I voted yes.
For years NHRA Championship Drag Racing has been moving away from being a pure sport and moving closer to being a pure business. But that said, let's face it - Most of us who post on here have no earthly idea what sponsor commitments really are. John has a six car team, when you include the A/FD's that Brittney & Courtney drive, and he continues to satisfy and grow sponsors - even in this weak economy. Good for him - that's Capitalism at it's finest. Everyone has the same opportunities out there, but he has mastered it. Do I like where the sport has come? No. But I knew the split second Hight and Force advanced to face each other that Hight was in the Countdown, and so did anyone with half a brain cell. It is what it is.
As for the Pedregon's taking pot-shots at Force and making statements like, "he's manipulating the outcome of the race," or "he's cheating," or whatever... Go back to the thought that we've moved away from being a sport and moved towards pure business. Had Cruz stepped up and beaten John, this would be a non-issue, plain and simple. He had his fate in his own hands and failed to seal the deal - that's got ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with Force vs. Hight and it has nothing to do with business vs. sport. He didn't get it done and then didn't like what was bound to happen as a result. It was easy for Tony to say he didn't lay down for Cruz when they faced each other a few weeks ago. At that point it seemed almost obvious Cruz was going to get in. Had the roles been reversed on Monday, well, we'll never know for sure. Bottom line: Cruz beats Force, this discussion isn't taking place.
The shame is that what was more or less lost in the whole debacle at the top-end was the fact that Ashley laid a whuppin' at both ends of the drag strip on ol' T-Ped for the first time in a long time.
As far as I'm concerned, at the end of the day, regardless of who got in the Clowndown and who didn't, the best Flopper on the grounds on raceday walked away with the trophy on Monday! Nice job, Ashley!!
