IS FORD LEAVING NHRA?

Lem Evans wrote: "Things a normal person could actually own and race."

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Does a "normal" person build wooden cars?  

What you trying to say  

Does Chevy or Dodge treat "their" race people and I mean from us grassroots guys to top fuel any different?  The fact that "we" won't have car in the race will not change what brand we race or pull or drive.  I guess I'm glad for the support that we get from FoMoCo by way of part availability and dealer network that in most cases works with small time racers.

Lem Evans wrote:

richter69 wrote:they still aint mailed my license renewal back........ NHRA can suck my nuts.

Sounds kinky  

Anyway......untill NHRA offers the 7.3L diesel class I'm not watching that crap  

if they where to have a 6.7L class id watch it.between the turbos, ex valves and h/p fuel pumps crappin the bed,those racers would be busy between rounds. id like to go just to listing to all the cussing and swearing.

maverick wrote:

Curt wrote:

maverick wrote:Little guy racing is exciting.  Soap operas are not.  Ditch the electronic throttle stops and give the little guys some exposure.

I guess I'm confused. How does throttle stops affect little guys. This is the only equalizer in any category that isn't pro. If you think it bores the crowd, you have just describe everything except top fuel and out of control overpowered stock body cars.  

Those NHRA index classes were originally created to allow low-buck guys to compete...after all, how hard is it to build a car capable of a 9.90 e.t.?  Good idea in the beginning, but those class racers have figured out that there's an advantage to being the faster car.  Look at SuperGas now.  How many of us little guys can compete with a pro built, state of the art cusom roadster with 700+ inches of alcohol injected power and space shuttle electronics designed to slow the thing to 9.90...when it's capable printing 7 second time slips like a xerox machine?.

Sure, it's conceivable that a guy could take a 9.90 capable Foxbody and win at SuperGas...it just isn't likely.  I think this is where the "took a knife to a gunfight" metaphor originated.

Bracket racing and Super racing is about running the number. The Advantage of super class is no advantage on the tree. I can guarantee you that a well prepared SG car that will run 9.30s to 9.50s can win more races than one that will run 7s. The only difference is the guy running 7s is typically the better finish line driver that was bored with the slower speeds. If you cut a light and dial your car, its not hard to win a SC race. Our super pro track champion a couple of years ago ran a 7.99-8.02 (1/8th mile) maverick. The next slower car ran 5 teens. He didn't have a problem handing everyones ass to them with a car that he probably had about $10,000 less than the dragsters and roadsters.

The same crowd that leaves the stands for Super Classes, are the same ones that leave for all classes except pro. Out of control stock bodied cars with a high percentage of hitting the wall is about the only chance of getting them back in between rounds. The only reason anything but the circus brings in fans is due to promoting. Wasn't ADRL giving tickets away to anyone that would take them back when they were filling the stands? If you walk the stands at a small tire hit the wall race, you'll find that everyone in the stands knows someone that invited them, of is involved with a race team. After all, it takes a crew of 27 to run a 10.5 car, or at least that is what I have seen.

I have been involved in some type of racing since I was 8 years old. One thing I have noticed in 43 years, is if they don't have professionals in the line up, there aren't many strange faces in the crowd.

Wes Littrell wrote:

Lem Evans wrote: "Things a normal person could actually own and race."

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Does a "normal" person build wooden cars?  

What you trying to say  

I'm thinking Lem is trying to say this thread would really blow up if Lumber Liquidators tried to screw the racers ...........  I like thinking outside the box myself

torino501 wrote:

Lem Evans wrote:

richter69 wrote:they still aint mailed my license renewal back........ NHRA can suck my nuts.

Sounds kinky  

Anyway......untill NHRA offers the 7.3L diesel class I'm not watching that crap  

if they where to have a 6.7L class id watch it.between the turbos, ex valves and h/p fuel pumps crappin the bed,those racers would be busy between rounds. id like to go just to listing to all the cussing and swearing.

there would be a lot of down time.......

  Don't scare me like that. 

TravisRice wrote:

Wes Littrell wrote:

Lem Evans wrote: "Things a normal person could actually own and race."

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Does a "normal" person build wooden cars?  

What you trying to say  

I'm thinking Lem is trying to say this thread would really blow up if Lumber Liquidators tried to screw the racers ...........  I like thinking outside the box myself

this says it all................ http://www.dragzine.com/project-silver-bullet/tv-ratings-street-outlaws-topples-nhra-broadcasts/

richter69 wrote:this says it all................      http://www.dragzine.com/project-silver-bullet/tv-ratings-street-outlaws-topples-nhra-broadcasts/

Well, when the racing gets pre-empted OFTEN by womans college softball and little league baseball for almost an hour sometimes, watchers just don't come back to watch the next time.
ESPN is just to stupid to see this ... all they want to think about is Yankee's / Red Sox. The rest of the people in the country really don't give a rats a$$

Randy: Relative to "put the screws".

