quote:

Originally posted by BP758:

quote:

Originally posted by Cashflow:
I’m gonna say they’re all tough. I’ve been trying to win a Wally, any Wally, National, Divisional, Local you name it for well over 50 years. Still don’t have one. Guess that shows how tough I am! Everyone is running over themselves to race me first round.

Vern is over due! This is your year Vern.

What does Vern race? I'm not familiar with his program

A National event is harder to win simply because you have to race over a number of days and it makes it like multiple 1st rounds with NO time shot. Add in the variables of the Pro cars running on the same track that can cause issues

The down time alone is big.....

Shorter events are more like a divisional..

Indy is in a class by it self....a week or more !!

I have 5 Wally's for eliminator wins......A National in the ancient past but there were over 100 cars and we did run 6 rounds on Sunday I think

At one time a divisional race had well over 100 cars in Div.1 and I recall one that had over 140 in S/C

Indy once upon a time had well over 200 cars in S/G....mid 1980's...

Winning back then was big !!! Real big....and the payout was worth the effort....

quote:

Originally posted by CURTIS REED:
My opinion though would be that a National should be harder seeing as it should draw more varying/top talent from different parts of the country. That doesn't mean that a divisional is easy to win by any means.

This says it about as well as I could, along with what Rich (SCDIV1) mentioned about the somewhat randomized rotation. You don't know what class you might be following out.

The first 2-3 days of eliminations at Indy is 'run one round in the morning and put it away'. Lots of guesswork, watching the patterns, and instinct. It's just a different game.

Nim,

I race super comp mostly. I’m not crying, well maybe I am. LOL

If I never win a Wally I have had a great life with few regrets. I’ve gotten to meet absolutely wonderful people in this crazy sport. Several of them have posted in this thread. I made the final at our local Wally/King of the Track race last season. I rolled one thousandth in the box and was .004 on the tree. Problem was my opponent was 3 total. So much for the local duck pond huh?

Anyway, we’ll start again in Tucson in February and then run the double divisional in Phoenix the next weekend. If seven grade points will get me in then I’ll go back to Phoenix for the National.

Hopefully see some of you there.

quote:

Originally posted by Cashflow:
Nim,

I race super comp mostly. I’m not crying, well maybe I am. LOL

If I never win a Wally I have had a great life with few regrets. I’ve gotten to meet absolutely wonderful people in this crazy sport. Several of them have posted in this thread. I made the final at our local Wally/King of the Track race last season. I rolled one thousandth in the box and was .004 on the tree. Problem was my opponent was 3 total. So much for the local duck pond huh?

Anyway, we’ll start again in Tucson in February and then run the double divisional in Phoenix the next weekend. If seven grade points will get me in then I’ll go back to Phoenix for the National.

Hopefully see some of you there.

Hells yeah man, I'll have to follow along on NHRA.TV and cheer you on. Those wallys are illusive, I'm still hunting my first one too, though I haven't been trying quite as long.

IMO National events are harder mainly because of the schedule. Also might depend on the class as a lowly .90 racer as previously stated it can be like running first round over and over with no time hits. Just depends on how the circus works. FWIW I have won both National and Divisonal Wallys. To me much easier to get int groove at a Divisonal.

I've always thought that the schedule for a national event had to be difficult if you were a working stiff. I don't know how you would do several of them in a summer and not eat up all your vacation.

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
I've always thought that the schedule for a national event had to be difficult if you were a working stiff. I don't know how you would do several of them in a summer and not eat up all your vacation.

I typically only do one national per year, but in 2022 I did six and it happened to be 6 out of 7 in a row for the tour. It was rough!

I did drive for someone else at two events, which helped. I can also work remotely although I only did that for the stretch at the end when I was away from home for 19 days, working during the week between events.

A regular working stiff who needs to show up everyday; I don’t think a full points season could be done unless the boss was extremely understanding.

