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For The Maters: Current State of Drag Racing (1 Viewer)

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So I found three different questions in the thread, and here is my weak ass attempt at answering them:

Why haven't I been to many races lately:

Because in January I went back to school to grab a double bachelors in Computer Science and Game Simulation Programming. I already had most of the units, and all I needed were the core reqs for the major. As soon as I get this piece knocked out, I can begin working on my PHD in Artificial Intellegence programming. I have also been developing some software for the Nitro category that has just cleared the Alpha and is now in Beta. That's all I'll say about that. But in a nutshell, working with some unannounced sponsors and school have kept me away from the track. I hope to make Dallas, Vegas and Pomona.

What do I think about the new points system for Drag Racing?

I think that if NHRA would have asked me to brainstorm on some ideas for compelling television, I would have been doing well to come up with this one. NHRA understands something about mainstream media, and that is people really like reality tv and a compelling story. Do the fans want to see Alan Johnson tie up the championship by Indy? Not according to the ratings. I think that this may be a way to increase current interest, and add alot of new interest. So from a marketing perspective, roll the dice. Lets give it a shot and see what happens. Change isn't always a bad thing. Gain doesn't come without some minimal amount of risk. Now, I say this hoping that Baca is in the top eight next year at race 17 (grin). If we're not, then replace the above with the following:

"This points change is the biggest crock since Michael Jackson claimed he was dating Presilla Presley. Give me a break. Which Frigtard over at NHRA came up with this nugget? I want to send him a box of dog crap. Well, I guess while the Top Eight go on, we'll be down at the Steak and Shake doing burnouts for burgers. Baca hasn't come out of his house in two weeks. Im starting to worry about him. I called him yesterday, and he mumbled something about not being able to talk during Hollywood Squares and then hung up on me. Well, there's always next seasion."


So what do you think about this Bazemore dealio?

I think that we don't know both sides of the story, and probably never will. I will show you part of my hand, and say that I like Bazemore. He is a high energy Type A personality that wears it all on his sleeve. Now, some people think this is really annoying, but my old man was the same way before the Atkins diet removed his will to live (Just kidding pop.) According to The Don, he and Baze had an understanding that now was the time to put Jack in the car based on Skoal Showdown points. And also, Whit told him he had other offers. I say let the dust settle and we'll see what is what. As for getting on Don's case about the decision, who cares what he is thinking? The guy has a pretty solid track record for assembling top cabin race teams. And besides, his decisions don't affect me a bit. I know he owns the team, its his perrogative and he didn't put Ronald McDonald in the car. He didn't put the lead singer from Poison in the car. This would have pissed me off. But Jack might be bringing a sponsor, Whit may actually WANT to move on, who knows. Don't pay it too much mind. Grab a jacket, put your dog on a leash and walk him to the park. You're reading the Mater too much. <smirk>

Hope that helps!!

Mike Henkelman
 
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Mike, I'll be starting an Ennis Mater Meeting thread soon. If you go, you must track me down and say 'hi'! I'll be there Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday.
 
Nice to see you are back posting. No materr what anybody says you are still one funny mo fo. :D
 
'compelling television'

compelling to whom? those of us on this board don't miss a race if we can help it. we bitch and moan if major league tiddlywinks postpones our broadcast. we watch drag racing because we love it for it's own sake.
they could cancel the points race tomorrow and we'd still watch.

the people who don't watch still aren't going to care. those of us who already do are going to know the wrong guy won when that happens, and it WILL.

it's just stupid Mike. the suits are living in a dream world.
 
Registered member said:
'compelling television'

compelling to whom? those of us on this board don't miss a race if we can help it. we bitch and moan if major league tiddlywinks postpones our broadcast. we watch drag racing because we love it for it's own sake.
they could cancel the points race tomorrow and we'd still watch.

the people who don't watch still aren't going to care. those of us who already do are going to know the wrong guy won when that happens, and it WILL.

it's just stupid Mike. the suits are living in a dream world.
Click to expand...

