NHRA open to 1/8 mile? (6 Viewers)

[NitroLuver]

This is off topic and I apologize admins feel free to delete it. The NHRA needs to find a way to get today's youth out of their parents' basement playing video games or talking on cell phones all day and into the stands. F1 and Indy Car seem to have that figured out as the stands are filled with younger people. NASCAR and the NHRA have yet to figure out how to do it. YES (Youth and Education Services) Program as founded in 1989 was a great idea in fact we took part in a few. The main idea was to get kids to stay in school and show how education (and the discretionary income earned) related to opportunities for employment within the industry. It was working well and was heavily attended. Then in 2001 the Army came around with their sponsorship of Tony "the sarge" turning the YES program more into a recruitment program complete with a climbing wall. My understanding is that attendance fell off. The last national event I went to live (prior to becoming disabled) was in 2021, with the exception of the occasion grandfather dragging their grandson/grand daughter around the pits most spectators were over thirty. For the sport to grow we need to impact (hook) the youth at an early age. Back in the day I had the honor of working with one of the best promoters who ever lived - Broadway Bob. On the first and last days of the local high school we had our fuel car on display along with a couple of bracket cars. During the racing season we would do a couple of displays at local shopping malls and dealerships. Bob would always give away a limited number of free bring your parent or friend to the track tickets. I don't see anyone doing that anymore.

I'm pretty sure many high schools no longer have automotive repair classes. Which sucks.

 

[ironpony]

This is off topic and I apologize admins feel free to delete it. The NHRA needs to find a way to get today's youth out of their parents' basement playing video games or talking on cell phones all day and into the stands. F1 and Indy Car seem to have that figured out as the stands are filled with younger people. NASCAR and the NHRA have yet to figure out how to do it. YES (Youth and Education Services) Program as founded in 1989 was a great idea in fact we took part in a few. The main idea was to get kids to stay in school and show how education (and the discretionary income earned) related to opportunities for employment within the industry. It was working well and was heavily attended. Then in 2001 the Army came around with their sponsorship of Tony "the sarge" turning the YES program more into a recruitment program complete with a climbing wall. My understanding is that attendance fell off. The last national event I went to live (prior to becoming disabled) was in 2021, with the exception of the occasion grandfather dragging their grandson/grand daughter around the pits most spectators were over thirty. For the sport to grow we need to impact (hook) the youth at an early age. Back in the day I had the honor of working with one of the best promoters who ever lived - Broadway Bob. On the first and last days of the local high school we had our fuel car on display along with a couple of bracket cars. During the racing season we would do a couple of displays at local shopping malls and dealerships. Bob would always give away a limited number of free bring your parent or friend to the track tickets. I don't see anyone doing that anymore.

F1 is every where except the US, Indy car is fun for more than 4 seconds,

 

[John Farce Racing]

I'm pretty sure many high schools no longer have automotive repair classes. Which sucks.

well, what are they going to teach them? how to hook up a scanner? todays cars are to complex to teach a bunch of kids much in a semester or even a year.

 

[yoda]

well, what are they going to teach them? how to hook up a scanner? todays cars are to complex to teach a bunch of kids much in a semester or even a year.

Machine and fabrication shops still fit under that "auto shop" category, and what is learned with those skills will for the rest of our lifetimes continue to be a valuable career. I recall a secondary education trade school that had a pretty good tie in with NHRA/NASCAR, and F1 is loaded with young engineers doing some amazing things for cars.

Plus, a great auto shop project in some schools is taking old beaters and just learning the fundamentals of what makes a machine work.

 

[CS]

F1 is every where except the US, Indy car is fun for more than 4 seconds,

Actually F1 is in Texas October 23 - 25 and Las Vegas November 19 - 21 both play before sell out crowd. The Las Vegas race is so important that the city built permanent viewing areas in addition to the temporary ones.

 

[ironpony]

Actually F1 is in Texas October 23 - 25 and Las Vegas November 19 - 21 both play before sell out crowd. The Las Vegas race is so important that the city built permanent viewing areas in addition to the temporary ones.

Yes I know that we are huge F1 fans, do not forget about Miami. F1 is an entirely different spectacle as far as entertainment. Fans are there to party for 3-4 days the whole event is a destination event, it is a who's who of sports, music and Hollywood . Oh and the other thing is unless you want to spend thousands of dollars for a weekend you are not going to an F1 race. And if you think NHRA concessions are expensive you are in for sticker shock.

