2022 Schedule Coming Soon? (2 Viewers)

[jgrigz]

Given the low turnout in the nitro and alcohol classes, I wonder if every race will be 16 car fields or if some will be 8 car?

 

[Chili]

Given the low turnout in the nitro and alcohol classes, I wonder if every race will be 16 car fields or if some will be 8 car?

NHRA has had meetings with the Alky teams about how they can help the class. Cutting it down to an 8 car field only hurts the class. Now the few local guys that do come out will not even qualify. More money is needed to get guys to come out and race. The Mid West Drag racing series pays $10K to win which is more than NHRA. This weekend they had 3 cars show up in Michigan. I’m sure the Reading event plus Division 5 & 7 had races as well which did take a car or two away from that series.

 

[Chili]

Please no St. Louis in October, (see last year) October in St. Louis, we can have the best weather one day the the most miserable the next, Last year Sunday for eliminations were the worst, Monday for testing was nice.

I also think the Charlotte date depends on the NASCAR schedule

Travel wise I think my order makes sense but that is not how things usually go. Weather and other race series do play a factor in their schedule and I did not consider it in mine.

 

[Cliff]

Just FYI. I called Wild Horse and said when can I renew my seat for 2022 race? They said wait until NHRA sends out an e mail, around Sept 15. OK, lessee what happens. I still have my ticket from 2020, the last year they had the race.

 

[Gone Dead Train]

Just FYI. I called Wild Horse and said when can I renew my seat for 2022 race? They said wait until NHRA sends out an e mail, around Sept 15. OK, lessee what happens. I still have my ticket from 2020, the last year they had the race.

Cliff did you go out yesterday for the Div 7 race. The weather looked alright, a little chilly. YIKES
Love the Div races, love the Alky cars

 

[TD5023]

NHRA has had meetings with the Alky teams about how they can help the class. Cutting it down to an 8 car field only hurts the class. Now the few local guys that do come out will not even qualify. More money is needed to get guys to come out and race. The Mid West Drag racing series pays $10K to win which is more than NHRA. This weekend they had 3 cars show up in Michigan. I’m sure the Reading event plus Division 5 & 7 had races as well which did take a car or two away from that series.

The MWDRS payout structure is somewhat flawed. I'm not saying that the NHRA's is great, but it's $1000 to enter and you have to make it to the semis just to get exactly that back,. Even the dropoff from win to runner-up is quite steep: $10,000 to $2500. With such a top-heavy system, they will struggle to attract anyone but the top-flight of funny cars, and it's not a guarantee that they would pick these races over competing ones on the same weekend.

 

[Cliff]

Cliff did you go out yesterday for the Div 7 race. The weather looked alright, a little chilly. YIKES
Love the Div races, love the Alky cars

No I didn't go cuz of the asthma. :-( But I did follow on Drag Race Central. Thought it was sad only 4 cars each in T/AD and TA/FC. What was really interesting to me was that they ran the Regional on Sat only - was supposed to be Sat Q and Sun race. Well, it was really hot and with smaller fields.... I think it was 108 Sat.
Tip of the hat to Drag Race Central. Followed Reading today as well.

 

[Nunz]

I've never understood why the season starts at Pomona, then goes to Phoenix, but then all the way to Gainesville before heading back across the country to Vegas. Seems crazy from a logistics standpoint, why not save everyone a ton of travel costs and do Vegas after AZ before heading east?

 

[ZWeinstein]

No I didn't go cuz of the asthma. :-( But I did follow on Drag Race Central. Thought it was sad only 4 cars each in T/AD and TA/FC. What was really interesting to me was that they ran the Regional on Sat only - was supposed to be Sat Q and Sun race. Well, it was really hot and with smaller fields.... I think it was 108 Sat.
Tip of the hat to Drag Race Central. Followed Reading today as well.

That was the original schedule however by the time the event started Mike Rice made the call to try and finish Saturday which I heard numerous racers appreciated. I am sure the small fields help make that decision (largest classes were Super Comp with 45 and Stock with 40) They also had a break each day from 1-6 which was another really good idea. During the break each day they took a water truck and sprayed down the track which was the first time I've personally seen that at a race.

 

[Dragracer]

I've never understood why the season starts at Pomona, then goes to Phoenix, but then all the way to Gainesville before heading back across the country to Vegas. Seems crazy from a logistics standpoint, why not save everyone a ton of travel costs and do Vegas after AZ before heading east?

Right on. Makes more sense Pomona - Vegas - Phoenix - Gainsville. At one time Vegas was scheduled during the SEMA show. Don't know if it still is.

 

[Chili]

Right on. Makes more sense Pomona - Vegas - Phoenix - Gainsville. At one time Vegas was scheduled during the SEMA show. Don't know if it still is.

Vegas 2 is the weekend prior to SEMA. I agree it does make sense to run the the west coast events together but that would almost force them to push Gainesville back a week or two from its usual date.

