Unfinished Business
 

Congrats to Joe Amato for having the best light in the first round (.222). I realize that cutting a light in a relatively slow car isn't easy but man...

Re: Unfinished Business
 

What tree are they using? Likely a pro tree, many drivers had .2XX lights. Ever done a pro tree in a street car? It’s like a Toyota, totally foreign.

Re: Unfinished Business
 

amato came from his run, and was spoolin er up, practicing some digs by our trailer haha

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Looking at the E.T.s, methinks that WJ has been "tinkering".

Re: Unfinished Business
 

15 second Camrys. I hope they're getting paid well.

Re: Unfinished Business
 

I’m sure they are getting paid well.

Re: Unfinished Business
 

Pitiful

Re: Unfinished Business
 

Beyond ridiculous.
Toyota undoubtedly paid a pile of money to NHRA and the legends.
I fully understand without money we’re all in trouble but it just looks stupid reading the results.

Glad I’m not watching it !

Re: Unfinished Business
 

Would not watch it if I was there.

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You`d think Toyota could've provided something a bit quicker then auction them off after the "event".

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This is more RIDICULOUS than I originally thought....Hope the crowd enjoyed the legends PUTTING down the track....Attention NHRA brass....You Are downright CLUELESS !!!!

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The event was sold out and the stands were full for the "Unfinished Business" finals...........

Re: Unfinished Business
 

I did see photos of a packed Gainesville raceway. Very refreshing to see that. The stands being full for the UB finals wouldn’t have anything to do with the final rounds of PRO qualifying running right after them, would it ?? ....

Re: Unfinished Business
 

Toyotas this year and Realotos next, pretty exciting.

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Instead of 14 and 15 second Toyota’s, NHRA has decided to use PEDAL cars next year. The BRASS believes that will allow the LEGENDS more track time....

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Do you suppose they avoided Chris Karamesines who is running his TF car there? Know I would.....

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I have to wonder who this promotion was meant for. "Casual" fans no doubt. Some whiz-bang marketing guy got paid good money to come up with this. Late model domestic muscle cars would have helped. I didn't see it, but I expect it was not unlike watching big league hall of famers playing wiffle ball in Yankee Stadium.

Re: Unfinished Business
 

And what was the pay check for the former champs to make slow passes?

Re: Unfinished Business
 

You think?

The reality is that drag racing is an entertainment industry. Some of us are in it to entertain our selves. Others draw a crowd. Without the revenue that the fans bring the NHRA would go the way that the IHRA has.

Toyota is the official car of the NHRA. What else would they run?
(Based on the reaction times and ET disparity I wouldn't have had them in anything faster.)

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Supras... showcase their new toy and it's capability? I would imagine they run 11's or better and you could have Garlits beating Shirley in a tire smoking pedalfest.

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They could have at least put them in the new Supra....and it's not like Chevrolet, MOPAR, and Ford don't sponsor events and at least provide contingency. But having those legends in a Camry is just plain criminal.

I'm glad NHRA did well with the Gator gate, after all we do want them to succeed, otherwise we're all just bracket racing no matter what letters you've got on the window.

We're on the same track I see Tom; better yet they already have a blue million carbon fiber Supras ready to bolt on NASCAR chassis; it wouldn't have taken that much.

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Gee Darran, I can remember, and it wasn't THAT long ago, when Drag Racing was a competitive sport!

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That much hasn't changed. It's not much different from any other sport in America.

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a dog and pony show would be more exciting,
remember the Never Help Racers Anytime bunch has dumbed down the spectators to belive that anything without nitro aint worth watching

stan Hawes, retired racer and enjoying life with fast street cars

Re: Unfinished Business
 

I hope this "business" is finished after this mockery of drag racing

Re: Unfinished Business
 

Tomorrow, just outside of Glendora....A few NHRA executives will be high fiving each other ....bragging about how Unfinished Business put so many FANS in the seats.....