Some good points here Bob. I for one get the overwhelming urge to storm ESPN headquarters with 400 fans and lit torches everytime we are superceded by Kindergarden Volleyball, Midgit Wrestling, Chicken Poker or whatever the latest show running behind is. So I totally hear you there. On a positive note, I think that in the history of Drag Racing, we have never had a broadcast with kind of quality we have today. Mike Dunn is an amazing sportscaster, Marty is great too, and they are starting to chase stories in the pits. These are some great things to be added in to the fold.

As for the points, consider this: The biggest sport (marketing wise) is NFL FootBall. When Bill France wanted to grow Nascar, he had a meeting with his staff and said "Your business model is Monday Night Football. We want to compete with something of that magnitude." The mechanics say that a team with a record of say...9-7 can make it to a wildcard game. If they win the wild card, they are in the same position to win the SuperBowl as a team that is 16-0. Once you make it to this "Final Eight" we battle it out to the final four, then the final two, and decide the winner. It makes it possible for any team to win.

Now, I honestly don't know how this is going to go in Drag Racing. But I am curious as hell to find out. It may or may not be fair to the teams. We'll have to see. But it's going to create some drama, I can promise you that. And if you don't think drama is good, that is totally understandable. We have always had a great sport, and it is natural to fear any changes to something that already works well. But drama DOES create new viewers because it creates good stories. News outlets cover good dramatic stories. And when you have a car number 9 in the points that goes a few rounds at race 17, bumping them up to eighth, and then that car gets a late season stride and makes the final four and has a serious chance at winning it all it will make great television.

I'm not sure if it's a win or not, but NHRA hasn't been eager to try anything new in a while. Let's give them some room to experiment a bit, because I like seeing them start some solid threads of original thinking. We don't know, this may be the coolest thing to happen in the sport in the last 25 years. It also may suck. But if it does, know that they are going to watch it closely and would probably change it back if that was the case.

Just my .02 cents.

Mike

PS: Oh and Kelly, I'd love to meet you in Dallas. Anyone who rolls with Cappy is coolio in my book.
 
You've got my vote Mike. I'm interested on your take on the new points deal for 2007.

And I also agree with your take on Shoe in Pro Stock. That's the closest field in drag racing. I love it!
 
Registered member said:
Some good points here Bob. I for one get the overwhelming urge to storm ESPN headquarters with 400 fans and lit torches everytime we are superceded by Kindergarden Volleyball, Midgit Wrestling, Chicken Poker or whatever the latest show running behind is. So I totally hear you there. On a positive note, I think that in the history of Drag Racing, we have never had a broadcast with kind of quality we have today. Mike Dunn is an amazing sportscaster, Marty is great too, and they are starting to chase stories in the pits. These are some great things to be added in to the fold.

As for the points, consider this: The biggest sport (marketing wise) is NFL FootBall. When Bill France wanted to grow Nascar, he had a meeting with his staff and said "Your business model is Monday Night Football. We want to compete with something of that magnitude." The mechanics say that a team with a record of say...9-7 can make it to a wildcard game. If they win the wild card, they are in the same position to win the SuperBowl as a team that is 16-0. Once you make it to this "Final Eight" we battle it out to the final four, then the final two, and decide the winner. It makes it possible for any team to win.

Now, I honestly don't know how this is going to go in Drag Racing. But I am curious as hell to find out. It may or may not be fair to the teams. We'll have to see. But it's going to create some drama, I can promise you that. And if you don't think drama is good, that is totally understandable. We have always had a great sport, and it is natural to fear any changes to something that already works well. But drama DOES create new viewers because it creates good stories. News outlets cover good dramatic stories. And when you have a car number 9 in the points that goes a few rounds at race 17, bumping them up to eighth, and then that car gets a late season stride and makes the final four and has a serious chance at winning it all it will make great television.

I'm not sure if it's a win or not, but NHRA hasn't been eager to try anything new in a while. Let's give them some room to experiment a bit, because I like seeing them start some solid threads of original thinking. We don't know, this may be the coolest thing to happen in the sport in the last 25 years. It also may suck. But if it does, know that they are going to watch it closely and would probably change it back if that was the case.

Just my .02 cents.

