So, using Matt Smiths logic (1 Viewer)

[ironpony]

Lets see how many hobbyists are racing in the NHRA ranks

Steve Torrence Capco
Billy Torrence Capco
Doug Kalitta Kalitta Air
Jim Head Head Contracting
Matt Hagan steer farmer
Jim Diehl business man
Scott Palmer business man
Luigi Novelli business owner
Pat Dakan business owner
Terry McMillen business owner
Tim Wilkerson
Terry Haddock
Bob Tasca

 

[n/a]

Lets see how many hobbyists are racing in the NHRA ranks

Steve Torrence Capco
Billy Torrence Capco
Doug Kalitta Kalitta Air
Jim Head Head Contracting
Matt Hagan steer farmer
Jim Diehl business man
Scott Palmer business man
Luigi Novelli business owner
Pat Dakan business owner
Terry McMillen business owner
Tim Wilkerson
Terry Haddock
Bob Tasca

Since they are racing in a professional category doesn’t that make them “professional hobbyist”?

 

[Nunz]

Here’s the bottom line: The percentage of actual professionals that either own their ride or drive or both, and make their living doing it, is very small. Meaning, those that actually count on racing to put food on the table. If you add up crew chiefs and all the crew members that run the pro cars, that’s a much bigger number of true pro racers. Back in the days before 24 national events, there were a lot of touring pros, running match races all over the country. That model changed decades ago.

 

[mick]

Lets see how many hobbyists are racing in the NHRA ranks

Steve Torrence Capco
Billy Torrence Capco
Doug Kalitta Kalitta Air
Jim Head Head Contracting
Matt Hagan steer farmer, businessman and son of shelor motor mile
Jeff Diehl business man
Scott Palmer business man
Luigi Novelli business owner
Pat Dakin business owner
Terry McMillen business owner
Tim Wilkerson business owner and friend of LRS owner
Terry Haddock business owner
Bob Tasca lll automotive dealership and aftermarket parts owner
Mike Salinas business owner
Ritchie Crampton fabricator
Jim Campbell business owner

fixed ....... in all seriousness. saw video on facebook recently. not sure if this was during driver intros or what?
but it was matt smith, alan r., and steve johnson all seated on stage in front of fans. this topic was discussed. i'll just say i turned it off after about a minute.
neither racer or nhra is doing anyone any good rehashing this. matt smith was trying to convey an idea and it came out wrong. i'm sure by now matt
regrets the words he chose.

 

[stitcherbob]

Lets see a list of how many billionaires turned into millionaires from drag racing.....

 

[Huge]

Lets see how many hobbyists are racing in the NHRA ranks

Steve Torrence Capco
Billy Torrence Capco
Doug Kalitta Kalitta Air
Jim Head Head Contracting
Matt Hagan steer farmer
Jim Diehl business man
Scott Palmer business man
Luigi Novelli business owner
Pat Dakan business owner
Terry McMillen business owner
Tim Wilkerson
Terry Haddock
Bob Tasca

I would like to ask a couple of honest questions. Who is Jim Diehl and what business is he in and what business is Scott Palmer in? You may want to add the Chicago boys to your list also...the Greek, Bob Bode, Dale Creasy Jr, TJ Zizzo, and Justin Schriefer. I can think of 2 owner drivers off the top of my head that are not hobbyists...John Force and Cruz Pedregon.

 

[Jeff]

Motorsports, essentially all of them, are a poor way to make money and a great way to challenge yourself mentally and be competitive. It's always been that way. For some people, Matt Smith included, its evidently the best way for them to pay the bills, but its growth historically has been on "hobbyist" coming in to have fun with it and show they can compete. Matt made his statement because he felt like he had weight added to his bike because others weren't working as hard as him. It's sorta hard to disagree with him .... the Suzuki ET progress has a hump in it, and Matt feels like they are being given a bit of a free pass while he's trying to work on his stuff.

