Feld Entertainment- The death of IHRA Pro classes as we know them.

[Robbie Solesbee]

My wife and I made the trip up to Rockingham today, knowing in our hearts that the rain would cease and we would see racing at The Rock. What we didn't know was how little. Thank God we had a guardian angel. A nice couple, Allen and his lovely wife Mary saw Donna and I walking through the parking lot when she asked if we had tickets. We said no, we had not bought them yet and since we looked like the down to earth folks they like that had two passes left of the four the won in a contest. This what I love racing people. As a whole we are a generous giving crowd and look after each other at events be it coolers when we leave down to making sure blankets remain undisturbed when the occupants are away. But I digress from the matter.

Donna and I left a little disappointed even though we had a good time with SPEED channel as the liked my comical routine of promoting NItro Jam. Our disappointment came when IHRA officials decided the dew point had reached a level for Pro Stock and Pro Mod simply were not going to be able to run. We came to see our hometown team Ed Hoover and owner Paul Trusell make some runs. They ran Top Fuel , the obligatory Jet Truck, and after the fireworks show ,it ended,.We noticed the Funny Cars misisng too. turns out these guys were kicked to the curb before the season started. The Rockingham race is the only one I get to because my job as Media Director at a dirt track in SC and other comitments keep from even having time to keep up with various series. Then I found out the news I did not want to hear.

Next year a company by the name of Feld Entertainment, the Ringling Bros Circus folks, will be running the show and cutting the show to two days. How do you ask? By making the pro classes invitation only and, only eight in each class. Did I also mention these shows will be tailor made by working with track to select the few pro classes that will run and, Top Fuel must be one of them. No wiggle room on that one. The assurance has been made there will be more emphasis on the sportsman classes, but the show will be designed to be over in three hours, Yes, a three hour tour so to speak.

For those of you who are not familiar with Feld Entertainment, you will find this is the last bunch that should EVER be allowed with a 100 mile radius of any drag strip. These are the people who bring you such lame entertainment as Peta's favorite target, Ringling Bros., Barnum and Bailey Circus, Disney on Ice, Disney Live( you know that nauseating High School Musical crap your kids beg you to take them to), Monster Jam, where you watch a few trucks crush cars and Grave Digger always wins, and the punk sport of freestyle motorcross.(they have a few brands of that) So outside of the Sportsman classes and Top Fuel, it's gonna be a crap shoot as to which "tailor made show" you will get to see at the nearest IHRA venue nearest your home.

IHRA was the last organization I thought would ever do this. It has drag racings most hardcore fans. The ones who live for long days at the strip and want to make a weekend of it. The drag racing that gave us Mountain Motor Pro Stocks, Pro Mods, and Top Sportsman. Real balls to the wall racing. And the Pro Classes? How are you going to get sponsorship with a proposal that you might be invited to compete? With a format like that and what it costs to run a team ,they may have trouble coming up with eight teams to invite. With that said, I encourage every one to support your local IHRA track, And maybe, just mayble, IHRA will come to it's senses and give us the all day racing we love. I never hoped I would live to see the day drag racing would become referred to as "motorsports entertainment" Also I encourage you take a look at Feld Entertainments web site. I Googled it to make sure it was the right one. Reading about this group led me to conclusion this is going to be bad, and I mean very bad for the sport. Your conclusion may differ with mine, but at least you can be informed enough to ask yourself whether this will be a bad thing or not. The Pro Stock and Pro Mod teams I talked with tonight are not at all thrilled with this proposal.

[Paul Cuff]

Hi Robbie, we're overlooking the root cause here. Notice that programming is being taken over by "entertainment" groups? Ever see anything get pre-empted by drag racing? Hell if there were a croquet game that ran overtime, the drags would be pre-empted. And, as a one-time competitor, I can tell you the flip side of the coin. If we don't show up, who's the entertainment? Who gets shorted prize money if there aren't a prerequisite number of entries? The promoters whine and cry, but usually collect their money. I appreciate that the normal track operators provide racers with "safe" places to race, along with insurance and safety equipment (hopefully), but at the national, professional level, there is much to be desired. Suppose they gave a race, and nobody came? Let's see how long the promoters and "entertainment" groups last under those circumstances. Until then, I'm afraid competitors and spectators are just at the mercy of greedy promoters.

[Jack Thomas]

Their NHRA wanna be doesn't sem to be working so frm a business stand point they need to try something different. Sportsman racing remains the same. Hopefully it works out for all constituents, pro racers, sportsmen, sponsors and fans.

[Kathy Rizzo]

You know , I wasn't much of an IHRA Fan at all because I always thought that they were way behind in their technology etc.,and also I really don't care for their Safety of the sport either and the Photography on TV is very low budget .... IHRA is a very low budget sanctioning body and has no class at all ...That is my opinion and my honesty about it !!

[Bill Hupp]

Unfortunately Robbie my friend, this is just another symptom of the age we live in. NASCAR, NHRA, all are moving towards making the "show" more important than the "sport".
But it's not their fault really, it is ours. I don't mean you and me personally, or anyone else on sites like this one. But "us" as in the American public. All those stupid "reality" TV shows would not exist if people did not watch.
We have become a people who demand short-attention span, spectacular entertainment, demanding excitement and close finishes, and "real" sport, that which simply wants the best to win, suffers.