Nitromater

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Diving lessons?

I hate to see races and championships decided like that. I suppose it's karma for all the help John has given himself or team over the years to have one taken away like that.

From a business standpoint I fully get why dives happen.
As a racer, fan, competitive person and paying customer I absolutely hate to see fake racing. As if the countdown isn't bad enough at chasing me away from racing as the season goes on, knowing I only get to see scripted results makes it even worse.

Yes it's happened for years. Hagan isn't the first and sadly he probably won't be the last. I guess the only positive it that it's only a countdown championship, it's not like those matter anyway.

I agree with you, but NHRA saw this whole Team concept explode in the 90's when Force added a 2nd car with Tony P. Once other teams started forming Force added a 3 and 4th car. NHRA has to own all of this, they allowed this concept to take over the sport!
 
why do you think i picked hagan and force in 'pick the winners'?......both guys have a title on the line and between the two of
them there are 5 blockers......if hagan's teammates ran well and beat him early, michael burke would most likely have won it all.
lets just say i'm really happy both hagan and force made it to the final......any other day i would have been bummed to see capps
up in smoke or tj come up short...... not yesterday.
 
What I immediately thought when I saw Capps, who had one of the more consistent cars the entire weekend, go into shake at the hit of the throttle was an interview ESPN had with Don a while back. Something happened where another team may have taken a dive and he was asked about his thoughts about diving. I don't remember his exact words, but I do remember his position on the matter. He essentially said he would never give team orders and would always ensure his teams were always straight up. In fact, he was pretty animated about the matter.
Listen, diving is part of the sport, like it or not.

Of course he can't admit it, it's against the rules. NHRA created this situation by making such a rule. Let the cars "pass" on a run if they are gonna dive.
Thats what the fan doesn't like, the con job. Keep the "diver" in the pits, let the other take a tree, and either make an easy pass, or get a test run.
I think most fans understand todays racing is big bussiness, and a team sport. We just don't like being fooled.
 
Beckman made an interesting comment yesterday on the track interview. He said regarding "Team orders", that the fans are "TOO Smart" and can figure things out right away. I was there, and I can say Rons car was like a bracket car, running 4.0`s at 11:30 am and 1:30 pm in the heat of the day. Although ALOT of cars were FLYING yesterday, the track was amazing. Fuel cars running 76`s and loosing. Morgan`s car was from a different planet !
 
What no one accusing DSR of sandbagging qualifying, so all of the cars are in the same bracket to facilitate this calculated earning of the championship?

See ya in 80 days
 
I understand the business aspect of it all, but TJ taking the right lane with lane choice is just a blatant disrespect to all NHRA fans, especially the ones that bought a ticket that day. Come on DSR, should have just left it in the pits. If I were Matt, I'd hide that trophy in the back of the closet.

Want to see some unhappy fans, go read all their Facebook pages before they get edited.
 
I suspect Don is reading this thread and will chime in. Maybe he feels it is worth setting the record straight, maybe he will be another poster that has decided this forum is no longer worth it. I get the impression that is what Alan Reinhart did.
 
Speaking of Alan Reinhart, took my oldest daughter (8) to the Finals on Friday. Now all she keeps saying is, "To-----The----Top." Thanks Mr. Reinhart for the great job you do.
 
Tom- I don't think he would be able to comment. The truth would get him in trouble with NHRA and perhaps other sponsors and any twist on it will only anger fans even more. At this point, it's a no-win situation for him. To be honest, it was pretty much a no-win situation that he was faced with at the time of the race too. He's lost championships to Force when these same tactics were used so does he take the high road and go straight up or does diving allow him the exposure and funds he needs to continue operating as many cars as he does for next season and beyond. Like I said before, I fully understand and appreciate the business decision that goes into these calls. The competitor in me hates that it happens.

