Open Letter To All IHRA National Event Sportsman Competitors

[Eric Merryfield]

Just noticed this letter from Skooter on the IHRA site.

http://www.ihra.com/article/3595.html

Its too long to cut and paste for this site, here is the start.


For the last five years, IHRA has been monitoring the financial difficulty that sportsman racers have been faced with in trying to travel and compete on the national and Summit Pro Am level. IHRA has made several key adjustments to help sportsman racers compete, such as double Summit Pro Am events, scheduling national events so that time off work required was at a minimum and the introduction of sportsman national events during Summit Pro Am or Nitro Jam national event weekends.

We are now all very aware of the economic crisis that faces not only our country, but has significantly impacted our sport in terms of travel costs. While we realize that the desire to compete still burns within IHRA competitors, many have been unable to compete beyond the local level because our current points structure is not working for the vast majority of IHRA racers. Businesses everywhere are adjusting their model to accommodate their customers in these difficult times and IHRA is doing the same.

THE PROBLEM
The current drag racing points format that requires sportsman competitors to compete for a world championship by having an out of control travel budget simply needs to change. The economy has changed and travel has become the primary unmanageable cost to compete at any event.



We must remember that the current national point system was put into place decades ago to get racers to travel to more events. Conventional wisdom suggested that the more events you require to compile a national score, competitors will then attend more events. As travel costs have increased, this system has put more and more competitors on the sidelines. IHRA actually reduced the maximum number of national claims possible for 2007. What happened was that in 2007, the number of racers entering a second or third event increased for the first time since we began tracking this data in 2003. Less proved to be more.



Unfortunately, the current points system has never actually grown the total amount of participants. In fact, the number of national traveling racers (attending 3 or more national events) has stayed literally the same over the years until the economy changed the dynamic. Now this group of racers, which numbered nearly 600 just 3 years ago, is now less than half that amount. In addition, our current points program has never worked for competitors living around half of our nitro jam national event locations. Those from New England, San Antonio, Tulsa or Edmonton for example would struggle to find 3 events to attend remotely in their area, let alone 5 events.



We currently have a points system that determines the top 10 based on where a competitor lives and if they can afford to spend $20,000 chasing points to maximize their claims. No one likes to hear that, but it is true.

THE FACTS

To fully understand the need for change one must understand that the current system, under the current economic climate, is indeed broken. Below are some of the factors that point to the need for a change:



1) Car counts were down at most national events. While this decrease could be seen at IHRA and NHRA events, counts were stable at most IHRA Summit Pro Am events. Travel costs kept competitors in their home region.

2) The total amount of competitors (in all sportsman classes combined) that chased points by maximizing their nitro jam national claims was just 47 out of a total of nearly 2000 competitors. This is a 50% decrease from 2007 and 2007 was a 50% decrease from 2006.

3) The number of competitors maximizing their claims that also hold a gold card for free entry was just 5. Even with free entry, gold card holders couldn’t afford to travel.

4) The number of competitors attending the minimum 3 nitro jam national events to tally a national score was only 261 in 2008. This is down 48% from the 2006 season.

5) The total amount of competitors that attended a nitro jam national event are down over 20% in the last two years

6) Nearly 70% of all nitro jam national competitors only attended just one event in 2008. This is an increase of 15% over 2007. Again, travel costs kept competitors in their home region and most were relegated only to the nitro jam national event closest to their home.

THE SOLUTION


We have come up with a new “Tournament Of Champions” format for determining national top 10 and national champions. The objectives of changing to a tournament style format are:



1) greatly reduce the expense for sportsman competing for a world championship

2) provide enough value for competitors to race at the national event level no matter if they choose to compete at just one national event or several national events

3) give racers in remote areas an opportunity to compete on a national level and it really mean something.

4) create a system where the best competitors from around the country can meet in one location and decide the national championship on the track in head-to-head competition. Geography and travel issues are reduced to the point where everyone can participate in one or more tournaments.

5) Keep points chasing to the regional level so that costs can be better managed via the Summit Pro-Am tour

To accomplish the above objectives, we have to take bold action in two areas:



Eliminate the current national “points chase” program.

Due to the issues with national travel, the points chasing will continue to be done on the Summit Pro Am Tour level in the traditional fashion. There will just no longer be sportsman “national points” awarded at Nitro Jam national events. Instead each national event will become an individual tournament. This concept sounds insane only if you don’t understand or don’t believe anything we’ve outlined as the ultimate problem up to this point.