NHRA is minutes of racing and hours of waiting, not a great entertainment value. The other series are a couple of hours of racing, minimal downtime. Lots of time to dine, socialize, party and cheer on your driver, just two completely business models.
I have been following drag racing since the 60's and IMO the issue is younger people have lost interest in cars, drag racing. As I said above the other series is about a giant party not so much the racing.

As Alan would say not arguing just discussing.

 

[Billy]

F1 is every where except the US, Indy car is fun for more than 4 seconds,

I know this doesn't need to be said but drag racing is fun for the whole day, not just 4 seconds. I would be lost at an Indy car event. I was given free tickets to the NASCAR race at Pocono and declined because I would have nobody to explain it to me - how to observe the race; how to understand what is going; how to know the strategy. I would have been tragically bored. I grew up in drag racing and know all the nuances and love the math that goes into the .90-classes, so I know I've drank the Kool Aid here.

 

[GumbyWVU]

Hey Roger... nope, you got my point exactly. Baseball had a good 60-80 year heyday. And still fell off the mountain. Fun to watch, everyone could play at a lower level and at one point, it was where heros were created.
Drag racing had that for at best 10-20 years (68-77 rocked). And now?
When the opinions of the heros of the sport are snubbed as the rants of old men, and the sport has decades like the last 20 years, the fall, as you said, can expect to be much faster (and deeper).

Pretty sure the decline of MLB is due more to the fact young boys simply aren't playing it and interested in it, rather than changes to the game, which really haven't been very much overall. And the increase of popularity of football (pro and college). Biggest changes in MLB were 1. The DH, but only in the American League for most of its life; 2. Turf 3. Playoff expansion, which I think was detrimental, and 4.Now it's the pitch clock, which from my understanding nearly everyone prefers.

American culture changed too, speeding up as it is regarding time, and baseball games simply got longer and longer. Plus the strikes, PEDs, limiting starting pitchers on pitch counts, etc. Frankly, the linch pin for me was the one All Star Game that ended in a tie because of the fear of a starting pitcher going more than one inning and they ran out of players (thank you Joe Torre, you jerk).

 

[GumbyWVU]

Yes I know that we are huge F1 fans, do not forget about Miami. F1 is an entirely different spectacle as far as entertainment. Fans are there to party for 3-4 days the whole event is a destination event, it is a who's who of sports, music and Hollywood . Oh and the other thing is unless you want to spend thousands of dollars for a weekend you are not going to an F1 race. And if you think NHRA concessions are expensive you are in for sticker shock.

NHRA is minutes of racing and hours of waiting, not a great entertainment value. The other series are a couple of hours of racing, minimal downtime. Lots of time to dine, socialize, party and cheer on your driver, just two completely business models.
I have been following drag racing since the 60's and IMO the issue is younger people have lost interest in cars, drag racing. As I said above the other series is about a giant party not so much the racing.

As Alan would say not arguing just discussing.

Yep, younger people not as interested in cars/automobilia definitely a huge factor, for all motorsports it seems. Like how they prefer soccer to baseball. Changing culture and demographics.

 

[GumbyWVU]

I'm pretty sure many high schools no longer have automotive repair classes. Which sucks.

and auto body shop too!

 

[none]

well, what are they going to teach them? how to hook up a scanner? todays cars are to complex to teach a bunch of kids much in a semester or even a year.

You might be surprised. Some are still out there and doing well. Marana High School in AZ. has a thriving Auto Shop program. The students learn about the technology they also intern at local dealerships and many come out of school go straight to work making real money.

Ford has been part of the Youth and Education program for quite a while now, recruting students to work at dealerships where they earn and train. And it's no BS that a good learner can be making six figures less then 5 years out of high school. With zero school debt, I've seen it.

Have a buddy that is a MOPAR Master Tech. He moved away for a while, came back to Tucson and we went out for a beer. I asked if he was working and he told me he sent his credentials to the two big MOPAR dealers in town and they were now fighting over him.

