10/8/03

An opinion while I have the helmet on...

his month I want to let you see the "other side" of my viewpoint. I normally give my opinions on trends in the sport or things that happen in our sport from the editorial side of things. This month I want to tell you how I see things when I am the participant. In this instance it is about the ET Finals I just attended.

We race at our local track, Cedar Falls Raceway, whenever the schedule permits. We like running IHRA point races, a couple NHRA point races and a couple NHRA national events. After this season I have decided I am just about done with all the above except for a few IHRA divisional races. I guess I have reached the point that I would rather race local bracket events and try to get back to my roots. The travel is fun, albeit not inexpensive anymore, meeting racers from other states has been great, but paying $150.00 to $250.00 to enter a race that pays anywhere from $800.00 to $1200.00 to win has finally struck a nerve with me. Sure, there is contingency money (don't get me started on that again) but overall the entry cost and pit passes are way out of line for such weak programs. I know a lot of racers seem to be addicted to these races and very seldom even go bracket racing. I can respect their decision but I sometimes wonder what has turned them off to bracket racing. After this weekend I may be a lot closer to understanding why they like the atmosphere of a divisional race over a bracket race.

I got the opportunity to attend what will probably be my last ET Finals last weekend. I was really looking forward to being a part of the Cedar Falls Raceway team. It is a unique opportunity to be partners with the guys you race against all year. I have attended 19 ET Finals (I think) starting with the first NHRA Firestone/Centerline series to the 2003 IHRA Division 5 ET Finals. The first ones we went to were mostly time trials, getting familiar with the new track and helping the teammates that had mechanical problems get ready for the big Sunday event. WOW, has that changed! I arrive at the site of the 2003 ET Finals, Cordova Dragway, and after parking in the area for our team I look over the schedule. Friday: One time run, then right into a huge Gambler's Race with the weakest payout I can remember seeing at an ET Finals race. A nine or ten round race that pays back to only the quarter-finals, in Top it was the final 5 racers. This is an insult to the racers. Why did they sign up? You just about have to if you want to get any runs; pretty good scam in my opinion. I would guess 300 cars signed up at $40.00 each. Buybacks were cheap (?) at $25.00 so most racers bought back to get another run down the track. Buybacks alone probably paid 75% of the purse and the track made big profits. More on that later.

Saturday was basically the same thing. There was one time trial in the morning and then a huge gambler's race, again. This time there were no buybacks but the purse was about 50% of what it was the day before. There was supposed to be a big "Racer's Bar-B-Que" after the Saturday gambler race. They started feeding everyone about three hours before the race ended so if you did well in the race you could forget about the "Racer's Bar-B-Que" as the food was long gone. All of this just hit me wrong.

I thought if you invited teams from another track who never race at the site of the ET Finals that Friday should be a day for racers to become familiar with the track, the roll-out, etc. Saturday should have been the special awards day and at least two time runs for those who don't want to enter the gambler race. To be forced into the gambler races just to get some time runs really stinks in my opinion. It also really plays to the local racers winning since they are familiar with the track and weather changes. You sure as heck did not enter this race because the payout was even close to respectable, because it wasn't. I do want to say the payout was not a surprise, it was listed on the flyer for the event. Sunday's race was as expected and the track did a good job getting all the cars run off as quick as possible while announcing team points all the time. The team members all seemed to support each other as they left the pit area and I was proud to be a member of the team from Cedar Falls Raceway.