Did you pay the fee to race at the national event and then be told on Monday night at 6:30 pm that you will race at Orlando or go home? All we wanted was to make one run on Thursday and race that day. They were more concerned about parking the spectator then the sportsman racer. They do have a road course and parking outside of the facility that

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would have accommodated the racers. They already had our money and they were worried about getting the spectator money. One racer went to the race to check it out and they had so many pros entered. There would have been no parking for us either way.

Once again they spent all the money on upgrading the parking for the spectators instead of working on proper drainage in the swamp they call Gainesville Dragstrip. We rode through the pits on Tuesday evening and there had been no attempt to even bring in gravel and the majority of it was already dried out. We saw this with our own eyes. So take their side, we saw what they didn't do. They oversold the parking area when they accepted all the entry fees from 400 plus sportsman racers. Our friend came in from Denver to watch us race and couldn't get out of his rooms. So he came to Orlando for one day and then went on to Gainesville.

When we were at the World Finals in Norwalk there was over 900 cars and we got dumped on big time by the weather. Bill Bader came around asked what he could do and had gravel hauled in by the truckloads. That is what I call wanting the racers and working with the racers until the very end. That is my opinion for what is worth to you.

Sincerely,
Colleen Ericksmoen

MAJORITY RULES

Your opinion was dead on in this unfortunate situation. OK. So they keep the "sportsman" (not very good sports) at Gainesville and make the Pros go to Orlando. Then consider that at least a minimum of 75% of the paying customer...the spectator, attends a national event to see...the Pros. So NHRA had a choice. They could let a few hundred racers stay and race in Gainesville, so as not to offend them, and make the pros go to Orlando, then announce to the multiple thousands of spectators, that they had to change their plans and go now to Orlando. NHRA was screwed and they knew it. They had no choice but to piss off as few as possible.

Don Richerson
Somerset, Kentucky

JUST WENT HOME

If that was such a great decision why did so many racers feel betrayed upset and decided just to go home. I was one of those racers that had just left Orlando for the div. 2 race and headed to the Gators after eliminations on Sunday. NHRA made the decision that was easiest for them. If you were there you notice the lack of space available for the sportsman racers, not enough for 400 racers. If we had not paid the entry a month in advance do you think we would have been racing at Orlando.

We suggested pitting outside of the original pit area NHRA did not want to here any suggestions. The other thing that upset a lot of racers was the fact that some racers never left Orlando and knew in advance what was going on. But I am proud of the 150 racers that decided not to race at Orlando.

Melvin Lumpkin