How does the Entry List get populated? (1 Viewer)

[Gordon]

I was just surfing on the NHRA website & I noticed in the 'results' section for first round Friday that it listed Mike Ashley driving the Skull Racing Gear Monte Carlo.

So I went to the Entry List to see if perhaps it was listed that way prior to his switch to Mopar & it's divided... under 'Make' it says '04 Monte Carlo, but under 'Entry' it says Torco/Skull Gear Dodge FC.

I was wondering who populates that list, or is it done another way. (i.e. teams logging on and registering or something similar.) No big deal really, I was just curious. Killin' time until next round of qualifying.

 

[MoparBilly]

Gordon,
It's almost as difficult to change your entry after the first of the year as getting re-registered on the new Nitro-mater!!!
Usually you fill out an on-line tech card at the beginning of the season, and that info goes into the NHRA database...for every event you enter after the initial one...it just pulls the info out of the database!! So it takes a while for corrections to filter through..I know alot of my buddies in SG/SST who still get listed on entry forms or DragRaceCentral in cars they haven't raced in two years...obviously with the Pro's and sponsors..a timely correction is a little more necessary.

 

[Gordon]

LMAO at your first sentence...

But hey, thanks for the information. I had a pretty good idea it was something along those lines. And you're right, with the high cost of sponsorships, you'd think it would be watched a little closer. It's not like Mike's new deal happened overnight, we knew about it a long time ago.

 

[Sully]

It also helps to clean all the old tech cards out of the trailer when there's a change so whoever takes the car through tech doesn't hand in the wrong one. I have spotted obviously incorrect car and driver info (let alone sponsors) and checked the tech card only to find that the info filled in by the team was either missing or incorrect.

The problem is amplified at divisional races, where tech card data entry is sometimes less than a precise science.

However, entry list info is not reliable when "silly season" happens in the middle of the year - or for staying up with race-to-race sponsor changes. The database used to generate those lists doesn't get updated from the tech cards, the "at-race" car and driver info on the official time sheets does and that's what we rely on at DRC.

Sponsor information is the least reliable piece in the process since there is no reliable source for keeping up with race-to-race changes other than the tech cards and the sides of the cars. Teams with PR reps usually alert us to sponsorship changes, but staying up with all them is a real PITA.

 

[Bob]

There are so many things that factor into what you'll find in the online reports.

The actual tech cards are usually a reliable source of the correct information on a driver and/or car. Usually. I've had to go to the winners circle at a divisional event to ask a winning class driver what year his 80's Camaro was, because his tech card had him in a '68 Corvette.

Some drivers don't know what the word "model" means. So, a Chevy is a Chevy, or a Plymouth is a Plymouth in every space for the Make and Model of their car.

Don Davis makes some excellent race cars, but an '05 Davis is not what you see on the track if you bought a '63 Corvette from him.

Like Larry referred to, often what is entered into the track computer is what must be relied upon when dealing with trying to put forth a continuous stream of info about 400 or more cars over the course of a weekend. While I often trust the database in my own computer more than I trust the sanctioning body's database that shows up on qualifying lists, I'll go with the sanctioning body's car and class descriptions early on in an event, unless there's a marked change from what my database shows. At divisional events, I'm usually set up close enough to the location of the tech cards to double check those myself. If there is a discrepancy, I'll inform the folks in race control so they can correct the info in the track computer.

Changes in the Pros. ...its getting harder and harder to tell the difference between the different brands of Funny Cars, especially when your primary focus is what the cars are doing, not what badge you may need binoculars to see to ID the brand. Checking the info on qualifying lists doesn't always provide accurate info. The sponsorships don't show up on the Q-lists, they have to be gleaned from the CompuLink screen, or read from the sides of the cars. If the CompuLink screen (info in the track computer) is wrong, a sponsor change can be missed. If a racer sees an incorrect sponsor, or for that matter, make/model of car published anywhere during the course of an event, by all means, let the people who are generating the incorrect info know. We don't bite. Some of us bark, but we don't bite.