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RICKIE SMITH: WHY DIDN'T I RUN THE SHOOT OUT? SIMPLE, NHRA CHANGED THE FORMAT THE MORNING OF THE EVENT (1 Viewer)

mikebcurve

mikebcurve

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www.competitionplus.com

RICKIE SMITH: WHY DIDN'T I RUN SHOOUT? SIMPLE, NHRA CHANGED THE FORMAT THE MORNING OF THE EVENT | Competition Plus

Rickie Smith said he has raced for 48 years, and what transpired today in advance of the D-Wagon NHRA Pro Modified Shootout is the most unprofessional act of a professional race series he's ever witnessed. It's also the reason why he opted out of the shootout with $10,000 in prize money. With...
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I don’t usually agree with him, but in this case, if his side of the story is true, I do. What were they thinking? Geeez
 
Meh. Strap in and put whoever you draw on the trailer. **** on that TV show as much as you want but it works for them. Hell, I like the callout format for the fuel cars. If they had that for the PM shootout, Rickie definitely would've took it personal and loaded up and went home if Stevie called him out.
 
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While the pro mod series is ran under the NHRA umbrella, no payouts are from NHRA. The racers do pay an entry fee to NHRA and have to be NHRA legal to run but all the purse money comes from outside sources. D Wagon put up some funding to have a special race for the loyal pro mod racers and they should have a say on how it should be done. If between them and the majority of the racers choose to do a chip draw so be it. NHRA probably didn’t care how it was done since they were not the group putting it on. Rickie shouldn’t blame NHRA for it.
I’m sure if the other pro mod racers knew Rickie would boycott the race, they would have 100 percent done it anyway. I’ve had some conversations with several of the current pro mod racers and they aren’t the biggest Rickie Smith fans.
 
In no way can I understand the thinking that it is ok to change the rules of a race once you have arrived to participate. If even one person disagrees with the change it shouldn’t happen. I think Rickie overreacts in a lot of situations but with this one he is right.
 
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mikebcurve said:
Thanks for that Joe. There’s always another side to the story. More than double the value of the purse and that’s a bad thing? Sort of convenient if Rickie intentionally left out that part of the story in his interview. In my opinion it kind of makes Bobby look bad leaving that part out.
Click to expand...


The story was why Rickie sat out. It wasn't about changing the show. I called Rickie and asked why he sat out and he answered, and I wrote it. Lyle's response came out the next day after story had been posted for nearly 12 hours. Yes, if I was writing on why the format changed, yes that would have been bad on me that I didn't get that viewpoint. I wrote the story I pursued.

The only thing Lyle said that didn't agree with my story was that NHRA had nothing to do with it. And, i never said NHRA was instrumental in this. I only followed Rickie's quote. I did, ask for NHRA's input, but never got it unsurprisingly.

And yes Rickie pointed out about the money added to the pot,
"You have a bunch of millionaires out here racing to win and are willing to let an extra $1500 to $2000 dictate what they are going to do," Smith said of the last-minute addition to the purse, which he alleges was enough to change the format.

"Basically, someone got bought off to change the rules; that's what it amounted to. I don't know what NHRA is trying to accomplish here; this isn't grudge racing. It isn't outlaw street racing. If NHRA is going to cater to these people, then what has happened to legal drag racing in the NHRA?
 
Bobby Bennett said:
The story was why Rickie sat out. It wasn't about changing the show. I called Rickie and asked why he sat out and he answered, and I wrote it. Lyle's response came out the next day after story had been posted for nearly 12 hours. Yes, if I was writing on why the format changed, yes that would have been bad on me that I didn't get that viewpoint. I wrote the story I pursued.

The only thing Lyle said that didn't agree with my story was that NHRA had nothing to do with it. And, i never said NHRA was instrumental in this. I only followed Rickie's quote. I did, ask for NHRA's input, but never got it unsurprisingly.

And yes Rickie pointed out about the money added to the pot,
"You have a bunch of millionaires out here racing to win and are willing to let an extra $1500 to $2000 dictate what they are going to do," Smith said of the last-minute addition to the purse, which he alleges was enough to change the format.

"Basically, someone got bought off to change the rules; that's what it amounted to. I don't know what NHRA is trying to accomplish here; this isn't grudge racing. It isn't outlaw street racing. If NHRA is going to cater to these people, then what has happened to legal drag racing in the NHRA?
Click to expand...
Hi Bobby,
Maybe I’m easily confused. The purse increase seems like an important part of story. Lyle’s post says $10,000 and a $7000 D-Wagon added. Rickie’s comment says $1500 to $2000. I didn’t really know what Rickie was referring to. If the added purse was $10,000 plus and Rickie threw the $1500 to $2000 comment at you, shame on him for trying to down play it. If the shoot out was the big deal they were promoting it at $10,000 then the added purse should have been a huge deal. If Rickie truly felt it wasn’t then he had the right to feel that way. I have a feeling many would agree pulling out of the shoot out was a bit extreme. I wasn’t saying you were intentionally incorrect or left anything out, only concerned in the context of the story it could be construed you were at fault for leaving it out.

I have nothing but respect for you and Competition Plus. Just remember, the views and opinions of Michael Burke on nitromater mean absolutely nothing. ✌️Take care
 
Michael, you ARE important to me. :)

Just know this, before I hit the first keystroke on the article, I reached out to NHRA both in text and phone call for clarification. All they had to do was say was this was something we weren't a part of. But, nothing


Bobby
 
Bobby Bennett said:
Michael, you ARE important to me. :)

Just know this, before I hit the first keystroke on the article, I reached out to NHRA both in text and phone call for clarification. All they had to do was say was this was something we weren't a part of. But, nothing


Bobby
Click to expand...
Unfortunately no reply from the NHRA seems to be standard operating procedure.
 
I wouldn't mind hearing some feedback from the other 11 racers.....

Myself, I'm fine with a chip draw; it's used at our local track for just about every class. But everyone knows the procedure; it doesn't change even when some relatively big-money shootouts come to town.

I understand why long ago they went to 1/16, 2/15, 3/14, etc in the NHRA Pro classes or otherwise you risk sending a lot of top cars home in the first round. But in this case I say if your chip pits you against a slower car you got lucky; if you draw a quicker car, better work on your lights and your tuneup. Sounds to me like.....ehh, I'm not in a position to opine on a personal level so I'll refrain.
 
twostep said:
I wouldn't mind hearing some feedback from the other 11 racers.....
Click to expand...

Carl, as I said earlier, my article wasn't about changing the format. It was all about why Rickie Smith didn't want to race the event. The other 11 voted for the chip draw. Smith who was against the change wasn't at the meeting, as he was away at a vet appointment for one of his dogs that got sick.
 
Bobby Bennett said:
Carl, as I said earlier, my article wasn't about changing the format. It was all about why Rickie Smith didn't want to race the event. The other 11 voted for the chip draw. Smith who was against the change wasn't at the meeting, as he was away at a vet appointment for one of his dogs that got sick.
Click to expand...
Your article was just fine, Bobby; I had no problem understanding it at all. I was simply curious as to what the other racers thought about the change, and what they thought about what Smith thought about the change. For a doubling of the purse? You can bet your ass I would have voted for the draw, something I'm used to anyway with no problems.
 
And now after seeing Tricky Ricky winning the PM class, makes me wonder if his emotional talk at the top end was from him kicking himself in the A*s thinking I
could've won it all. LOL
 
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