Car counts

my two pennies

The common fan in the stands doesn't know or care if the two cars going down the track go 5.50, or 5.90! What they want to see is a nice smokey burnout, a side by side race and to be able to get an autograph or talk to the driver after the run. Yes, as a driver, I want to go faster and faster every time down the track, but budget and common sense limits me to backing the tune up down to keep the Gods of Aluminum at bay. So, get with Div Directors, track owners and instead of posting hours of comments for us to bicker back and forth about, DO something about it. I am not trying to upset anyone on here, because everyone has great points. Just get off the computer and knock on your division directors door!!

 

Above Average Fan

Here is what this fan loves about the alcohol classes.

The players are real people, and really appreciate the racing and what it takes to do it. The courtesy revs and high RPM bump in. The launch, nothing matches a blown alcohol launch. That absolutely delicious sound of an over driven blower winding down during back-up and preparation for prestage. Watching a great driver short shift or just leg it through shake. Watching a well balanced car kick-ass and dance the balance game or gamble with the game for a win (Reichert's track long 20" wheelstand of a few years back come to mind). Trying to decide if you want to root for the BAD or the AF on the line. The wonder at how a normally aspirated V8 can regularly get 5.30s at 265. Visiting a pit and being invited for dinner. Uncle Frankie's handshake.

I'm not a common fan, so many of the points made about them are true, but I can tell a .90 from a .40... often by halftrack on TV. Of course if it meant loosing the class, I'd be happy to settle for .90's or 1,000 foot or whatever.

I guess I'd just like to thank you all for doing what you love, and providing a great deal of pleasure to this fan. Say hi if you see me at the Div. 1 race in Epping this weekend, I'll be the guy with the Top Topping / Brooks Brown T-shirt on.

Chris Saulnier
Gray, Maine

 

Michael - you could never upset me. not with your smile. besides, i'm just hav'en a little fun like the rest of the guys. this isn't exactly a life or death subject

 

Run or Not Run

I'm one of the drivers sitting on the side lines. The reason is rediculous expenses. The $6000 brake rule. I was saving for heads ect.. Entry fees for car and crew....damn! Shut off switches...blah, blah blah. Great ideas but so would sitting in the stands running by remote control. I want to RACE. I want to learn...I got no problem with someone having multiple motors. No problem with divisions. But get practical. I'm expanding my business so I can make more money to race. I'll find a way to do it but it'll take time.

 

Barry, As a division one racer, how many times have you seen Frank Manzo change motors during a weekend?

 

put a ten foot plank, one foot off the ground. now walk across it. take that same plank and raise it 100 feet off the ground. now walk across it. it's the same plank but you may hesitate because of the consequences of not making it all the way. it's called fear. fear can change your way of thinking. look, i know it's a crazy idea... but no more than driving from maine to florida back to maine just to attend a division race. but that new map might work. what's your idea.

 

Fear don't win races, I don't see anyone treading lightly when they're down to their last block and the other is windowed on the shop floor. Just an example.

 

you're missing my point. it doesn't matter how much shit you can blow up in a weekend, if you know that you only get one. and no one can argue the fact that the harder you push a motor, the better chance you have of something going wrong. that's a fact in any form of motorsports. that's why the guys with money run closer to the edge than the budget teams. if you want to get into this class and be a player, you not only need the basics but a ton of spares. very prohibiting. and by the way - i have seen manzo change motors at the track. not that it's fair to compare the king to anyone.

 

What I think needs to be done is the racers who aren't currently racing should be contacted and asked; "what will it take to get you back out there?" or per this thread discussion "would a one motor rule get you back out there?" All of the ideas posted are good in their own right, but if were trying to get the cars back out from the sidelines...those are the suggestions/inputs we need (I know a few of you have commmented). I have been part of a racing organization before that took partisan suggestions and not the ones from the current members/competitors. When this happened the loyalists quit coming and the geniuses with suggestions never showed up either.....class goes kaput. People can say whatever they want about a motor rule not affecting how they run their car, that'll last until NHRA bans them for oiling the track one too many times (per the new 2011 rules). I'm not sure if that's the answer or not, but it's a legitimate idea. My dad and I work very hard to attend as many races as we do. It's hard to fund the travel and even harder to compete against an uber funded team. That being said, they only get one motor when they're going down the track against you....so there's that side to the arguement as well. Hopefully we can present something at the US Nationals, I can assure everyone we don't want NHRA making our choices for us.

Brandon Booher
NHRA TAD #34

 

Like the man said, it's the economy stupid

I have just this week completed all the updates to our car.
We will be back out in the spring. We all love to race, but we have to eat and pay the bills first. I think nhra must certainly know this.
Paul fishburn

 

..the point

{Pretty much everyone on here has a very valid point. However, Barry has made a point that NOBODY seems to be able to understand. No matter how much money you have, or how GREAT a tuner you claim to be, one engine is one engine. If you are capable of running 5.50, and make it live you are a great tuner. But, if you make one run, and run 5.50 with the rods out of the block, what good was that one run if you cannot back it up and go to the finals and win??

Yes, the economy has killed many of the die hard budget racers, including my family's alky f/c. It was that way 20 years ago, when my dad saw the light and got out of it. Today, it's all the same story. I look up to and respect many of you on here, and my point is that of a "kid" who has lived with this disease for 40 years called drag racing. It is time we all get together, no matter which level or division you live in, and make it somewhat easier to enjoy this sport.

