I need 16 fast Ford's Labor day weekend

Sunday rained out. Unless a promoter steps up for this event, I am afraid it was the last Ford Expo. Really sad from where it started over 35 years ago. We did have a full quick 16 field-and all door cars but evidently between the weather, fuel prices and whatever else, the event is just  no longer attractive to Ford lovers.

jasonf wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

I talked with 3 different car owners over the past two weeks and they all gave me the same answer ... (paraphrasing), "I am not subjecting me and my car to the agony of a bunch of Mustangs beating up on one another and getting lost in the shuffle"

When I said I was told this year would be different; they all said ... "Prove it".

I guess they have their answer as almost every Ford owner who didn't race a Fox Chassis seemed to feel the same way.

For how much racers complain about the NMRA I would have thought they would show up to this event so they could be the main event instead of the filler. Heck even for a test and tune Friday you could have made 30 passes if you wanted.

Now that Ford racers have their proof and have seen that this event is NOT just a parade of Fox Chassis cars anymore, maybe just MAYBE, they can be convinced to start showing-up to events like this again.

Thanks for the pic ... NOW, that should be considered a "door" car to satisfy those rules makers who have no forethought.

Those pics are awesome ! Thanks for posting them.

I would say Mustangs were the smallest percentage of cars there if that's what people were worried about.

The reason I put some of the blame on NMRA IS,when Performance ford club of America(PFCA)started this event 36 yra ago ,I think it was at KilKare in Zenia,Ohio.It grew so big that the promoter Charles Crites (Crites restorations) had to move it too a bigger facility in which was National Trail Raceway near Columbus. The event grew so large that I remember 1 year there were over 200 cars in bracket 2 alone and brack 1 was close too that. Then NMRA wanted some of the action and it went down hill ever since. They moved their event to Norwalk and the racers that once came too this event in large numbers never returned. Its a shame because it was once the biggest all Ford show in the country.

jasonf wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

I talked with 3 different car owners over the past two weeks and they all gave me the same answer ... (paraphrasing), "I am not subjecting me and my car to the agony of a bunch of Mustangs beating up on one another and getting lost in the shuffle"

When I said I was told this year would be different; they all said ... "Prove it".

I guess they have their answer as almost every Ford owner who didn't race a Fox Chassis seemed to feel the same way.

For how much racers complain about the NMRA I would have thought they would show up to this event so they could be the main event instead of the filler. Heck even for a test and tune Friday you could have made 30 passes if you wanted.

JMO..But...

With the NMRA, if you aren't one of their class racers, you will always be just the filler.
I always went to their race in Reynolds @ Silver Dollar, always knew we were just a filler for their race.
When they moved to ATL Dragway, it got even worse..
Show up , finally get to run on Sunday and then they want to run the B1 and B2 "winners" for purse...

Not exactly the way to entice racers to show up...

Yep,I agree Mike.

QtrWarrior wrote:

jasonf wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

I talked with 3 different car owners over the past two weeks and they all gave me the same answer ... (paraphrasing), "I am not subjecting me and my car to the agony of a bunch of Mustangs beating up on one another and getting lost in the shuffle"

When I said I was told this year would be different; they all said ... "Prove it".

I guess they have their answer as almost every Ford owner who didn't race a Fox Chassis seemed to feel the same way.

For how much racers complain about the NMRA I would have thought they would show up to this event so they could be the main event instead of the filler. Heck even for a test and tune Friday you could have made 30 passes if you wanted.

JMO..But...

With the NMRA, if you aren't one of their class racers, you will always be just the filler.
I always went to their race in Reynolds @ Silver Dollar, always knew we were just a filler for their race.
When they moved to ATL Dragway, it got even worse..
Show up , finally get to run on Sunday and then they want to run the B1 and B2 "winners" for purse...

Not exactly the way to entice racers to show up...

I didn't understand what I was being told when almost everyone I talked with would say something to the affect about "getting lost in the shuffle"; now I do understand what they meant.

Randy,

I'll give you an example... It's all about the NMRA, their racers and getting their show in....

Reynolds 2007....NMRA race

Crew and I show up on Friday, register and make 3 T&T passes...Forecast for all day Saturday is RAIN..
And it does, all day, total wash out.. Sunday forecast is clear and sunny.. Probably at least 30 B1 cars, and more in other Bracket classes..
Most of us from within couple of hrs. of track..
We show up at track EARLY.. like 7:30am early... I head to tower to see what plan is.....

