NHRA Doing Away with it's Friday Top 12 Format?

[ironpony]

Maybe they will go to what they had to do to keep racing on LI. Holeshot drag racing, I think they go to the 60' mark.
Rich people bought all the land around the track then complained about the noise and shut it down.

Wont be long we will be down to 1/8 mile nitro. they are 285 mph at the 1/8.

 

[camaro]

1000 feet was smart? I DON'T THINK SO! The attendance took a HUGE HIT and has NEVER recovered.

I believe, if that were true, they would have switch back years ago. 1000ft was a deal breaker for me but, apparently most fans didn't mind

 

[vegasnitro]

Who the hell goes to a buffet to get prime rib?

Vegas baby, Vegas.

When it is not football season, I usually go with my retired Uncle to a locals casino here in Vegas for their Sunday Champagne Brunch buffet, it has Prime Rib and it is usually pretty dammed good. Nothing like drinking a bunch of mimosas and eating enough prime rib to give you the meat sweats before noon. Gotta love Vegas.

 

[RM FAN]

Unfortunately, It is actually happening right now.
I go to the event on Fridays for 2 reasons, 1- The laid back atmosphere of actually getting a chance to talk to some of teams not the grind on Sunday. 2- The night qualifying.
What's happening right now is some teams that know that they aren't gonna crack into the top 12 and will opt out of even wasting a run or 2 on Friday to save $. So, Yes it's not fair to the spectators that spend the money for the ticket to watch all of the entries try to qualify.

Where does it say on the ticket you're guaranteed to see ALL the entries qualify?

Also, if Scott had his engine explosion at Dallas, Houston, Gainesville or Vegas he would still be here. If you think a longer shutdown area would not have helped, I have beach front property in Colorado.
I think Etown, Maple Grove and Pomona are too short for even 1000 ft racing. We place way too much importance on these old outdated tracks that were to short for nitro cars 15 years ago.

 

[mick]

......We place way too much importance on these old outdated tracks that were to short for nitro cars 15 years ago.

exactly, it's like going to antiquated high schools still with tiny gyms and padded brick walls 3 feet past the baseline.
it's small towns with small school districts that can't pass referendums to build a new school, so they keep the 1950 version and
say things like 'our gymnasium is so quaint, so nostalgic'.....as little bobby is pushed out of bounds during the basketball game and
breaks his arm on the concrete wall.......the gym is old and not safe......you can't polish a turd.

 

[ironpony]

Where does it say on the ticket you're guaranteed to see ALL the entries qualify?

Also, if Scott had his engine explosion at Dallas, Houston, Gainesville or Vegas he would still be here. If you think a longer shutdown area would not have helped, I have beach front property in Colorado.
I think Etown, Maple Grove and Pomona are too short for even 1000 ft racing. We place way too much importance on these old outdated tracks that were to short for nitro cars 15 years ago.

the scenario is Etown, if it was 1000ft the results would of been the same. Different track different results.

 

[RM FAN]

the scenario is Etown, if it was 1000ft the results would of been the same. Different track different results.

exactly my point......Etown track is to short for nitro cars!!!!!

 

[Paul]

the scenario is Etown, if it was 1000ft the results would of been the same. Different track different results.

Are you sure? The State Police report indicated that the car blew up around ~1200ft. If he was off the gas at even 1100 ft,................. We don't live in a land of if, so it doesn't do much speculate what would have happened. The bottom line is we lost Scott and his family are the ones still suffering today. The sport is safer today at 1,000ft and that can't be disputed.

 

[Litefoot]

Are you sure? The State Police report indicated that the car blew up around ~1200ft. If he was off the gas at even 1100 ft,................. We don't live in a land of if, so it doesn't do much speculate what would have happened. The bottom line is we lost Scott and his family are the ones still suffering today. The sport is safer today at 1,000ft and that can't be disputed.

Your right, they no longer put 10,000 plus boom lifts in the middle of the end of the track

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

exactly my point......Etown track is to short for nitro cars!!!!!

Your statement is close. Etown isn't too short for nitro cars; Fuller stopped his car without the chutes on a pass that same weekend. Etown is too short for nitro cars that have BAD THINGS HAPPEN. And I got news for you, EVERY track is too short for nitro cars that have bad things happen, just not all of them have seen a casualty.

We lost Parker there later running speeds in the 1/4 that were comparable to nitro funny car speeds of what, 10 years prior? I can assure you that NOBODY was talking about going to 1000' when nitro funnys were running 250-260mph in the 1/4. And to take it to an extreme, what about Phil Burghard? We lost him after going off the end of the track at ST. LOUIS.................in SUPER GAS.

Bottom line, no track is prepared for everything that can conceivably happen, nor will they ever.

Sean D

 

[Nunz]

Great post Sean. It's actually amazing how many sportsman racers we have lost over the years going considerably slower than any of the pro classes. You just can't be prepared for every possible scenario. Bonneville has MILES of shutdown, and nothing to hit, and drivers have died there.

 

[Litefoot]

Amen

 

[RM FAN]

Your statement is close. Etown isn't too short for nitro cars; Fuller stopped his car without the chutes on a pass that same weekend. Etown is too short for nitro cars that have BAD THINGS HAPPEN. And I got news for you, EVERY track is too short for nitro cars that have bad things happen, just not all of them have seen a casualty.

