I will say that I'm deadset against combining of classes in any drag racing venue. More classes mean more winners. Fewer classes mean more losers. However, it generally works out that fewer classes means bigger purses for the chosen few that actually do win. I feel it's better to have a large number of winners, not a single big money winner. That's just me though. Having said that though, I can't ignore the fact that many of today's competitors are driven by purses. Big purse = they come. Small purse = they stay away. The fact that their odds of winning any of that purse are next to nil doesn't seem to enter into the equation.
Not scheduling events on the same weekend as each other would be a definite plus for both organizations. I'm not so sure the crossover rules is a big issue. It might help some competitors that are only running in one regional area though, to run in both sanctioning bodies.
Here's a fact that some folks would rather not mention. The breakout classes are the most popular ones at these events. Popular as in they are the ones with the biggest fields. Is there an underlying message if the most popular classes are breakout ones, even at an event where the heads up classes get all the public attention? I've been having a hard time getting the exact numbers breakdown on numbers entered in the breakout classes vs. the heads up classes, because so little specific info is printed about the breakout classes. I'm not trying to drive a wedge between the heads up and breakout classes. Just trying to bring what, by now, ought to be an obvious fact about filling up fields. It's just too expensive to try and campaign a heads up car, except for a very select few. If you want full fields you have to make it at least relatively affordable to compete. Take care. Tom Worthington.
http://www.hotrodder.com/Tom396
Posted on Apr 6, 2000, 3:40 AM from IP address 205.188.197.186