 

Mike Back in the day, ( your fathers and mine) when every one was running a steel engine, we had to be carefull how we tuned if you didn't have a big budget, Guys like Amato, Manzo, And others, who had there own money or sponsors, did what they do today, ya just had to know what you were doing or you didn't race next week, because we raced every week end and some times on Wednesday night at E-Town, Then the Aluminum engine came into being, That was saposta let you get after the tuneup, many like myself had to save for an aluminum block, (alum.heads weren't made yet,The idea was if you melted a piston you could change the sleeve and piston and go to the next round, For some reason the rods back then weren't breaking like they do today,(RPM's I guess) or maybe they are made to last so long then break or you got rid of them before they break, ( more money for the alum gods),but the same thing happened back then as dose today, the guys with the jingle have the advantage, point is, NO MUN NO FUN, P/S I made the mistake of buying a Donovan 417, most all the other guys bought a KB block,so if they didn't have spare part some one in the pits did, not so with the 417, It's all about the money today, just saying
Gene Terenzio Sr.

 

Alky Classes need infusion

What would it take to get some of the companies that make a good portion of their money off sales to the alky teams to put alittle of it back into the classes (before they lose more, or all of their alky customers)???
Alky teams spend alot of money with certain companies, and if they want the class to stay alive and well, you would think they would be interested in sponsoring a national or divisional (regional?) program. I am lucky enough to be in Division 3 where Spitzer Race Cars sponsor a low qualifier bonus ($500) at each D-3 meet for TA/D and TA/FC, whether you spend money with them or not (you would think more would appreciate this). Also at the end of the year, they give another $1000 and a very nice trophy to the season long qualifying points champ. Just giving alittle back to the racer, and supporting the classes. Spitzer does another program for the Top Dragster classes.
Why isn't this more common?
Lucas Oil already does alot. Alot of other companies sell to Alky racers nation wide. If we could get them to subsidies the Alky purses, more racers could afford to stay afloat.

Any one have any ideas on this line?

Marty

 

What came first the chicken or the egg. Everyone cut down on the number of events because of travel. Take away the closest races and most racers, especially those alredy on a tight budget who are still racing, will just go to less races not travel farther. that is the same thing as going to regionals. Why should Div 1 and 3 racers have to give up races close to home to go to races in Fla. and Texas. if they wanted to go to those races now they could but most don't. you won't get more participation but less. If you talk about car counts at national events look at Stock and SS at Denver this week. 36 in stock and 22 in SS for an 80 car field. Why? no one will travel the distances needed. Not that there aren't stock and SS cars out there. It isn't one motor or five. its the cost of travel and time from work. If division 2 and 4 can't fill their car count maybe they should reexamine their programs.

 

I am involved with a budget pro mod team running the West Coast Outlaw Pro Mod series. We just raced the Division 7 Sonoma event last weekend. TAD and TA/FC were not running this event.

For the folks at Infineon, they got 15 Pro Mod cars qualifying for an 8 car show with 4 of them making 5 second passes, for free. Georgia did not charge an entry fee to the PM racers and the purse was paid by an entry fee ($250) paid by the participants to the WCPM association leaders. The winner was paid $3,000 and we got $1,500 for runner up. They (Infineon) were happy to see us.

I'm not sure how the $$ works out, but aren't the tracks paying the NHRA for the alky classes at the division races and then the tracks are expected to pay the alky purse on top of or included in that? Are we worth it? What if the alky model was worked out similarly to the WCPM association? Seems like few of the west coast tracks (with the exception of Woodburn and a couple others) aren't the least bit interested in promoting the alky classes, don't care (or want us) if we show up and are relying on the back gate to pay the way. The racers themselves could and should get involved in finding local or series sponsors to up the purses, which isn't happening at all here in Division 7. As a side note, the WCPM association appears to have a following of it's on in terms of fans.

If we are interested in the survival of our classes it might mean getting a little creative during this down economy. Will is right. The manufacturers/suppliers are just trying to survive right now so looking to them to send money your way is unlikely. And now that we, as alky racers, are competing with options the tracks have...like Pro Mod or Nostalgia Fuel Funny Cars...that cost the tracks nothing, we need to come up with a reason for them to still be interested in us besides the fact that NHRA puts us on them.

Roger Burgess is the face of NHRA pro mod. Lucas is the face of NHRA sportsman racing. But I think we've all been a little to lazy when it comes to finding our own support. What ever happened to the low qualifier bonuses we used to get? Do we sit around and wait for the NHRA marketing department to find stuff like that for us? It will happen only in your dreams.

Another point already made. Even though I left my rig in Woodburn instead of driving it back to So Cal, the travel bill for Keeter to run Seattle next week is phenominal. Two weeks later we get to do it again at the Seattle division race. Between the two events you could make a nice down payment on a house in Maui.

RG

 

Randy - i want to put all past differences aside for one moment. i'm not lazy. after working at my day job, working on a race car and taking care of what needs to be done in my life, i don't have the time, money or energy to do promotion or marketing for me let alone for division one tracks. and all the car owners i know are in the same boat. maybe we (each division) could hire someone to do that for us. but i have no idea what that would cost.

 

From a veteran of 50 years of alcohol racing my reason for not going to the races is simple !
Don't have $12,000 to invest in safety equipment that i feel is not necessary !
I have always be able to stop the car in 50 years,my chutes have always stayed on,and I never needed anyone to shut my car off remotely,although i've only run 242 mph.
There are a ton of ta/fc' racers out there who would run races if they weren't required to have the rich man safety parts on,and have done it for years without a safety issue.
The racer who has a 8 to 5 job and no sponsor money, just can't afford it.
Some of the tuner and drivers who don't have to pay for these parts out of their pocket
just don't understand the average joe-doe ta/fc racer who would love to race......

Thanks
Santo Sicilia
TAD 335
AA/FA
TA/FC
AND THE OLD PRO-COMP DAYS