07 Schedule. (1 Viewer)

[Sully]

They shortened the schedule by 1 week and there are 12 "gaps" in the schedule of a week or two. There are 16 open weekends in the 39-week span of the 2007 schedule. IHRA needs 11 open weekends to completely avoid head-to-head scheduling, can get along just fine with 9, as they did this year. The open weekends contribute more to getting crossover Sportsman competitors than the Pro teams anyway.

The geographical criss-cross doesn't really affect the teams that much - very few stay in the vicinity of the last race any longer than it takes to test on Monday and very few drive directly to the next event unless it's back-to-back. That's why they have tended to base in a central location, like Indy, so they can get back to the shop between races when there's a week off. If you had races in Pomona and Vegas with a week off in between, for example, most teams would return home and then drive back to Vegas.

 

[Dale]

So the NHRA next year gives teams 10 days to get from the Chicago race to the Englishtown race which is 800 miles.....
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......But only THREE DAYS to travel 1280 miles between the Brainerd and Reading race ....?!?!
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I feel for those teams that don't have "team drivers" in their haulers....

 

[ProStockJunkie]

So the NHRA next year gives teams 10 days to get from the Chicago race to the Englishtown race which is 800 miles.....
.
......But only THREE DAYS to travel 1280 miles between the Brainerd and Reading race ....?!?!
.
I feel for those teams that don't have "team drivers" in their haulers....

Dale, Dale, Dale.... there you go again.... trying to make sense of the 'sense-less'.

 

[marlin]

I agree with David Merricks

( the mater formerly known as Murdock)..THUNDER VALLEY USA could get a little dicy although back in the day Murdock, I mean Mr. Merricks , the Granddaddy of them all, " The Springnationals " used to run first week in June ..Of course , they weren't cranking the HP like they are know..By the way Murdock, are you tracking the progress of the project at my place of employment ? Still waiting on the lunch...I'm getting hungry ! Doug Wright ( the mater formerly known as Hammer )

 

[Murph]

They shortened the schedule by 1 week and there are 12 "gaps" in the schedule of a week or two. There are 16 open weekends in the 39-week span of the 2007 schedule. IHRA needs 11 open weekends to completely avoid head-to-head scheduling, can get along just fine with 9, as they did this year. The open weekends contribute more to getting crossover Sportsman competitors than the Pro teams anyway.

Ok, in an effort to prove you wrong and make NHRA the bad guy on picking on IHRA I compared the new schedule to IHRA's.

It turns out that there are only 3 dates that conflict with IHRA. Of course one of them has to my race in Edmonton, the other's are Grand Bend and Toronto.

Turns out NHRA isn't picking in IHRA, They're picking on Canada!!

 

[PJ]

Ok, in an effort to prove you wrong and make NHRA the bad guy on picking on IHRA I compared the new schedule to IHRA's.

It turns out that there are only 3 dates that conflict with IHRA. Of course one of them has to my race in Edmonton, the other's are Grand Bend and Toronto.

Turns out NHRA isn't picking in IHRA, They're picking on Canada!!

lile I always say Blame Canada

 

[marlin]

Ya Da man PJ !

Gotta have someone toblame don't we ?

 

[Zak]

The two bodies should really work be working together to make their respective events as good as possible. It would be a win/win for both if they did.

Great comment. It may never happen though. Unless of course Evan Knoll decides to take over and make it happen.

Think about it - he's got events sponsored on both sides of the fence and more drivers than I can count on both sides of the fence...

How about it Evan - can you make the 2 sides play nice together?

 

[Sully]

IHRA hasn't announced their schedule yet - now that they know where the open dates are, they can work around the NHRA schedule. And Edmonton was a conflicting race this year, too. Grand Bend was moved to eliminate a conflict.

 

[Murph]

Great comment. It may never happen though. Unless of course Evan Knoll decides to take over and make it happen.

Think about it - he's got events sponsored on both sides of the fence and more drivers than I can count on both sides of the fence...

How about it Evan - can you make the 2 sides play nice together?

A similiar scenario has been played out in Alberta with the NHL teams and how they worked with the major junior teams (WHL) in the same cities. For those that don't know, major junior is a big deal for us Canadians.

The Edmonton Oilers treated the Edmonton Ice like competition, didn't support them, didn't let them play in the big rink, ect, ect. The result being that the junior team left town.

