NHRA PRO QUALIFYING RULE (1 Viewer)

[Pete]

Hmmm, I thought Jeff Arend won his first race driving Paul Smiths car at Reading in '96. Seem to remember Jeff telling me the story, maybe I have the year wrong.

He did win the race, driving Paul Smiths car...I meant it was '94

 

[Frank]

I'm actually okay with the rule, especially with how small the fields are. There were only 17 funny cars on the property. All 4 qualifying sessions were run, there were no rainouts. Campbell and the Oberto team made 3 runs. All they had to do was run better than 1 other car to make the field and in 3 attempts, they couldn't do it. No disrespect to Big Jim Dunn's team or anyone else who DNQs, but in today's day and age, with only 17, 18, 19 cars showing up, you literally only have to run better than 1 or 2 other cars to have a chance to race on Sunday. If you can't run better than 1 or 2 cars in your class, I'm sorry, I don't feel you've earned the right to run for the Wally on Sunday. Now, if you're talking about Pro Mod today or Pro Stock back in the 80s/90s where there are/were 25-30 cars trying to qualify for a really hard field to make, then I can see using alternates.

Matt Hagan went into that 4th session on the bump. If Campbell had run well enough to bump him out and if Hagan smoked the tires or had other problems and not been able to bump back in, I for sure don't think he should be re-inserted into the field. That's a mega dollar team that had 4 attempts and in those attempts, they couldn't outrun the likes of Haddock, Diehl, Campbell, or Simpson. Not being able to outrun just one of the aforementioned lower budget teams, Hagan and the Mopar Express team would have deserved to be sitting in the trailer on Sunday.

As for the fans being screwed out of a race, I don't think it's that big of a deal. Especially in this scenario. I was at the Mile Highs all weekend long. I saw all three of Jim Campbell's runs and they really struggled. With the threat of afternoon thunderstorms on Sunday and NHRA trying to make a live TV window, I was perfectly okay with Beckman getting the bye run. Again, no disrepect to the Oberto team, but with their struggles over the weekend, I would have been holding my breath hoping there wasn't a long cleanup had they made the call to the line for round 1.

 

[Con]

I don't remember. Any cleanup in both nitro classea unless it was just a minute or two.

First long cleanup was in Pro stock from just past finish line up the center of the lane
Into the shut down turnoff.

 

[Rat]

What is the current Non-Qualifier purse and what is the curse purse for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, r/u and winner? I believe top ten program is still 2,000 a race along with the variable 500-15k year end position finishes depending on 1st or 10th.

 

[Dave]

I don't think they are that closely guarded. This was the payout for the Route 66 Nationals posted on nhraracer.com

My question is, since there were only 15 TF cars in Sonoma, what does NHRA do with that extra 25,000 they don't have to pay?

 

[Pete]

I don't think they are that closely guarded. This was the payout for the Route 66 Nationals posted on nhraracer.com

View attachment 4684

My question is, since there were only 15 TF cars in Sonoma, what does NHRA do with that extra 25,000 they don't have to pay?

Nothing

 

[Sandman]

I thought I knew lots of trivia, but I've never heard of the Paul Smith rule before. While I might not think so if I were on the losing end of his actions, I think it's hilarious to hear some of the stories posted here. My brother's a NASCAR fan and told me James Hylton did similar things, qualifying for a race, running a few laps then parking the car and collecting some generous last place money. According to my brother, he ran the same tires for two seasons of that stuff!

 

[mick]

when coca cola re-upped with nhra last summer to extend thru 2023, it's not hard to google articles that report the original mello yello/nhra contract was worth
an estimated 3-4 million per year.......now if the payout averages around $600k per race + year end bonuses, i think it's safe to assume annual payouts for the
mello yello classes are somewhere north of 16M. gives you some kind of idea how important all the various levels of nhra sponsorships are, including the take from
each nat. event track at many levels, including entry fees.

 

[Bruno]

3-4 Million is barely enough to run one car. Hard to believe that is all that is paid to sponsor the series. If that is true, Mellow Yellow is getting a major bargain with all the advertising NHRA does for them. Not so sure I buy that number..

