05.11.00

Dear Division Six Top Comp racers:

The management of Budweiser Motorsports Park in Edmonton have expressed an interest in running Top Comp at the upcoming Canadian National Open to be held on June 11, 2000. However, they would like to know how many racers would commit to participating in the program before they make their final commitment to running the class.

In a conversation last week with track manager Diane Thompson, she indicated that the track would need a minimum of eight (8) entries. Obviously the primary concern of the track is the fact that the majority of racers currently participating in this program live either in the lower mainland or in the United States. They need to know who will make the haul to participate.

If you have an interest in participating in this race, I would encourage you to either contact Diane via phone or e-mail. If a minimum number of pre-entries is received they will run the class and will make a confirmation announcement shortly.

Race City Motorsports Park in Calgary is also going to ask for a minimum of 8 pre-entries for their Top Comp program for the August event.

I would ask that you contact these tracks as soon as possible.

Thanks, Chris Blair

 

04.26.00 Boise FMDRS Homepage. RealVideo for 56k avail.

• Pat Austin
• Roger Bateman
• Bucky Austin
• Dan McGlone
• Mike Giuliani
• John Hyland
• Russ Parker
• Mitch Myers
• Clint Thompson
• Forrest LeBlanc
• John Knox
• Tim Nemeth
• Matt Goss

• Mark Hentges
• Dale Carlson
• Steve Federlin
• Duane Shields
• Kim Parker
• Paul Jones
• Ken Rempel
• Gary Anderson

 

03.28.00

Here is the reason for the Wally change...

At a meeting in November all seven DD's met in Pomona to address the policy of awarding the Wally trophy. In many divisions the Wally is only awarded to the 8 categories in the Federal Mogul program and to the Champions at the E.T. Finals. Other division directors, and track operators from other areas, had complained that it kept getting easier to win the awards and were afraid that the "value" and meaning of a Wally was getting diluted (this is an opinion that had also been addressed by longtime racers and track ops in this area).

After some negotiating, arguing and name calling, we agreed to work out a compromise regarding the awarding of Wally's. This policy is as follows:

Federal Mogul Events: Wally's awarded to the eight National categories plus Motorcycle and Top Comp. Additional classes (brackets, Jr. Dragster, etc.) would be awarded a special Division Specific trophy.

National Open Events: Wally's awarded to Stock/Super Stock Combo, Super Gas, Super Comp, Super Street and Top Comp. All other categories will compete for special event trophies with the Provincial Bracket champs claiming a Wally at the end of the year.

E.T. Circuit of Champions: Special event trophies awarded at each of the first four events. Winner of the year end All-Star shootout receives a Wally.

Division Six still provides its bracket racers with more opportunities to win Wally's by far. In 2000 a total of 5 Wally's will be awarded to each racer in Super Pro, Super Pro Bike, Pro, Sportsman and Jr. Dragster (in addition to one Wally for the High School winner). That's a total of 26 Wally's (compared to bracket racers in other divisions who only have one shot per year to claim a trophy). Having a 5-1 advantage seems pretty good.

Cost has nothing to do with this decision. The new trophies I'm presenting at most of the events are actually more expensive than the Wally's. They are a very nice engraved clear acryllic trophy that features the Division Six logo. The first one will be presented this week at Bremerton.

The trophy issue has nothing to do with either Summit or Federal Mogul as this policy was put in place prior to the Summit contract being signed. It has also never been a topic of conversation in any meetings with the group.

While many bracket racers may feel as though we are taking something away from them, this is entirely not true. If you talk to any longtime racer they can remember everything about the first time they won a Wally at a NHRA event. The event was always special, they were racing against the best their division had to offer and the end result was something they will long remember.

One racer last year came up to me after an event where he saw a person in a class with less than eight cars getting his photo taken while holding his Wally and expressed his grief over this very matter. He told me that when he won his first Wally he had to fight off 58 other Super Comp cars (including a couple of former champions) and every pass down the track was a major accomplishment.

I kept his story in mind when I agreed with my fellow DD's that we needed to refocus our attention on the value of awarding that trophy.

