they knew of the error and were correcting it, but they were entering my time as a 13.26 instead of 14.26 whoa, I do not need HP and a visit to the barn. It got fixed and I was seeded at #57

The tech people were nice as usual, I have no complaints about the people at either NHRA or IHRA. Some are more friendly than others, and it appears that the IHRA people go further in their appreciation of your attendance. But I like all of them. I do not like the fuel check procedure though when eliminations start. There is no need for fuel check unless its a class heads up run. Same thing for the scales. IHRA has the advantage there.

IHRA had the fuel altereds, jet cars, jet truck, monster truck, nitro Harleys, and the ultimate bracket race (monster truck vs jet dragster). And their pro racing started after the Sportsman. That was nice. NHRA mixes in the Sportsman here and there. This creates a much longer day for some of the sportsman as their time shots or eliminations runs sometimes vary greatly time wise. Nothing like running a run at 8:00AM then again at 10:00AM , and then at some time after 6:00PM. Schedule, advantage IHRA.

Lil' Johns toilet paper, tremendous advantage IHRA. Trash cans, draw.

I have had a really fun time at all of the races. From all of the races I have run this year it still comes down to the racers themselves that make it so much fun. Does not matter if it is an NHRA or IHRA race, national or divisional. If you like to race and do not attend another sanctioning bodies race for trivial reasons then you are the one who is missing out. We as racers need to support both bodies, because if one of them goes down it will cut down on our racing options in the future. They both need our support. If your nose is so stuck up in the air for one organization only, then you are missing out in what is fun and may be considered an idiot. Or just a snob.

It was fun, see ya at the races some time, I'll be the one smiling.

Oh yea, I forgot to mention my adventure with Bubba Linke. Wednesday I said to him and a couple of other racers standing there about partying and racing the next morning. I said " if you can't party at night and just pay attention for 10 to 14 seconds the next day then you need to get out of the car and quit racing" Well, Bubba did real good, he was our party guy representative. He won the Gatornationals and held the flag for all of us party people, way to go Bubba. Cheers

Ron Ortiz
U/SA What if they merged. Oh No