Class racing dead at IHRA

http://www.ihra.com/ihra-news/all-news/i...-racing-program

Billy Meyer tried this back in the late '70s/early '80s and it failed miserably.

IHRA always seemed to have a great class program. Never understood why they just couldn't get cars.

Unless you live in the south, many 1/8 and some 1/4 tracks,IHRA tracks were spread further apart. Its tough to drive 2,3,500+ miles to get to a track to race. NHRA sweetened the deal and pulled a good number of tracks to them. IHRA lost their status of being equal to NHRA. Friendly to race bracket or sportsman class, they just could not carry the message to race with them.I don't think NHRA has had their act together for many years. Size does matter. Its not the only answer. I like the NMCA. Lot of energy with racers,venue and spectators. Since they are limited on locations, I can only hope,as they grow,they keep the momentum moving. Can't see NHRA doing much for the sportsman racer. Bracket racing is left up to the local tracks. I'd like to see a new wave of interest in drag racing. There is certainly enough ammo out there to start the next wave.

I ran some in HR in the late 90's, IHRA had Bristol and Norwalk, payouts were good, great turnout of cars. Then they switched all of the points races over to 1/8 mile. Car counts fell, class racers in this area didn't like it. Then most of the tracks in Div. 3 went back to NHRA. Then IHRA did away with the divisions. Tracks were so far and wide apart that you only had small pockets of racers in FL and CAN running in class. So don't blame the racers in Div. 3 for not showing up, there aren't any races nearer than Cordova or Pittsburgh.

By the way, congrats to Locomotion for his championship in Stock!

If it isn't going to be supported, it isn't going to be there. I'm told that in 2013 the President's Cup had 114 entries, in 2017 it had 16. It's like that across the board. Can't ask sponsors to spring for a class not supported.

Well for me it will change my program drastically. There are a few independent series that I will run in both S/R and H/R. I might try NHRA but the 4-5 day deal for one race is not to appealing.

not sure about back east, but in the plains states (D5) and even in AZ and CA the stock/SS guys have banded together to make and promote and SUPPORT their own series. Midwest Class Racers has a pretty good following from what I've observed.