Division 2 TAFC

Idont know who prosportchopper is and dont want to know a moron like that but you dont have a clue. Besides being a kick a** racer Jay is one heck of a guy. A few years back when Reichert crashed in Atlanta it was Jay and his guys that picked up the pieces of Bills car and packed it away as Bill was getting a helicopter ride to the hospital. Some body grab prosportchoppers ankles I think his head is stuck somewhere.

 

There is some truth in the number of alky fc's in the south east that match race, but wouldn't pass NHRA tech. I think that most of them just don't see any need or return in running NHRA. As it is you know you are way under powered, and even if you did have the latest and greatest, you still need to run it hard enough to keep pace, and for what?

I think most are content with matchracing.

The car I help on is one of those that just match raced. Over the off season it was decided to make the needed tech updates where we could run divisionals, but not Nat Events (body is too old). We are still way under powered, but do this for no other reason than to have some fun. It has been a ton of work just to have this kind of fun, but what else are we going to do.

Getting the other teams to do the same thing would be tough; spend more on the car to run at a financial loss? don't think so.

 

In the first place i didnt say that Jay wasn't a great guy. I am sure he probably is the nicest guy at the track. The point i was trying to make was that winning the championship because you
run in division 2 is like getting half your points without really racing for them. What about Manzo and Chesterman and all the other teams that are trying to win the championship. Last year Chestermans championship was well deserved .That team kicked ass and did not travel to division 2 for some easy wins . I would love to see division 2s funny car counts go up but for some reason division 2 has never had a lot of quality funny cars. maybe now that IHRA has gone to eight car fields there will be more teams that step up and put a psi on the cars and run some NHRA events.

 

A National Champion should be desided by National event points. Not by who can afford to travel to where the competetion is weakest or the tracks the best. It has gotten so that you have no idea where someone is from by looking at the divisional points. The system now reguardless of who it is that takes advantage of it is in need of revue. Sponsors don't care what division you are the champion in just that they can advertise that you are one using their products. Don't blame anyone for taking advantage of the system thats the American way. I bet jay has been to Disney World enough times though! I'm sure the Southern people as always are very gracious, but the tracks in div.4 are prob. better and the tow a lot less. Not knocking anyone just an early morning openion.

 

This whole discussion is amazing!!!
I don't recall Jay, Manzo, Bucky or Gasparrelli etc., ever being afraid to go anywhere and race ANYBODY!!! In fact Jay's truck was already parked at Pomona on Tuesday afternoon ready to race after winning Florida on Sunday.
If you're after easy pickens then driving back here in two days to have to race all the big boys, even Manzo would be pretty stupid.
These guys all race anywhere they want because they can afford to and it's usually convenient for there travel plans.
It's hard to believe what a challenge most of you make out of a simple subject. It's very obvious why most of you will never be world champions. Your too busy whining about the real champions.
And while I'm still on my soapbox, Jay has lost a lot of those 3 car races, so it's not always that easy!!!

 

Mike,
Sorry if I offended you and you are right most of us will not be world champions. Not because many are not smart enough or don't have the skills but because of funding limitations. I said in my post that I didn't blame anyone for running another division but hey you don't have to have 20/20 vision to idenify thoese that do it and for what reasons. Its no crime if Jay wants to drive 6000 miles to race two cars and pick up 64 points. However lets be open minded and not personal about the reasons one would go to this amount of time and expense.

 

Mike W and this is not meant to be a slight for any racer including Jay.
He is one of the best, but the last time anyone that had a decent budget or tune-up competed in Div two against Jay (Jim Sickles) guess who won the division.
It proves that even one of the best can be beat in a week divsion. Jay made a decision to race in a division and nationally based on the rules that are out there. he is taking advantage of the rules, something any smart business man would do. And until the rules change he or any guy would probably be smart to do the same. Ashley and GAsparelli went to div 4 for one reason last year, it was logistics. It worked for Ashley, did not for Steve.

Dean

 

He's been in div 2 since he had a dragster, I dont think he was doing that to set himself up to race a weak Div2 TAFC field. He didnt bail when Sickles and Von Smith beat him. It's not his fault Sickles didnt go to another Div2 race after gainseville last year. It's logistics, other than The first race of the year it fits. All the other reasons u guys have just aren't right.

 

He is still there, where are all the rest. I guess they are looking for a weak division.

 

Sometimes it's seems like most of you just don't have a clue!!! You still don't get what I'm trying to say.
Jay likes to race, he did not drive 6000 miles to get 64 points. If you really think division 2 is any easier than division seven you all need to look in a mirror.
Who made the fastest run at Pomona, even breaking and only running 239. Gee whiz was it Jay by any chance. Was Manzo just as quick at only 259. Do you think Manzo drove to Pomona for the easy pickens!!! Which one of you guys is going to step up besides Bucky or Gasparrelli and run that fast. These guys just love to race and are not afraid to go anywhere to race anybody.
And the money argument gets really old. Yeah it helps, but it doesn't work without the brains and hard work. The Woz is probably the fastest car in division seven and is not rich!!! Jerry Darrien, Jay Payne, Frank Manzo, Bucky, these guys work and think about there cars all the time, that's all they do!!! Try it some time you all might be as fast as they are.

 

woo, woo Mike, Sure hope yer not pointing any of yer anger towards me. My original post stand ans it is basically to say that the current points system sucks.

Dean

 

I cannot believe that everyone is still talking about this. There are a lot of great racers out there and they are all free to race at whatever events they wish. Jay, who has raced in Division 2 for a very long time, deserves every point that he wins. I mean, has anyone even noticed that he won some National events last year as well? He also shows up at other divisonal events occasionally and wins there (i.e. Joliet last year). Maybe if the time spent writing and reading on this message board was spent working on the cars there would be more heavy hitters out there like Payne and Manzo.

 

I guess this topic would have died if you had not kept it going.