Four Wide

[FC138fan]

I thought it was cool, and fun to watch. I did FF through most of the down time though. First race I watched all year though all of qualifying and all of Sunday (for the most part).

It's something different, either you like it (like me) or you don't.

That PS time out first round was crazy, as a fan I was watching the pre-stage and stage lights waiting for everyone to get in... and forgot that the time out starts when the first guy goes staged. Took a couple minutes to realize what happened. You would think though that the drivers would be more aware of what's going on.

Was it a dirty trick in the second round when - I forget who it was - staged super early knowing what happened first round?

 

[tonycpe]

4- wide still sucks, to hard to watch everything going on.

 

[Rajunz]

I liked it, but you definitely have to pay attention to follow everything that's going on at once.

 

[willy]

I'm with the minority here as well. I actually liked the broadcast. I can live with once a year.

 

[yoda]

I'm with the minority here as well. I actually liked the broadcast. I can live with once a year.

Several have said 4 is too many to watch.......I don't get it

NASCAR fans can watch 40 cars run in circles for 4 hours -
yet we can't watch 4 cars run in a straight line for 4 seconds-
whats wrong with this picture....??

Where's the "Like" button?

 

[DrRocket]

They have got a lot more work to do on the logistics if they're going to keep this up. It was almost comical to watch all the commotion at the top end, with people just about tripping over each other. Gary was literally physically pulling interviewees out of the way so they wouldn't get hit by "incoming."

I can see how this type of drag racing might be pretty impressive in person, but it really loses something in the translation to TV. Plus, I’ve talked with people who’ve been there, and they say it’s a loooooong way to the far two lanes as far as watching in person.

It sure was good to see Dougzilla out there.

 

[mick]

sunday attendance?.....if zmax filled their bleachers on
both sides it would be a one day nhra attendance record.
if you compare physical bleachers @ zmax to other venues, i'd say
sunday's attendance was on par with all other nat. events?
anyone have any solid #'s?
.02 guess......20k paid on sunday?

 

[glofria]

Damn, I missed another race on TV.

 

[PJ]

Where's the "Like" button?

Just a clarifying note: they don't watch 40 cars though. You only see a couple at a time and they all fit in maybe 2 lanes worth of a drag strip unlike the 8 lane expressway wide race we are trying to view at once

 

[Nick]

I can only speak (and other's should as well) for the TV broadcast, and I know that 4-Wide is a terrible idea from a TV standpoint. I've been watching NHRA / ESPN show for 25 years and I have to say, the 4-Wide on TV simply just does not work. This year compared to last...no different.

I SO hope Vegas does not do 4-Wide.

 

[ROCKY]

Watched about half of it. Thought maybe it wasn't as bad as I remembered. It was.

 

[murdock]

Well, I'm still not sold on 4 wide, it's a great sensory overload, but still somewhat hard to follow, although it is getting easier the more of that I see. And I also feel kind of robbed at the end of the day, it's all over to quickly for me. First round of fuel was over in 30 minutes on Sunday. Excuse my short term memory, but sometimes I forget who is on the track in all 4 lanes. I really wish it was 2 wide.

Hated that I missed you, Big Zap, I was looking but never saw you. Even went to the Nitro Mall at 11:00 Sunday morning. We'll get it together next time.

 

[Muddy]

A large group of us were talking Sunday at the NSRA event in OKC about 4 wide. This group consisted of several former crew members, owners and/ or drivers of fuel cars. Most had tried to watch qualifing and had turned it off in frustration. Not one out of the group expressed any interest in watching it again and most indicated they would not bother with eliminations that evening. I suspect it will become the least watched event in television next year.

 

[Student of the sport]

A different view:
While I don't really like it personally, too much at one time.
That said, the one point that stands out to me is:
Sponsors, manufacturers, and other info on the cars such as causes that are being displayed, IE: cancer programs, charities and the like, are getting a lot less exposure, the tv program gave very little time for the display of the cars, thus reducing the amount of time for the info to be conveyed.

Ask JFR about "real estate", it is critical to get as much "face time" for all the folks who have the small spaces and even the big spaces of real estate on the cars, with all that is going on at once, it cuts that time by a bigger factor than half, thus reducing that exposure, or, eliminating it altogether.

As a manufacturer, I have worked hard to get that little peice of "side" panel for exposure of my products name, every one of the little "stickers" is important to every one of the names attached to them, and in the long run, those folks are supporting the sport.

Something to chew on.

"D"

 

[TooTall999]

A different view:
While I don't really like it personally, too much at one time.
That said, the one point that stands out to me is:
Sponsors, manufacturers, and other info on the cars such as causes that are being displayed, IE: cancer programs, charities and the like, are getting a lot less exposure, the tv program gave very little time for the display of the cars, thus reducing the amount of time for the info to be conveyed.

Ask JFR about "real estate", it is critical to get as much "face time" for all the folks who have the small spaces and even the big spaces of real estate on the cars, with all that is going on at once, it cuts that time by a bigger factor than half, thus reducing that exposure, or, eliminating it altogether.

As a manufacturer, I have worked hard to get that little peice of "side" panel for exposure of my products name, every one of the little "stickers" is important to every one of the names attached to them, and in the long run, those folks are supporting the sport.

Something to chew on.

"D"

I did notice that during the TV coverage, that when they show all 4 lanes it's hard enough to pick out who's who. If you can barely tell which car is which, how can the sponsors be getting any exposure at all? So if the majority of the fans aren't happy, and the sponsors are getting less TV exposure; 4 wide sounds like a lose-lose...

 

[clwill]

So, who are the winners in the 4-wide format?

