Nitromater
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$125,000 Pro Mod Race
- Thread starter jgrigz
- Start date
I think it will take some time for the word to spread that the new IHRA is the real deal.
Chili
Nitro Member
A big money pro mod race just doesn’t draw a crowd. While I don’t watch every series or every race, there is usually a sparse crowd. The WSOPM in Denver never pulled a large crowd and they handed out a lot of free tickets. Flying H is having a 1/4 mile pro mod race next weekend and I doubt the place is 1/4 full. I love watching pro mod but not a big fan of 1/8 mile. The racers love it and it draws more cars but I’m not going to travel thousand of miles to watch it.
Prestaged
Nitro Member
This!
Chili
Nitro Member
It costs me and my wife about $1200- $1600 to travel to a NHRA national event. It is three days and it’s something we enjoy. Going to an IHRA event would cost slightly less because it’s less days but it would still cost $1000-1200. Two flights, three hotel nights and three day car rental plus other travel costs. I only get two days of racing and 8 car fields. I love the fact they do most of their racing Friday and Saturday night. However the first two races have been on the poor side. So far there isn’t a quantity or quality of cars. I love the small teams and I’m glad they have a place to race. There are some teams skipping sessions so there is even less runs to watch. If I had a race within 200 miles from home I would drive there spend one night and catch both days of racing for about $400. Those are the fans that IHRA needs to survive.
You have to start somewhere but paying what NHRA does and not having the sponsors to foot the bill is concerning. He may be a very rich man but you can’t lose hundreds of thousands if not more at every event. IHRA doesn’t have a long list of sponsors but I don’t think the gate money is covering labor cost at the event. The sportsman racer entry fee is helping cover some of the cost but there is still a big gap between revenue and cost. The owner is a business man and probably expected some of the losses. But how long can or will he go before he has to cut the “pro” cars. An organization can survive running a sportsman series if they get enough cars.
I really hope IHRA can prove me wrong and flourish. We need an organization that is centrally located that can give the lower funded teams a place to compete and learn. I believe one of the reasons we have less nitro cars now is they haven’t had a place to cut their teeth the last 15 years.