The majority of National event racers seem to be mostly well off retired folks or business owners that can take the time to race.

Just look around the pits at the tow rigs and many running 2 cars...

I never ran more than 2 National events in one year. E-Town and Maple Grove

I could have done more as I had a lot of vacation time I could use but was business and work oriented and devoted to that. I worked for a family business and what I did was like my own business within that company. My work got busy at the same time racing season was going.

I stayed within no more than 3-4 hours tow and only did that a few years....

Spent the vast majority of my time racing locally just bracket racing at a few tracks......

I try to run several nationals a year now that I'm retired but I didn't have enough grade points last year so I tried to get eight for this year but only ended up with seven. Not sure if I'll be able to get in with that many. It's looking like most everything is filling up fast.

As I've gotten older the allure of chasing that Wally has diminished a bit. Driving those long distances just to get there is not the most fun thing in the world. At least NHRA is now having more double races and that helps.

I'll see how it goes this season, if I can't get in with seven grade points I may just race more local stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by BP758:
Yes, travel here in Division 7 is crazy. Loosing the Sonoma Divisional's has really hurt the West. Boils down to what the track charges NHRA for an event. Cha Ching!
Won’t be a National Open at sac this year. D am. Shame!

NHRA doesn't pay the track, the track pays NHRA to bring the event.

quote:

Originally posted by Goob:

quote:

Originally posted by BP758:
Yes, travel here in Division 7 is crazy. Loosing the Sonoma Divisional's has really hurt the West. Boils down to what the track charges NHRA for an event. Cha Ching!
Won’t be a National Open at sac this year. D am. Shame!

NHRA doesn't pay the track, the track pays NHRA to bring the event.

I don’t believe that’s the case.

If that were the case we would have a divisional ( divisional's) at Sonoma .

Pm sent Goob.

NHRA charges the tracks for all their events and big money

My home track, Island, signed up to do the Open series events for 3 years and I don't know the exact amount but it was substantial and they probably lost $$ on the deal. It was a 3 year deal

Etown balked at resigning for the SummerNationals long before they shut down because of the $$ that went to NHRA at the event

Even in the golden era NHRA even wanted a cut of the food concessions if I recall right and for a couple years when McDonalds was sponsoring cars, They set up their own food concessions and the track food sales had to be hurt badly by that deal....You can guarantee NHRA got their cut in some form...

The sponsors abandoned NHRA because of the fees for signage and the contingency program went down the tubes for the same reason....

NHRA became a bloated corporate entity run by bean counters and $ grabbers...You are kidding yourself if you think otherwise...

My point is Sonoma…. It has a road course. You cannot drag race with the road course going. It makes the bulk of their money..The road course has a very high premium. Pretty darn sure They have to pay to race there and it’s big. Big enough for the association to say ; no divisional’s.
That pretty much sucks !

I wonder if NHRA finally broke down and waved the fee to Famoso to finally have a double divisional after not having one for many years. If it wasn't for Bakersfield you calif racers would have nothing other than Pomona if you have the grade points to get in

quote:

Originally posted by Big Steve:
I wonder if NHRA finally broke down and waved the fee to Famoso to finally have a double divisional after not having one for many years. If it wasn't for Bakersfield you calif racers would have nothing other than Pomona if you have the grade points to get in

Exactly Steve. Thanks to BF and it appears they did ok financially ? Hoping they do the same from now on.
Five hours for me minimum. Eight to Pomona, Twelve to thirteen to Vegas and 14 + to Phoenix.
Woodburn is thirteen plus’s and Kent is sixteen- seventeen.

That’s why we need a centralized divisional and National.

Phoenix usually had the Nats then the divisional but no Nats till later so that kinda throws a stick in the spokes..

The track pays nhra $14,500 sanctioning fee plus pays extra insurance plus a fee for every car over 300. Oh, plus pay the purse at Divisionals. A huge WIN WIN for nhra. That's times 46 divisional events. WOW