12 P/S Cars??

Not at all.
Why would it? It didn't make it any easier!
I'm sure it has saved some money but probably very little.
The lower budget teams didnt spend extreme amounts on valve train maintenance and development anyway.
The well funded teams took whatever the savings were and spent it elsewhere.
It cost more money than it saved. Most teams that had to redesign the entire top of the engines.
Some where at 12,000 rpms at the time of the rule changes.
Then to mandate fuel injection at the same time made everything more complicated and added additional cost.

Payouts are the only solution and it's NHRAs responsibility to figure out a way to get it done.
Unless they are happy with just letting it die a slow death. Which is exactly what is happening now.

Every racer from Super Street to Top Fuel has to be paid more money.
NHRA has capitalized and taken advantage of the racers passion for the support forever but now many racers have found other venues to spend their money. If it's not at the local track or some other racing organization it's something else. The only true way to save NHRA Drag Racing is to PAY THE RACERS MORE MONEY!
Let's take Comp for instance. If a Comp Racer knew they were going to get a minimum of $1500 if they qualified for a National Event, car count would immediately increase. That would cover most racers expenses to and from the event.
In 1987 I was the Runner Up in Super Stock at the Texas Motor Plex. I received a total of $12,000.
When we won our first P/S race a few years ago I got a total of $22,000.

They could try the 18 and under free deal at a few races to see what impact it had. Even if it was for one day. I know they would sell a lot more food. My sons 20 years old now and 6' 5" and eats constantly.
I know 12 and under currently get in free and this is a big deal for families.

As you can tell my opinion is the only way to increase participation is rewarding the people who are NHRA Drag Racing. They are the racers and that have to be paid more!

I really don't have a solution on how to promote any class.
I do think by paying all racers more money that in itself will help promote all classes just by the increase in car count alone.
Then NHRA could use the increased numbers as a draw for fans. They certainly can't use that now for sure.
They commercial spots now should sound like - Come on out this weekend to the Low Racer Turnout Nationals. Where the the fields are 60% full, most of the racers are parked in the mud and the Top Fuel Show has 4 or 5 leaker teams that no ones ever heard of but NHRA guarantee them $10K to show up so they could blow up an lose the first round.

More money doesn't always fix a problem but in this case it's the only solution.

One more example of how under rewarded racers are:
Let's say a top P/S Team had a budget of $1.2M a year. Enough to compete for the Championship.
If that Team qualified #1 at every race, Won every race, Won the World Championship and received the GM Bonus for winning the Championship they would still lose money!
Your stat about your runner up super stock payout in 1987 vs your pro stock win payout is amazing. How can this be? And your commercial idea is awesome. What year did you organize the big payout at Belle Rose? That was one of the best comp fields of all time
 
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Your stat about your runner up super stock payout in 1987 vs your pro stock win payout is amazing. How can this be? And your commercial idea is awesome. What year did you organize the big payout at Belle Rose? That was one of the best comp fields of all time

I had a typo, I actually got $27,000 plus a Goodyear gift certificate for our first PS win but the differences are still amazing.
I probably spent less than $600 to go to a race and back in 87.
I think our bonus program was around 2009 or 10.
We had great a turnout for sure. I remember the only event that year that had more comp cars than Belle Rose was Indy.
 
There is no doubt money is the solution. EVERYONE knows it and we have beaten it to death. The unknown's are where to get it, how to handle it, who will do it and how do we do it for everyone in Comp, not just individual divisions on their own. Its not as easy as one might think. Roger and Steve did a great job back then with that race and D4. Brian has done a great job in D3. Jeff does a great job in D6. I only have a few small programs going in D1 because I don't have the time to do a big program like I did years ago in D1. The fund I had going in D1 a while back brought an additional $6500 to each race which paid winner through 1st round losers. So yes it is possible but its a lot of work and there are many things involved such as time, expenses, bank accounts, taxes, etc.
 
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The real sad fact is Detroit has went down a different road than what Pro Stock is today.

I don't know how much money the Big 3 put into Factory Stock type stuff, but I think it's a safe assumption it's more than Pro Stock.

Rodger is dead nuts on in terms of the payout to cost. I think that is a fairly close ratio from the top to the bottom of any NHRA class. You give a hard core racer in any class a budget and they will spend whatever it takes to be better than the next guy.

NHRA is tasked with bridging the gap of making money and maintaining the sport and it's legacy. Pro Stock is certainly a legacy class. There is obviously no way to make the current iteration of the class relevant with Detroit or it would have been done.

It's pure speculation if Detroit would get into a new gen Pro Stock. One would think it's a logical speculation given the money they are putting into the sportsman iterations of it.

Rodger, your proposal has merit, I just doubt that NHRA is going to put that kind of effort or let that kind of sponsor money come in without it going in their pocket. So then it becomes a racer funded deal kind of like Pro Mod is. At that point what good does then increased payouts do if racers are ultimately funding them?

Here's a fairy tale scenario, but let's say Detroit was behind a Pro Stock make over to a Factory stock style platform. If NHRA were to broker a deal on racer's behalf that the existing Pro Stock racers, and maybe a list of 'active' within the last 3-5 years or so would be eligible to get some SIGNIFICANT factory support to make the change. Not just KB Racing becoming the "Factory" GM team and everyone else is left to make their own stuff (see PSM, Harley Davidson).

If there's going to be a transition, I hope NHRA would give everyone a year to do it.