 

[mick]

here's the SBJ article from last summer
https://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Morning-Buzz/2017/08/31/Mello-Yello.aspx

 

[none]

I thought I knew lots of trivia, but I've never heard of the Paul Smith rule before. While I might not think so if I were on the losing end of his actions, I think it's hilarious to hear some of the stories posted here. My brother's a NASCAR fan and told me James Hylton did similar things, qualifying for a race, running a few laps then parking the car and collecting some generous last place money. According to my brother, he ran the same tires for two seasons of that stuff!

That still happens, not in the Cup series, but in the others. It's known as "Start and Park"
Alan

 

[vegasnitro]

That still happens, not in the Cup series, but in the others. It's known as "Start and Park"
Alan

Yep. NASCAR used to have it in their agreements with their promoters and TV partners that they would guarantee 43 starters for every Cup race. It got crazy expensive to run Cup and they were having trouble finding 43 starters ... a few guys figured out, that if they bought 1 car and 1 motor and didn't hire a crew, made 1 lap in qualifying and 1 lap in the race ... they could make quite a few bucks. Derrike Cope made over a million dollars one year "driving" a former show car with a 3 year old motor, as last place usually paid in the $60K range per race.

NASCAR has since cut back the field guarantee to 40 and instituted the franchise system in the Cup series, so start and park guys have been pushed down to the Xfinity and Truck series, where they still make money, but quite a bit less than the salad days of Cup.

 

[turbo ken]

You must study the history of that rule first! Some call it the "Paul Smith Rule"...……..he would make the show, then sell his spot to the highest non-qualified bidder.

Wasn't it a woman TF driver with a big sponsor that also sponsored the race that broke the straw on the camels back, which finally caused the implementation the rule.

 

[Rat]

Wasn't it a woman TF driver with a big sponsor that also sponsored the race that broke the straw on the camels back, which finally caused the implementation the rule.

I also heard about that same driver, she couldn't drive it/wasnt very good at it to save her life.

Anyway, if the deal if up for 5-6 Mil now, why are purses still so low? I know that's an age old question, but if you qualify # 1, win, and get the top ten money, you are walking away with what? $55,000 when you've spent about 80-90K. Indy possibly the payouts for each segment is double. The purses need to be at least more in line. Unless there is a sponsor the entire race or you have money you literally want to set on fire, you are outta luck. Btw, thanks Dave.

 

[DG]

"The purses need to be at least more in line. "

What? But how are they going to pay all of those Board of Directors" at NHRA?

 

[Cliff]

Purses have never been in line w/ other motor sports.

 

[none]

You guys win. I quit

Alan

 

[camaro]

ahhh...…. so once again the fault is not with the nhra..... the lo purses are the racers fault.... got it !!!!

 

[TK]

^^ While this is true and very understandable on the "grass roots" and sportsman level, it is not understandable on the professional level. This is the "big show" and for NHRA to not pay a purse that is even remotely commensurate with the level of professionalism demonstrated by these racing teams is completely unacceptable...…...Note: Since Alan has deleted his post, I want to clarify that I was responding to his original post in where he was rationalizing the fact that racers have always spent more than the purses justify, and that the racers were aware of the purses before entering.

 

[Pete]

^^ While this is true and very understandable on the "grass roots" and sportsman level, it is not understandable on the professional level. This is the "big show" and for NHRA to not pay a purse that is even remotely commensurate with the level of professionalism demonstrated by these racing teams is completely unacceptable...…...Note: Since Alan has deleted his post, I want to clarify that I was responding to his original post in where he was rationalizing the fact that racers have always spent more than the purses justify, and that the racers were aware of the purses before entering.

Go a little further...Schumacher said the cars cost him 20k per run, all qualifiers & winning the race cost 160k...to win 50k. We all are aware of the purses when we invest and show up to race, so no one should be complaining about purses...it’s the same as complaining about making less money than someone else doing the same job.
The only thing that’s changed is independent racers cannot “make a living” doing this any longer, with match racing gone & the cost where it is.
Stating the obvious, sponsorship is key or it’s not worth the investment or effort.