Class lane choice etiquette - Page 2

Bruce Noland · 09-03-2012, 09:25 PM

I had my trusty good luck quarter at the ready when my first round opponent appeared. After greeting and shaking hands, I asked if he would like to flip for lanes? He flatly dismissed my request and said the fastest qualifer gets lane choice. What did you say? He said I'm the fastest qualifier and I get lane choice. I ran this through my weary brain for a few seconds and said Okay, what the hell I'm not even in the same zip code with this guy. What difference does it make?

Then a few hours later a good freind said he approached his opponent with the same fastest qualifier gets lane choice statement and was rebuffed. He had to flip for lane choice.

A short time after that, I'm BS'n with some friends and tell them about my first round experience and they say they've never heard of it at an nhra race and scoffed at the idea of rolling over and giving a racer his lane. They said it had been common practice decades ago at IHRA races but IHRA dropped it. The only time the fastest qualifier gets a break in class racing is when there are an odd number of cars in the class and he/she may get a first round bye if all the racers in the class agree.

Now, I want to know where this fastest qualifier stuff came from and decided to scooter on down to the lanes and have a chat with the nhra lane crew. I asked one gentleman who told me that there was no such thing as the fastest qualifier gets to call his/her lane and that all issues are resolved with a coin flip and this included lane choice. A nice guy, but, then he said it looks like you got snookered and returned to his duties.

Don't be snookered - keep a coin in your pocket....and use it!

09-03-2012, 09:25 PM	#1
Bruce Noland VIP Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 1,855 Likes: 83 Liked 444 Times in 145 Posts	Class lane choice etiquette I had my trusty good luck quarter at the ready when my first round opponent appeared. After greeting and shaking hands, I asked if he would like to flip for lanes? He flatly dismissed my request and said the fastest qualifer gets lane choice. What did you say? He said I'm the fastest qualifier and I get lane choice. I ran this through my weary brain for a few seconds and said Okay, what the hell I'm not even in the same zip code with this guy. What difference does it make? Then a few hours later a good freind said he approached his opponent with the same fastest qualifier gets lane choice statement and was rebuffed. He had to flip for lane choice. A short time after that, I'm BS'n with some friends and tell them about my first round experience and they say they've never heard of it at an nhra race and scoffed at the idea of rolling over and giving a racer his lane. They said it had been common practice decades ago at IHRA races but IHRA dropped it. The only time the fastest qualifier gets a break in class racing is when there are an odd number of cars in the class and he/she may get a first round bye if all the racers in the class agree. Now, I want to know where this fastest qualifier stuff came from and decided to scooter on down to the lanes and have a chat with the nhra lane crew. I asked one gentleman who told me that there was no such thing as the fastest qualifier gets to call his/her lane and that all issues are resolved with a coin flip and this included lane choice. A nice guy, but, then he said it looks like you got snookered and returned to his duties. Don't be snookered - keep a coin in your pocket....and use it! __________________ Bruce Noland 1788 STK Last edited by Bruce Noland; 09-03-2012 at 10:41 PM.