Chris Blair
NHRA Championship Drag Racing
E-mail: nhradiv6@worldnet.att.net

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03.21.00

Dear Division Six Racers and fans:
I expected we would receive some questions as to why Calgary did not receive the points race that moved from Seattle. Here is a brief summary to bring you up to date:

In early December I held a meeting with the owner and manager of Race CIty Motorsports Park (Art McKenzie and Lynn Church) and Melvyn Record of the Field Marketing Department. Our meeting was to discuss the possibility of Race City hosting a FMDRS event in the near future.

There were a couple of items that Calgary wanted to address prior to hosting the event in an effort to accomodate 350+ race cars. In addition, we would have to make some adjustments to their existing schedules to accomodate the necessary time for a FMDRS event. We concluded that Calgary would be placed on the priority list for expansion with the FMDRS Series.

When S.I.R. made their decision to not host an event in 2000 we had to look at what would best suite the racers who had already established their vacation schedules, race budgets, etc. With that in mind, Mission was an obvious choice plus it met our goal of taking another event to Canada.

With the largest geographic area of all 7 divisions in NHRA, we cannot make it convenient for every single racer. However, we are making an effort to spread the events around for 2001 to accomodate as many people as possible.

Thanks for your questions, Chris Blair

 

 

Freeway Trailer Sales of Tacoma and the NHRA Northwest Division will debut this new 32' Wells Cargo MotorTrac at the Boise FMDRS event. Mike Rendel and Russell Stevenson wanted to have the best that Wells Cargo has to offer representing Freeway Trailer Sales at all of the Division Six events. As a result they came up with this first of its kind creation.

 

 

 

 

 

Artist Jason Rushforth of Tacoma put the preliminary artwork in place to provide this sneak peak. The Wells Cargo trailer will be custom painted by Bud Arlin and lettered by Division Six Team Member Gord Field. Once pictures are available you will see them here.

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02.14.00 Update: The HH Div. 6 schedule page and Track Listings are now up.

Division Six Supporters:
I just wanted to let everyone know that I will not be attending the Winternationals in Pomona next week. Bergstrom wanted me at home since it was so close to the baby's due date and he didn't want me to miss anything. (I've had a few people who can't believe that I would miss a race as big as Pomona for such a weak reason).

Normally at the National events I make several laps through the pits looking for Division Six racers, trying to act helpful. In addition, this is the first time since the 1997 Winters that Heather isn't working in racer registration and she usually relays to me and helps to solve all of the problems (if any) our guys may experience.

Should any of the Division Six racers encounter anything that needs to be brought to my attention or need help with anything, please give me a call (360-698-3828) from the track and I'll try to help. Jerry Valentine will be at the event (at the tech trailer) and can also assist you if you need anything.

Hopefully everything will work out smoothly and we can sweep every eliminator. I would also ask that you send me an e-mail or give me a call to give me a post event report of your thoughts. Let me know both the strengths and weaknesses that you encountered.

Have a safe trip and I'll see you in Boise.

Sincerely, Chris Blair

P.S. This will be Jerry's first race since the by-pass. Take it easy on him if you do need anything.

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2000 NHRA CHASSIS CERTIFICATION SITES

UPDATED 01/20/99
Division Six Tech Director Jerry Valentine announces Chassis Inspection dates for 2000

Feb. 12 Montana Racer Meeting. Butte Montana at Biggers Transportation
For an appointment contact Bill Biggers (406) 533-0912

Feb. 19 - J&S Motorsports 9720 SW Hilman Wilsonville, Oregon 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Contact Jeff at (503) 682-2165

Feb. 19 - Mission Racer's Meeting Cloverdale Arena Cloverdale, BC 9 a.m. - Noon
No appointment necessary

Feb. 19 Spokane WA. Spokane Community College.
Contact Mike Rice (253) 841 4691 for time and appointment

Feb. 26 Roseburg, Oregon. Kress Bracken CAR QUEST Auto Parts.
Contact Dennis Robinson (541) 673-0963 for time and appointment

March 5 Seattle WA. Seattle Int. Raceway
Contact SIR (253) 631-1550 or Mike Rice (253) 841-4691

March 10/11 - Boise Roadster Show Boise, Idaho Friday evening till dark and Saturday morning
Contact Scott New for appointment: 208-344-0411.

March 18 Woodburn Dragstrip Woodburn OR. 9 to 3 p.m.

April 1 Renegade Raceway. Yakima WA. 10 am to 3 p.m.

Racers in Alberta and Saskatchewan Contact Dave Schaffel for Dates and Locations (306) 373-8148

Chassis may also be certified at any Divisional Event during inspection or if you are not running the event, on Saturday's.

