Who says "A hauler never won a race?"

[Returning to Dirt]

https://insidedirtracing.com/who-says-a-hauler-has-never-won-a-race/

Haulers may not actually win races but they may represent what does win races nowadays.

[Hoosier]

Proposed rule: retail price of hauler cannot exceed the biggest purse won by driver.

[Krooser]

I'm OK then... paid $100.00 for my trailer project.

[93Nelson]

Who cares how we get there. We just want to go in circles.

[lazyifoto]

Racers that show up with open trailers should be given free admission for two people or no entry fee for the race as open trailers let the public see a type of race car most have never seen before..
This is the kind of thing that generates interest in our sport.

[Matt49]

More rules...just what the sport needs. Every time more stupid rules are added, the sport dies a little bit more, and contrary to popular belief, NO rule put in place in the name of saving racers money has EVER saved a racer money.
If there is going to be a limit to the size of the hauler, I quit on sheer principal. Sounds like something California would come up with along with their straw and water regulations. Get real, people!

[Mason87]

Who cares what they come in on, I seen a guy run 4cyl and had a big hauler you would see on tour.

[MC92]

I feel like I wasted 5 min of my life reading that article. I don’t know why but it feels like somebody just ran out of stuff to write about and thought of that. An article about why tires are round would be an equally important article.

[Kwd1253]

^^^ kind of agree to that. They could of talk to guys get lot input on open trailer locals how they like them vs. Box haulers vs. Big rig haulers on how much they needed traveling far from the shop.

Dod article on Tmac was good. How he only had enough room for one car trying jam in tools, equipment and tires.

[Josh Bayko]

Why doesn't Tim just go get his CDL?

[zach51]

I hate to say anything bad about guys writing articles on dirt racing, but I had the same thought. Read the whole thing and learned nothing.

The asphalt track here in Pensacola last year started offering an extra $100 or something to win for guys showing up on an open trailer. The only problem was, guys would start bringing the cars to the track in the enclosed trailer, unload it in the parking lot or down the street onto an open trailer, and then they'd bring their enclosed with all the parts and pit carts and stuff and park it right next to the open trailer in the pits. So that backfired a bit.

[Stefan2k4]

Isn't there already a DOT limit on the size of haulers? I think it's something like 53'. The reason I say thiis is a few years ago several NHRA top fuel teams had a problem with this in California. Apparently a few teams had modified their trailers a bit in a way that pushed them slightly past this limit. California suddenly, for some reason, decided to start enforcing this and targeted the Top Fuel teams specifically. I distinctly remember Steve Torrence's team had an issue with this and wasn't able to make it to Pomona that year. Anyway, it would seem kinda useless for sanctioning bodies to start imposing limits if the DOT already has one in place.

The only problem was, guys would start bringing the cars to the track in the enclosed trailer, unload it in the parking lot or down the street onto an open trailer, and then they'd bring their enclosed with all the parts and pit carts and stuff and park it right next to the open trailer in the pits. So that backfired a bit.

In drag racing a lot teams have hospitality trailers. They will park these right next to their car haulers and set up tents with tables and chairs where they will entertain representatives of their sponsors. Maybe some of the larger late model teams need to start thinking about this. It could be a good way to attract bigger sponsor into the sport. Maybe Bloomer should get a hospitality trailer and some tents and invite the Cat Spot people to the world 100. What we need to think about is growing the sport, not shrinking it.

[zach51]

^^^I like this idea. Hospitality tent with a slip-n-slide

[Stefan2k4]

That's a good one Zach! However, seriously, this is a way for teams to attract sponsors and generate additional revenue. In fact, some teams even have resorted to selling VIP tickets. I don't want to post a link because I don't know whether it would violate the forum policies to post links to an ebay auction. However, for an example of what I'm talking about, go to ebay and search for "NHRA VIP Experience with Don Schumacher Racing". For 600 bucks anybody can enjoy being a guest of Don Schumacher racing at the track of their choice and get to be up close and personal with the team, driver, and car. If dirt Late model drivers would start thinking outside the box like this instead of whining, they could come up with ways to sell the sport better to the public.

[zach51]

It's a grand idea, but it's easier for the drivers to be more personable and approachable in NHRA during the event because they don't work on the car and only race once every couple of hours so they have time to hob-nob. Most DLM drivers are also part of their own crew and don't just stand around between runs until it is time to go again. Also the NHRA teams have tons of employees that handle sitting up and running all the hospitality stuff. Less than 1% of DLM teams could even have a pipedream about being able to hire a bunch of people to do all of that stuff. Plus, space in the pits is limited most places, not a ton of room to be sitting up big tents and what not.

I like the idea, and it might be the wave of the future, I just don't think there are maybe more than 5-6 teams that could pull it off. A lot of resources needed to do all of that stuff. And frankly, most of the drivers just don't seem to have all that great of a personality. I don't think I'd want to hang out with 99% of them for more than 30 minutes.