Paul everyone knows this sport wasn't made for TV, however sooner or later Ratings will be in play if we want to keep seeing Drag racing on TV in the Future!
So, if as reported the TV ratings for the 4 wide event were up 20% they mean what?
The complaints against 4 wide:
1. 4 cars at a time created confusion, couldn't follow the action - but we can follow up to 43 cars on a circle track.
2. Rain will cause chaos - it rained and the event progressed like a normal event.
3. The tree was confusing - only to the drivers who didn't avail themselves of the instructions (1 FC driver sent a rep to the driver's meeting, and then got timed out 1st run because he didn't understand the tree, another driver was taking instructions from a non-driver crewmember and because neither understood the tree he got timed out on one run and terrible lights the rest of the event). The tree was actually pretty simple to figure out.
4. Crew chiefs were confused - I watched from the starting line as crew chiefs signaled they were ready, when the fourth signaled they sent their drivers to stage. I didn't see a problem, and the ones I visited with weren't complaining about it being a problem.
5. Crews were confused on staging lanes - they stopped the cars on the entrance road, when the staging lane you were assigned to opened up they pulled the 4 cars for a run into one lane nose to tail. They pulled all 4 from the lane at one time, each car was assigned a lane in qualifying to run and they were easy to find. In eliminations they put you in the staging lane in order of lane choice, 1st choice was 1st in line, then 2nd, 3rd and last. It seemed as straight forward and as easy as pairing up and getting in order at a two wide event.
6. Last minute lane swaps would be disastrous - it happened and nobody noticed.
7. No TV sponsor recognition - I didn't see much difference in the Houston coverage. I think this needs to be addressed at all events. They did pan on more cars in the staging process at Houston.
8. Negative comments by fans - Rhonda signed several thousand generic handouts with her and John's picture, and we didn't hear one fan with a negative comment about the event. Maybe we were just in an area of the pits that had only positive people. Or maybe because we were upbeat, they were also.
9. Safety - The safety aspects were addressed prior to the event, and I don't think the danger factor for the competitors or spectators went up at all just because 4 cars ran at a time. As usual, the un-informed yell "it looks unsafe to me, so ban it now" without ever giving any facts that will support their position. In reality, there were multiple incidences and they were all taken care of in a timely manner.
This was a first, it had flaws in a lot of areas, but to me it is addressing some issues that face drag racing's future. And instead of sitting on a computer complaining, someone put their money where their mouth is and did something that they thought would help.