I do not see a sponcorship being any different than alimony or child support. Once the contract has been honored everbody should go their own way.

Just because some person or thing has be fed a lot of $ over a period of time does not i.m.o. mean that the entity that recieved such has been 'screwed'.

rmcomprandy wrote:

richter69 wrote:this says it all................      http://www.dragzine.com/project-silver-bullet/tv-ratings-street-outlaws-topples-nhra-broadcasts/

Well, when the racing gets pre-empted OFTEN by womans college softball and little league baseball for almost an hour sometimes, watchers just don't come back to watch the next time.
ESPN is just to stupid to see this ... all they want to think about is Yankee's / Red Sox.  The rest of the people in the country really don't give a rats a$$

x100!

Lem Evans wrote:Randy: Relative to "put the screws".

I do not see a sponsorship being any different than alimony or child support. Once the contract has been honored everybody should go their own way.

Just because some person or thing has be fed a lot of $ over a period of time does not i.m.o. mean that the entity that received such has been 'screwed'.

Charlie,
Fulfilling a contract certainly would be the thought however, finding a loophole in the text of that contract, (which was put there intentionally to be able to later opt out), simply because of your own best interest and "damn the other side" is something different entirely.

They try to keep those times out of the public eye but, they happen almost with regularity.

GM & Mopar make their semi-finished parts available to a lot of people at no or little charge with no money actually changing hands. They make those parts available to others at cost or a little cost simply so they are "out there" in front of everybody to see that they are being used; consequently they will sell more of them and every other one of your parts to the masses.

FoMoCo wants CONTROL of almost everything they produce and if they can't have complete control over most of their real race parts, they just quit making them. Now, they are available to nobody.

This is nothing new ... it has been happening for decades.

Did you just call Lem "Charlie"? Now that's some funny chit right there.   

They are brothers you know..........

richter69 wrote:They are brothers you know..........

Twins I hear.

I watched a little of the NHRA stuff on ESPN this afternoon. The talking heads were whining about Ford getting out of the MELLOW YELLOW Series [read that pro stuff]. They did preview the Ford press statement which mentioned the CJ Mustang program that 'they' are not exiting. We will see but , I suspect Ford is gonna put some of those PRO $s into the CJ Mustang program & put the rest of it in their pocket....which they should do.

bbf-falcon wrote:Did you just call Lem "Charlie"? Now that's some funny chit right there.   

YEA ... thinking one and typing the other; a senior moment you know.
 OR, you will know,

Lem Evans wrote:I watched a little of the NHRA stuff on ESPN this afternoon. The talking heads were whining about Ford getting out of the MELLOW YELLOW Series [read that pro stuff]. They did preview the Ford press statement which mentioned the CJ Mustang program that 'they' are not exiting. We will see but , I suspect Ford is gonna put some of those PRO $s into the CJ Mustang program &  put the rest of it in their pocket....which they should do.

Here's more on what Lem said, http://www.dragzine.com/news/ford-to-scale-back-nhra-drag-racing-efforts-following-2014-season/

While more details regarding the announcement will likely be learned in the coming weeks and months, all indications are that this move will indeed effect the Bob Tasca and Larry Morgan racing operations, along with John Force Racing’s four professional nitro teams. With Ford’s departure from Force’s organization, it will end one of the longest current marketing partnerships in the sport, dating back to Force’s switch to a Ford Mustang body in early 1997.

Also part of the scaled back effort, although unconfirmed, could be Ford’s status as the official vehicle of the NHRA, a title the company has held through an agreement signed in 2009.
The popular Mustang Cobra Jet program, which launched in 2008 with the debut of the much-anticipated FR500CJ, will continue into the future as part of Ford’s grass roots efforts in the sportsman drag racing ranks. The Cobra Jets, which are factory-built race cars designed for Super Stock and Stock competition and assembled at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Michigan, have been offered every year since that debut season with the exception of 2009 and 2011, with a 2014 model currently in development.

Lem Evans wrote:

richter69 wrote:They are brothers you know..........

Twins I hear.

Identical...... 

http://racing.ford.com/drag-racing/news/articles/director-jamie-allison-discusses-nhra-sponsorship-1293055427306/

living 20 min awayi thought it was odd

That TASCA just had a grand open for his new nissan dealership ......maybe its not odd and he will have both

they haveone of the biggest ford dealerships in the country and there ties to ford are real deep or atleast were .

If i recall the grandfather helped design the cobra jet in the 60s and were on the advisory board for them as well .

Read this:

http://racing.ford.com/drag-racing/news/articles/director-jamie-allison-discusses-nhra-sponsorship-1293055427306

i did read it ........ nitro is losing its backing , but sportsman racers will be in still

pretty clear

i will bet money TASCA jump to TOP fuel dragster .......