We lost Parker there later running speeds in the 1/4 that were comparable to nitro funny car speeds of what, 10 years prior? I can assure you that NOBODY was talking about going to 1000' when nitro funnys were running 250-260mph in the 1/4. And to take it to an extreme, what about Phil Burghard? We lost him after going off the end of the track at ST. LOUIS.................in SUPER GAS.

Bottom line, no track is prepared for everything that can conceivably happen, nor will they ever.

Sean D

You are right no track can prepare for every incident but all tracks should have enough shutdown area to safely get a car stopped when they have an issue. And not every track is too short. Correct me if i'm wrong but its my understanding Phil had a possible medical issue causing the car to accelerate past the finish line and hit an embankment then land in a canal with water. Also, when does ANYONE talk about safety until AFTER a serious accident occurs? Track openings were not closed until after Blaine had his accident. Al Hoffman tore up his arm at Gainesville because of outdated guardrails but could have been a lot worse at a track with less shutdown area. Mark is right about a boom in the middle of a shutdown area. Why didnt a driver, crew chief, car owner or NHRA see this and think it could be a possible safety issue?

 

[ironpony]

In a perfect world the tracks would be long enough to have a car coast to a stop after running 330 across the finish line. The shutdown area needs to be twice as long as they are now, assuming NOTHING goes wrong. 330 mph is 484 feet per second, so how long is safe? 4 wheel brakes? automatic chutes?

Does anyone remember when Melanie Trowels car re-fired at the end of the track in the shutdown area and drove thru the pit area?
Antrons tire going into the "stands"
Darrel Russel, Eric Medelen tire shrapnel.
Pro Stock cars upside down, easy fix more down force.
Wont be long the EPA will put an end to all racing, they are already trying hard to do so.


Reality, it is not going to happen. There is no place to build new tracks, if the general population had its way most of the existing tracks would be shut down because of noise.
No jurisdiction is going to issue a permit variance for a new facility. The price of land and cost of a new complex is not going to happen.
If you build it in the middle of the desert away from everyone the tree huggers will complain about killing bugs.
Be thankful we have what we do, it could be all taken away easily.

 

[Sean D, shondoo]

You are right no track can prepare for every incident but all tracks should have enough shutdown area to safely get a car stopped when they have an issue. And not every track is too short. Correct me if i'm wrong but its my understanding Phil had a possible medical issue causing the car to accelerate past the finish line and hit an embankment then land in a canal with water. Also, when does ANYONE talk about safety until AFTER a serious accident occurs? Track openings were not closed until after Blaine had his accident. Al Hoffman tore up his arm at Gainesville because of outdated guardrails but could have been a lot worse at a track with less shutdown area. Mark is right about a boom in the middle of a shutdown area. Why didnt a driver, crew chief, car owner or NHRA see this and think it could be a possible safety issue?

You are absolutely right about reacting after accidents, but in many cases that's the only resolve. You simply cannot have the foresight to see every possible scenario. It has to actually play out sometimes, which leaves us saying, "Holy shit! Who would've thought THAT could happen......".

As for Phil, there was plenty of talk about a medical issue preceding the crash, even that weekend while still at the track. But if it was ever actually reported, I never saw it. I had a handful of interactions with him while in the staging lanes at various D-3 events and he always seemed like a good guy. It's a shame.

I admittedly allow my personal feelings to get in the way of logic on occasion, but my feeling that the move to 1,000' was a knee-jerk reaction remains the same. I will say, however, that had the move to 1,000' not happened the way it did, it likely would have at some point, simply from a tire issue standpoint. But I've said, and will always say that it happened for the wrong reasons.

Sean D

 

[.]

Eric Medelen tire shrapnel.

It wasn't tire shrapnel that caused Eric's death, it was extreme G-forces and shaking when the tire failed and was partially still on the wheel which caused a severe out-of-balance condition.

 

[mike]

A piece of the wing strut pierced Darrell from behind. After that incident I looked back at the cars before the shield around the roll cage and was baffled why that area was never protected but sadly until something happens you never think about this stuff. Blaine's death will always anger me just as much as it upsets me. From memory racers had commented on the openings prior to Blaine's accident. The outcome definitely would have been different. Jimmy Nix, I am pretty sure his car hit the pole of the timing board, years later Whit Bazemore would speak out about moving them further away from the track. Overall the sport is damn safe considering.

 

[mgty3whlr]

Look what happened to Big Daddy, It only took a few of his toes to move the engine to the back..

 

[Huge]

16 poker chips in a bag, number two of them with a number 1, two with number 2, etc, and everyone picks a chip out of the bag. The two that have the same number that is the pair that race each other.

I'm not on board doing it this way because I don't think it would be very exciting for the fans, or very much exposure for the sponsors...but it would definitely cut the cost of racing down...show up Sunday morning draw your chip, race and go home. Crews and fans could fly in Sunday morning and fly back home Sunday night.

 

[qtermile14]

Elimination of the Top 12 Qualifying format confirmed today.

http://www.nhra.com/story/2017/1/11...fying-procedures-changed-for-upcoming-season/

Check below the section about the points changes towards the bottom of the page.