Doesn't seem to be the sponsors: With the 4-wide shot it's almost impossible to discern one logo from another. There is one fewer round interview for people to pimp their sponsors. The ESPN team was even having a hard time at the top end getting all the "winners" to the mic.

Doesn't seem to be the fans at the venue: While the 32,000hp must be fun to hear, it's hard enough to determine what happened with two 1000ft 4-second squirts at once, let alone four. And they get half as many squirts per round, and one fewer round for their bucks.

Doesn't seem to be the TV audience: The show is confusing, it's hard to tell who won, and there are too many numbers to make sense of it all. The argument that "you get a complete race done in less time for TV" seems to make no sense at all in a tape-delayed format.

Doesn't seem to be the racers: They can't see 2/3rds of their opponents, so it's hard to race them. They only race it once a year, so it's hard to get used to the format, the staging, the "when to lift", etc. And they get one less round to race.

Doesn't seem to be the spirit of competition: There's the very real possibility that someone can win only one of three rounds and still take away the trophy. What happened to "second is the first loser", "one and done", and so on? Compare that to many sportsman classes where you have to win 6 or 7 times in a row to take home the Wally.

Doesn't even seem to be Bruton: He's got people in the stands for the same prices, but they're there for less time, meaning fewer over-priced hot dogs. Not sure what venue operator sets as their goal "let's get them out of there faster"?

So who wins? Why is NHRA doing this? Just because they can?

 

[FC138fan]

So, who are the winners in the 4-wide format?

Doesn't seem to be the sponsors: With the 4-wide shot it's almost impossible to discern one logo from another. There is one fewer round interview for people to pimp their sponsors. The ESPN team was even having a hard time at the top end getting all the "winners" to the mic.

Doesn't seem to be the fans at the venue: While the 32,000hp must be fun to hear, it's hard enough to determine what happened with two 1000ft 4-second squirts at once, let alone four. And they get half as many squirts per round, and one fewer round for their bucks.

Doesn't seem to be the TV audience: The show is confusing, it's hard to tell who won, and there are too many numbers to make sense of it all. The argument that "you get a complete race done in less time for TV" seems to make no sense at all in a tape-delayed format.

Doesn't seem to be the racers: They can't see 2/3rds of their opponents, so it's hard to race them. They only race it once a year, so it's hard to get used to the format, the staging, the "when to lift", etc. And they get one less round to race.

Doesn't seem to be the spirit of competition: There's the very real possibility that someone can win only one of three rounds and still take away the trophy. What happened to "second is the first loser", "one and done", and so on? Compare that to many sportsman classes where you have to win 6 or 7 times in a row to take home the Wally.

Doesn't even seem to be Bruton: He's got people in the stands for the same prices, but they're there for less time, meaning fewer over-priced hot dogs. Not sure what venue operator sets as their goal "let's get them out of there faster"?

So who wins? Why is NHRA doing this? Just because they can?

It's wild the amount of negativity toward this event.

Not to pick on Chris's post but I want to make some counterpoints:

Sponsors: Your right - the sponsors lose. If you view the NHRA as driving billboards and sponsor face time, the sponsors do lose.

Fans at the venue - The trade off (if it is worth it to the people in attendance, and if you are there I would imagine it is) is that you get to hear 32,000 horsepower for 3 rounds, instead of 16,000 for 4 rounds. You see 4 run at once instead of 2. There is a tradeoff, but to me it is worth it.

The racers - Can't see the other racers - Tony Schumacher said it best, if you are a pro, you should be looking down the groove, driving your car through the groove, independent of what other cars are doing... 1.. 2.. or 3 other cars. Give the drivers more credit, it doesn't take an extraordinary high IQ to figure out the staging.

Spirit of competition - A race is a race, the rules are the rules. If you can win the event by following the rules you win. If the rules say top two move on, then the top two are winners and can move on. But in the end, there is only one overall winner.

Bruton - Maybe its not all about money (maybe it is) but maybe he is in seventh heaven seeing the success of 4 wide racing that he pretty much brought back on his own.



Maybe this is a far off angle but isn't this event supposed to be for fun? Something different? A throwback to the early 4 wide races? A breath of fresh air? Why so much complaining?

Similar to maybe the Winston Invitational, or those few Funnycar vs. Top Fuel events, something fun... something different.

Isn't drag racing supposed to be fun? Or is it purely about money and sponsors - the racing, competition, and entertainment being a side effect.

I applaud the NHRA for doing this event.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

I applaud the NHRA for doing this event.

I agree with Nick, NHRA finally tries something a little different and some folks freak out. On a positive note, if you don't care for four wide – there is a two wide race at the same track in the fall, go and enjoy.

I have never been to a national event at Las Vegas, but I fully intend to be at the inaugural " FOUR WIDE WEST" whenever that happens.

 

[Dave]

"Doesn't seem to be the spirit of competition: There's the very real possibility that someone can win only one of three rounds and still take away the trophy. What happened to "second is the first loser", "one and done", and so on? Compare that to many sportsman classes where you have to win 6 or 7 times in a row to take home the Wally."

This is a great point! Why don't we run the time wasting throttle stop cars 4 wide and get them over and done with in 4 rounds instead of 7. 4 cars go down the track.. 1 wins. I don't see why only the pros get to have all the fun. Let's see those "racers" run the finish line with 4 cars at a time.

 

[vegasnitro]

I am OK with 4 wide, as long as it's a once or twice a year deal. A little variety is not a bad thing.

I think what will ultimately drive Vegas to a 4 wide format is fan response and TV ratings. Those stands sure did look real empty on both the qualifying and race coverage, so I think Vegas will stay 2 wide for the time being.