Don’t they have bigger fish to fry?

ost of you that read this column are aware that I partnered up with Scotty Richardson and started a small race series for bracket racers called the Grassroots Bracket Series. The sole intent of this project was to get local tracks more racers in the pit area and offer local bracket racers a few events where they could race for several thousand dollars to win for an entry fee of about $20.

We scheduled four of these races and do a little promoting of them on different websites, including here on DRO. One of the tracks that is hosting a Grassroots Bracket Series event called me and said the Division Director had called and “warned them” about allowing IHRA or independent racers and race cars into the event if they did not have proper NHRA Competition Licenses and current NHRA chassis certifications.

WTH? Doesn’t NHRA have something better to do with their time and resources than worry about a 100-car bracket race? With thousands of empty seats at their national events I think they have bigger fish to fry than two racers trying to have a $20 entry fee bracket race, right?

They fire this “warning shot” over our heads, the racers’ heads and the track management. The reason is unknown, but let me make a pretty accurate guess on how this works from the standpoint of the NHRA.

The Grassroots Bracket Series is about the racers working in conjunction with the tracks to help grow the sport of bracket racing. (If you are old, like me, you will remember that was originally why the NHRA was founded.) We are not out to replace or damage the NHRA. As a matter of fact we are trying to grow the racer attendance at four different regions across the country in 2011. Because of that we think more people will come to the races and more racers will have the option to join NHRA if that is who sanctions their local track.