U.S. Nationals schedule

[Nick Heath]

Originally Posted by Todd Hoven

More races with no tech? This is better? Big deal it’s a 5 day race. If things don’t go well for someone, you literally can show up on Wednesday and be going home on Thursday morning. WTF? Why does the Allstars race have to be run at Indy? Who’s idea in the NHRA was this no tech to save time deal? The experience of racing Indy has been watered down. Basically it’s a glorified points race now. Pretty disappointing. But at least the parking situation is better.

Todd, you nailed it. I've been thinking about this since I saw the thread last night - and I haven't been able to summarize my thoughts any better than this.

I wouldn't give NHRA much credit for fixing the parking situation. Imagine this year turned out like 2019 (where no cars went down the track until ~2:30pm) - some racers would be going into round 1 eliminations on Thursday with potentially zero or only one rushed time trial. There might actually be a revolt.

The saddest part isn't just this schedule - it's the fact that once NHRA pulls off this year's iteration of the "U.S. Nationals" - it will become the normal procedure at Indy.

Just like no/limited tech inspection became normal.
Just like no/limited teardowns became normal.
Just like no class eliminations at national events became normal.
Just like starting the event on Thursday and running round 1 the same day became normal.
Just like quotas became normal.
Just like needing 8+ grade points to run a national event became normal.