Would you mind describing how your local racing has changed over the last 5 years, but not this year with the pandemic? Bracket racing points and bracket finials, big buck racing, sportsman class division and national racing.
IHRA, NHRA OTHER

quote:

Originally posted by adv ET 266:
Would you mind describing how your local racing has changed over the last 5 years, but not this year with the pandemic? Bracket racing points and bracket finials, big buck racing, sportsman class division and national racing.
IHRA, NHRA OTHER

Hey Paul.

Local bracket racing...Summit ET Points Series, bracket finals = lower car counts, far less weekly participation than 5 years ago.

Big $ bracket racing at least the Flings and the SFG races currently have no problem with car counts but I predict precipitation in these events will fall off too for several reasons.

Divisional and National event class racing have no problem with car counts at least in Division 1.

Hey Ed, thanks for the update for the NE. That’s from NHRA I’d guess. Pretty sure IHRA is on life support and was never strong in the NE. Do you know how NDRL has faired? Mostly mid west area?

quote:

Originally posted by 1320racer:

quote:

Originally posted by adv ET 266:
Would you mind describing how your local racing has changed over the last 5 years, but not this year with the pandemic? Bracket racing points and bracket finials, big buck racing, sportsman class division and national racing.
IHRA, NHRA OTHER

Hey Paul.

Local bracket racing...Summit ET Points Series, bracket finals = lower car counts, far less weekly participation than 5 years ago.

Big $ bracket racing at least the Flings and the SFG races currently have no problem with car counts but I predict precipitation in these events will fall off too for several reasons.

Divisional and National event class racing have no problem with car counts at least in Division 1.

This is my observation/participation at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Div 7). We run the Summit ET series, host most of the Bracket Finals & host the Spring Fling Million.

I'll start with the bracket side at our track. In the Pro Class it has been pretty consistent with entries/points, including this year. We generally have 50 to 60 sign up for points & have 40 to 50 cars a race. They start to dwindle as the year progresses due to heat & not doing well in points. S/Pro seems to have started dwindling over the past few years, by 10 to 15 cars. I think they have 40 something racers signed up for points this year.

As for the Bracket Finals. It seems we have consistently had 4-6 tracks that bring 2 teams, some full/some not. Seems like Pro has the most entries.

As for the Spring Fling Million. It has done well with entries out here, but IMO Vegas is not the place to hold this race. We will see, the race is back East this fall. I think they will get the entries needed to pay the MILLION. That's if the race happens.

Ed, I would like to here your reasons why participation will fall off @ the Big $$$ Races.

There is more bracket racing available to me right now than there has been for the last 5 years. Had a choice between 4 tracks within 100 miles of home this past weekend.

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Dees:
There is more bracket racing available to me right now than there has been for the last 5 years. Had a choice between 4 tracks within 100 miles of home this past weekend.

That’s great for you. What state and city is your home track?
SE is a huge Area

quote:

Originally posted by B KING:

quote:

Originally posted by 1320racer:

quote:

Originally posted by adv ET 266:
Would you mind describing how your local racing has changed over the last 5 years, but not this year with the pandemic? Bracket racing points and bracket finials, big buck racing, sportsman class division and national racing.
IHRA, NHRA OTHER

Hey Paul.

Local bracket racing...Summit ET Points Series, bracket finals = lower car counts, far less weekly participation than 5 years ago.

Big $ bracket racing at least the Flings and the SFG races currently have no problem with car counts but I predict precipitation in these events will fall off too for several reasons.

Divisional and National event class racing have no problem with car counts at least in Division 1.

This is my observation/participation at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Div 7). We run the Summit ET series, host most of the Bracket Finals & host the Spring Fling Million.

I'll start with the bracket side at our track. In the Pro Class it has been pretty consistent with entries/points, including this year. We generally have 50 to 60 sign up for points & have 40 to 50 cars a race. They start to dwindle as the year progresses due to heat & not doing well in points. S/Pro seems to have started dwindling over the past few years, by 10 to 15 cars. I think they have 40 something racers signed up for points this year.

As for the Bracket Finals. It seems we have consistently had 4-6 tracks that bring 2 teams, some full/some not. Seems like Pro has the most entries.

As for the Spring Fling Million. It has done well with entries out here, but IMO Vegas is not the place to hold this race. We will see, the race is back East this fall. I think they will get the entries needed to pay the MILLION. That's if the race happens.

