4 wide totally sucks Bruton Smith

[TooTall999]

How many caught John Force saying " I ain't gonna say if I like it or not". Sounds like he was trying to toe the line and remain politically correct. He did say he thought they should do it in Vegas, but only to give the drivers more experience with it. Easier way would seem to be to eliminate it all together in my opinion!

 

[Huge]

I'm usually not a big fan of two races at the same track in the same year...but because some fans like the 4- wide and some fans don't i'm a little more lenient towards it at Concord because that way everyone gets to choose which race they want to attend. If they don't attend either one then that's on them... because they had a choice.

 

[Jimbo]

I must admit it!!!!!!!!!!!! I also don't care for watching 4-wide drag racing. I also agree there is just to much going on to watch all 4-lanes at the same time.

Just my opinion. Jim Hill

 

[sdwarf36]

Eh-I could take it or leave it--BUT I had a small suprise before the race. Another website I go to (Jalopnik) is all over the map about all things automotive -and a much younger crowd. The posters never talk about NHRA racing- but late last week some posted some videos-talking about how excited he was that he was going-and a couple others replied "best race of the year" "the only one I watch" "went last year-couldn't make it this time". This was all guys in their early 20's (I'm guessing here). Could this be the thing that gets the kids interested? I could give up 1 race on the tour for that.

 

[stitcherbob]

Just about everybody I know that has been there said it is awesome, almost TOO loud! Shakes every fabric of your being, my only problem with 4 wide is there just isn't enough cars! 4 Laps per session and that's it? 25-30 cars would get real interesting!

When Bruton was developing this, maybe he thought TF , PS and FC fields could grow to 32+ car entries like the old days.....that would be a lot of cars during a weekend

 

[Huge]

When Bruton was developing this, maybe he thought TF , PS and FC fields could grow to 32+ car entries like the old days.....that would be a lot of cars during a weekend

It definitely would be a lot of cars but i don't know if he had that in mind or not. I think right now he cares about how many fans are in the seats...and it looked like this weekend was the best crowd Nhra has had this year...so it must be working for him. Maybe his next step will be to try and draw more cars.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

It's growing on me. I'd like to go to that event at least once just to check it out.

Go...... it will rock your world, there is NOTHING like it on earth.

 

[Muddy]

I thought it looked a small crowd on TV. I thought I saw quite a bit of vacant seating. Perhaps I was wrong.

 

[Huge]

I thought it looked a small crowd on TV. I thought I saw quite a bit of vacant seating. Perhaps I was wrong.

It wasn't full but there were people standing down both sides of the track and up on top of the tower, and i'm pretty sure that track has a lot of seats? I had a couple of guys that does the full tour told me it was the largest crowd they have seen this year. If i remember right, Pomona, Vegas, and Gainesville looked pretty light...but i think Phoenix was pretty good.

 

[Muddy]

Attendance at many events some not automotive related remains a problem nationwide.

 

[MHayes]

I thought it looked a small crowd on TV. I thought I saw quite a bit of vacant seating. Perhaps I was wrong.

You really have to take into consideration the size of the grandstands at Z-Max compared to most of the other tracks on the schedule. Those things are huge, so even with the empty seats visible, it was definitely a nice crowd!

 

[cantdrive55]

Just about everybody I know that has been there said it is awesome, almost TOO loud! Shakes every fabric of your being, my only problem with 4 wide is there just isn't enough cars! 4 Laps per session and that's it? 25-30 cars would get real interesting!

Funny you should mention this, as I was watching I thought how it would go over if the 4 Wide could somehow open up to a 32 car show for the Pros. I know it would be challenging to find that many cars/bikes, but I'd think one more round of racing would make people happy.

 

[sammi]

This will really blow up some of your skirts.... I think NHRA needs at least two more "specialty " events to break up the season. How about t/f vs. f/c and pro stock vs pro mod at the same event.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

This will really blow up some of your skirts.... I think NHRA needs at least two more "specialty " events to break up the season. How about t/f vs. f/c and pro stock vs pro mod at the same event.

They already tried that years ago,..... didn't work. (apples & oranges)

 

[SoCal Racer]

You simply can't beat the sound. It echos all over for about 30 seconds after the cars are quiet. There isn't anything louder on earth when all 4 nitro cars make it down at once.

Perhaps, but after attending Deep Purple concerts in the 70's and years of being around nitro cars I can't hear it anyway

I think that would be about the only thing I'd like about 4-wide. I don't like watching it on TV, too much going on at once.

I tried, honestly tried, watching it a couple years ago. It's just a flurry of activity and someone wins, but it's impossible to really "see" the cars or the race. Never watched again - it's the only drag racing on TV that I deliberately miss. Sorry Bruton, drag racing doesn't convert to multiple-cars-abreast. Just glad this debacle is over early in the season, now let's get back to racing!

 

[Muddy]

Funny you should mention this, as I was watching I thought how it would go over if the 4 Wide could somehow open up to a 32 car show for the Pros. I know it would be challenging to find that many cars/bikes, but I'd think one more round of racing would make people happy.

I tried it in person and decided to never never waste the money again. IMO it's the worst race on the circuit although I agree its a nice facility. That race started my disatisfaction with the current drag racing environment, the national events and NHRA. Wouldn't go back if it was 64 cars. Might consider it for 128

 

[Sandman]

Like you guys, I honestly don't see the appeal of 4-wide. Lots of noise, lots of confusion, somebody won, somebody doesn't, move on. I'm a pretty observant guy, but it's so confusing that during Sundays race I would've sworn I saw Blake Alexander win, then after they flashed the results, I was bummed to see it was another black car, don't remember which one, didn't care really. Think it's only confusing for fans? Ask Cruz if it's not chaos for everyone involved at every level...

 

[d'kid]

Never turned on the TV... Smith owns the two closest tracks to here with a N/Event.... which is why I've gone to my last NHRA Nitro show

d'kid

 

[cantdrive55]

Like you guys, I honestly don't see the appeal of 4-wide. Lots of noise, lots of confusion, somebody won, somebody doesn't, move on. I'm a pretty observant guy, but it's so confusing that during Sundays race I would've sworn I saw Blake Alexander win, then after they flashed the results, I was bummed to see it was another black car, don't remember which one, didn't care really. Think it's only confusing for fans? Ask Cruz if it's not chaos for everyone involved at every level...

Where's the confusion? I only see one black car. Cruz was supposed to be in Lane 2 but missed the call.

And, Cruz can only blame himself, decided to make a blower pulley change at the last minute. This was the 5th running of the 4 Wide, if after 5 years you can't figure out how much time you've got until it's your turn then there are no valid excuses.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Funny you should mention this, as I was watching I thought how it would go over if the 4 Wide could somehow open up to a 32 car show for the Pros. I know it would be challenging to find that many cars/bikes, but I'd think one more round of racing would make people happy.

We can't blame low car counts on 4 wide, that's NHRA's fault. You want more cars, drop the 16 car limit. Problem solved.