Fans don't understand racing?
 

I just got done watching David B. racing on Pinks All Out last night.

Some stats from the "arm drop".

33 races shown.
One pair rerun
One red light
One deep stage
Two breakouts(too fast)

The fans seemed to enjoy and UNDERSTAND this.

I think they could understand Stock and Super Stock if someone was willing to announce it properly. I have heard some that do a great job, but i think it could help.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

I think the announcers, particularly people like Alan Reinhart and Leo Taugher, do a great job of announcing and explaining handicapped racing. But fans have got to be willing to listen and think as well. It didn't take me very long to understand comp, and then I was hooked, but I'm still working on the right strategy for comp-that may take forever! And I think the SS/Stk racers have gotten very strategic as well.

And with that new two-car drafting in NASCAR-those guys are going to get very strategic too. That kid on Sunday screwed up the conventional wisdom (if there can be conventional wisdom after only a week) that you are a sitting duck if you are out in front. Pretty soon, the only kind of racing without strategy will be the pros in drag racing-boring!

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Class racing and Bracket racing is like any other sport. You need to know the rules to enjoy it. NHRA showcases the Pros so the average person doesn't understand handicap racing.:( And we all know its not that difficult because we understand it.:eek:

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Absolutely correct....

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Its because we like it and want to understand it. The average person does NOT. They just want to be entertained without using their brain.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

There ya go.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

When marketing to the mass audience the biggest problem with Class Racing is Class Racing. To be inclusive and allow innovation the class system was adopted at the beginning,which we who grew up on it understand and love. To the outsider it all appears as hopeless chaos. The average "race fan" be it oval or drag has only limited to nonexistant technical knowledge and wants the excitement and a winner at the end. They will accept handicap starts but cannot comprehend why a car is disqualified for going too fast. What we love about class racing is the very thing which confuses the potential viewer. The bottom line is most Americans are intellectually lazy and just want to be amused when they turn on the TV .

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

I try to explain this on a frequent basis. The average fan can understand "pro", top fuel, funny car and pro stock, and "index" racing, Pinks All Out or Unleashed because there are two cars they both leave at the same time, unless one car gets a good light, and they race to the finish line. The first one there wins.

What most people don't understand about class racing vs index racing is they are the same type of cars and why one car is a quarter of the way down the track and then the other guy leaves and trys to catch him. When the car that got the head start gets near the finish line he either lets off, "pats the accelerator" or "slams on brakes." In some cases the guy who had the head start and puts on brakes he loses. This is very difficult to explain to the average spectator we understand because we are the ones racing.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

The "INDEX" racing still has the slam the brakes, letting off, pat the gas peddle , etc. but dosent look nearly as bad because of the heads up start. In most cases I have seen on the videos the shutting off is minimal. Makes for better TV and is eaiser to explain to those who are not into what most on here love and are used to. I know most dont like to hear this and what it is but a few short years down the road this could be all you have. If you dont like it and quit there will be plenty of racers and less expensive cars to take your place. The $20,000 stocker engines and $40, 000 + S/S engines will be a thing of the past just to bracket race with as most seem to be against heads up racing by combinning class wt. breaks and transmission types. .

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

pinks all out ain't racing! It WAS a reality television show that took place at a dragstrip and thankfully it is no more!

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

That rubbish("reality"shows) seems to be what a large segment of the populace wants. Give them fast cars,"drama" and the occasional crash and they're happy. Armpit man hit upon an idea that went over with the casual viewer who has little understanding of racing. The ordinary viewer does not know or care why the flagman start was scrapped in the 50's , they just see it as "cool",so we can't expect them to care about sandbagging. Newton Minnow said it best in the 60's "TV is a vast wasteland".

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Most fans do understand racing. They just don't understand what we do! There probably is'nt one of them that has'nt been involved in a race of some kind, somewhere along the way (ie. bike race, foot race, street race) And they have watched racing (ie NASCAR, boats, the Olympics, even NHRA). Where the first guy to the finish line wins...that's racing! The only penalty is if you jump the start, just like all the other types of racing. Everything else is some form of speed contest. The problem is so many classes. It might help to shrink down the classes and add or subtract weight as an equalizer per combination in an effort to make heads-up competition. Heads-up and no breakout is the right stuff....it's real racing!
The problem with real racing is cost, that's why I could never do it. But I can take my little home built 60 Corvette @ .20 under and have a very real chance at putting a 150K (not the same class) program on the trailer in the Eliminator of a National Event. That's what I need to play the game....but to me it's not real racing....but it is practical. And it is a driver contest....It's competition and that's what I like!
As far as folks that can announce/describe handicap racing, Alan R, Leo T, Bob F, and Lewis B, are awsome and a joy to listen to WOW!

Wade Mahaffey

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Wade you are correct about what people conceive as racing.

That is exactly the point I have tried to make. Racing fans understand two line up, two leave at the same time and the first one to the finish line wins. The class eliminations would not make for good tv for the majority of drag racing or any type of racing fans; therefore, ESPN, Fox, who was televising Unleashed and Speed Channel, with Pinks All Out, and the new channel M??, televising the ADRL and the other door slammer races, would not be able to use the time, which is expensive without sponsors, to show class racing that no one understands and would be watching.

"The casual viewer being the only people watching these shows", you might contact the office of SPEED Channel in Charlotte and ask about the viewer numbers. It was not in their plan for the shows to end. Propose a tv show on class racing and outline how the show should be taped and produced and the projected audience. While having the conversation asked them what the TV figures were for the shows everyone hates, you will be REALLY surprised.

Now let's beat up on me again.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Handicap racing is a lot easier to understand than hockey. Go to a hockey game with someone who doesn't know the rules and explain icing or off sides.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

I dont like hockey either. To bad the hockey game gets in the way of a good fight.....LOL.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

My generation (35 under ) for the most part have never been explained to how the "Class Racing " system works. Imagine my surprise the first time pops took me to bracket race!! Or how about the first time I didn't get the "W" light when I knew I was the first across the finish line. I think the avg American who watches TV needs the drama, but explain to them the drama of sitting @ the tree while your competior drives away from you then trying to run him down and win without breaking it out. They may be lazy couch potatoes, but explain to them what's going on. I have seen the few seconds of class racing they show on ESPN , and have had people @ work who really care nothing about class racing say "man did you see that Camaro jump off the ground on tv last night ?" I say the next time some one has a SS/STK race, someone take a video camara and a note pad take down names and rough car info and submit it to somehting like SPEED. I'll being willing to bet that if you put together a promo commerical for a pilot tv show that had several shots of big SS wheel stands or high winding small block stockers people would tune in. IMO just my .02

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

The fans could give a rat's ***** how much you do or do not have in your car,or if my
Gremlin beats a DP or Mustang.They want their eyes blitzed by Forces nitro fumes in the pits (while we're out on the track running)Also his or now Courtney's scribbling on an over priced shirt and of course at least one explosion or car hitting the wall.
What we do on the track doesn't flick their Bic.
We're a stationary car show in the pits when one or more of those torches on wheels
causes a pause in the racing.

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Amen !

Re: Fans don't understand racing?
 

Ed is correct. We aren't fast or loud enough. After the fuel cars we look like slugs going down the track, no matter how high somebody's front end flop up and right back down. Don't make enough noise, nor smell bad enough. We aren't fast or loud enough to be impressive. Some of us just need to get over it.