 

[Nunz]

That’s the tough part about creating parity with different combos. If one combo excels, is it because it has an inherent design advantage, or was it the result of tons of R&D? And if you work hard to catch up, and then actually get ahead of the pack, you’re bound to be penalized. Everything always works it’s way toward the best combination. It happened in the ‘70s with Pro Comp, and it’s happening now in Pro Mod. Nitrous cars are almost a thing of the past.

 

[ironpony]

That’s the tough part about creating parity with different combos. If one combo excels, is it because it has an inherent design advantage, or was it the result of tons of R&D? And if you work hard to catch up, and then actually get ahead of the pack, you’re bound to be penalized. Everything always works it’s way toward the best combination. It happened in the ‘70s with Pro Comp, and it’s happening now in Pro Mod. Nitrous cars are almost a thing of the past.

Or a manufacturer makes a large "donation" and gets rules tailored to their design .............

 

[sammi]

There are a bunch of hobby racers at Galot this weekend trying to win $200,000+ (winner's purse). Those amateurs race 8+ rounds in one day and if they put up a package bigger than 15, they are ducks and go home early.

The top fuel, funny car and motorcycle "professionals" will race for considerably less this weekend. Matt, pray some of those "hobby racers" don't get interested in PSB. Probably won't though, hobby racer money is vastly better than professional money.

 

[stitcherbob]

The days of existing on grilled cheese sandwiches trying to chase your drag racing addiction are over....unless the grill is mounted to the side of your 18 wheeler and mobile shop....

 

[Mike]

Johnson used a very poor example in Penske as a hobby racer. Penske uses Roush/Yates engines because they are part of the factory team like StewartHass and Front Row Motorsports. No different than Joe Gibbs engines coming from TRD.

 

[Jeff]

Your "profession" is whatever you make the money to pay for your standard of living with. Using Matt's logic (which I don't necessarily disagree with) saying you're a professional racer is not necessarily a complement to your ability to make money .... it does show your commitment to drag racing.

My wife is a professional drag racer by his standard. Fortunately, she is married to a hobbyist crew chief. Nothing wrong with either .... but I think my wife has the best deal out there.

 

[TooTall999]

So looking at the Suzuki qualifying passes from last years finals the top 4 Suzuki times were 6.828, 6.835, 6.898, and 6.952. This year at the Gators the top 4 Suzuki times were 6.821, 6.844, 6.869, and 6.938. Matt accused the Suzuki riders of "sandbagging" at the Gators, but the numbers don't show it. The V-twin top 4 at the finals were 6.754, 6.781, 6.789, and 6.826 and at the Gators 6.720, 6.747, 6.753, and 6.784. This does seem to indicate that both Suzuki and v-twin time didn't improve by much over the winter, and that the Suzuki riders are at a disadvantage. Was adding 15 lbs to the v-twins the right call or a knee jerk solution? You decide.

 

[stitcherbob]

Your "profession" is whatever you make the money to pay for your standard of living with. Using Matt's logic (which I don't necessarily disagree with) saying you're a professional racer is not necessarily a complement to your ability to make money .... it does show your commitment to drag racing.

My wife is a professional drag racer by his standard. Fortunately, she is married to a hobbyist crew chief. Nothing wrong with either .... but I think my wife has the best deal out there.

Sounds like she needs to cut you loose and find a pro

 

[Jeff]

Sounds like she needs to cut you loose and find a pro

Except for all of the other niceties of life she appreciates, that is absolutely correct!

Actually, we are working on getting her a TAD license and hopefully an injected nitro ride before we retire from the sport in a handful of years .... not in a rush, but trying to see if we can dip our toes in the heads up waters. I have a pipe dream scenario for this, but I'm a million miles from knowing if that is possible!

 

[stitcherbob]

Hope you two achieve your dreams....injected nitro is cool!

 

[NITRO JUNKIE]

Good luck Jeff!