Should Pro's be seperated from Sportsman

[Rory McNeil]

Originally Posted by jmcarter

For two consecutive National events the PRO's held court by themselves (plus some Alky cars) and not that any sportsmen racers were there to witness it but has anyone heard how the experiment went? Granted, weather was a factor and sure the Lucas Oil competitors were thankful for being able to run their rounds without the track prep(?) for fuel cars. But has anyone heard it was a success from NHRA's perspective? From ESPN's perspective I'm sure they enjoyed the "drama" of shorter turnaround times for the Pros but do the typical fans really enjoy seeing less variety and fewer cars going down the track?

Sad to say, but from my experiances at NHRA National events, the"typical fan" doesn`t care about anything besides Top Fuel and Funny Car. Once the nitro cars run, the stands empiy out quickly, presumably so these "fans" can stand in line to get John Forces autograph, and watch the crews thrash between runs, and hopefully get a facefull of nitro fumes, and jump when the crew chief whacks the throttle during warm up. These are the same fans who almost seem to treat anything below Pro Stock with contempt, and appear to enjoy walking 10 abreast thru the pits and staging lanes, and holding up the cars trying to manuver past them on the way to the staging lanes withut overheating. Of course not all are like that, but many are.