NHRA we need changes NOW! (4 Viewers)

[mick]

....... over 50% of you don't think Blazing Saddles is not funny either .......

i think i would be one of those over 50% actually. i don't think that movie is not funny. that would be a true statement,
in a double negative sort of fashion.

 

[Ponyhntr]

Does NHRA still have to pay to have their races broadcast, instead of receiving money for the broadcasting rights, such as is received by the professional stick and ball sports?

No. They have not paid for airtime since the ESPN days.

 

[J]

No. They have not paid for airtime since the ESPN days.

I sure miss espn sounds of the strip!

 

[Chili]

One thing to note, as much as I agree that attendance has been suffering for a few years, we are operating in a new environment. Streaming and the TV package is where the pot of gold is. Think of Major League Baseball. Star players in the 1970's were barely scratching $1 million a year and the stands were packed. Now they make tens (hundreds) of millions and a lot of newer parks are actually smaller. What changed? Where did this money come from? Its all because of TV.
My point is that you can't just look at the stands to determine how much money is flowing, and secondly it is critical that NHRA do what they can to attract the best TV package possible. Sometimes that involves some compromises that make you hold your nose, but what can you do?

Unfortunately Live drag racing is not a TV friendly sport. Just too much downtime which is unavoidable. We live in a society where the results are at our fingertips. If somebody stumbles upon the NHRA show and gets interested in it, they can check to see who won before finishing the broadcast most weeks. I think the best TV product would be coming on live for the semi finals, then catching up the viewers on all the early round action prior to ending with the pro finals. No reason they couldn’t show all the sportsman finals in between. Weather, oil downs or crashes would create issues at times but it could easily be done in a 90 minute window.

 

[Jim]

I bet over 50% of you don't think Blazing Saddles is not funny either.

50% of Blazing Saddles is not funny.

 

[mole]

50% of Blazing Saddles is not funny.

A wed wose.....How womantic...

 

[Billy]

I sure miss espn sounds of the strip!

I miss Mike Dunn! (As well as the Do or Dunn line - I still make my own Do or Dunn line when looking at the points during the Countdown.

 

[Billy]

Unfortunately Live drag racing is not a TV friendly sport. Just too much downtime which is unavoidable. We live in a society where the results are at our fingertips. If somebody stumbles upon the NHRA show and gets interested in it, they can check to see who won before finishing the broadcast most weeks. I think the best TV product would be coming on live for the semi finals, then catching up the viewers on all the early round action prior to ending with the pro finals. No reason they couldn’t show all the sportsman finals in between. Weather, oil downs or crashes would create issues at times but it could easily be done in a 90 minute window.

Live SF and recap - that was the TNN LIVE racing formula in the 1990s I believe.

 

[Billy]

One thing to note, as much as I agree that attendance has been suffering for a few years, we are operating in a new environment. Streaming and the TV package is where the pot of gold is. Think of Major League Baseball. Star players in the 1970's were barely scratching $1 million a year and the stands were packed. Now they make tens (hundreds) of millions and a lot of newer parks are actually smaller. What changed? Where did this money come from? Its all because of TV.
My point is that you can't just look at the stands to determine how much money is flowing, and secondly it is critical that NHRA do what they can to attract the best TV package possible. Sometimes that involves some compromises that make you hold your nose, but what can you do?

Thanks to Streaming, we've also decided sometimes - it's too hot (or too long of a day for my Senior parent) so we'll stream it from the comforts of the house, then go on Sunday when it's a shorter day. Epping this year, the weather was iffy on Saturday so that worked out - we were shocked they got all the Pro qualifying sessions in!

 

[GumbyWVU]

Unfortunately Live drag racing is not a TV friendly sport. Just too much downtime which is unavoidable. We live in a society where the results are at our fingertips. If somebody stumbles upon the NHRA show and gets interested in it, they can check to see who won before finishing the broadcast most weeks. I think the best TV product would be coming on live for the semi finals, then catching up the viewers on all the early round action prior to ending with the pro finals. No reason they couldn’t show all the sportsman finals in between. Weather, oil downs or crashes would create issues at times but it could easily be done in a 90 minute window.

And yet ESPN can televise Professional Hide and Seek during the daytime hours. I think it could be said then that TV sports aren't friendly to NHRA (or IHRA in the past).

But I do agree - oil downs etc can totally blow live coverage.

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

Guess I'm the odd man out. I feel that it was one of the best years ever. I don't recall when all 4 pro categories had so many vehicles that could win any race. In fact some champions couldn't be called until Pomona 2. Granted, some fields were short but with economics being what they are and the challenge of securing a sponsor that is willing to fork over seven figures is slim pickins it's not a huge surprise. If next year is like this year I'll be thrilled.

Dan, I agree that there was a lot of close exciting racing this yr. But read your last sentence -''Granted, some fields were short but with economics being what they are and the challenge of securing a sponsor that is willing to fork over seven figures is slim pickins it's not a huge surprise''. You summed it up perfectly. This is the problem that nhra has to address or we will have short fields in every race!! The 8 or 9 small top fuel teams that fill out the fields and fill the slots that are now taken with by runs need to have financial incentive to run more races. Whether that incentive comes from bigger purses or less parts attrition or both is the issue that nhra has to address.

 

[Sparky]

I cannot understand why the short fields are considered a so detrimental to the sport. Its not great to a diehard fan but to the casual fan that shows up to there closest national event it doesn't. They are only there to see the name drivers. They don't car that Manny Moore is making his first start in a top fuel car but they do care that Tony Stewart is there or Clay Millican. To me all motorsports go through cycles Just a few short years ago people were worried that the World of Outlaws would not have enough cars for a traveling series, now there is enough for two different series. NASCAR had a period where they had over 50 cars try and qualify at every race, then they were lucky to get 35 cars now they are back up in the 40's. Formula 1 car count has had many drastic swings in car count over the years. Remember we were going to run out of water by 2020 in the 1980's.

