Nitro FC final at Route 66, a "premier" facility according to NHRA and there is PLENTY of seats available.

I know attendance is down in all sports forms, BUT is NHRA's problem the economy or is NHRA Pro Drag Racing as we know it losing some of it's sparkle?? What IS the economy in metro Chicago-land like these days??

On another note...Zippy is DA MAN! Tuning, driving...putting up with Force...LOL!!

Economy....Hands down.

They close off entire grand stands in NASCAR now, thousands of seats unsold.

Way to expensive. $51 a ticket for friday and $75 for sunday I have gone to every race since the inaugural and I used to pay $18 on fridays. This year I did buy a groupon coupon for $60 a ticket. It included a hospitality tent, food, drinks race tickets and a question and talk with John Force. Don Garlits and T J Zizzo. I hope they offer that again next year.

I know its not like being there but i have been watching on espn3.com live, or in reply later

The seats were not as empty from the starting line on down the track. But they are definitely pricing themselves out. Of course its happening in NBA and MLB as well. People just cant afford $75 tickets. I am personally bored with it and I am one of the biggest drag racing fans there is. Bring on the Pro Mods and 10.5 cars. How about some cars that do wheelies on TV NHRA??

Personally, I love Stock/SuperStock and throw in the rest of the sportsman classes and I am good.

Divisional events are a whole lot less expensive.

Aren't some DIV events FREE ENTRY for spectators ?

Yes, but that normally doesnt include the pitside. At least thats how it was in Columbus last time I went.

Those funny cars are about as eye apealing as the nascar cars. Ugly, dorky generic are a few descriptions that come to mind.

Someone has to pay for all the tractor trailers and all the "hospitality tents". They've done priced themselves right out the game.

We need some TF, FC and PS drivers wrecking each other on the track and then fighting in the pits.

They would have to eliminate the center line rule if they tried that though.

It was also super HOT. I think it was 95 degrees and muggy?

They can keep whistling past the graveyard, coming up with excuses, but the sad truth is that attending a National Event just costs too much money. Period.

I'm not saying the show isn't good, isn't worth it, but the end game is that someone still has to shell the bucks out and they are not doing it.

You figure, seats are $50 a piece, for the final day, only. If you want to attend Fri-Sat-Sun you will have $150 in it. + motel. + food. +cost of driving. If you take your wife, double the amount. If you want to take your wife and kids, double, triple, or quadruple that amount.

NHRA operates on a level that cannot support itself, it has to rely on the spectator gate, as opposed to Stock/SS/brackets who support themselves with entries and sales by contingency sponsors. The Pro show relies solely on spectators, and the spectators are out of bucks.

Tough times ahead.

NHRA has never and in my opinion will never admit that they have done anything wrong. As an example this is the first NHRA Columbus/Norwalk race in probably 25 plus years that we have not attended. They have priced themselves out of business and they push the reserved seating so much that fans have said the hell with it. I for one refuse to buy a reserved seat so that I can sit and blister in the sun and have
someone spill beer on me or blow smoke in my face, and I'am stuck in that seat all day.

On TV they only care about top fuel or funny car, and John Force it is a strain for them even to partially cover my favorite pro stock, and other classes are not even mentioned. Remember, if you look at the age of the fan it is middle aged and older and they cannot take the blistering sun. I know at Norwalk, Friday evenings are very crowded and popular and the last Indy race I attended it was the same. At least NASCAR has started to move more races to the evenings, it is easier on the fans and the race cars. Why not start the event at say 2pm and go on from their, and run the final day say from 8am to 5pm. Only a suggestion that I know NHRA will never consider- HEMI JOE

"What IS the economy in metro Chicago-land like these days??" economy is about the same as anywhere else, prices are on the high side for a family to attend, and this is geared to old geezers, i'm 42 and would much rather see stock body type cars running twin turbos, 10.5" tires, wheelies, heads up, ETC..ETC..

Im not sure what I would blame. This yr was my first trip to Route 66 Raceway. I normally attend at Gateway in STL since we live here but with the track being closed it was a toss up as to which event to attend.
Strange thing I noticed this year during eliminations. People where leaving after their "favorite" driver got knocked out. It was hot, Im talking 90-92 on sunday. So the heat might have had something to do with it but we sat next to a lady who was in her 80's and she was living it up...
EVERYONE leaves during PS. No respect for those guys from the fans or most of us.

I was expecting sold out crowds since Gateway was closed and Joilet is only 4.5 hrs away.....I was way wrong. We only sat in our reserved seats on Sunday, only for 1st round. Then you could sit almost anywhere you wanted.

water was $4, $6 pop, $7 beer sandwichs $10 w/fries. Where does this money go? I guess to pay for John forces "sharpies"?

I wonder how many stayed home because of the high temperature/humidity.

Were not even good enough for any NHRA events....

You mean there aren`t thousands of people spending big money to go to National events to see the " Track Walk". Whats sad is that with declining attendance you know NHRA will start charging the Sportsman racers more "user fees" and higher entry fees to make up for the loss then act like its a privilige to race for them.

It's not just the economy or NHRA. About 5 years ago, I had a chance to sit in on a talk given by the Rte 66 complex administrator. It was disgusting. Guess he didn't realize that there were people in the group he was talking to that were racers and spectators. Trust me, it was all about the $ and what ever they thought the populis could bear. I was so pissed I never went back there. Personally, I hope they choke on their 3$ bottles of water.

I only went because I got a great deal with a groupon ticket. Alot of people dont like Force and say he is a sell out, but he is fun to listen to. Here is some talk from friday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMgqFViBUG4

BTW ..... HOW does DHL justify that sponsorship ? ... they don't offer service in the USA and Canada anymore ...do they ?

---

D H L is the independant co that Kalletta Air runs under i beleieve
D H L was airborne express, back in the day,
DHL is mainley overseas, and carries alot of our equip. supplies
goverment money never runs dry

Wow ...ole CK sure has a huge operation. And YEAH ... DHL bought-out Airborne ....and actually Airborne was better than either Fedex or UPS in the quick-delivery-biz.

this year at Atlanta id say it was %80 or better...it was also hot...but the count didnt look anywhere near as bleak as some of those photos...I also recall thinking that the sat only ticket wasnt to bad...price wise..
cheapst.

I agree with Irun6snd8th, I'm bored with it. I'm 56 years old, been going to and racing my own junk since the late sixties early seventies and I think drag racing has lost it's soul. Bracket racing is boring to watch, the cars are too consistent and predictable ( I know, I know, it's the name of the game)and hard for newbies to understand. So unless I'm racing or going with friends who are I'm staying home. As far as the crap on tv...Every race looks like a rerun of the race before. If you don't own or drive for one of the super teams what real chance do fans have to see something or someone different? My choice is to "watch" it on DRC in about 10 minutes of reading the results.

After they stopped running a full quarter mile, I lost alot of intrest in the nitro class

The last NAT event I went to ....G-ville ... 02 ?

REMEMBER that TF team that had the RAMP TRUCK ? .. They had more "fans" than the Shoe team !