I Knew It Was Coming (1 Viewer)

[Terrance Smith]

What about the purse restructure?

Along with this crazy points scenarion, once again the NHRA has saw fit to keep the classes who do not run Nitro in poverty. Pro Stock cars have to be as expensive to run as a fuel car, if they aren't they are not far off. A $250,000.00 difference in a pay day is ludacris! The bike guys should basically be sportsmen (and that is not a knock agianst sportsmen racers, just the lack of purse they receive). $75 grand is peanuts to them when some of them spend that much for their equipment. If NHRA wants to be like NASCAR they should adopt their purses also instead trying to emulate everything else they do. Pay all racers equally, a pro is a pro, the class shouldn't have their points fund pro rate because they perceived as crowd appealing. Heck, the NASCAR Craftsman truck series guys get paid more than our top of the food chain racers and it's an entry level NASCAR class.

 

[ProStockJunkie]

One of the unstated objectives of the change (which I am not a big fan of, but I understand the reasons for adopting it) is to regain some media attention from the Fall fascination with other sports.

Larry, I've lived in New Jersey for all but 3 years of my life. I can say with reasonable certainty that this just isn't going to happen in this area. I HOPE I'm wrong. I've been in contact with the papers for years, and it's like pulling teeth to get them to cover a national event. The Northeast is a tough nut to crack when it comes to the "Fall" sports.

 

[ProStockJunkie]

My initial reaction was W - T - F???? Especially since I had no idea this was coming (WTF Phil???)!! But then I calmed down a little and thought about it. This is not the end of the world. When Nascar did it, fans went ballistic and swore they would never watch another race and the system would be a huge flop. 5 years later, the race to the cup is the hottest thing since sliced bread and fans are eating it up more than ever.

Yes, the new system does not reward runaway points leaders like the current system does, but is that a bad thing? How many times did everyone bitch and moan about GA or Force having a championship won by Indy? How many of those years did PS or FC cars stop showing up to race? None.

Take this year for example. In TF, realistically, D Kalitta has a pretty good lock on the championship. It is his to lose because Shoe has to make up 7 rounds, Brandon and Melanie have to make up 8 rounds, all in 6 races. Everyone else is basically out with Grubby needing to make up 15 rounds to win it all. The chances that Shoe, Brandon, or Melanie making up that much room is slim, the chances that all 3 of them would make a serious run is nil.

FC is basically a 2 horse race, PS is 3 if you are very optimistic, and PSB is 3 tops (only 4 races left for them). Chances are pretty good that TF and PS will be all but officially wrapped up by Richmond this year. What fun is that? Last year, GA and Shoe could have stayed home for the last 3 races and still won their championships. Still had full fields though.

Who knows, this could be a total flop, but I wouldn't be surprised it if doesn't turn out half bad. I am not sold on the idea yet, I'll wait until we actually get to see the process in action before I pass judgement. I just don't think this will be the end of the world. Maybe it will result in some killer edge-of-your seat finales like FC was last year. Contrived or not, it will be exciting.

Read Jon Asher's column on CompPlus to see how the SPONSORS (in NASCAR) feel about the Chase to the Race or the Race to the Chase or whatever they call it. http://www.nitromater.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1597

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

I think what a lot of us are really ticked at, is the fact we were blindsided. I mean out of the blue they throw this at us without any warning. If we had known that NHRA was thinking about this some time ago it wouldn't have come as such a blow right now.
With all the "INSIDERS' and their, I heard it from a reliable source scoops, on this forum it's amazing that no one spilled the beans!!!
How's that possible???

 

[ProStockJunkie]

I think what a lot of us are really ticked at, is the fact we were blindsided. I mean out of the blue they throw this at us without any warning. If we had known that NHRA was thinking about this some time ago it wouldn't have come as such a blow right now.
With all the "INSIDERS' and their, I heard it from a reliable source scoops, on this forum it's amazing that no one spilled the beans!!!
How's that possible???

NHRA knows how to keep a secret when they're about to dump some stuff on everyone. I've checked with a couple of people, and they too, did not see this coming.

 

[PJ]

How much fun is it going into Pomona when all the championships have been decided? How cool will it be to go into the finals, and have all four championships up for grabs? Last year the FC race went down to the wire and it was GREAT. And that was a JFR car and two DSR cars. I don't remember the cries about the "lower budget" guys not having a chance then. Anyone remember the years that Force had it locked up at Indy? And for the rest of the year, all the other Funny Cars still showed up.

Just hang on guys, the sky isn't falling

Alan

Alan I got all the respect in the world for ya but I can't help but think you have to spin this cuz its your job.
I want real points and a real battle not this new welfare system that will bunch everybody up a couple of times throughout the year. If its a year where someone dominates a class then fine thats how it is, if its a tight battle great either way at least its real, fair and honest.
Will we all feel better if driver 1 wins 15 races next year but falls apart at the end and doesn't win the championship. According to this we can at least say it was close at ponoma???? YUCK!!!!

 

[ProStockJunkie]

As posted in it's own thread here.

What will the SPONSORS think?
http://www.competitionplus.com/up_front.html

 

[Chili]

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. I'm not a fan of the idea, however it should make the last 8 races really interesting. I do not like the fact that they cut it down to two cars for the last two races. Last year in Funny Car was awesome because it was a 3 car race for the championship at Pomona. With this change they should of "reset" the points after Indy and let the eight cars battle it out all they way through Pomona.

 

[PJ]

this is the same kind of reaction that the NASCAR thing got and now people really like their system

WRONG their system is widely hated by fans, sponsors and drivers.

 

[Sully]

How'd they keep this a secret? Very few people inside NHRA knew about it prior to the announcement.