Before I get all the way to the tower, met by friend of mine who works for NMRA... already know this can't be good...
Seems they decided to NOT run the brackets, BUT bracket guys can run in Open Comp...
Only one problem...
No Dragsters allowed in Open Comp... we're the only piperack there...
Go to tower, get powers that be involved..
Told them I would footbrake car and manually shift it...Never done it before, no idea what it would run...
No go...
Finally talk them into refunding my entry ( after them arguing that they don't do refunds), but still out crew passes and all other expenses...
Would you really want to go back ??

Nope...I wouldn't go back.  What kind of screwing could you expect next time?  I don't race at events where the racers are treated like cash cows.

And it's hard enough to get good car counts without 2 different groups trying to run the show to their advantage.

I talked with our local track operator Saturday night.  He said that he can go back 4 months on the calenadar and see where the car car counts suddenly fell in the toiiet. Up to that point, there'd be 150 or 160 cars in the 2 big brackets.  Since then the counts are maybe half of that.  We're in the deep south so we'd like to blame the hot weather (drivers are miserable, cars don't run so good) and the rain (every trip is a crapshoot).  I guess this fall will tell the tale.

As it is, our track operator is really changing things up to generate interest and get cars through the gate.  TNT Sunday is currently the track's biggest moneymaker.

No matter what some people who own Mustangs have tried to tell me ... these events have always been ALL about the money; your money in  their pocket.
I really wish the "Fun Ford Weekends" would have continued; they were at least enjoyable, even if you lost early or didn't bring a car.  They tried to re-instate a couple but, I don't know how those events went.

I fully understand the point about a promoter making money but, NOT at the expense of FUTURE events.That is why the NMRA went belly-up and joined with the NMCA.   That sanctioning body is now on the ropes, too, (it it hasn't gone bankrupt already)..  Can anyone think of some common denominator...?

I agree Randy,me and all my Family always packed up in July for a 3hr. trip too Norwalk for FunFordWeekend.The Bader family really always tried too treat racers w/respect and courtesy. When FFW pulled out I just kinda lost interest in it all.

I was ready to go, son and daughter-in-law decided to go and have a baby instead. So now i've got two grandsons to spoil. Maybe next year if this event is still happening

We used to go to both NMRA events at Reynolds and Bowling Green and run Open Comp. We always had fun and usually did pretty well, just got way to expensive to make that haul and stay at the track once the family came along. We did try FFW one year at Atlanta and Bristol and although I loved racing at Atlanta and Bristol I did not enjoy it as much as I did NMRA. I still like running at Reynolds and wished we could make it down there again even without NMRA being there as it's a fun track and a nice time. Really wished NMRA or FFW could have stayed relevant as it was always nice going through the entire pits and seeing Fords, I hate Chevy's and pretty much that is all you get at our local tracks. I wished they would have put some index classes in and went away from some of the faster classes that would end up having only like 5-6 cars in them. I guess it is better now to just stick to local index racing and junior drag racing.

We used to go to the Ford Motorsport Nationals at Maple Grove in Pa. The first few years it was great all kinds of cars, some Pro Mods (all Ford) good racing, lots of venders with all kinds of parts....Then a few years later someone (Who I don't know) got involved and it all changed. It started for the vendors, if they had new parts they had to move to the manufactures row, at 3 times the price, even if it was just 1 or 2 new parts and the rest were used. No more small vendors. Then they took away the pro-mods and some of the other "brought in cars" Then instead of "run what you brung" they added a bunch of classes that left a lot of cars out of a competitive class, and then I guess the Greed set in because the prices went up and the quality of the show went down. I'm not even sure if they still run it. I will never forget sitting in Norm Wizners trailer with Ronnie Sox, Wayne Torkelson, Some guy who was running a mid engined Taurus wagon, and a few others talking about the race the night before in Budds Creek. It was the best!!!

cobrakid8 wrote:We used to go to both NMRA events at Reynolds and Bowling Green and run Open Comp. We always had fun and usually did pretty well, just got way to expensive to make that haul and stay at the track once the family came along. We did try FFW one year at Atlanta and Bristol and although I loved racing at Atlanta and Bristol I did not enjoy it as much as I did NMRA. I still like running at Reynolds and wished we could make it down there again even without NMRA being there as it's a fun track and a nice time. Really wished NMRA or FFW could have stayed relevant as it was always nice going through the entire pits and seeing Fords, I hate Chevy's and pretty much that is all you get at our local tracks. I wished they would have put some index classes in and went away from some of the faster classes that would end up having only like 5-6 cars in them. I guess it is better now to just stick to local index racing and junior drag racing.

