NHRA Chasing Sportsmen from National Events?

[pab]

There was far from a 10 minute turnaround.
I was in the LAST pair of super gas cars first round at 6:01
I was in the FIRST pair rd 2 at 6:33
Again I was in FIRST pair rd 3 at 7:15
A half hour to fourty five minutes is more than enough time to cool down and get back to the lanes.
Paul Booth
S/G 6164

[H.A.A.C. Racing]

Dave, no offence taken, and I do agree about the schedule thing, but before I complain about it, I have to know what goes on behind closed doors. I just can't believe that (for the most part) as good of a show as NHRA puts on, that they would sit there and jerk our chain on purpose. I've said this before, maybe I am giving NHRA to much credit, maybe I just have not been doing it long enough to get tired of it yet. I have bracket raced for over 10 years, did the "big money" races for 2 and did the .90 thing for 3 and I love it. I guess thats why they make diff. racing, for diff. people.

[ChevyII]

Paul,

Good to see you went a couple of rounds! Taking out Lamb in the first round would have been stellar.

Part of the problem besides the 3 hot lap rounds is traversing Pacific Raceways' road course. This is not Englishtown, Maple Grove, Columbus or Indy and I have been to all of them. The fact NHRA parks sportsmen racers all over the road course and it is fairly narrow, makes driving from your pit spot at the the top end to the staging lanes a nightmare. Dodging other racer's rigs, spectators and keeping the car from getting too hot is a challenge at the best of times. If you have a small problem with the car, you are literally screwed.

I realize this can be a challenge at any of the national event tracks but Pacific Raceway is the worst of the lot!

Mike Ferstl
SG SR 6091

[Rick Bailey]

The problem I see with hot laping is if a person has any kind of mechanical problems........no time to fix.
I was once in this position, @ Midsouths Nat 2nd round I think it was......I broke a planetary gear on the starting line, and my competitor never looked over, yes he broke out. In my case I had till the next day to fix it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not really crazy about all the long waits, (next days) but I think its the lesser of the evil.

Just my 2

Rick

[Jason Kenny]

They've been trying this style of schedule the past couple years at some races. I think the main purpose was to avoid having you race first thing in the morning AND then last thing at night.

I've liked the new format til Seattle, where those who were doubling in Super Comp and Super Gas would have had some issues.

I think it would have worked better if they ran Super Gas in the morning instead of say, Super Stock. Then run Super Stock and Super Comp at night. I would think most doublers are either SGas/SComp or Stock/SStock ... so if they separate them, it might move the show on a little quicker.

But I'd agree with Chris on one issue ... posting the run order the night before, whether online or somewhere at the actual facility, would be a nice touch. They do this most of the time, but there have been a couple races where we went to bed not knowing the next days run order.

[chevy620]

By the looks of the low car turn-outs their plan may be working way to good.
If I remember right, at Denver, there was only 40 some cars in Stock, S/Stock and a few more in Super Classes. That has to be what...about 175 to 200 less than a couple years ago. At $280 each the track is short about $60K in entry fees and crew passes. Less cars is less money...and the bleachers are less than half f ull at almost every NHRA National event.

They may need to rethink where the cash comes from.

I still have never figured out why they don't run Sportsman time runs Friday, No Pros on Friday, Sportsman elims down to 8 or 16 cars on Saturday between qualifying.
Move Pro Qualifying to 6 pm and 9pm so it is at least a decent show to watch. (Nitro in the day....weak!)
Finish off Sportsman between Pro rounds on Sunday.

Must be a lot harder to do that schedule than I think because I sure haven't seen it done that way.

At least then you can offer fans a DECENT Saturday ticket. Two rounds of Nitro at Night racing and a lot of nice Sportsman cars racing on Saturday.

Just an unofficial opinion from an "entry-fee payer".

Jok

[Jason Kenny]

Wouldn't no pro's on Friday kinda hurt the Friday attendance?

10,000 (conservative number?) fans x $40 ticket = $400,000

[GaryGoFast]

Originally Posted by Jason Kenny

Wouldn't no pro's on Friday kinda hurt the Friday attendance?

10,000 (conservative number?) fans x $40 ticket = $400,000

Your right Jason, they wont concede the fri take for the benefit of the racers, it is a business still. But a little common sense would go a long way.

[H.A.A.C. Racing]

yeah look, that no pro's thing on friday will never happen, nor should it. Like Gary said, this is a business!!! I'm guessing 1 out of every 50 people are there to see sportsman racers. You have to give the fans what they want. Were just a filler guys and girls, yes they generate some good money from the sportsman classes, but I don't see bankrupcy in NHRA's future if they did away w/ us @ national events.

[Chris Williams]

Originally Posted by Jason Kenny

I think it would have worked better if they ran Super Gas in the morning instead of say, Super Stock. Then run Super Stock and Super Comp at night. I would think most doublers are either SGas/SComp or Stock/SStock ... so if they separate them, it might move the show on a little quicker.

I asked Reinhart about this when we talked. He said NHRA specifically decided to put S/G and S/C together because there are a number of people who run both (same for Stock and SStock). Their attempt was to make it so that the guys who run both could come in late or go home early. I see the logic, but sure am glad we didn't run both -- we know someone who was and they were really humpin'...

I dunno, I guess I understand what NHRA was trying to do. I just wish they communicated it better. As I said to Alan, they know the Sonoma run order today -- so post it on the internet.