 

[ZWeinstein]

I've never understood why the season starts at Pomona, then goes to Phoenix, but then all the way to Gainesville before heading back across the country to Vegas. Seems crazy from a logistics standpoint, why not save everyone a ton of travel costs and do Vegas after AZ before heading east?

The reason is the spring NASCAR race at LVMS is generally held the first weekend in March which is generally a week after the NHRA race in Phoenix.

 

[Professional Fan]

They have already announced the dates for Gainesville for 2022 so they will be doing Pomona-Phoenix-Gainesville at least one more year. Based on Zed's comment, why not Pomona-Phoenix-week off Nascar event-Vegas-Gainesville. The week off would avoid the Nascar event and also avoid starting the season off with three in a row. There used to be a week off between Pomona and Gainesville.

 

[Ramjet]

I've never understood why the season starts at Pomona, then goes to Phoenix, but then all the way to Gainesville before heading back across the country to Vegas. Seems crazy from a logistics standpoint, why not save everyone a ton of travel costs and do Vegas after AZ before heading east?

I think they believe the Venues are so close together they are drawing from basically the same population base and the weather is such that there are not a lot of other choices.

 

[mick]

how the hell was this series at 24 races for a while!? 22 is enough. when houston is gone, topeka should slide to earlier spot in year (which is where it used to be forever)
the western swing has started a week earlier than it used to to accomodate the topeka/brainerd back-2-back weekends

 

[JB3]

I think they believe the Venues are so close together they are drawing from basically the same population base and the weather is such that there are not a lot of other choices.

^^^^^ This mostly is all that needs to be said. Logistics cannot be the only driver of the schedule. 2 things NHRA cannot do and survive is 1) DO NOT compete with themselves and thier member tracks by clumping races in regions too close together and 2) NEVER try to compete with NASCAR in common venues / locations.

How many fans does anyone think would attend more than 1 of those races if they are clumped together on the schedule? You will cannibalize the tracks revenue if this happened. You have to be careful not to expect too much of the fan base. There are only so many spectator $$ to go around.

As well, with the many part time Pro category racers in the SW portion of the country, how many of those do you think would commit to 3 in a row or 3 in 4 weeks? Not all too many so the car counts could get worse instead of at least hold steady. At least in my opinion.

It is a delicate balance. I prefer the way it's currently done and I get. More cost to teams, but without "big crowds" these tracks will not prosper and ultimately we'll all be having a far different discussion over time.

 

[Nunz]

^^^^^ This mostly is all that needs to be said. Logistics cannot be the only driver of the schedule. 2 things NHRA cannot do and survive is 1) DO NOT compete with themselves and thier member tracks by clumping races in regions too close together and 2) NEVER try to compete with NASCAR in common venues / locations.

How many fans does anyone think would attend more than 1 of those races if they are clumped together on the schedule? You will cannibalize the tracks revenue if this happened. You have to be careful not to expect too much of the fan base. There are only so many spectator $$ to go around.

As well, with the many part time Pro category racers in the SW portion of the country, how many of those do you think would commit to 3 in a row or 3 in 4 weeks? Not all too many so the car counts could get worse instead of at least hold steady. At least in my opinion.

It is a delicate balance. I prefer the way it's currently done and I get. More cost to teams, but without "big crowds" these tracks will not prosper and ultimately we'll all be having a far different discussion over time.

Good post, I never really thought about the fact that while Pomona-AZ-Vegas is a dream for the racers, it certainly could dilute the fan base with too many national events too close geographically and calendar wise.

 

[ol21stud]

There are numerous details NHRA has to look at when scheduling any NHRA National Event.
What is happening within 300 miles of the track that can hurt the draw of drag race fans?
What other events could fill up the local hotels and campgrounds on the same weekend?
What is the history of bad weather that weekend? Too cold, too hot, too wet, too windy?
Are there any NHRA National Events OR Divisional Races within 6 weeks before the proposed date? (This can reduce both car count and spectator finances.)
Before IHRA self destructed, their events would still eliminate spectators who could attend an IHRA race at a track like Memphis and then that 100 mile radius of spectators would not either be able to afford or not drive the 200-300 miles to the St. Louis race.
Every NHRA National event track has the same issues. They all have something within their drive distance that can hurt their event that has to be looked at and it doesn't have to be drag racing. NHRA doesn't hold a National Event on World Series Weekend or Super Bowl Sunday for a reason.
In the mid 1990's the Gators had a major rainout and it was rescheduled for the following weekend. But the hotels were full because of some tennis tournament that their spectators had already booked up. (The closest hotel room we could find was 23 miles away in Starke, FL.) Scheduling is a tough job!

 

[jgrigz]

I once heard that SGMP would possibly get the Southern Nationals race. Any info on that possibilit?

 

[TSK]

Is the race at Wild Horse going to happen?
My wife and I are already making plans to go to the race if it runs. I've got a sister in Phoenix and I may be able to get her and her husband to go to Friday qualifying.