Mike

PS: Oh and Kelly, I'd love to meet you in Dallas. Anyone who rolls with Cappy is coolio in my book.
Click to expand...


the last thing I want to do is be argumentative with you cuz you seem like a good guy. so i'll try not to be:cool:

but managers 'change it back'

managers never admit mistakes. they just move on to another assignment.
and the next one to come along has his or her own brilliant idea.
in 24 years working for the death star and big blue, I've never seen a manager admit they were wrong.

what is the yardstick for this system? if the ratings don't go up, does that mean istfailed? if they do , would they have anyway?

you are correct, coverage of drag racing is the best it's ever been. mike and marty are like buck and morgan if you ask me. and I heard paul pages voice on 'driving force ' a few times and no matter what anyone here has to say , the guy has a recognizable voice in the motorsports world from years of indy500 coverage and it was good to hear him .

I don't see this ever being changed back, and I find the arguments that it is necessary thin. we have an amazing points race this year, we had an amazing points race last year, and it wasn't long ago tony p won the title in the final round of the final race of the year, racing his boss.

I think nhra is going to find they cannot manufacture that kind of drama.

I wonder if anyone read my suggestions for this system. at least segregate those 8 cars in the playoffs and have them fight it out amongst themselves.

if you want a playoff, make it a playoff.
i don't know if you read that thread but I 'd love to know what you think.
 


Question for Mike:

If the NHRA wants to produce closer racing for the TV productions (And the fans in the stands.) if they wanto to control parts breakage to minimize downtime for track clean-up and to control costs for the teams, if they want to create safer cars (once again, through minimized engine explosions.), and I'm assuming they DO want to do all things things, then why don't they allow traction control devices on the cars?

<Folding arms and quietly waiting for the posts telling me some cars already have them.>
 
Hey Bob, point in the direction of that thread so I can check it out. I'm curious what your thoughts are.

As for traction control, I want to start by quantifying this as pure speculation. For the real reasons that NHRA makes these kinds of technical decisions, you would really have to get it from source.

That said, my seat of the pants response to things like traction control is that it is a technology based solution. I think NHRA makes it a habit of staying away from "decision making" technology because when this pandoras box gets opened, it becomes a "Who has the most money" kind of thing. I think that NHRA tries to keep parity in the sport, and also keep the costs from running away. Look at what happens when technology is allowed in to sports like Formula One. 400 million dollar budgets to develop proprietary devices that are probably superior to some of the space shuttles. Now, if NHRA were to say "Traction Control is allowed at race tracks when a surface reaches 110 degrees or higher. This TC must be made by XYZ corporation and no modifications are permitted to the system by the team. The system controller is to be sealed and stamped. Breaking the seal with result in disqualification. That is all. Please tip your waiters on the way out. And I want to send a special shoutout to my mom and dad for making this moment possible."

Something like that could definitely work. I guarantee there will be some engineering challenges with something like this, but we could give it a shot. I also would think that there could be some safety issues, as the brakes will probably be used to keep the car from smoking the tires. This will inevitably try to stear the car one way or the other when the system engages. But it could be tested and tried.

At this point I will summarize by saying that I don't know of a system that is currently available to pitch this to NHRA, and I don't know if it's safe. That, and cost are probably the current issues.

Mike
 
This is the line of the year "Grab a jacket, put your dog on a leash and walk him to the park. You're reading the Mater too much." :D



Registered member said:


Question for Mike:

If the NHRA wants to produce closer racing for the TV productions (And the fans in the stands.) if they wanto to control parts breakage to minimize downtime for track clean-up and to control costs for the teams, if they want to create safer cars (once again, through minimized engine explosions.), and I'm assuming they DO want to do all things things, then why don't they allow traction control devices on the cars?

<Folding arms and quietly waiting for the posts telling me some cars already have them.>
Click to expand...
People cried, bitched and moaned when the oildown rules were instituted, they cried, bitched and moaned when the 75 minute rule was instituted and they cried, bitched and moaned over the rev limiters. Looking back now all of these changes have truly made for a much better show, a much better TV package and have made the events run like clock work. These changes have benefitted the sport. I don't think TC would help the sport, it will take the race out of the drivers hands as well as the crew chiefs. Plus, just listen to the crowds after a good peddle fest, it's exciting for the fans.
 
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Great stuff Mike. I was not around to read your old reports but certainly hope you post more often.
 
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