Pinks All Out Epic FAIL in progress.....

Exactly. The tracks don't put butts in the seats, so they have to put cars in the pits. The only way to do that consistently is offering bracket racing.

I think the index classes are a better way to go, and a lot more fun to watch and participate in, but it also cuts car count.

I've done really well racing heads-up classes nationally. As in heads-up, .400 pro tree, first guy to the finish line wins. Those classes start out sort of strong, but always die because of no car count. Why? First off, almost none of the "heads-up or nothing" bellyachers actually have the balls or work ethic to actually field a car. Then as the class gets faster, you get a lot of dropouts from the guys that can't afford it anymore, then more from the guys that can't figure it out, then finally it becomes pointless to travel the country and spend the money to race in a class with 3-5 cars at every event.

Another thing most people don't get is that for a heads-up class you have to have rules, and they have to be close to fair. The more combinations you allow, the harder this is, and no matter what you do, someone's going to be whining, which is going to cause rule changes, which is going to cost time and money for the people doing well under the old rules.

You have to be able to prove your car matches the rules, which means you have to be ready to pull your car apart at the track (sometimes right after you tech in) and put it back together if you want to race.

Rules also make a class cost a lot more to run. The more rules, the more it costs, because you have to think outside the box on how to run faster. Then, it gets into cubic dollars and you're spending thousands to pick up thousandths.

I raced a pretty simple Mustang class at NMRA (Pure Street). 310 max cubic inches. 5 speed or overdrive trans. .500 lift hydraulic roller camshaft. EFI or carb. limited choices for intake or cylinder heads, no power adders, limits on the internals. stock style suspension, 26*10 tire. Those are the basics.

2000 was the first year. Lots of fun. One race we had a 36 car field, but we averaged 16-18 cars. I won one event running 11.70s and set both ends of the national record running 11.40s and 118 mph.

2003 was a good year. Won three races, and made the final at every event but one. Won the national championship. Car was running 10.60s at the fastest, about 128-129 mph. Biggest field was 18 cars, but all others were 10-12. Car launched and was shifted at 8000 RPM. Shortblock cost more than my entire combo from 2000. If your chassis cant pull a 1.39 60' you might as well stay home. After winning two races, tech had me pull the car apart before I was allowed to run in qualifying. Had to pull a head, remove the valves, tear apart a lifter, remove the camshaft, then put it back together to race. Won that race too! ;)

Now the class runs 10.00 to 10-teens. I've heard from the guys that you can't buy a competitive short block for less than 20K (this is a 302 btw). Cars shift at 10K RPM. Class averages 4-5 cars.

So you guys can cry all you want, but I don't see any of you building heads up cars. And as far as crying about someone dialing their turbo controller on the off chance they get in the field....who gives a ****? Racing ain't ever going to be even and it ain't ever going to be fair.

I loved racing in a heads-up series, but I don't have the time or the stomach for the $$ anymore. I'm happy if I can just get to the track, and if Pinks All Out can get you the illusion of a heads-up race without spec fuel, or having to spend $1100 on piston rings, or $1000 on hollow stem intake valves, or $1200 on X-beam stock length rods, or $3800 on a custom billet cryo'd crankshaft that takes 6 months to get *and* they can get 460 cars to show up, then GOD BLESS Rich Christensen's goofy ***.