PINKS vs Class Racing

[Bimbo Jones]

I still don't get it, 400 to 500 cars show up for a 16 or 32 car field. People show with cars that haven't seen a track in years will bust their butts to make these events only not to race the rest of the season at their local tracks. Odds are if your car quicker than 10 seconds and slower than 11.5 seconds you might as well stay home if you are actually wanting to race. So realistically maybe 75 cars have a shot to be in the program. So a lot of racers are paying for a couple of time trials for a chance they might be on TV which usually means you either broke something or hit something. If you just go there with the idea of hanging out and having fun with the whole event then have at it. But if you want to race its about like winning with a lotto ticket. I'll stick to my $60 entry and run for a $1250 win, weekly program for seven rounds of racing in a program that I know I will make. Thanks you very much. But I do like watching the circus on TV.

[mtkawboy]

If they could just get rid of Rich and the idiot radio DJ it would be entertainment but its not stocker racing. Problem is fans dont care about slower stockers. Sorry I love them but its just a fact.

[Mike Carr]

Fun to watch on TV, but I personally will never associate with anything Pinks-related, due to an all time asshole statement on their registration website a few years ago.

[Marine One]

Pinks is a show...welcome to the show...enjoy the show...thanks for coming to the show...

It's kind of like comparing going to Graceland in 1997 to see all of the freaks show up for the big 25 year death anniversary vs. going to a real live Elvis concert in 1971. Both are entertaining; they just attract different crowds is all.

[Hemiparts]

Originally Posted by Gary Smith

Alan you're WAY off!!! Didn't you see I just ran one? Doesn't my money, effort, and time count? I can tell you first hand absolutely NOTHING is orchestrated, pre-planned, rigged, or hidden. Everyone has a fair shot. If anything it's a welcome change from shoe polish racing, which isn't any better. There has been some sandbagging but those guys WILL GET CAUGHT.

My advice is to attend one of these if you can. Rich Christensen has certainly hit on something when he can get ordinary car buffs into the stands to watch our junk run. His logic is common sense, you must have something to sell in order to attract fans. In his case it 's attitude and drama which he can build off the racers, cars, and fans.

There's no way around it. Class racing (even sportsman drag racing in general) in it's present form does not nor ever will have the fan appeal of PINKS format.

I agree when was the last time anyone saw 25,000 people pay $30.00 a head to watch a bunch of class racers ??? my .02

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Hemiparts

I agree when was the last time anyone saw 25,000 people pay $30.00 a head to watch a bunch of class racers ??? my .02

I never said people didn't watch it. I said it was contrived BS and a purely scripted show.

When was the last time you saw Stock or Super Stock promoted to the level that "Pinks" is?

[Gary Smith]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

I never said people didn't watch it. I said it was contrived BS and a purely scripted show.

When was the last time you saw Stock or Super Stock promoted to the level that "Pinks" is?

Alan, it is NOT scripted...get it through your head. I was IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL and assure you it's not scripted!!!

Second, the reason Stock and/or Super Stock HASN'T been promoted to the level of PINKS is for the very reason you're against it. We are a dying breed. If we don't find a way to pump new blood into it our future will be only about the memories.

I'm not saying Rich Christensen is the be-all-and-end-all to our future. But he's a good ambassador to our level of racing and a great start for getting things turned around. To attract new blood we need an audience. To gain an audience it will need to be hyped up. Rich makes it crystal clear he's looking for "candidates" that are willing to be ambassadors and able to promote his cause because that's the only way it can be "sold".

I have been in contact with him since the race and is watching this board. The idea in question would not mean molding S/SS to the PINKS model (for a lack of better words) but molding PINKS around our form of racing, except adding some fan appeal to it. Maybe heads up class run-offs but with arm drops (like the old flag days) with the biggest class field running for the gold. What's in it for us? The contingency support would come back in droves for starters. Individual sponsor support would be easier to secure due to television exposure. How much worse can it be than what we're already working with? What's special about shelling out $400 for the weekend where you first run at 0'dark hundred then get swept under the rug until the pros are done?

I'm sorry for being direct and my ranting, but I think I make a valid point.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Gary Smith

Alan, it is NOT scripted...get it through your head. I was IN THE MIDDLE OF IT ALL and assure you it's not scripted!!!

Second, the reason Stock and/or Super Stock HASN'T been promoted to the level of PINKS is for the very reason you're against it. We are a dying breed. If we don't find a way to pump new blood into it our future will be only about the memories.

I'm not saying Rich Christensen is the be-all-and-end-all to our future. But he's a good ambassador to our level of racing and a great start for getting things turned around. To attract new blood we need an audience. To gain an audience it will need to be hyped up. Rich makes it crystal clear he's looking for "candidates" that are willing to be ambassadors and able to promote his cause because that's the only way it can be "sold".

I have been in contact with him since the race and is watching this board. The idea in question would not mean molding S/SS to the PINKS model (for a lack of better words) but molding PINKS around our form of racing, except adding some fan appeal to it. Maybe heads up class run-offs but with arm drops (like the old flag days) with the biggest class field running for the gold. What's in it for us? The contingency support would come back in droves for starters. Individual sponsor support would be easier to secure due to television exposure. How much worse can it be than what we're already working with? What's special about shelling out $400 for the weekend where you first run at 0'dark hundred then get swept under the rug until the pros are done?

I'm sorry for being direct and my ranting, but I think I make a valid point.

Gary, this is really simple.

Who picks the ET range of the finalists?

Who picks the finalists?

Who picks which of the finalists is the fastest?

Who picks which of the finalists is the slowest?

That's right, Rich and his crew make every one of those decisions and more.

If you enjoy all of that, fine, you go, and you have a good time. I'm not the least bit fooled by it, nor am I interested in it. Enjoy yourself.

Sportsman racing, Stock and Super Stock, can be promoted just fine without all of the silliness. It is easy, but NHRA and IHRA are not interested. The only thing that needs to be changes is how the events are run and promoted. Pinks All Out ain't gonna make that happen.

[Bunkster]

This Christensen character found a niche product to produce.

It is vulgar, ignorant and low-brow. Like MTV, his product is geared towards the pop-culture crowd: Tattoos...baggy pants....backwards ball caps....and belching.

It's as if Larry Flint and Rich Christensen met, and melded crude sexual activity with a ring & pinion: Automotive pornography at its best!

If this is what it's come to, then let's bury the Quadrajet, the M22...the F-series side oiler and the Max Wedge, and remember them in our memory only.

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

Gary, this is really simple.

Who picks the ET range of the finalists?

Who picks the finalists?

Who picks which of the finalists is the fastest?

Who picks which of the finalists is the slowest?

That's right, Rich and his crew make every one of those decisions and more.

If you enjoy all of that, fine, you go, and you have a good time. I'm not the least bit fooled by it, nor am I interested in it. Enjoy yourself.

Sportsman racing, Stock and Super Stock, can be promoted just fine without all of the silliness. It is easy, but NHRA and IHRA are not interested. The only thing that needs to be changes is how the events are run and promoted. Pinks All Out ain't gonna make that happen.

Rich and team pick the 16/32 cars that are closest together. Whatever happens after that, happens. When there are that many cars within a tenth of a second (or less), there's no way of knowing that the 1 or 2 alleged "chosen" ones will even be in the final. Too many things can happen (jump the arm drop, spin, break, get sideways, sleep at the line, etc etc). Just like in Class Eliminations. Anything can happen. Cars that qualify in spots 12-16 in Pro Stock can win on any given day, with a break or two. I guess, Alan, if there are 10-16 cars at Indy in a given class, you can guess the winner and r/u of every class, correctly, 100% of the time?