Remember:

· Nearly 70% of all national event competitors only attend just one national event anyway.

· The national points only mean something if you are trying to run enough races to maximize your points claiming opportunities, eliminate bad scores and claim your best finishes.

· Again, only 47 competitors (all categories combined) out of nearly 2,000 competed at 5 or more Nitro Jam national events.

· Nearly 30% of all sportsman top 10 national finishers this season attended the bare minimum 3 Nitro Jam national events.

There will be some competitors who still don’t believe the current system is broke. The question they must ask themselves is how good is the current points system when just 47 out of nearly 2,000 racers max their claims? How good is the current points system when only 5 gold card holders (free entry) could afford to go to 5 or more races?

The current points system doesn’t provide the kind of opportunities we should be providing to sportsman racers everywhere. It makes the ones that can afford to chase points pay dearly for that opportunity. Again, the current points chase system was designed when the economic climate was much different.

The tournament system will certainly have its critics. Winning one race isn’t the traditional way to win a world championship. The critics will want just the current 47 racers to keep maxing out their claims, the pool of racers to continue to get smaller and they won’t want to introduce all the racers who can’t currently compete that live in New England, Grand Bend, Tulsa (and all the above mentioned locations that have a geographical disadvantage) into the national championship mix.

However, IHRA’s goal with the tournament system is to crown a world champion based on his skill on the track and not by the size of his travel budget or the geographic location of his home.

THE PROGRAM


“Tournament Of Champions” – the new sportsman world championship system

[Mark Callanan]

Originally Posted by Eric Merryfield

Just noticed this letter from Skooter on the IHRA site.

http://www.ihra.com/article/3595.html

Its too long to cut and paste for this site, here is the start.


For the last five years, IHRA has been monitoring the financial difficulty that sportsman racers have been faced with in trying to travel and compete on the national and Summit Pro Am level. IHRA has made several key adjustments to help sportsman racers compete, such as double Summit Pro Am events, scheduling national events so that time off work required was at a minimum and the introduction of sportsman national events during Summit Pro Am or Nitro Jam national event weekends.

We are now all very aware of the economic crisis that faces not only our country, but has significantly impacted our sport in terms of travel costs. While we realize that the desire to compete still burns within IHRA competitors, many have been unable to compete beyond the local level because our current points structure is not working for the vast majority of IHRA racers. Businesses everywhere are adjusting their model to accommodate their customers in these difficult times and IHRA is doing the same.

THE PROBLEM
The current drag racing points format that requires sportsman competitors to compete for a world championship by having an out of control travel budget simply needs to change. The economy has changed and travel has become the primary unmanageable cost to compete at any event.



We must remember that the current national point system was put into place decades ago to get racers to travel to more events. Conventional wisdom suggested that the more events you require to compile a national score, competitors will then attend more events. As travel costs have increased, this system has put more and more competitors on the sidelines. IHRA actually reduced the maximum number of national claims possible for 2007. What happened was that in 2007, the number of racers entering a second or third event increased for the first time since we began tracking this data in 2003. Less proved to be more.



Unfortunately, the current points system has never actually grown the total amount of participants. In fact, the number of national traveling racers (attending 3 or more national events) has stayed literally the same over the years until the economy changed the dynamic. Now this group of racers, which numbered nearly 600 just 3 years ago, is now less than half that amount. In addition, our current points program has never worked for competitors living around half of our nitro jam national event locations. Those from New England, San Antonio, Tulsa or Edmonton for example would struggle to find 3 events to attend remotely in their area, let alone 5 events.



We currently have a points system that determines the top 10 based on where a competitor lives and if they can afford to spend $20,000 chasing points to maximize their claims. No one likes to hear that, but it is true.

THE FACTS

To fully understand the need for change one must understand that the current system, under the current economic climate, is indeed broken. Below are some of the factors that point to the need for a change:



1) Car counts were down at most national events. While this decrease could be seen at IHRA and NHRA events, counts were stable at most IHRA Summit Pro Am events. Travel costs kept competitors in their home region.

2) The total amount of competitors (in all sportsman classes combined) that chased points by maximizing their nitro jam national claims was just 47 out of a total of nearly 2000 competitors. This is a 50% decrease from 2007 and 2007 was a 50% decrease from 2006.

