How do we promote sportsman type racing?

[Festus]

From purely my spectator perspective, Stock and Super Stock are some of the most entertaining classes in drag racing. Diversity of body styles but still cars we recognize, classic cars, great paint jobs, wheelstands, etc. It's probably not as big a deal as you racers think regarding the rules and why guys are on the brakes at the finish and why the faster time sometimes loses. It's the visceral aspects that makes it great. I wouldn't pay to see headsup, street muffled cars because they wouldn't have the sensory assault factor. You just have to find a way to get people there in the first place. Maybe I'm an exception but I think the product sells itself. I agree that lowering ticket prices might help a little but an extra $5 or $10 isn't THAT big a deal. I think an angle of more of a "show" than a "race" would intrigue potential spectators more.

And since it's been mentioned, I'm not the biggest fan of the 0.90 classes. While I can appreciate the technical challenges, watching a 2 second throttle stop and only having the scoreboard tell me who won doesn't really do it. I can't really see the finish line from the starting line so any jockeying that's happening down there gets lost. I remember the first time I saw Super Comp without knowing about the stop, I was thinking how weird it was for the guys to let off the gas after they launch. That didn't seem like real racing to me.

As I mentioned in my first post earlier in this thread, after watching many hundreds of passes, I STILL don't know exactly how Stock and Super Stock works. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Maybe a handout at the track would be useful explaining all the classes. But having that last little piece of knowledge wouldn't change the enjoyment factor for me at all since I'm there for the sights and sounds and not really for the technical aspects. I'd imagine most casual fans would feel the same way.

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by Festus

From purely my spectator perspective, Stock and Super Stock are some of the most entertaining classes in drag racing. Diversity of body styles but still cars we recognize, classic cars, great paint jobs, wheelstands, etc. It's probably not as big a deal as you racers think regarding the rules and why guys are on the brakes at the finish and why the faster time sometimes loses. It's the visceral aspects that makes it great. I wouldn't pay to see headsup, street muffled cars because they wouldn't have the sensory assault factor. You just have to find a way to get people there in the first place. Maybe I'm an exception but I think the product sells itself. I agree that lowering ticket prices might help a little but an extra $5 or $10 isn't THAT big a deal. I think an angle of more of a "show" than a "race" would intrigue potential spectators more.

And since it's been mentioned, I'm not the biggest fan of the 0.90 classes. While I can appreciate the technical challenges, watching a 2 second throttle stop and only having the scoreboard tell me who won doesn't really do it. I can't really see the finish line from the starting line so any jockeying that's happening down there gets lost. I remember the first time I saw Super Comp without knowing about the stop, I was thinking how weird it was for the guys to let off the gas after they launch. That didn't seem like real racing to me.

As I mentioned in my first post earlier in this thread, after watching many hundreds of passes, I STILL don't know exactly how Stock and Super Stock works. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Maybe a handout at the track would be useful explaining all the classes. But having that last little piece of knowledge wouldn't change the enjoyment factor for me at all since I'm there for the sights and sounds and not really for the technical aspects. I'd imagine most casual fans would feel the same way.

Thats one of the great things about this forum. If you have a question about any of the classes on this site all you have to do is join up and start a thread on your subject. The vast majority of the racers on this site will be happy to answer any questions that you have about how the class races and the rules involved.

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by Festus

As I mentioned in my first post earlier in this thread, after watching many hundreds of passes, I STILL don't know exactly how Stock and Super Stock works. Maybe someone can explain it to me. Maybe a handout at the track would be useful explaining all the classes. But having that last little piece of knowledge wouldn't change the enjoyment factor for me at all since I'm there for the sights and sounds and not really for the technical aspects. I'd imagine most casual fans would feel the same way.

Here are some articles I wrote a few years back. Only the first page (or two) have the really important stuff. Take some time to read it, it should be a big help to any novice fans of NHRA/IHRA Sportsan racing.

http://forum.competitionplus.com/showthread.php?t=7224