NHRA Majors! (1 Viewer)

[jimbo]

IN jeff Burks recent column at DRO he talks of Paul Pages idea (give credit when credit is due) of NHRA having some Major events that pay more money, more points and have more prestige to win than the other races on the schedule.
The Nationals used to award double points but that was about it in the past. The more money is a whole 'nother discussion, but, with the right marketing and promotion they should be able to raise the purse somehow.
The races he named were The Gators, E Town, The Nationals and the World Finals. My thoughts would be the Original big 3 - The Winternationals, E Town - the original Spring Nationals, and The Nationals. Plus add The Gators as it is argueably the biggest race, attendance wise on the schedule. The World Finals have enough going for it with the countdown. Like it not if every year was like last it is great enough, plus by throwing extra points in at that race that could really screw the countdown. But that could really be a plus too.
Limit your thoughts to his idea and not the countdown or NHRA's purses as these have already been discussed way to much already. I think in some way or form this could be a real asset to our sport!

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

An interesting idea. But if you're going to increase the payout, and double the points, then I suggest you double the field – 32 car.(Only one more round)

if you're going to make it a "MAJOR" then it should be different/special.
Otherwise it's just another national event, with a bigger payout.
Just my .02

 

[haagar]

An interesting idea. But if you're going to increase the payout, and double the points, then I suggest you double the field – 32 car.(Only one more round)

if you're going to make it a "MAJOR" then it should be different/special.
Otherwise it's just another national event, with a bigger payout.
Just my .02

It is only one more round but it is more than double the amount of passes.

I am definitely not against it, but I think they would struggle to have a full field and if they did have a full in all the classes it would be tough to fit it in on a Sunday. At 3 minutes a pair for the pros that would add two hours to the show if there weren't any oil downs.

 

[vegasnitro]

I have advocated the "majors" idea on here for years, even the same 4 events (Gators, ETown, Indy, Finals). At the very least, there is no excuse for Indy not to pay double points and money.

32 car fields??? Where would you get the cars??? They would almost certainly have to run first round on Saturday due to the noted extra number of runs. And I am not sure if you could truly double the purse for the winner if you pay round money to 32 cars ... and that kinda defeats the point IMO.

 

[JB3]

I have advocated the "majors" idea on here for years, even the same 4 events (Gators, ETown, Indy, Finals). At the very least, there is no excuse for Indy not to pay double points and money.

32 car fields??? Where would you get the cars??? They would almost certainly have to run first round on Saturday due to the noted extra number of runs. And I am not sure if you could truly double the purse for the winner if you pay round money to 32 cars ... and that kinda defeats the point IMO.

Gotta agree with you on this Chris. First and Froemost where would the cars come from?

In 2010 ...

• 45 drivers earned points in Top Fuel. 11 of them competed in 3 races or less. 6 of those were foreign invaders who dabbled in the NHRA and didn't announce any real plans to return this year. Plus, Terry Haddock is racing FC this year. That really pares it down to 33 drivers in total.
• 30 funny car drivers earned points last year. Del moved to TF and the other 2 (Phil Burkhart and Dan Wilkerson) don't have any 2011 plans I am aware of.

You might get enough PS and PSM at 1 or 2 events but I don't think any increase of points or $$ would necessarily drive entries up to 32.

Chris - I think you and I would agree It is a different world now. Costs are far higher. How many low budget teams would really spend the money to chase what is really a snowballs chance of even sniffing that increased prize money?? And would the xtra round $$ justify the additional expense?

 

[mick]

i have also advocated for modifying national events; points, money, qualifying
and distance being four areas worth exploring.........as chris mentioned, these
ideas have been floating around this website for quite a while.....

 

[TooTall999]

Another idea might be to make some of the races that have traditionally lower entry numbers worth more points or pay out more money.

 

[corvette racer]

Back in the day, you had your A races and your B races. A races were held at the more prestigious tracks, and paid more money.

 

[smokemasterJ]

Paul Page did NOT propose anything about "majors". Go back and read Burk's Blast, Page was just calling the gators a major race. To quote:
Just Wondering… Did Paul Page have a germ of a great idea? The answer is that, without his knowing it, maybe. While watching the Saturday and Sunday ESPN2 broadcast I noticed that Page kept referring to the Gatornationals as a “major”. Paul Page is still an idiot in my book.

 

[Michalek Brothers Racing]

Could someone explain the attention placed on Englishtown being a major? I'm not that familiar with that race being extremely hyped up.

Thanks!

 

[yoda]

How about just cutting back to 4-5 "majors" a year, and getting rid of the stupid testing rule- regional match racing for everyone!

 

[yoda]

Could someone explain the attention placed on Englishtown being a major? I'm not that familiar with that race being extremely hyped up.