3) The number of competitors maximizing their claims that also hold a gold card for free entry was just 5. Even with free entry, gold card holders couldn’t afford to travel.

4) The number of competitors attending the minimum 3 nitro jam national events to tally a national score was only 261 in 2008. This is down 48% from the 2006 season.

5) The total amount of competitors that attended a nitro jam national event are down over 20% in the last two years

6) Nearly 70% of all nitro jam national competitors only attended just one event in 2008. This is an increase of 15% over 2007. Again, travel costs kept competitors in their home region and most were relegated only to the nitro jam national event closest to their home.

THE SOLUTION


We have come up with a new “Tournament Of Champions” format for determining national top 10 and national champions. The objectives of changing to a tournament style format are:



1) greatly reduce the expense for sportsman competing for a world championship

2) provide enough value for competitors to race at the national event level no matter if they choose to compete at just one national event or several national events

3) give racers in remote areas an opportunity to compete on a national level and it really mean something.

4) create a system where the best competitors from around the country can meet in one location and decide the national championship on the track in head-to-head competition. Geography and travel issues are reduced to the point where everyone can participate in one or more tournaments.

5) Keep points chasing to the regional level so that costs can be better managed via the Summit Pro-Am tour

To accomplish the above objectives, we have to take bold action in two areas:



Eliminate the current national “points chase” program.

Due to the issues with national travel, the points chasing will continue to be done on the Summit Pro Am Tour level in the traditional fashion. There will just no longer be sportsman “national points” awarded at Nitro Jam national events. Instead each national event will become an individual tournament. This concept sounds insane only if you don’t understand or don’t believe anything we’ve outlined as the ultimate problem up to this point.

Remember:

· Nearly 70% of all national event competitors only attend just one national event anyway.

· The national points only mean something if you are trying to run enough races to maximize your points claiming opportunities, eliminate bad scores and claim your best finishes.

· Again, only 47 competitors (all categories combined) out of nearly 2,000 competed at 5 or more Nitro Jam national events.

· Nearly 30% of all sportsman top 10 national finishers this season attended the bare minimum 3 Nitro Jam national events.

There will be some competitors who still don’t believe the current system is broke. The question they must ask themselves is how good is the current points system when just 47 out of nearly 2,000 racers max their claims? How good is the current points system when only 5 gold card holders (free entry) could afford to go to 5 or more races?

The current points system doesn’t provide the kind of opportunities we should be providing to sportsman racers everywhere. It makes the ones that can afford to chase points pay dearly for that opportunity. Again, the current points chase system was designed when the economic climate was much different.

The tournament system will certainly have its critics. Winning one race isn’t the traditional way to win a world championship. The critics will want just the current 47 racers to keep maxing out their claims, the pool of racers to continue to get smaller and they won’t want to introduce all the racers who can’t currently compete that live in New England, Grand Bend, Tulsa (and all the above mentioned locations that have a geographical disadvantage) into the national championship mix.

However, IHRA’s goal with the tournament system is to crown a world champion based on his skill on the track and not by the size of his travel budget or the geographic location of his home.

THE PROGRAM


“Tournament Of Champions” – the new sportsman world championship system

I believe this is a good step for spotsman racing
It is nice to see IHRA trying something new
Lets hope it works it is good to have IHRA and NHRA provide racing for us
We need both as we go foward

[Mike Meier]

I really like this idea! Before all the details were released I admit I bashed the idea (thinking that the ONLY way in was to win a national event), but this sounds not only fair, but interesting too. I did a quick count-up of the IHRA divisional points and national event winners and came to about 22-24 potential invitees for Stock and Super Stock (I forgot about the special shootout race winners being included too, but I am sure that those folks were already included in that count anyway). Comparing those names to the Top 10 from this season only one racer in each respective class would not have made the list (both guys didn't win a national, but both finished 4th or 5th divisionally and they maxed out their nat'l event claims). If they expand the invitee list to include the Top 5 divisionally then that bumps up to about 30-35 racers.

Good job guys.


Oh, and I am actually in the middle of typing-up some similar ideas I had been thinking up over the last few years regarding the NHRA implementing a system similar to this, but I wont hijack the thread. I think even the hardcore, old school "I wanna see more heads-up" guys may like one part of my whole idea.