Does the possibility exist that you run a Fox chassis car...?

Fun Ford still exists, just not as a series.

Several Big track owners got together and bought the right to the name.
They run the races as 2 day events at each track, but not as a series for points or anything.

funfordweekend.com

rmcomprandy wrote:

cobrakid8 wrote:We used to go to both NMRA events at Reynolds and Bowling Green and run Open Comp. We always had fun and usually did pretty well, just got way to expensive to make that haul and stay at the track once the family came along. We did try FFW one year at Atlanta and Bristol and although I loved racing at Atlanta and Bristol I did not enjoy it as much as I did NMRA. I still like running at Reynolds and wished we could make it down there again even without NMRA being there as it's a fun track and a nice time. Really wished NMRA or FFW could have stayed relevant as it was always nice going through the entire pits and seeing Fords, I hate Chevy's and pretty much that is all you get at our local tracks. I wished they would have put some index classes in and went away from some of the faster classes that would end up having only like 5-6 cars in them. I guess it is better now to just stick to local index racing and junior drag racing.

Does the possibility exist that you run a Fox chassis car...?

At the time no we ran a small block powered pinto, first a maverick than a pinto, now a fox body and a Ranger with BBF power. Not sure if we ever ran the fox body at a NMRA or FFW event.

cobrakid8 wrote:

rmcomprandy wrote:

Does the possibility exist that you run a Fox chassis car...?

At the time no we ran a small block powered pinto, first a maverick than a pinto, now a fox body and a Ranger with BBF power. Not sure if we ever ran the fox body at a NMRA or FFW event.

Then I guess all these other people are all simply mistaken about the kind of treatment they received but, I doubt it.

Hate it for them but not getting in a pissing match with you either about it Randy! We have not went to one of their races in 7-8 years but we always had lots of fun in the Open Comp class, never did and never wanted to run brackets so no clue how bad they were treated. I went to see all Fords all the time with no Chevys that's why we went. Pretty much stopped going when I had a family and didn't have the time to go out of town so much, so now we race locally with index racing and my oldest has a junior and prob soon my youngest too. Thought about going to NMRA bowling green this year as that was always my favorite place to race but other commitments will not allow it . But anywhere you go now brackets and slower classes(index) are treated like crap, if it rains who do you think they throw out first on a green track!

Was looking at ffw events and the next one is Martin ,mi at the end of the month either going to that or Nostalia Drags at Milan,mi. Too many things happening at the same time

cobrakid8 wrote:Hate it for them but not getting in a pissing match with you either about it Randy! We have not went to one of their races in 7-8 years but we always had lots of fun in the Open Comp class, never did and never wanted to run brackets so no clue how bad they were treated. I went to see all Fords all the time with no Chevys that's why we went. Pretty much stopped going when I had a family and didn't have the time to go out of town so much, so now we race locally with index racing and my oldest has a junior and prob soon my youngest too. Thought about going to NMRA bowling green this year as that was always my favorite place to race but other commitments will not allow it . But anywhere you go now brackets and slower classes(index) are treated like crap, if it rains who do you think they throw out first on a green track!

Actually, it kinda makes sense to send the bracket cars first down a green track. At least they're not on the ragged edge of control, trying to wring out every last bit of e.t. Somebody has to put down a little rubber...and the bracket guys have a better chance of doing it without jumping the fence or trading paint. And yeah, I race a lot of brackets and indexes. I don't mind going first.

Maverick, that is true but that was one of the biggest complaints I heard from racers were that if you are not a "big dog" in one of the heads up classes they didn't care about you. That was one of the many complaints I heard as well as racing all into the night because of oil downs in the heads up classes and so it would push back rounds of brackets so they could run the heads up guys. Again we always loved it and if it was the same as it was than I would prob try to make a race or two but it's not and way to expensive than just staying local and having fun!