Obviously without significant factory and aftermarket mfg support to whatever changes would be made, it's a moot point. I just think COPO vs Cobra Jet vs Drag Pak/Demon vs ??? would be pretty viable.

The more of a direct tie in to what a race fan may have in the garage, the more relevant a class will be.
 
Brian if you have a solution to accomplish this I would love to hear it whether you believe it or not. I have always treated you with respect and the only thing I don't agree with you on is any negativity, I don't believe it is conducive. You don't have to like me. I don't do any of this for popularity. I try to do the best I can to support the class I love to race and for everyone else in it, so I am absolutely open to ideas!
 
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Form a Comp Eliminator organization. Put 1 member in charge of creating these bonus funds. They get 10% of the money. $650 per race times 65 races. So let's say it was you in charge of it (assuming you had time and I know you don't) you would get 40k+ per year if you averaged $6500 per race. The more money you bring in the more you get paid. Like an agent for an NFL player. They would be in charge of social media relations, posting videos etc. Really a full time job for a young member of Comp eliminator. Of course this would require cooperation and assistance developing relationships and contacts across the country. Guys like you, Jeff Lane, Browell etc.. like I said. Far fetched. But what did they do when they invented fire? They burned that witch. Until they got warm and ate lots of good stuff.

And for what it's worth, I'm sorry that facts are interpreted as negative on this board. I'll keep them to myself from now on
 
Form a Comp Eliminator organization. Put 1 member in charge of creating these bonus funds. They get 10% of the money. $650 per race times 65 races. So let's say it was you in charge of it (assuming you had time and I know you don't) you would get 40k+ per year if you averaged $6500 per race. The more money you bring in the more you get paid. Like an agent for an NFL player. They would be in charge of social media relations, posting videos etc. Really a full time job for a young member of Comp eliminator. Of course this would require cooperation and assistance developing relationships and contacts across the country. Guys like you, Jeff Lane, Browell etc.. like I said. Far fetched. But what did they do when they invented fire? They burned that witch. Until they got warm and ate lots of good stuff.

And for what it's worth, I'm sorry that facts are interpreted as negative on this board. I'll keep them to myself from now on

I think it sounds like a great way of approaching it Brian! Thanks for sharing it!
 
Brian,
We the SRAC have discussed exactly what you are talking about, but most of us run businesses of our own and cannot put in the time required. I personally have discussed this with a few individuals throughout the years and nobody has been willing to take it on. Do you know anyone?

BTW..............this is all very positive! When I mention the negativity I don't like, for one example would be the postings about the booing from the stands at Norwalk when the person was inputting the indexes wrong. My opinion is that dwelling on it makes it seem worse so why not try to make lemonade out of the lemons. Besides sometimes it gets talked about without knowing all the facts. Shit happens! No human and no organization is perfect.
 
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I never brought up the booing at Norwalk... But it is a fact that it happened. Not my opinion. I did hint at it I suppose in a reactionary post to Browell's over-reaction to me. And no, I don't know anyone. I'm not a real racer. Just a fan and an occasional hydration technician for Frank.

Maybe a good way to start is with a plan, and then an email to all comp racers if they or anyone they know would be interested. It would take some time and sacrifice to get it started no doubt.
 
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Form a Comp Eliminator organization. Put 1 member in charge of creating these bonus funds. They get 10% of the money. $650 per race times 65 races. So let's say it was you in charge of it (assuming you had time and I know you don't) you would get 40k+ per year if you averaged $6500 per race. The more money you bring in the more you get paid. Like an agent for an NFL player. They would be in charge of social media relations, posting videos etc. Really a full time job for a young member of Comp eliminator. Of course this would require cooperation and assistance developing relationships and contacts across the country. Guys like you, Jeff Lane, Browell etc.. like I said. Far fetched. But what did they do when they invented fire? They burned that witch. Until they got warm and ate lots of good stuff.

And for what it's worth, I'm sorry that facts are interpreted as negative on this board. I'll keep them to myself from now on


I think that is a great idea. As an owner of a CPA firm, we do work like this for clients already. They run the business, we pay their bills, payroll, make deposits, etc. Truly a very easy job. Could possibly make it a 501c3 so any remaining profit stays within the entity and is not lost in taxes to the government. Much like NHRA.

The difficult part that I have no clue on is the marketing and social media piece. I truly think hiring the right people for this could promote the heck out of Comp. How long til NHRA wants a piece of the pie?
 
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I think that is a great idea. As an owner of a CPA firm, we do work like this for clients already. They run the business, we pay their bills, payroll, make deposits, etc. Truly a very easy job. Could possibly make it a 501c3 so any remaining profit stays within the entity and is not lost in taxes to the government. Much like NHRA.

The difficult part that I have no clue on is the marketing and social media piece. I truly think hiring the right people for this could promote the heck out of Comp. How long til NHRA wants a piece of the pie?


I agree but trust me, even someone to sort that all out, do the hiring and administer it is hard to find. It is a big commitment.
 
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WELLLLLLL!!.. thanks to Rodger Brogden for making an appearance, and offering some great thoughts, and hard facts..

Rodger, you and Steve are missed in Comp, and a lot of us wish you guys would return in the near future..

That being said, and knowing that NHRA is mainly run by NON RACERS, it just may be prudent to look into things like Mr Hawkins brought up.. and for those who know him, maybe a discussion should take place with Scotty Richardson on his thoughts of promoting such events.. Scotty had some great ideas a few years back, but was mysteriously silenced.. IMAGINE THAT!!!

And Rodger is absolutely correct.. it's all about the money..
 
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