Racers are reminded that all 7.50 and slower rear engine dragsters constructed on or after 1/1/00 must meet SFI specification 2.7. See Jan 22 issue # 1 of National Dragster for a comparison chart between SFI spec 2.7 and existing NHRA chassis specs.

 

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12.8.99 Division Six Sportsman Motorcycle Will Undergo Changes in 2000

Two new changes in Sportsman Motorcycle were recently announced at the NHRA Northwest Division Federal Mogul Drag Racing Series Track Operators Conference. The changes were made after extensive research into the rapidly growing program.

"Sportsman Motorcycle is growing at a rapid pace in the Northwest Division and we have been extremely pleased with the increase in performances of our racers," explained Northwest Director Chris Blair. "While we don't want to fix what isn't broken, these new steps are being taken to insure that the level of competition continues to increase."

The first announcement was a change in the e.t. break for the class. For the last three seasons the class has adhered to a 7.50 - 11.99 range. With fewer and fewer racers dialing-in slower than 11 seconds, it was decided to recognize increased performance. As a result, racers competing in Sportsman Motorcycle will now dial-in between 7.50 and 10.99.

"For many years it was necessary to have the wide e.t. range because we relied on e.t. racers to help fill our shows," continued Blair. "We are now seeing more and more drag bikes built just for our program and fewer and fewer e.t. racers. We hope that the quicker times will encourage more drag bikes from other tours to begin following the Northwest Division tour.

The other changes in the class was in the use of data recorders and on-board computers. Beginning at the first event of 2000, no data recorders or on-board computers will be permitted in Divisional competition.

"Everyone agrees that data recorders and on-board computers had to be eliminated now," said Blair. "Many riders were contemplating the purchase of these items and we had to make a decision that would insure an even level of competition. We wanted to eliminate any gray areas in our rules and put it all in black and white."

 

NHRA Division Six To Debut New Event Format in 2000

Seattle, Wa. Fans and competitors at 2000 NHRA Northwest Division Six Federal Mogul Drag Racing Series events will witness an all new approach to event production when the series kicks off next April in Boise, Idaho. A new event format will raise the entertainment level for the thousands of fans packing the grandstands while also providing racers with better tracing conditions.

"We're not re-inventing the wheel or anything," exxplained Division Director Chris Blair. "We are simply looking at different ways of making our events action packed from start to finish. This new formula breaks away from the way it has been and looks at our races from a fans point of view."

Instead of the traditional NHRA format of running Federal Mogul Dragster and Federal Mogul Funny Cars together every 90 minutes, Division Six events will split classes evenly throughout the schedule. Now fans will be able to witness 250 mile-per-hour, five-second qualifying and elimination passes every hour on the hour.

The typical event format will see Federal Mogul Funny car slated for Noon, 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. The Federal Mogul Dragsters will take to the quarter mile at 1:00, 3:00 and close the show at 5:00 p.m. Federal Mogul Funny Car will be paired with Top Comp throughout the run order and Federal Mogul Dragster will team up with Competition Eliminator to showcase the tour's premiere cars.

At most NHRA Northwest division FMDRS three day events, each class will recieve one qualifying run on Friday (2:00 p.m. for Funny Car and 3:00 p.m. for Dragster), two runs each on Saturday (Noon and 4:00 p.m. for Funny Car and 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. for Dragster) and eliminations on Sunday. At selected two day events drivers will receive all three qualifying runs on Saturday at the same scheduled times as their three rounds of Sunday eliminations.

"Without compromising the basic integrity of the sport, we also need to look at the value of entertainment in our Federal Mogul Drag Racing series events", continued Blair. "People want action and we neeed to be able to give it to them as consistantly as possible. By eliminating the 90 minute-to-2 hour breaks between feature cars we are giving them a reason to stay in their seats and enjoy all of our classes."

The new program met with overwhelming approval from the Division Six track operators and was well received by Federal Mogul racers as well. As a result of the response, Blair decided to implement the program at all six 2000 events instead of testing it at selected races.

"The racers liked the idea because they know it means more consistecy in the pits, more preparation times and less waiting in the staging lanes," continued Blair. "Our racers and track operators also know what it takes to keep the grandstands packed and we are all working together to make 2000 our biggest year ever.