 

[Billy]

I cannot understand why the short fields are considered a so detrimental to the sport. Its not great to a diehard fan but to the casual fan that shows up to there closest national event it doesn't. They are only there to see the name drivers. They don't car that Manny Moore is making his first start in a top fuel car but they do care that Tony Stewart is there or Clay Millican. To me all motorsports go through cycles Just a few short years ago people were worried that the World of Outlaws would not have enough cars for a traveling series, now there is enough for two different series. NASCAR had a period where they had over 50 cars try and qualify at every race, then they were lucky to get 35 cars now they are back up in the 40's. Formula 1 car count has had many drastic swings in car count over the years. Remember we were going to run out of water by 2020 in the 1980's.

Yes I don't think they even realize it. They are not filling out a 16-car bracket to track along like I do! (Actually I have a notebook that I bring and write down everything and track that I've been doing for almost 40 years now!)

 

[mick]

I cannot understand why the short fields are considered a so detrimental to the sport.......

is the nhra ok with short fields? ....... maybe a few per year? how many is a few? ...... i don't think having to say 'he or she gets a bye in this round' plays particularly
well to a TV or live audience ...... when indy, nascar, and F1 host full fields and you don't? ...... your overall entertainment package lessens; what about
torrence fans expecting to see steve during the last few races? who is next? ....... $50k is $50k, what if nhra regulars attend ihra races next summer instead
of making western swing races? is that ok? ...... i don't think accepting smaller fields is healthy. you have a sports entertainment business model in place,
and now with competition from the ihra ....... IMO nhra should offer any incentives possible to maintain full nitro fields at the nat. events.
will short fields continue? yes, because the racers and the nhra are not in business together. costs are high, and payouts are relatively stagnant. not an easy solution.

 

[Marchboom]

Again, it comes down to money. NHRA, the team owners and the crew chiefs will have to figure out a way to make the costs less expensive. Otherwise 8 car fields will become the norm. You can't have an engine explosion every other run. Simple economics will put a racer out of business when it costs a team $100,000+ every other run. And it will be very hard to convince a sponsor that you need this huge amount of money every year. And that cost just keeps going higher.

 

[Litefoot]

Again, it comes down to money. NHRA, the team owners and the crew chiefs will have to figure out a way to make the costs less expensive. Otherwise 8 car fields will become the norm. You can't have an engine explosion every other run. Simple economics will put a racer out of business when it costs a team $100,000+ every other run. And it will be very hard to convince a sponsor that you need this huge amount of money every year. And that cost just keeps going higher.

When you have traction that can hold mega runs that puts the parts at there breaking limits only the teams that can afford new motors every pass can justify the cost, if the traction is pulled back, all the parts will last longer for everyone, the crew chiefs will Change the tune up, the racing will be better because lower funded teams will be able be more competitive if the big money teams can’t just out spend them, because they can afford the breakage to out run them

 

[twostep]

The most quotable movie of all time. “It’s twue, it’s twue.”

Off topic but personally, I can't imagine anyone not finding Blazing Saddles funny. I laughed so hard the first time I saw it I honestly needed an ambulance. Not in today's DEI world perhaps but this was 1974. And y'all did notice who emerged victorious in the end, did you not? The guy with the Gucci saddlebags.

And Ted, you forgot the most often repeated quote of BS - "Now what'll that azzhole think of next." "Has anybody got a dime? Somebody's gotta go back and get a chitload of dimes."

I don't know what else NHRA could have done regarding Pomona 2 other than reschedule it for the next weekend and we're all aware of the logistical issues with that. I'm sure they considered it. A downer to be sure but not a season ruining disaster by any stretch.

 

[Sparky]

Again, it comes down to money. NHRA, the team owners and the crew chiefs will have to figure out a way to make the costs less expensive. Otherwise 8 car fields will become the norm. You can't have an engine explosion every other run. Simple economics will put a racer out of business when it costs a team $100,000+ every other run. And it will be very hard to convince a sponsor that you need this huge amount of money every year. And that cost just keeps going higher.

The other series that I mentioned have not lowered cost, it is just a revolving wheel. They used the have a few cars in the north west that would fill the field but they were no different than a start and park car in nascar.

 

[TSK]

Off topic but personally, I can't imagine anyone not finding Blazing Saddles funny. I laughed so hard the first time I saw it I honestly needed an ambulance. Not in today's DEI world perhaps but this was 1974. And y'all did notice who emerged victorious in the end, did you not? The guy with the Gucci saddlebags.

And Ted, you forgot the most often repeated quote of BS - "Now what'll that azzhole think of next." "Has anybody got a dime? Somebody's gotta go back and get a chitload of dimes."

I don't know what else NHRA could have done regarding Pomona 2 other than reschedule it for the next weekend and we're all aware of the logistical issues with that. I'm sure they considered it. A downer to be sure but not a season ruining disaster by any stretch.

The quote I remember most is, “excuse me while I whip this out.”

 

[Billy]

Again, it comes down to money. NHRA, the team owners and the crew chiefs will have to figure out a way to make the costs less expensive. Otherwise 8 car fields will become the norm. You can't have an engine explosion every other run. Simple economics will put a racer out of business when it costs a team $100,000+ every other run. And it will be very hard to convince a sponsor that you need this huge amount of money every year. And that cost just keeps going higher.

I think that is why Richard Freeman is dipping his toes into Top Fuel. I think he's interested in seeing if what he learned while saving the Pro Stock field sizes can be applied to the Nitro classes.