Re: Unfinished Business
 

so heres an idea,,instead of Toyota daily drivers ,use cars that relate to the drag racer ,, not the factory show down cars but equally prepped cars ,, like colbalts/focuses/neons with factory v8 spec motors, pick a brand ! big inch crate motors set up with efi that the computers are interchange it through out the fleet of cars ,it would be cool to see one of the 4(Toyota,ford,chevy,dodge) step up with a motor/trans package with a chassis builder to build 8 cars the same (yeah here we go with the template issue ,but might be something ) ,, kinda of the iroc series of the past ,automatic cars that are impounded and assigned to drivers at the time of the race with a name change and seat adjustment
say a 11.00 car ,, just thinking out loud ,,thoughts? positive only !

Re: Unfinished Business
 

Equally prepared stock Dodge Challenger 1320 models would have been better.
They run high 11's and low 12's and come with automatics with trans brakes :)

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Good that Toyota is supporting Drag Racing !

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Dan, please explain just how Toyota supporting Drag Racing is or is going to affect me? All that I'm going to see is the year-end profit statement looking good and the B-O-Ds giving themselves another un-deserved raise!

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Did they show that this "Unfinished Business" will be running at other tracks this season?

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It was insanely packed but you could, like all events, tell when the nitro cars were running. Now I figure I'm slightly different than most on this board in that I'm a drag racing fan before I'm a drag racing participant, therefore most of the weekend I could be found at the fence. You can always spot a casual fan, and they were abundant with many "first timers" at the fence with me, they all seemed to play into the Toyota race and the hype associated. The one indicators that I saw that would at least say people loved seeing the "legends", was the 150'-175' line at the Toyota booth for their autographs. One of the "legends" during an interview mentioned they would like more of the same "but with faster cars". I'm not a fan of the Toyota's but I did find myself in a friendly back and fourth with my wife concerning the race and the hype involved... we enjoyed it.

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I really loved the idea of the legends of our sport having a race - but Toyotas? Really? And what is with running the sportsmen final on Saturday night. Talk about a slap in the face.

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I enjoyed watching. Specially Warren and how he squeezed out everything The car had. I think it was "Ace's car that was smoking on every run. Big Daddy is still in great shape and working hard. His car was a Dud though.

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Don’t think the majority of those still in competition saw it as anything but an attempt to beat a lousy weather forecast and avoid having them sitting around most of Sunday and possibly today.

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Rear wheel drive Camaros, Mustangs or Challengers, with moderate stall converters so they can leave in a timely manner off the brakes! Have one of the name shops prepare 9 or 10 carsd (one or two alternates), and dial them in within a couple of hundredths of each other.. It would make for a much more compelling show. If they have to do this.

Re: Unfinished Business
 

I noticed that smoke on Ace's car.

What puzzles me is the e.t. difference from all of those "identical" 4 door family cars.

I could understand a 5 to 8 tenths spread due to production variances and also whether or not the driver power braked the convertor all the way at the line.

But there was over a 2 second spread in e.t. between those cars.
More telling is the mph spread.

If I was one of the drivers and power braked the heck out of it at the line and the best it could run was 17's and others were running mid 14's, I would be ticked.

JMO

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Did the cars have tachs? I wonder if some just left it in drive and/or some tried shifting manually by "feel" or trying different shift points. You'd think that they would at least give them a test session in the cars before "qualifying" just to get acclimated.

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Well, if I was a 'legend' and I was going to be paid to be on national television and didn't want to look like I didn't know what I was doing, I would have done several things:
1. Rented a duplicate car weeks ahead of time and ran the wheels off it in testing.
2. Hired one of numerous sportsman driving school instructors to help me.
3. Deep staged the crap out of it.
4. Matted the throttle trying to get it to react quicker.
5. Shifted it manually to see if I could pick up any ET.

Better yet, I would have hired any one of numerous sportsman racer (who are much older than anyone in this group and still seem to be racing competitively) to stand in for me as a ringer. Pete Kost among others comes to mind.

Re: Unfinished Business
 

Before it's all over, they'll be finishing the sportsmen on Saturday so they can get the Pros, Alcohol, monster trucks, jets, motorcycle daredevils, Benny the Bomb and the TV show done on Sunday. Butts in the seats is job one.