NHRA in Australia for next year?

[Robbie]

Wow, IF this comes off, it would be fantastic for the Aussie fans, and I'm sure it would be a sell out!

 

[none]

Quantas would LOVE it !!! What is it....like 14 hours in the air from Los Angeles ?? That's a long , long time on an airplane !

 

[NHRADeuce]

As cool as this would be, it's pretty unlikely. Think about what it would take to get the entire Powerade series from Australia back to Dallas in 4 days. Pretty tall AND expensive order to fill. I'd be much more inclined to believe this if NHRA scheduled a free week on either side of the race. I suppose it's possible but it seems like to me that there are a lot of other tracks a little closer to home that would make more sense than Australia.

 

[MM]

if this happens (which it has a snowballs chance in hell) 3 teams would show up....Kalittas, Schumacher's, Forces.....maybe Evan Knoll's teams

 

[Bazzil]

From what I understand from reading a couple of releases

1. It would be after the Top 8 has been set, which means only those in the running for the c/ship would be brought over.

and

2. WSID (which I believe is government funded) and event sponsors would be taking the cost of travel, not the individual teams.

 

[Al smith]

410 sprint car drivers (a few) have raced in both Australia and the US for many years now. Why not drag racers?


don't do it Shannon. It only adds to more forums we will have to mark as read

 

[Toejam]

It costs enough to ship a container down under, and 3 weeks to boot! Can you imagine what flying a 3 Ton Container would be??

 

[Randy]

410 sprint car drivers (a few) have raced in both Australia and the US for many years now. Why not drag racers?


But I believe a lot, (not all), of the 410 sprint racers drive equipment that is owned, maintained and based in Australia so therefore they don't have to transport equipment.

 

[Steve Burnette]

Umm wouldnt this then mean they would have to change the name to the International Hot Rod Association since they would no longer just be National? Oh wait, doesnt someone else already have that name

 

[The Swegian]

What I don't think anybody has mentioned here is that the new event is scheduled for Sept. 11-14, followed immediately the next weekend by the Dallas event. I don't see how they could get all the teams from Australia to Dallas in 4 days. If NHRA thinks they can pull this off, I wonder how many teams would actually allow for this in their budget because all the transportation would have to be by air, not by ship. It takes at least 4 days just to get from Hawaii to San Diego by ship, and Australia is at least 5 or 6 days from Hawaii by ship. The more I think about it, the more ludicrous this all sounds.

 

[Bullet]

Although I would love it to happen. I think that the logistics of the deal would be too great to overcome.

You are looking at cars, tools, how many engines, spare chassis and bodies... that is a LOT of gear and a lot of 747's. Maybe they could run a fleet of Antonov's over!!

If it were to happen, it would have to be scheduled with a one week break either side.

 

[megadeth]

Formula cars do it all the time and their operations dwarf a NHRA teams!

I agree the logistics don't work but if they brought just what they needed and none of the hospitality stuff of motorhomes etc it would greatly reduce the load.
I think Australia is better than Mexico as far as a fan base!

 

[DragFan2]

Didn't forget Karl. John was racing Gary in match races. And I think Gary lived there. Gary had to keep John's car running because John didn't have the knowledge to keep it repaired. I got that from Force himself.

I could be wrong about Gary living there and I tried to Google it but didn't see anything.

Hey Bob, I'm well aware that John Force has raced in OZ as that is where he actually cut his teeth so to speak and Gary Densham was HIS teacher. I've read all about their escapades "down under" and I'm pretty sure Gary Densham was NOT living in Australia but rather went there on a several weeks or months match racing eschedule back in the 70's. I also realize that the Kalitta's have raced down there during the Winter break for several years now, and typically in a car they sold to and shipped to one of the racers down there. None of that was done on a tight schedule where there was hardly any time to get to-and-from in a 2 week timespan and obviously flying would be the ONLY way to get everything there. Just makes very little sense unless the travel expenses were underwritten by someone besides the teams and then there would HAVE TO be open weeks on either side of the event down there.

 

[sharkman]

Formula cars do it all the time and their operations dwarf a NHRA teams!

And so do thier budgets

 

[NHRADeuce]

And so do thier budgets

LOL yeah, that's an understatement. Let's put it this way, you could run at least 10 TF cars on Michael Schumacher's salary alone (the last year he drove it was $50 million). You could literally run an entire field of TF, FC, PS, and PSB and have a couple HUNDRED MILLION left over on a typical F1 budget.

Besides, I heard a rumor that the race after Indy is going to be much closer to home than Australia.

 

[Ma Green]

IMHO, the only way 8 T/F teams could go to Aussieland during the season is to either have a spare car that is sent ahead of time (with tools, spares, etc) or borrow an existing car down there. Another consideration is that during the summer for us, it's their winter. Not the best time to go. Our guys usually went in December/January during their summer, our downtime. And likewise, the Sprint car guys from there come here during their winter there. When our guys used to go down there, they would crate up the cars & equipment right after the World Finals. They generally didn't have them back until after the Winternationals. With all that's involved in getting the equipment and crews back & forth, I just can't believe this is feasible.

 

[vegasnitro]

I say we race in Oz in February and call it the Summer Nationals.

It CAN be done, all it would take is a bunch of Conrad's 747s and/or multiple trips. Run Oz the last weekend of January or the first weekend of February, then come home and run Pomona last weekend of February and Phoenix the next weekend. Then run the rest of the schedule as normal. The only question is who pays Conrad for the freight? There are no free rides ....

If it did ever happen, I would book my ticket the day of the announcement. I have been itching to go to Oz anyway, this would be the icing on the cake.

 

[Suzie Q]

My brother Jim has done it two years in a row for Christmas and it is a lot of work to go there. The already had cars down there so there was no need to ship anything. The problem is that you go to the other side of the world and all they do is work! It would be fine if there was a 1 week break before and after the race so they can at least enjoy the trip!

 

[Toejam]

I say we race in Oz in February and call it the Summer Nationals.

It CAN be done, all it would take is a bunch of Conrad's 747s and/or multiple trips. Run Oz the last weekend of January or the first weekend of February, then come home and run Pomona last weekend of February and Phoenix the next weekend. Then run the rest of the schedule as normal. The only question is who pays Conrad for the freight? There are no free rides ....

If it did ever happen, I would book my ticket the day of the announcement. I have been itching to go to Oz anyway, this would be the icing on the cake.

Sure it can happen, but at what cost? And how many sponsors would pony up? Not Many I bet...

 

[vegasnitro]

Sure it can happen, but at what cost? And how many sponsors would pony up? Not Many I bet...

Just call Tony George to see how much it cost to ship the IRL to Japan for 1 race. Then put together a business plan, consult with air carriers, etc. Get some up front financial commitment from the Aussies, or exchange the title rights to the race for the shipping expense (or a significant percentage thereof). Someone in Oz will pony up to be the title rights sponsor, WSID would kick in some capital (they will make it back just in concessions over 3 days most likely).

Like I said, it CAN be done, it just takes a little more vision and leg work to put together than Compton's Crew are willing to do, so the Aussies are going to have to make the first move to get Compton's attention.

I personally don't think it will happen, but I would love to see it, and I would go to see it.