Ed, I would like to here your reasons why participation will fall off @ the Big $$$ Races.

I was in Vegas in 08 for a Queensryche concert at the Mandalay House of Blues. We went to a car show in Henderson on a Saturday. There were several Super Pro bracket cars and Top Dragster cars there, I asked the guys why they weren't racing. They said they barely ever put on events at the Strip. They were down to doing car shows. I'm talking state of the art Top Dragster cars were there, with big rigs hauling them.

This was during the last economic meltdown 2008. Same thing is gonna happen for this 2020 meltdown, no? Why not?

We have an nhra and an ihra. Both have lower car counts. IHRA is corporate owned, and although they had a fiercely loyal customer base, they make decisions both locally and on a corporate level that drive off racers. Of course they need a rebuilding year. But they can't afford it since corporate has put the screws to them money wise. So forget about trying new things to grow the customer base. They just want to survive this season to get to the next. Sad to watch.
The availability and popularity of money races is one thing that hurts. Racers will often race less often, and spend more getting to and entering the money races instead of local points.

Car counts at various tracks for bracket racing are not good compared to years past.

Etown is gone 3 years ago

Atco has modest car counts and way lower than the past. The track may be gone if rumors of a pending sale are true.

Island has decent car counts for them and the day I was there in June had about 35-40 cars in Super. That’s very good for them.

I don’t know about the Pa. tracks for weekly events but I don’t think it’s real good again compared to good times !

Bracket racing at the local level is on life support to me but I saw the best of times so I’m gonna always compare it to those days.

Etown, Atco, Island and every other track was packed pretty good and that’s just not the case today.

Good point of the best of times. Just because this isn't the peak doesn't make it bad.

Ben Did you run at your local track for points and race with them at the bracket finials?

I was really interested in the last 5 years or so and definitely not this year with the pandemic.
Of course 20 years ago was way better for most racers. I’m trying to gauge if the sport interest is stabilized or still declining around the nation.

quote:

Originally posted by adv ET 266:
Ben Did you run at your local track for points and race with them at the bracket finials?

Not me. I haven't run points for a few years. Well, I ran their q16 last year and placed ok. We have concentrated on my son's points position. We have never been that excited to run the finals, but he ran the race of champions in memphis last year and that was some fun. He's leading again and I hope he can get it done for another trip down there. He's leading jr's at the nhra track right now too. It can all change in a couple races though.

My car is a significantly different combo that I am still cutting my teeth on. Working on a tune that gives some reliability right now. It will be more fun when I get that all figured out. Pretty easy to put a bracket tune in it and in less than a minute have a fast tune in it.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Rietow:
I was in Vegas in 08 for a Queensryche concert at the Mandalay House of Blues. We went to a car show in Henderson on a Saturday. There were several Super Pro bracket cars and Top Dragster cars there, I asked the guys why they weren't racing. They said they barely ever put on events at the Strip. They were down to doing car shows. I'm talking state of the art Top Dragster cars were there, with big rigs hauling them.

I moved to Henderson in 1988, drag racing has always been alive & well in Las Vegas!

As for the Top Dragsters in 08 when did the T/D & T/S scene really start. There probably wasn't that many races for them. As for the S/Pro cars, there has been plenty of races for them since I've been here in NV.

Now with that being said. I've attended many car shows in Henderson, Las Vegas & surrounding areas. The one thing they all (most) have in common is an abundance of Wanna-Be Drag Racers. I've lived, eat, sleep & lord knows what else drag racing since the late 80's. Guess what, the vast majority of the car show racers (aren't racers). I've never seen their race vehicles at Summit ET points, Div. races, National Events or club races.

quote:

Originally posted by B KING:

quote:

Originally posted by Mike Rietow:
I was in Vegas in 08 for a Queensryche concert at the Mandalay House of Blues. We went to a car show in Henderson on a Saturday. There were several Super Pro bracket cars and Top Dragster cars there, I asked the guys why they weren't racing. They said they barely ever put on events at the Strip. They were down to doing car shows. I'm talking state of the art Top Dragster cars were there, with big rigs hauling them.

I moved to Henderson in 1988, drag racing has always been alive & well in Las Vegas!

As for the Top Dragsters in 08 when did the T/D & T/S scene really start. There probably wasn't that many races for them. As for the S/Pro cars, there has been plenty of races for them since I've been here in NV.