Alan

 

[Marchboom]

Phones, PHONES, PHONES! It's all about those damn phones. People below the age of 40 (approx) constantly have their heads buried in those phones. Games, social media, texting to their friends, etc. This is their life. If it isn't related to their phone somehow, they don't care about it. Want to prove it? Take away their phone for a few days (if that) and watch them go into a complete meltdown. Maybe even suicidal.

 

[twostep]

Phones, PHONES, PHONES! It's all about those damn phones. People below the age of 40 (approx) constantly have their heads buried in those phones. Games, social media, texting to their friends, etc. This is their life. If it isn't related to their phone somehow, they don't care about it. Want to prove it? Take away their phone for a few days (if that) and watch them go into a complete meltdown. Maybe even suicidal.

I've seen it so bad that two people riding in the back seat of m pickup were simultaneously texting - one another. My grandson literally cannot put his down for 60 seconds other than when he's working or asleep. 8 straight hours a day watching podcasts, even when he's eating (unless he's eating with me where my table is phone free). Dropped it in the commode once while trying to watch and pee at the same time.

So would the pits be more active if the Manufacturers' Midway changed from vendors such as Edelbrock and Comp Cams to Verizon and AT&T?

 

[John Farce Racing]

You might be surprised. Some are still out there and doing well. Marana High School in AZ. has a thriving Auto Shop program. The students learn about the technology they also intern at local dealerships and many come out of school go straight to work making real money.

Ford has been part of the Youth and Education program for quite a while now, recruting students to work at dealerships where they earn and train. And it's no BS that a good learner can be making six figures less then 5 years out of high school. With zero school debt, I've seen it.

Have a buddy that is a MOPAR Master Tech. He moved away for a while, came back to Tucson and we went out for a beer. I asked if he was working and he told me he sent his credentials to the two big MOPAR dealers in town and they were now fighting over him.

Alan

So why did the Ford CEO come out and say they were 6000 empty bays in dealerships? People don't want to do it because the pay, on average, sucks for the hours worked, and the the cars are becoming a nightmare to work on.. Sure there are guys making 6 figures, but the majority aren't close. Frankly, if someone wants to go into the trades, electrician or a bunch of other professions would be better.

 

[z28]

So why did the Ford CEO come out and say they were 6000 empty bays in dealerships? People don't want to do it because the pay, on average, sucks for the hours worked, and the the cars are becoming a nightmare to work on.. Sure there are guys making 6 figures, but the majority aren't close. Frankly, if someone wants to go into the trades, electrician or a bunch of other professions would be better.

when you consider the cost of tools today and the time it takes to earn good pay auto mechanics are behind the scale on what a master plumber or electrician can make. The tech knowledge needed for todays autos is hard to learn well and seems like every manufacturer wants to do things a little different. When I went from auto to heavy truck the big difference was the size of the parts and not much else no matter the brand.

 

[GumbyWVU]

Sadly a lot of modern vehicles now is as much the software/firmware as it is the hardware/parts. And the manufacturers really guard that code too.

 

[GumbyWVU]

Phones, PHONES, PHONES! It's all about those damn phones. People below the age of 40 (approx) constantly have their heads buried in those phones. Games, social media, texting to their friends, etc. This is their life. If it isn't related to their phone somehow, they don't care about it. Want to prove it? Take away their phone for a few days (if that) and watch them go into a complete meltdown. Maybe even suicidal.

Yep saw it at work when the guest wifi would go down or if their carrier network went down. They'd go nuts.

That's why I refuse to have a smartphone. When someone asks me where mine is I point to my head and say "up there".

 

[mick]

watched a utube the other day that talks about the best and most reliable cars were from around 2008 - 20014, right before
everything became digital. analog guages, knobs, and switches were still the norm. easy to isolate, and inexpensive to replace. now your entire
dash is a digital panel. one thing goes wrong and the fix could be very expensive.

 

[Chili]

It wouldn’t be easy but I wish NHRA could be more interactive with a live game. The fans in the stand could select a winner of each race on their phone including all the sportsman classes. If you have the top percentage or most win in a single class you win a prize. It could be anything from a T-shirt, free food, starting line access for a pro session or free ticket for a future event. I do think that would keep some of them more involved with what is going on.

 

[ironpony]

One of the things I find a hoot and really annoying at the same time is
People will buy a ticket, sit in the stands and then sit there and watch the event on their phone. Depending on the event the light from the screen is super annoying.