New England car count (2 Viewers)

[Mike]

i thought this place sold out on good race days? seem to remember it a little fuller the last few years. correct me if i'm wrong, but nitro elims. on the tv show
did not show full grandstands? what happened?

Saturdays in the past have been sell outs, crazy hot, muggy weather this year and this is a holiday beach area of the state, I think a lot more hit the beach that wanted to sit in the bleachers all day, it was a roaster in the seats.

 

[Cliff]

How about covered seating? Yeah, $$$ But, what if the track put solar on top of the covered seating? Could make back some $ by selling power to the local power company. We have a Krogers grocery store in Phoenix that has a set up like I'm describing. People love going there just cuz you can park in the shade, especially in the dawg daze in summer. And the store makes $ off of selling power. Not to mention that if a track did that, would get a lot of positive reviews from the locals.

 

[mopain]

i thought this place sold out on good race days? seem to remember it a little fuller the last few years. correct me if i'm wrong, but nitro elims. on the tv show
did not show full grandstands? what happened?

What happened was 92 degrees with stifling humidity on the 4th of July weekend when everyone goes away.

 

[AC]

How long before top fuel and fc go to 8 car fields?

 

[Nunz]

How long before top fuel and fc go to 8 car fields?

I don't think that's happening anytime soon. New England was light, but a couple events ago we had 40 nitro cars. There are some new teams out there and more in the works, even if they start off as part timers.

 

[sammi]

Salinas may have discovered a new paradigm for NHRA fuel racing. Race enough to get into the countdown thing and then let it rip.

How do you fight this coming trend. Raise the national event purse to $200k to win and appropriately down the ladder. Why cross the country to a questionable track for $50k max.

 

[Paul]

How long before top fuel and fc go to 8 car fields?

I was at Chicago last month and there were over 40 nitro cars qualifying. The show on Friday and Saturday was great with cars trying to bump in.

 

[Paul]

Salinas may have discovered a new paradigm for NHRA fuel racing. Race enough to get into the countdown thing and then let it rip.

How do you fight this coming trend. Raise the national event purse to $200k to win and appropriately down the ladder. Why cross the country to a questionable track for $50k max.

Cut the # of races during the year back would make the impacts of missing 1 race more meaningful. Upping the purse wouldn't hurt either.

 

[Pete]

How long before top fuel and fc go to 8 car fields?

Not to hijack the thread, but I would like to see 8 car fields. This way, qualifying would mean something instead of it being an open test session.
I went to the Charlotte 4 wide and actually watch bumping, which was exciting...just like the old days

 

[Cliff]

Hi Pete. I'd like to see 16 car fields with bumping. Yea! How about #1 vs #8 , #2 Vs #9, etc, like in the Old Daze. Heh

 

[robinjackson]

Almost get the feeling NHRA doesn't care if race survives. It's a shame as a walk through the parking lot shows license plates from Quebec, Nova Scotia, Vermont, NY, Connecticut, Massachusets, Rhode Island, Maine and New Hampshire. Also saw a couple from New Brunswick. Pretty large geographical area for NHRA's marketing dept to reach.

Did you miss the North Carolina plate? That was my rental car, picked up in NJ, dropped off at Boston (how interstate is that?). I suspect I was the only Epping spectator from Britain, unlike at Pomona or Gainesville where there are large numbers of us, plus other Europeans and overseas types.

 

[mick]

even in the early 90's, there were a few races here or there that only attracted 15 fc or tf......if i recall, most years the fields were 17-19 per race; more at indy and a few others.
20+ fields were just as rare then as now. although it seems like there were more independents across the country (the days before nostalgia racing)

 

[robinjackson]

even in the early 90's, there were a few races here or there that only attracted 15 fc or tf......if i recall, most years the fields were 17-19 per race; more at indy and a few others.
20+ fields were just as rare then as now. although it seems like there were more independents across the country (the days before nostalgia racing)

And lest we forget, in the early 1980s TF seemed in terminal decline and NHRA were running 8-car fields at several races. Then Garlits made his grand NHRA comeback and the decline was emphatically reversed.

 

[Cliff]

Yes, I remember that. I went to Pomona one year after all that and they had a 16 car field. Even had some cars that were old and the teams came out to support T/F.

 

[Jimbo]

It's interesting that some people simply blame the weather whenever car counts or spectators are down.

Could it be something else is going on besides the costs of drag racing being totally out of control?

Jim Hill
www.nostalgicracingdecals.com