Now with that being said. I've attended many car shows in Henderson, Las Vegas & surrounding areas. The one thing they all (most) have in common is an abundance of Wanna-Be Drag Racers. I've lived, eat, sleep & lord knows what else drag racing since the late 80's. Guess what, the vast majority of the car show racers (aren't racers). I've never seen their race vehicles at Summit ET points, Div. races, National Events or club races.

If the track were open, we'd have been at the track. I found it odd these guys weren't racing I suppose because in Florida we raced every Friday night, 41 race Super Pro championship season that was cut back to 33 races in 2005, we took off july and August the hottest months of the year. I think if I recall correctly I told them our race schedule and they said the track doesn't run events no where near that often. I was there in August so we weren't racing back home, or I would not have been there.

Back then Top Dragster cars were just fast Super Pro bracket dragsters. No these were nicely prepped race cars, or I wouldn't have been curious why they weren't racing. I guess plenty of racing is relative to what you're used to.

I knew the economy wasn't good there and figured it played into it too. Casina personnel were on the sidewalks in front of casino's begging us with free food and credits to come inside.

We just raced every Friday night wrth 75-100 Super Pro cars at Sunshine, so that's what I was used to seeing back home.

As a racer that has raced all over the country, I found that drag racing is very regional.
Areas like SoCal is not as healthy as areas of the midwest and others.
In other words, it matters where you live. In many areas Drag racing is very healthy and tracks are putting on all kinds of races with great attendance.

Lucky has a better take on this than anyone.

Bob

I can say that the local level of bracket racing has taken a big hit due to the big $$ Races and talking to a few bracket racers the response is lack of races they can attend. What used to be a 15-18 race bracket season (pre COVID) and being able to throw out some races due to "life" has now shrunk to 8-9 races with no mulligans because some tracks have figured out that Import events are cash cows compared to a bracket event where you might make a few bucks after expenses are paid out. E-Town and Capitol are both closed, Cecil got rid of the bracket program this year and tons of ??? surround Atco for 2021, Bob always guarantees his payouts at Numidia but, hard to get people to travel up to the Mountain on a weekly basis, Maple had a decent payout for Brackets but, I heard racers complained about round money so it got re-did and went from $1,500 to win to $1,000 with 3rd round loser getting $25.00.
Then you throw in the big $$$ events which seem to be almost every weekend between The Flings, SFG, Beard / Walton events, The Harrington and just little local 10 / 15 k to win events a lot of bracket racers have jumped the shark as they say and maybe hit 2-3 Saturday Night bracket races a year to keep sharp but, don't sign up for points because let's face it the bracket finals are not what they used to be.

NHRA side I think is seeing decent numbers this year because people are scratching their head to see what races are actually going to stick. 600+ cars at Topeka and Columbus and I think you'll see a good count at Indy this weekend, Cecil next weekend and Epping the following weekend because I can't see Maple Grove happening with the way PA is going. I think if you ask this question in about 3-5 years, you might get another answer.

We have a local .90 Series here on the EC that runs Atco, Maple & Cecil and even with COVID going on were seeing good car counts. I mean it will always be small because we don't offer a Wally and some people just are stuck on NHRA or no way. I mean we paid out what a D1 race does last weekend for 1/2 the entry fee and only 35 cars at Atco but, as I've been told time and time again the money is one thing, until I hand out Wally's at my events, people won't show up.

Lebanon Valley has a strong weekly bracket program. This year we have 71 signed up for points in Super (last year was over 80) and we've had seven round races most weeks (I think all but one) which means there were more than 64 cars. There are 64 cars signed up for points in Pro. Hasn't really changed too much over the last five years.

Bracket finals attendance is definitely lower with tracks closing through the years.

My local track Tulsa Raceway Park is the best track for miles around as far track surface, lighting, paved parking, bathrooms, stands. Bracket racing though has really declined. People don't like that it is an NHRA track and there are rules for safety. The smaller tracks pack them in because it's run what ya brung. Some don't like that attitude of our track owners. Personally I have never had a problem with either. We are down to 20-28 cars in No-E and Super Pro at our regular points races. Juniors are still pretty good though.

Test and tunes bring out tons of cars and I'll never understand the draw of just making laps in the car. I prefer the competition but bracket racing has become to tough that many don't feel like they will ever have a chance.