20 super stockers entered at Denver

[Dyno]

I used to attend the national event at Denver when NHRA had the points meet in Douglas prior to Denver. 2000 mile round trip from Mpls. to Denver for one race is to much. Back then there was room on the blacktop for sportsman racers, now they put all of us in the dirt/broken blacktop 1 mile from the staging area. If I was local I would go, but not now.

[Bob Mulry]

Went to Denver in 2012 and was pitted so far from the staging lanes that I had to use my GPS and MapQuest to find them...........

I was pitted in the rock and ruble past the end of the shut out area and even got caught in a dust-devil that filled my car with trash while driving back to my pit spot......

Still had and a good time trying to make a car perform at more than 10,000 foot corrected DA.....

The best part of the trip was racing at Douglas, WY which is nice mom & pop type of drag strip.....The strip manager even made my reservations for me.......Nice track with nice people....Even had some good racing

Bob

PS:

It was only a 1500 mile tow over the Rockies, each way, from Gilroy, CA by myself....

PSS:
I would do it again in a heartbeat...

Bob

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Bob Mulry

Went to Denver in 2012 and was pitted so far from the staging lanes that I had to use my GPS and MapQuest to find them...........

I was pitted in the rock and ruble past the end of the shut out area and even got caught in a dust-devil that filled my car with trash while driving back to my pit spot......

Still had and a good time trying to make a car perform at more than 10,000 foot corrected DA.....

The best part of the trip was racing at Douglas, WY which is nice mom & pop type of drag strip.....The strip manager even made my reservations for me.......Nice track with nice people....Even had some good racing

Bob

PS:

It was only a 1500 mile tow over the Rockies, each way, from Gilroy, CA by myself....

PSS:
I would do it again in a heartbeat...

Bob

Big Guy, You must mean 2002, right?
You were long retired from drag racing in 2012, weren't you?

[Rat Raceway]

Wish more racers felt like Bob! Hats off to you sir!

[Bob Mulry]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Big Guy, You must mean 2002, right?
You were long retired from drag racing in 2012, weren't you?

My bad.................

It was 2002...........

And that's Semi-Retired.....

Just turned 70 with 1 more to work (go to the job) and my plan is to start doing some pealy's again

Bob

PS:
My wife just reminded me that she was the best part of my trip to Denver.......

[farmco r/sa]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Well, for a LOT of the guys I talk to, it's the track and the tow there. And I'm not just talking about the distance. We just won't go back to that place.

I am really sad Ed. you will be missed.....

[MR DERBY CITY]

Paul Wong ,as usual, was spot on. The decision by NHRA to overhaul Class Eliminations has cost them dearly in car counts. Maybe they don,t care ? Perhaps they had no choice as the economy was headed south and many longtime manufacturers were not going to post class money,..especially for the single car bye runs. As far as pitting one mile away from the starting line....if the pros didn't take up so much space with their RV,s, hospitality trailers, rental cars, etc.... The few Sportsman racers (20 super stockers) LOL.... Could pit closer to the starting line. It amazes me that the Pro car counts keep getting smaller and smaller but they take up more space than ever !!...M.J. P.s. Please don't blame the track for pitting one mile away, the family hands the keys over to NHRA for the entire event and not even Bill Floyd could straighten this mess out.

[The Hawk]

Originally Posted by farmco r/sa

i am really sad ed. You will be missed.....

lol!

[Bernie Cunningham]

MJ, you put it right, as did Paul.
Class racing took a big hit back around '06 through '08 and into the future including now.

Why?---?. You've heard it all before, FOLLOW THE MONEY. It's very simple, economics killed Class run-offs and nothing more! We covered this topic a lot back then and to be quite honest, I'm surprised that NHRA has kept even a resemblance of the program going today. How about being the guy to drum up companies to throw money at racers now-a-days, that job wont pay either!

"We live in a complex world and at a challenging time,"

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Dan Fletcher

Nope, no Fletcher. I had planned to leave this morning for the 1600 mile jaunt to Bandimere, but I had some unforeseen circumstances come up.

With provisional entry status, I always wait till Monday to enter. This helps others to get into busy events, and it allows me to keep my money in my pocket as long as possible. Well, I'm sure some of my "friends" out there will get a big kick out of this, but the bottom line is I got busy working on race cars Monday and forgot about entering until half an hour past the deadline. 30 minutes.

My fault, 100% my fault, period. The rule is the rule. But I have to ask, what sense does this policy really make? If the event is full, fine, game over. But most are not at this point, and this one clearly is not. 20 friggin' cars!

It was Monday afternoon, still almost 4 days prior to the start of the event. I have 2 cars in the trailer ready to leave. I want to give them $620 for no tangible product. Hell, its still over 2 full days from the first burnout. Exactly who benefits from such a policy?

I tried calling Graham yesterday, not to lobby to get in, as I realize that's not happening, but rather to ask that a improvement be made to the policy. Forget about me, but what about the guy that couldn't get off work, but on Tuesday something changed and he now can? An event is not even close to full and you have a customer with proper grading that would like to attend. Does it not make sense to accommodate him? And if you think there's going to be a land rush of people wanting to enter late, then obviously make it hurt a little and charge a late fee.

Again, 100% my fault, but its going to be pretty painful to get in the truck and drive 2700 miles to Sonoma...

Well said Dan. I don't see any reason to close entries for a race until it is full.

As far as it goes, there are some tracks a lot of us do not care to go. It might be distance, it might be location, it might be facility layout, it might be consistent inclement weather, it might be track and general weather conditions, it might be any combination of the above.

If you go to a track, and you have to drive a mile to the staging lanes, or worse, have to tow, from what amounts to outside the facility, on a regular basis, you probably won't be thrilled to go back. If it rains every year, you probably won't go back. If the air sucks, and you don't have the time or money to develop a tune up for it (another gear, another transmission, another converter, etc) you may not go back.

Let's be realistic, if you have 60-80 cars in Stock or Super Stock, you've got 3-4 guys that are like Bertozzi, Biondo, and Fletcher, and then there's most of the rest of us. Racing is serious, but it is not a living, it's fun, it's a vacation. When you cease to enjoy a vacation spot and activity, you tend to go elsewhere.