Thanks!

E-Town used to host the Summernationals (in the actual summer- imagine that!! ).... It was the biggest race in the northeast as well as the NY/NJ metropolitan area- nitro cars in Manhattan were the norm. The crowds were huge, the race was the best kick off for the summer and so many teams used to run at E-Town during the year anyway at match races, that everyone had a tune up for the place... The place ABSOLUTELY ranks as one of the "heavys" in the season...

 

[Michalek Brothers Racing]

E-Town used to host the Summernationals (in the actual summer- imagine that!! ).... It was the biggest race in the northeast as well as the NY/NJ metropolitan area- nitro cars in Manhattan were the norm. The crowds were huge, the race was the best kick off for the summer and so many teams used to run at E-Town during the year anyway at match races, that everyone had a tune up for the place... The place ABSOLUTELY ranks as one of the "heavys" in the season...

Good to know. Thanks for the info!

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

How about just cutting back to 4-5 "majors" a year, and getting rid of the stupid testing rule- regional match racing for everyone!

excellent point Martin, after all that's what built up dragracing to what it is today.
(A) don't forget guys only two cars are running the extra round, the winner and the runner-up.

(B) the added time, no problem. Seems like most finals don't start until 12 or one on Sunday. So start one hour or even 90 min. earlier, and run one hour or 90 min. later. Or as also suggested, run first round of finals Saturday night.

(C) in 2009 and 2010 there were some races with short Nitro fields. Remember what happened? All of a sudden we were seeing cars and names that we don't normally see at national events. Why? Because they new they were going to qualify and get some Sunday exposure. There are lots of Nitro cars out there that we don't normally see at national events, give them enough notice and you may be surprised at how many show up.

"IF you build it – they will come". Give 32 car a try.

 

[vegasnitro]

I like the idea of the Gators, ETown, Indy and the Finals being the majors for 3 reasons:

1. All have been on the schedule forever.
2. They are geographically very spread out, maximizing the potential for fans to see a "major".
3. They are spread out on the schedule, so you don't have 1 or more majors right on top of each other ... which should help keep media interest throughout the season, or at least stoke it up more than it is being stoked up now.

The flaw of the system is that there is NO WAY Bruton Smith would allow this major system without at least 1 of them being at one of his tracks. And frankly, he would do a better job than ANYBODY of promoting said major ...

The secondary flaw is the Countdown ... double points at the Finals could get wonky. My original treatise was to have the majors system replace the Countdown, in other words the Countdown would go bye-bye and I firmly believe that the Majors could create excitement throughout the season, instead of only at the end like the Countdown does, adn we would be more likely to have a true season champion, rather than whoever is hottest at Vegas and Pomona..

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Chris, I like your one – two – and three. I also understand your first law theory. Here's a quick fix, keep Gators – E town – and Indy, but drop the finals and instead make Vegas#2 the fourth "MAJOR".
The finals are already special because it is the final.

That still covers East – West – and central US.

 

[Muddy]

I'm having a hard time seeing the central US in any of those proposals. From Texas, Oklahoma Kansas etc. it's 12 to 15 hours to Indy and 16 to 20 to Vegas. Try 6 or 8 races and scatter them across the US. Even back in the day we had Amarillo, Dallas, Denver, Tulsa, Topeka, KC and St Louis in the center. Gators and E-town are east coast from this area.

 

[d'kid]

How about just cutting back to 4-5 "majors" a year, and getting rid of the stupid testing rule- regional match racing for everyone!

Gee Martini, I said that about two months ago and got my @$$ riped... First round of a 32 car field at Indy run on Sunday afternoon, or start early Monday Morning.

d'kid

 

[d'kid]

I'm having a hard time seeing the central US in any of those proposals. From Texas, Oklahoma Kansas etc. it's 12 to 15 hours to Indy and 16 to 20 to Vegas. Try 6 or 8 races and scatter them across the US. Even back in the day we had Amarillo, Dallas, Denver, Tulsa, Topeka, KC and St Louis in the center. Gators and E-town are east coast from this area.

I believe most of those were AHRA tracks back in the day.

 

[mick]

'major' status to nat. event venues surviving from 70's........

pomona (winters only)
gainesville (1/4 mile racing)
englishtown (gets 'summers' title back)
denver (sat. night elims. like the inaugural)
indy (extra cash)

5 xtra points races all before the C, indy would be really interesting again.
englishtown race over memorial weekend (indy & nascar race, why not nhra?)
denver starts western swing to better space the 5 races

charlotte starts the C
ennis becomes 'supernationals' (think this was a TX race years ago?)
reading back to 'keystones'
arizona becomes 'grand nationals'
pomona II assumes 'fall nationals'
vegas gets the finals, bruton bookends the C