I wonder if this will fuel the NASCAR mentality next year - you don't run to win, you run to finish in the top eight, take no risks, tune conservatively to go a couple rounds in each event. When they interview NASCAR drivers, they appear to be more concerned about getting a top-ten finish at each race than in winning. Of course, the nature of drag racing is that if you don't win, you are done for the day, but the focus will now shift toward just making the top eight instead of taking the points lead.

Hey, maybe they can get Budweiser to kick in some extra money for the eight-car concept - one for each of the Budweiser Clydesdales!!!

 

[PJ]

Here's Shirley's take on it.

http://www.competitionplus.com/2006_08/news_dirt.html



The one thing with Nascars systems and their fans is that they had no where elese to turn to for there circle racing needs. We do. Helloooooo IHRA. With 2 races here in Michigan and cheaper memebership nhra just saved me a ton of money next year as I wont have to go to C-bus, Indy or the Gators as I have the last 2 years. I don't see why I need to bother with the wwf version of racing now, since they are scripting the championship now when will the just start scripting the races too.

 

[lmhb oyf]

Tony Pedregon's take

T Ped was just on WIBC here in Indy this morning and he seemed to LOVE the idea and thought that it was really going to make it exciting. Now wheteher or not he was towing the company line who knows but he did seem to think that it was a good idea. Granted he's in today according to the rules if they had started this idea this season, so I take it with a grain of salt.

One funny quote he had on there was "I go 330 now but I have kids now so I don't think I'll be doing 350."

 

[BlueStangGT]

Take it easy on Reinhart, folks... I think his larger point here is to urge everyone to try to be objective, give it a chance, and see what works out.

His common sense and logic just threw us a little curve, that's all

As for me... I'm definitely on the fence with this as I beleive there are plenty of up and down sides. One of the potential "ups" I can see is a lower-funded team making it into the Chase and using that as an opportunity to secure more late-season sponsorship dollars due to the guaranteed increase of coverage.

 

[PJ]

A little lesson in reading between the lines..

It'll be interesting to see if the drivers/owners are allowed to speak on this. When nascar made the move the drivers hated it but were gaged against speaking out so all they would say is that it would be exciting or the fans. Which was code for we hate it but are being forced to say something nice.



You'd think after a day I'd have calmed down about this but I still pissed at how bad this sucks.

 

[MW]

The bottom line is that the championships in the current format are normally (NOT ALWAYS) determined well before the end of the season (i.e. Greg Anderson in the past few years). How interesting is Pro Stock for the Vegas & Pomona fans with nothing on the line. Most years Force had FC locked up pretty early, and Top Fuel rarely has more than two cars battling with a realistic chance. Who cares if it's somewhat a copy of Nascar. As of this moment (with 6 races left) 4 Top Fuelers have a chance (with 1 of the 4 fading fast), 4 FC (with 2 more than 8 rounds behind), and 3 PS cars (with 1 about 8 rounds back). The new format in my mind adds alot of importance to the WHOLE schedule. John Asher makes some good points, but in NHRA racing you will get coverage if you go rounds (NO MATTER where you are in the points), and sponsors will be satisfied. Look at the top 8 right now in the 4 pro classes. They are ALL top quality cars capable of getting hot, and winning the title. I don't agree with NHRA brass too often, but at least they are trying something.

 

[vegasnitro]

Take it easy on Reinhart, folks... I think his larger point here is to urge everyone to try to be objective, give it a chance, and see what works out.

His common sense and logic just threw us a little curve, that's all

I agree Stang, no reason to bash Reinhart.

What's done is done, now we have to see how it all shakes out. You never know ... you might like it.

 

[__]

is F1 still a pure sport? I think so . they dont' make it exciting when it isn't . so it's boring sometimes . at least when it's exciting , like it was last weekend,, it's real.

F1's pure? That's why Rubens Barrichello pulled over to let this teammate Michael Schumacher win a race in the last hundred yards.

 

[Mike]

I wonder if this will fuel the NASCAR mentality next year - you don't run to win, you run to finish in the top eight, take no risks, tune conservatively to go a couple rounds in each event.

You can't tune conservatively to go a couple of rounds. You tune to win the round you are in with the track and weather conditions you are given. Yeah if they based races on ET alone you could maybe be "conservative" and tune to be in the top 8. But this is single elimination not all run. Yes a crew chief may be conservative or aggresive in nature. If you all of a sudden decide to be aggressive it could hurt you big time. Alan Johnson is aggressive all the time and sometimes it hurts him, but it is his confidence in his ability to know where the line on aggressiveness ends that puts him up front.

Bottom line here is, it may make the early part of the season even better because guys will be trying to find the limits more often knowing they only have to be top 8 to have a chance. They'll be able to afford to lose that round here or there giving the little guy more of a chance or they'll find something that works and rotate the earth with a string of unbelievable passes.

Only time will tell.

 

[Bullard Anderson]

After stewing last night:

1. 8 teams is way to much, Half the Freakin' Field?
2. Whoever is 7th thru 11th at 14 races is going to get a lot of play on TV.
3. I'd offer, You MUST WIN at least 1 National Event to Qualify.

I don't exactly like resetting the field with 2 to go, but I like the NHRA's new deal! It's going to be fun!

 

[Rollout96]

Regardless of what Glendora does I'm a drag racing fan, I can't turn that off----- so I'm always going watch & be at the events (even if they're meaningless)... I'm obsessed. Whether I like it or not, I'll learn to deal with it. I think it's here to stay, (unless Bruton jumps in... heck maybe he likes the idea too) but I'm sure it'll be tweaked a little here & there in the coming years while they figure it out how it works best... but it's something we're probably going to have to learn to live with. I just wish they'd given me a heads up.

Same here. I will learn to deal because I love the sport. I just can't quite wrap my head around WHY this could be considered a good move. I hope to be proved wrong.