What you guys are forgetting is, if tracks could make money booking in nitro cars, they would. If divisional directors could get sponsors for their events, they would. Neither of those things are happening now ... it would be perilous to change the entire structure of drag racing counting on BOTH of those things to happen.
Tracks book nitro cars- just not the ones that everyone knows from ESPN. A lot of that has to do with the limited, at best, amount of times cars can run outside of the schedule- either because of being dragged from one end of the country to the other and back again, or the ruling that basically shot every track operator in the foot for being able to book in the popular contender cars. Nitro shows with the proper advertising bring in crowds- there are enough independant/ alternate sanctioning body shows to prove that. Could the potential for these shows to garner a larger audience be assisted by the addition of a Force/ Schumacher/ Kalitta/ etc.? Would that be detrimental to the NHRA tour (I think that one has been answered by the restricted testing rule)?
And can DD's get sponsors for their events? Absolutely. I see so many tracks have an entire season of competition sponsored by a local or regional entity (I hear there is a great series running up in Vegas right now, Chris, and we had QuikMart last year and Merle's Auto this year sponsoring the season and the track in Tucson. I would have to say that the regional economy has had to play a major part in how sucessful a track's marketing director is in retaining a series sponsor. It's not impossible- it's just hard work.
You guys talk about backyard mechanics and the little guy, isn't that supposed to be the nostalgia funny car movement? Well guess what ... those guys are already complaining it's too expensive and they can't run for what the tracks can pay. And the funny car count was down at the March Meet, the biggest event of the year.
Nostalgia racing seems to be going through some growing pains of its own, between the seemingly new battles every year between promoters/ sanctioning bodies and the teams. I've experienced first-hand the cost increase of 4130 that blew up my chassis budget by almost 30%, and the amount of everything else from tires to fuel has gone through the roof. The plan to keep that aspect of racing "inexpensive" has been swept up in economic conditions that continues to confirm that racing, of any kind, is expensive. Maybe the MM count was down because guys are reevaluating the cost of going racing as a whole- not because of what's being paid out at the meets being too low. It's just too expensive to do anything nowadays- hell, I can't recall the last professional "stick and ball sports event I attended, because that, for a party of 4, would be over $500 for the day.
The "little guy", on the other hand, like Hartley, Diehl and Bode, are similar to being the Detroit Lions having to face the Steelers, week in and week out. They are not like the nostalgia teams running their circuit- they have chosen to run in the big leagues and hope that luck and talent get them a few round wins against the juggernauts that rule the tour. That is their decision- they know how much money they can come to play with, and they have decided to sit at the high stakes tables for as long as their bank holds out.
I say do away with the Countdown, reduce it to 20 National Events, make 4 majors that get double points and money but make sure they are spread out evenly on the calendar and geographically as possible, with Indy still the crown jewel ... and tighten up the TV package!
Still don't understand everyone's attachment to the whole National Event concept, especially with the cost of attending getting more prohibitive every year, and the odds of a different outcome by years end gets smaller and smaller. Another Team Force championship? Another Team Schumacher championship? Another Team Harley championship? Team Suzuki. Team Jegs.
Team... well, not too many others, is there?
Run the 5 points-gathering races during the year to establish the Championship teams, and watch what happens when the smaller teams that come out to play, after being able to test, tune and possibly win a few outside of the National Event spotlight, come to one of the 5 races and brings their newly found "A Game" because they got to compete more than just one round a weekend... Could put a whole new twist on what makes a season champion.