NHRA has the biggest national events, right? In terms of spectators, absolutely. In terms of racers, absolutely not.Did you know the average IHRA car count is 49 cars more than the average NHRA national event, averaging 590 cars per event last season? Did you know that not one of those cars pre-registered or was forced to race at a Pro-Am event?
Did you know that the Top 10 IHRA events all had more cars participating than the top 10 NHRA events? Only the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Edmonton (ranked 11th in car count for IHRA) had fewer cars than the NHRA event in Brainerd (ranked 11th in car count for NHRA).How could this be? NHRA’s events are perceived to be the “big races”. Good marketing certainly helps that perception and they are big races, make no mistake. They just are kept at a level that works best for them.
Here are the car count facts from the 11 IHRA events versus the Top 11 NHRA events in 2006:
RACE ENTRIES RACE ENTRIES
Norwalk I 1,002 Indy N 903
Milan I 696 Vegas – Fall 677
US 131 I 669 Joliet N 560
Rockingham-Fall I 610 Gainesville N 551
Maryland I 584 Englishtown N 513
New England I 565 Pomona Finals 493
Rockingham-Spring I 563 Vegas – Spring N 477
Grand Bend I 538 Pomona-Winternats N 458
Toronto I 479 Dallas N 445
San Antonio I 445 Seattle N 439
Edmonton I 339 Brainerd N 439
IHRA has always been and will continue to be focused on its sportsman racing program. The bigger events can be attributed to the simple fact that IHRA wants everyone to have a shot at racing at the national event level. This means no mandatory pre-registration, no mandatory grade-point requirements to meet (attending Pro-Am events) and no class exclusions from the core classes that are contested at national events. You can even drive in and join IHRA on the spot. Best of all, you don’t need to take off a week of work to participate. Friday is the only real day you will need to call in sick to make your qualifying runs.
The freedom and flexibility of racing IHRA national events doesn’t come without a price. To welcome everyone in with the most racer-friendly program in motor sports and to manage nearly 600 cars in a 3-day format means that when you come to an IHRA event, you need to be ready to race. There are not four qualifying sessions, there are two (and they both come on Friday). We believe that you didn’t come to test & tune, you came to race. After all, you can test & tune at your home track for a lot less money. Does that put some pressure on your and you team to perform? Yes, but isn’t it the competitive nature of drag racing and seeing how you stack up against the best sportsman racers in the country the reason you came to the IHRA national event in the first place?
