Night racing

[Ramjet]

It’s like someone buying a house on a golf course and complaining about the occasional ball in the back yard.

Or the Living Room Floor!

 

[Al]

https://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/for-the-betterment-of-the-sport-a-history-lesson-of-the-ugly-pra-to-pro-movement

This great article ends with "procedures pushed by PRO include 1000' racing (we'll leave that one alone) and no qualifying sessions can be scheduled for the darkness"
I didn't know that PRO (the racers organization) had mandated that. So I guess that ends this subject guys !

 

[Gordon]

I can't say this with 100% confidence, but my guess is that most of the time fans get to see CH3NO2 racing under the lights these days, it's usually because the clean-up crew has been busy all day... which used to be a lot more common at National Events than it has been in recent memory.

 

[PJ]

I may be wrong but I think part of the no late night sessions from Pro was in part due to the turnaround time. If you run late Saturday night, by the time you clean up and back up it makes for a very short turnaround for the crew to then be up and at the track early again the next day. Now if the entire event was moved to later then that would solve this issue


Another problem, depending on where you are at in the country, is dew on the track as it gets later. A few years ago I was an an event that accidentally ran late. They had nitro and cut them to 1/8th mile run for the final and even at that they didn't really run all the way the the 1/8th. Between a wet drag and foggy windows it can get too dangerous if run too late.
Not saying it couldn't be done, but there's more things to factor in.

 

[Gordon]

Another problem, depending on where you are at in the country, is dew on the track as it gets later. A few years ago I was an event that accidentally ran late. They had nitro and cut them to 1/8th mile run for the final and even at that they didn't really run all the way the the 1/8th. Between a wet drag and foggy windows it can get too dangerous if run too late. Not saying it couldn't be done, but there's more things to factor in.

Good point. When I worked at MDIR and we ran late, it was not uncommon for me to jump on my scooter throughout the night, only to discover a soaking wet seat from the dew.

 

[twostep]

I am not complaining in that sense. I am pointing out if you take a day event and make it a night event there are going to be a lot of really mad people. We have enough push back already don't give them more reasons .

Not from me, you wouldn't.....when they moved the Nats at the Texas Motorplex (which has no issues with noise) to (approx.) Sept. 10, partially due to Meyer's request because they were losing a lot of fans to high school football games on Friday night in October, there was more than one instance where the daytime highs were 100+ and the track was nearly 150. Half the Pro Stocks in attendance could have qualified for Top Fuel in Q1. Of course, it's been moved back to October now anyway.

Whether it's qualifying or race day, who here would prefer to sit on an aluminum bleacher in 104 degree heat, with no wind, in the daytime, and watch tire smoke - or about 8pm after the sun is nearly down, it's 80 degrees and the track is 30-40 degrees cooler? You can have your summer day event, at least for qualifying. I am aware that if they were start E1 at 8pm Sunday it's gonna be really late by E4 and people have to go to work Monday morning.

I have wondered that with today's speeds just how many nitro racers have a problem with vision, especially the older ones when normal night vision begins to fade. You can't see well out of a FC anyway and staying in your lane in something as violent as a 330mph race car that's full of clutch dust sounds like it could be a neat trick. I recall John Force commenting one Friday night not long ago at the Plex, right after a 338mph pass, that he relied on instinct alone because he couldn't see a damn thing. And he wasn't the only one who brought it up.