Do you care at all about the " playoffs?" (8 Viewers)

[PJ]

What's the countdown, I haven't heard of it

Ideally- ditch it all together. Every national event is a playoff. One pass; there's no time out, half time or redo. The playoff is against the very spirit of how we race all year. It's even worse now when we let everyone in who shows up. If someone clinches early, more power to then, Don't we judge some of the all-time greats in part, by seasons where they owned everyone. Snake, Force, Glidden, Bernstein, Schumacher just to name a few. Honestly if it wasn't for running the pick the winners game, I wouldn't know who wins by the end of the season and often don't even watch. I'm not a reality TV fan and the manufactured drama and oversell of it on the coverage just doesn't appeal to me. Not blaming the announcers on that one, it's what they have to push. I will admit it has improved from the first couple of seasons when we had some champs that had no business being there. While the top team still gets robbed, at least it's usually a driver in the top 3 at Indy, that still wins it. It's been a while since we've had a dive to get someone in the playoffs and then win it or drivers who only beat 2 playoff teams and beat up on the non-playoff teams to win it all.

Option-If the powers that be can't admit the error and are hard pressed to keep this then here's an option. Might appease the welfare racing fans while also making the grumpy anti-countdowners like me at least less grumpy....maybe.
Only 8 make the playoffs, they are on one side of the ladder. They can race based on points going into the race which would make qualifying used for testing for race day and earning the little bonus points or they can qualify 1-8 based on time as we do now. I'm fine either way. The other side of the ladder is open to anyone outside the top 8. They would qualify per normal and race their side of the ladder.
Come final round there are no points, it's for prize money and a Wally. We don't need more issues with diving, its part of what makes the C-down bad as there are more....at minimum opportunities, for the need to dive. If people can't trust the honesty of the racing, there is a major issue. It would be great if some type of money was put up for the top points earner of the non-countdown cars. While teams like Hull and Lee don't have the funds to chase championships, winning the consolation and some money might help them out.
Also come final round, you would have a David vs Goliath almost every race. Odds are a few underdogs would get some wins, which is not only always fun but a great way to help them market themselves and in turn hopefully open more opportunities for sponsorships.

See even though I'm very much anti-countdown, I can be reasonable.

 

[Crazy]

The what?

 

[Mike]

Don't like it. The World Championships should be determined on the entire season.

 

[Slowpoke96z28]

The problem goes back to the essence of what drag racing is vs what it originally was. A revenue generating spectator sport was made out of something never meant to be that. In he beginning, every lap stood individually. A spectator does not show up on Sunday and see one race like with other motorsports. They see several individual races, all with their own nuances, stacked together in a sellable manner as best as possible. So one car can technically go forever and not race another car because of how the brackets fall event to event. That makes it nearly (imo) to say "x is the best." The closest we can get is "x is the best based on the way we award points right now." That's always going to leave room for the system to change. The system is artificial to begin with. Having said that, I think the countdown is fine for the way points are awarded now. Hearing people try to do what they can to stay countdown eligible keeps the quality of racing up. If im into the concept of a championship, im going to try harder in the countdown system. Without a countdown system, why even spend the money to pull to a race once the championship is clinched? by pull, i mean the whole expense of the weekend, ie crew, food, consumables like pistons, floaters, etc, diesel for a transporter or two, hotels, and so on. Krista Baldwin i think said it was about 500K for a weekend once it was all said and done. Now imagine a top shelf equipment/personnel team. By Texas for sure, car counts would be in the single digits. Now the product (of the NHRA) starts to suffer. Pretty soon, it'll just be hardcore racers and fans reminiscing about when 300" wb cars did amazing things.

 

[robinjackson]

If one of the Countdown's aims is to excite attention and controversy, it's doing the trick.

'Participation awards'? We don't like short fields, so offer an incentive for racers to attend all races.

 

[Chili]

The problem goes back to the essence of what drag racing is vs what it originally was. A revenue generating spectator sport was made out of something never meant to be that. In he beginning, every lap stood individually. A spectator does not show up on Sunday and see one race like with other motorsports. They see several individual races, all with their own nuances, stacked together in a sellable manner as best as possible. So one car can technically go forever and not race another car because of how the brackets fall event to event. That makes it nearly (imo) to say "x is the best." The closest we can get is "x is the best based on the way we award points right now." That's always going to leave room for the system to change. The system is artificial to begin with. Having said that, I think the countdown is fine for the way points are awarded now. Hearing people try to do what they can to stay countdown eligible keeps the quality of racing up. If im into the concept of a championship, im going to try harder in the countdown system. Without a countdown system, why even spend the money to pull to a race once the championship is clinched? by pull, i mean the whole expense of the weekend, ie crew, food, consumables like pistons, floaters, etc, diesel for a transporter or two, hotels, and so on. Krista Baldwin i think said it was about 500K for a weekend once it was all said and done. Now imagine a top shelf equipment/personnel team. By Texas for sure, car counts would be in the single digits. Now the product (of the NHRA) starts to suffer. Pretty soon, it'll just be hardcore racers and fans reminiscing about when 300" wb cars did amazing things.

