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NHRA: Friday Night Pro Qualifying?
- Thread starter DG
- Start date
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Nitro Member
Amen! I guess I'm spoiled since I grew up going to the World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova. Hell, the 'good' stuff didn't start until 7pm and it wasn't uncommon to get out of there until after midnight some years.
I realize a national event is entirely different but nothing compares to seeing them run under the lights!
NHRADeuce
Nitro Member
I was just thinking about this the other day as well. Why even bother making a run other than just Friday night? The field is basically set that round anyway.
I would make 2 changes -
1. Saturday night qualifying - doesn't have to be really late, just late enough for the temp to start coming down. Good for the fans, good for the teams that miss on Friday night.
2. Take an average of the top 3 runs to determine qualifying order. This will put a much bigger emphasis on getting down the track and still leaves a little room for error. Nothing worse than someone getting on because the got lucky one night, but couldn't even get it down the track the other 3 runs.
I would make 2 changes -
1. Saturday night qualifying - doesn't have to be really late, just late enough for the temp to start coming down. Good for the fans, good for the teams that miss on Friday night.
2. Take an average of the top 3 runs to determine qualifying order. This will put a much bigger emphasis on getting down the track and still leaves a little room for error. Nothing worse than someone getting on because the got lucky one night, but couldn't even get it down the track the other 3 runs.
turbo ken
Nitro Member
#2 won't work, no reason to go watch friday
#3 doesn't make any sense
#1 the only way to go
Marchboom
Nitro Member
As much as I like the night racing show, for national events I think the qualifying should be during the same time frame as the racing. If they would have eliminations at night then I would say to have ALL qualifying at night. As said above, this makes for a one shot qualifying session and just what do you do with that night qualifying session computer data? Just like this countdown to the championship crap, the best car/driver might not win if they run into a streak of bad luck at the night session. Along with setting up the eliminations ladder, those 4 runs are for the crew chiefs to get their cars dialed into THAT track. Even though you ran very well during the day, miss the night qualifying and you might not get to race on Sunday. Pomona doesn't have any night qualifying. They have one session each on Thurs and Fri and 2 on Sat.
What gets me is they've run this qualifying format since the Early 90's when they added the Fri. Night session. And the Summer races have always been in 90 degree heat! Why is it such a big deal now??
So many big name (ies big sponsor teams ) have dnq'd this year in the 2 nitro categories.
In years past the gap between the haves and have nots was so wide that a top tier team could still make it in after messing up Friday night.
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I would add a 5th qualifying session. Keep Friday as is, attendence does pick up for that night session as the locals leave come after work. Have 3 sessions on Saturday. The 3rd one doesn't need to be a night session per se but it does need to be later then the current time frame. This would allow teams 2 real cracks at getting in the show as well as 3 opportunities at getting their race day set up in race temps.
Now I know the first complaint is that it will hurt small teams. I say oh well. They can still run the 3 or 4 sessions that they can afford and choose to sit out whichever sessions they want. If the middle session is hot and a smoke fest anyways then why waste the money to make a run right???
Teams are already on the road enough throughout the year I would not add a thursday session
BlueStangGT
Nitro Member
A few years ago at St. Louis they tried moving everything up a day, running the elims on Saturday night and I thought it was awesome. Q1 and Q2 was Thursday, Q3 and Q4 on Friday, eliminations starting Saturday evening.
The schedule that I think would be slick would be Q1 on Thursday evening, Q2 Friday afternoon, Q3 on Friday night, Q4 Saturday around noon, elims on Saturday night. This gives everyone 2 day runs, two evening runs, and an extra day (Sunday) to race in case of a rain delay.
The schedule that I think would be slick would be Q1 on Thursday evening, Q2 Friday afternoon, Q3 on Friday night, Q4 Saturday around noon, elims on Saturday night. This gives everyone 2 day runs, two evening runs, and an extra day (Sunday) to race in case of a rain delay.
DG
Nitro Member
I don't see how a reasonable same day TV show could be executed with night eliminations.
Remember a West Coast night time eliminations wouldn't end until well after mid-night on the East Coast!
Maybe this will be HD's "Pay Per View" option for the hard core who want to see all of the action and are willing to pay extra for the opportunity?
Remember a West Coast night time eliminations wouldn't end until well after mid-night on the East Coast!
Maybe this will be HD's "Pay Per View" option for the hard core who want to see all of the action and are willing to pay extra for the opportunity?
Terry
Nitro Member
THAT would be great! And I think it would be really spectator friendly. Good Idea, Mr SOONER!
Buddy
Nitro Member
PJ the reason NHRA eliminated that Thursday (5th) session was it was a HUGE advantage for the Sponsored teams. PLus NHRA thought it would reduce per race costs. I don't think NHRA will add a second night session but I do think they might (?) move the final session on Saturday an hour or two later.
I would like to see them move the second session on Saturday to later in the day. This past Saturday I was hoping they would run some other categories before jumping right back into the pro cars. Does anyone know why NHRA adapted the wrap around qualifying format back in either 2001 or 2002? Was it do to televison constraints or was it for the fans? I know the racers don't want another night session because then they get back late on Saturday and have to be at the track early on Sunday. If they started the pro session at 5:00 on Saturday that means the fuel cars would probably go off around 6, which would provide conditions that would not be as good as Friday night, but would be better than running with the sun beating entirely on the race track.
I agree Joe, move the second Saturday session back two hours, that way the ESPN 2 qualifying show could be aired live. I`m not in favor of any Thursday qualifying, unless it`s Pomona, NHRA won`t do it because the crowds aren`t going to be there on Thursdays.
The temptation to stay in a bad run will only be gone if your first 3 runs were good.
If any of runs 1,2 or 3 sucked then you would still be looking to save run 4.
Do you really want to see a Saturday night qualifying session on live TV? One last chance with everyone giving it their all and the fans can watch a lot of smoke or two hours of rice hull ash and brooms. Thursdays are not much of an option either since more races are being scheduled as three day events. As was mentioned, a lot more tracks are having curfews. If the two Pomona races were not held when they are there would be no night sessions there. No race engines after 7 PM
hellfirejim
Nitro Member
"Do you really want to see a Saturday night qualifying session on live TV? One last chance with everyone giving it their all and the fans can watch a lot of smoke or two hours of rice hull ash and brooms."
I think that is a pretty negative approach. I go on saturdays for just one reason and that reason is to see all the cars run, trying their best to get in or improve instead of just the 16 cars per category.
The best idea I have heard is moving the final qualifying back a couple of hours. Friday night means a one shot deal to get in with no allowances for bad luck as in a parts break or whatever. Why bother recording the times for Sat at all if they don't matter because there is no way to qualify anyway?
Of course you could always move up friday nite earlier a couple of hours to balance it out.
Face it, anything you do will piss off somebody so why not make it as fair as possible and make other qualifing rounds actually count?
jim
I think that is a pretty negative approach. I go on saturdays for just one reason and that reason is to see all the cars run, trying their best to get in or improve instead of just the 16 cars per category.
The best idea I have heard is moving the final qualifying back a couple of hours. Friday night means a one shot deal to get in with no allowances for bad luck as in a parts break or whatever. Why bother recording the times for Sat at all if they don't matter because there is no way to qualify anyway?
Of course you could always move up friday nite earlier a couple of hours to balance it out.
Face it, anything you do will piss off somebody so why not make it as fair as possible and make other qualifing rounds actually count?
jim