The Calgary Flames invested in the Calgary Hitman and are actual owners. They promoted them and shared ther building. The result being one of the most successful junior operations in the league. More people exposed to a high level of hockey, more new hockey fans filling the building and spending their money. Edmonton has seen this and are now in the process of investing in a new expansion team and will follow the business model set by Calgary.

I think this is an interesting comparasion. Hockey and Drag racing are both in the business of sports entertainment. The NHL strives to be as successful as the NFL, MLB & the NBA. NHRA is striving to be a successful as Nascar. Both have quite a ways to go to achieve this. Both are sports that have to be witnessed live or played to truly appreciate their greatness.

Has anyone here seen a drag race on TV and thought wow? I doubt it. I know myself and think all others here attended a live event somewhere along the line and that is how we became addicted. Most of us have dragged friends to the races and seen the expressions on their faces when they see and hear a fueler race for the first time. That is how you attract fans.

Bottom line, the more quality national events available, the more opportunity to attract new fans.

 

[Dougster]

Ok, in an effort to prove you wrong and make NHRA the bad guy on picking on IHRA I compared the new schedule to IHRA's.

It turns out that there are only 3 dates that conflict with IHRA. Of course one of them has to my race in Edmonton, the other's are Grand Bend and Toronto.

Turns out NHRA isn't picking in IHRA, They're picking on Canada!!

Well, that's assuming that GB, Toronto and Edmonton stay on the same dates as they were this year... But there's not much room to move them. I guess Edmonton could move up 1 week, but given our location we probably wouldn't have much crossover anyway. Actually I thought it was not a bad schedule as far as "picking on IHRA" goes - if they REALLY wanted to do that there would've been more back-to-back races around the "traditional" IHRA dates than there is.

Could the NHRA apparently picking on Canada have anything to do with there being no National events here? Or that the IHRA has been making major inroads here? No, just a coincidence...

 

[nitro-trucker]

How drunk were you?

What makes you think I was drunk? there are no permant bathrooms,no room for the staging lanes, no road for the teams to get the end of the track. this place needs alot of work. And most of the fans I seen seemed like they didn't care much for the racing.

 

[BB]

What makes you think I was drunk? there are no permant bathrooms,no room for the staging lanes, no road for the teams to get the end of the track. this place needs alot of work. And most of the fans I seen seemed like they didn't care much for the racing.

There are permanent bathrooms with showers. Staging lanes are in the works, part of the $4 million being spent. I for one enjoyed the racing when it wasn't raining. No amount of money will buy dry weather. I haven't been to Chicago or Vegas but Norwalk beats every NHRA track I have been to by a mile. Plus the Baders always give the fans more than they expect. Force and Tony Pedregon seem to think it's a premier facility (a great stadium) and I think they've seen all the NHRA tracks a couple times.

 

[Shazam]

What makes you think I was drunk? there are no permant bathrooms,no room for the staging lanes, no road for the teams to get the end of the track. this place needs alot of work. And most of the fans I seen seemed like they didn't care much for the racing.

I don't seem to recall anything but port-a-johns at Columbus and wading through a foot of water in the pits was always fun. Watching those fans being pulled out of the fields by tractors had to be a highlight of the trip.

I think you can find something wrong with any place (except Bristol) if you are looking for it.

Norwalk now is much better now than Columbus at its best.

 

[murdock]

( the mater formerly known as Murdock)..THUNDER VALLEY USA could get a little dicy although back in the day Murdock, I mean Mr. Merricks , the Granddaddy of them all, " The Springnationals " used to run first week in June ..Of course , they weren't cranking the HP like they are know..By the way Murdock, are you tracking the progress of the project at my place of employment ? Still waiting on the lunch...I'm getting hungry ! Doug Wright ( the mater formerly known as Hammer )

Hey Hammer,

I can't even keep up with the progress of projects in my own area!! And you know, several weeks ago they moved our office from next to the airport to out on I-81 somewhere north of the city. They have yet to tell me where they moved to!! Talk about feeling like a red-headed stepchild. If they ever let me go back to Roanoke, I'll do my best to make lunch.

Murdock.

 

[marlin]

OK Murdock...

I won't hold my breath ! LOL ..

 

[Cabes]

Still don't get why they don't have the 1st Vegas race after Pomona & Phoenix before having the tour head east. I would think it would be a huge savings in travel costs.

Because the LVMS wants an April date. It wants seperation from it's Nextel Cup date, which is usually the first weekend in March. Earlier is out too because the track wants the Nextel Cup event to lead off its schedule.