I don’t think Krista is spending 500k for a weekend. That would be over 10 millions a season. I talked to a top fuel car owner in Indy about what it would cost to license rent his dragster for an event. To get a license in his car is 10k a pass. 6 passes minimum with no experience. If I had my TAD license first, I could do it in three runs. To run a national event, it would cost 70K. Currently I’m looking for $130,000 in funding if anybody has extra money they want to give away. . The bare minimum it cost to make a pass is $3500.

 

[z28]

The problem goes back to the essence of what drag racing is vs what it originally was. A revenue generating spectator sport was made out of something never meant to be that. In he beginning, every lap stood individually. A spectator does not show up on Sunday and see one race like with other motorsports. They see several individual races, all with their own nuances, stacked together in a sellable manner as best as possible. So one car can technically go forever and not race another car because of how the brackets fall event to event. That makes it nearly (imo) to say "x is the best." The closest we can get is "x is the best based on the way we award points right now." That's always going to leave room for the system to change. The system is artificial to begin with. Having said that, I think the countdown is fine for the way points are awarded now. Hearing people try to do what they can to stay countdown eligible keeps the quality of racing up. If im into the concept of a championship, im going to try harder in the countdown system. Without a countdown system, why even spend the money to pull to a race once the championship is clinched? by pull, i mean the whole expense of the weekend, ie crew, food, consumables like pistons, floaters, etc, diesel for a transporter or two, hotels, and so on. Krista Baldwin i think said it was about 500K for a weekend once it was all said and done. Now imagine a top shelf equipment/personnel team. By Texas for sure, car counts would be in the single digits. Now the product (of the NHRA) starts to suffer. Pretty soon, it'll just be hardcore racers and fans reminiscing about when 300" wb cars did amazing things.

one to many zeros there I believe. More like 50K

 

[mick]

i hate to even keep commenting on this subject, but here it goes.
when you watch a sport during it's 'playoff' period of the season, i think most would agree you watch 'playoff' teams.
nascar puts their playoff cars on the track with everyone else. magically it seems like the last race at homestead always has the top playoff cars battling to the end.
nhra puts their playoff cars on the track with everyone else. magically sometimes it comes down to one run at pomona (last year TF). sometimes it doesn't (capps vs. cruz two years ago)

same points reset after brainerd for everyone who has competed at all during the season. six races to decide top 8. six races for the chance to race to be a champion.
indy becomes first race of countdown to final 8. indy still rewards 1.5 points to start the countdown.
las vegas suddenly has huge drama racing for the 8th and final spot. pomona becomes 8 car shootout for all the marbles.
1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5. 1 thru 4 gets lane choice in first round. crown a champion.
huge drama in vegas. huge drama in pomona ....... season is over for those outside top 8 after vegas.
folks can renegotiate their sponsorship contracts for all races except for pomona finals; maybe a bonus if they race in top 8 for trophy in pomona.

 

[65 Goatboy]

BOBBY BENNETT: ONCE AGAIN, THE CURRENT COUNTDOWN FORMAT MUST GO | Competition Plus

A year ago, I wrote a commentary on the NHRA’s Countdown to the Championship, offering praise and disdain for the so-called playoff format, which has worked precisely as intended over the years. There has been more than one instance of championship battles coming down to the line. I also said...

www.competitionplus.com

 

[Slowpoke96z28]

I don’t think Krista is spending 500k for a weekend. That would be over 10 millions a season. I talked to a top fuel car owner in Indy about what it would cost to license rent his dragster for an event. To get a license in his car is 10k a pass. 6 passes minimum with no experience. If I had my TAD license first, I could do it in three runs. To run a national event, it would cost 70K. Currently I’m looking for $130,000 in funding if anybody has extra money they want to give away. . The bare minimum it cost to make a pass is $3500.

one to many zeros there I believe. More like 50K

Yall are correct. I was a decimal place off. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/MMKyLXnzFv99d8VR/?mibextid=D5vuiz

Took me forever to find it again.