Twitter, NHRA's facebook page and many message boards are filled with talk of the dives. Not much about the great PS final. Nothing about Tony using the countdown again to win an 8th title or the return of the Harley's to the top. Not the excitement or attention that NHRA wants for it's "playoff" system. While dives have happened for years, the failure that is the countdown allows the opportunity for them to occur even more often. They need to make Don King the spokesperson for the countdown as they both add about the same amount of integrity to the sport. The countdown was supposed to have more repeats of "The Run" instead it has taken us further from that and cheapened many of the championships won since its inception.
 
Tom- I don't think he would be able to comment. The truth would get him in trouble with NHRA and perhaps other sponsors and any twist on it will only anger fans even more. At this point, it's a no-win situation for him. To be honest, it was pretty much a no-win situation that he was faced with at the time of the race too. He's lost championships to Force when these same tactics were used so does he take the high road and go straight up or does diving allow him the exposure and funds he needs to continue operating as many cars as he does for next season and beyond. Like I said before, I fully understand and appreciate the business decision that goes into these calls. The competitor in me hates that it happens.

Twitter, NHRA's facebook page and many message boards are filled with talk of the dives. Not much about the great PS final. Nothing about Tony using the countdown again to win an 8th title or the return of the Harley's to the top. Not the excitement or attention that NHRA wants for it's "playoff" system. While dives have happened for years, the failure that is the countdown allows the opportunity for them to occur even more often. They need to make Don King the spokesperson for the countdown as they both add about the same amount of integrity to the sport. The countdown was supposed to have more repeats of "The Run" instead it has taken us further from that and cheapened many of the championships won since its inception.

The countdown had nothing to do with what decisions were made at the hauler yesterday. Just like it didn't have anything to do when Scelzi's lane choice was overridden to give Bazemore a win in 2003 in Seattle. This was about manipulating the outcome of a race for the title before the two cars even pulled into staging. Not only once, but twice in one day, after telling everyone that he wouldn't ever do that again after getting called out for it (by his own driver) in '03.

Again, the countdown had nothing to do with it. Integrity, however, (or rather the lack of) did.
 
Here's my take on it. Its been happening in all sports even drag racing for years. While I don't like it, I understand it and why it happens and if I could control the outcome of a race that would help me win a championship then I'd absolutely do it. I think the biggest uproar this time is bc it happened to Force, and from someone "The Don" who swears he never does it which is BS bc yesterday is was pretty obvious. Honestly I think the biggest problem is the NHRA's. The same thing I said about Force years ago, I will say about DSR now. BC NHRA "outlawed" it, they cant say they did it. Which in my opinion makes them look worse than anything bc everyone knows they did. I just wish NHRA would let them leave a car in the pits. Is it what we want to see? Absolutely not but NHRA is big business, and you do what you have to do in order to keep the $$$ coming in and feed this habit. BC there aren't a lot of people making $$$ off this sport.
 
Is it what we want to see? Absolutely not but NHRA is big business, and you do what you have to do in order to keep the $$$ coming in and feed this habit. BC there aren't a lot of people making $$$ off this sport.

Remember, NAPA walked away from Mike Waltrip for attempting to manipulate the outcome of a race. And them being on the losing end of the stick in this this deal could mean moving that sponsorship to another team/driver. That would be worth getting a tub of popcorn for.
 
I'll give a pass on the Capps Round 2 deal. Ron didn't have a .2 light or take a hard left/right before the tree. But, TJ and John Collins having lane choice and taking the right lane against Hagan is skeptical. Although Force made it down the right lane and earned lane choice over Hagan for the final. So the right couldn't have been that bad. But to be honest Force needed the win light and a 3.99 or better in that Semi to have any chance at the title. The odds were stacked against him. And had Force not lost the engine in the final, John would've had a nice parting shot for Hagan to think about.
 
Yep, Karma for the Robert Hight deal a few years back! Guess they are even now... so no more diving by either JFR or DSR in the future :) Maybe time to look at some way to limit number of cars for each team in each class? I know this has it's own problems, but a single team controlling 25% of the field is just too much when they obviously are going to pull this kind of stuff.
 

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