 

[Slowpoke96z28]

i hate to even keep commenting on this subject, but here it goes.
when you watch a sport during it's 'playoff' period of the season, i think most would agree you watch 'playoff' teams.
nascar puts their playoff cars on the track with everyone else. magically it seems like the last race at homestead always has the top playoff cars battling to the end.
nhra puts their playoff cars on the track with everyone else. magically sometimes it comes down to one run at Pomona (last year TF). sometimes it doesn't (Capps vs. Cruz two years ago)

same points reset after Brainerd for everyone who has competed at all during the season. six races to decide top 8. six races for the chance to race to be a champion.
Indy becomes first race of countdown to final 8. Indy still rewards 1.5 points to start the countdown.
Vegas suddenly has huge drama racing for the 8th and final spot. Pomona becomes 8 car shootout for all the marbles.
1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, and 4 vs. 5. 1 thru 4 gets lane choice in first round. crown a champion.
huge drama in Vegas. huge drama in Pomona ....... season is over for those outside top 8 after Vegas.
folks can renegotiate their sponsorship contracts for all races except for Pomona finals; maybe a bonus if they race in top 8 for trophy in Pomona.

If I follow correctly, interesting. How does qualifying work for everyone later in the playoffs?

 

[Joe]

I don’t think Krista is spending 500k for a weekend. That would be over 10 millions a season. I talked to a top fuel car owner in Indy about what it would cost to license rent his dragster for an event. To get a license in his car is 10k a pass. 6 passes minimum with no experience. If I had my TAD license first, I could do it in three runs. To run a national event, it would cost 70K. Currently I’m looking for $130,000 in funding if anybody has extra money they want to give away. . The bare minimum it cost to make a pass is $3500.

Have you thought about riding with Larry Dixon? I think about my rides every day.

 

[SoCal Racer]

Nope. Not a fan. And don't like the stick & ball sports terminology either. Drag racing is a wholly different thing than any of those, and should not be associated with them in the "everymans" thinking. No other sport has the "split second, lose one round, go home, you're done for the weekend, no second chances" intensity of drag racing. The points reset creates only one thing - contrived champions.

 

[Z28LT1]

Only 8 make the playoffs, they are on one side of the ladder. They can race based on points going into the race which would make qualifying used for testing for race day and earning the little bonus points or they can qualify 1-8 based on time as we do now.

I 100% support this, however. what if it were still open to the top 10 and those 10 had to qualify for the top 8 spots in each countdown race for the championship side of the ladder? Either way I'm good, but that could spice it up enough to make it even more interesting.

 

[PJ]

Drag racing playoffs were so highly thought of here, that we weren't able to see the Reading race yesterday in the freaking Motor City

 

[PJ]

I 100% support this, however. what if it were still open to the top 10 and those 10 had to qualify for the top 8 spots in each countdown race for the championship side of the ladder? Either way I'm good, but that could spice it up enough to make it even more interesting.

Would those 2 that don't qualify at all then or move to the consolation bracket?

If not qualifying, then we are 2 more cars short for eliminations.

If they still get to run in consolation side, it shouldn't be for points. Otherwise might teams dive to get into the consolation bracket where 3 round wins would, on paper, be easier.

 

[none]

Prove that one person drove to the track and bought a ticket because of a contrived playoff, who would have stayed home if the points were not artificially reset.

Prove that they didn't

 

[Marchboom]

Nope. Not a fan. And don't like the stick & ball sports terminology either. Drag racing is a wholly different thing than any of those, and should not be associated with them in the "everymans" thinking. No other sport has the "split second, lose one round, go home, you're done for the weekend, no second chances" intensity of drag racing. The points reset creates only one thing - contrived champions.

I agree. I don't know football, basketball, soccer or track & field terms, don't care to know. Austin Prock is not the "#1 seed". Leave that stupid term for tennis. He is the #1 points holder. The announcers assume that we know all the other sport's terms. The stick and ball sports are games. Drag racing is far from a game.

 

[mick]

whichever way you look at this current points system, john force moved three places yesterday
and is now in 3rd place, less than one round out of 2nd place, but 99 points out of 1st place.
antron moved to 2nd place, one point behind ashley.......after his E1 loss to clay @ indy, ant bounces back with big win yesterday.

 

[Z28LT1]

@PJ Sapienza I would think that, for example 18 cars showed up (remember those days?), if they were good enough to make the "B" side of the ladder, then yes the run the other side of the ladder. But if not, then they don't qualify at at all. I would still make the "B" side worth points for anyone. drivers outside of the top 10 currently still accrue points in the countdown, but with the reset, they can't compete for the championship, right? In this case, maybe make the "A" side worth double points or something. I'm spit-balling on points part.

...or bag the whole thing. I've never liked the countdown either.