Am I missing something, but when a car doesn't make the top 12 on Friday. It is listed like it was never out of the box on Saturday. The best non qualifying time could be listed as a barometer to compare the Sat. times with. And in the case of Sat. being the cars 1st. time out then list it as No Prior Run .
Nitromater
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No Prior Run
- Thread starter Butch
- Start date
You're not missing anything. If you're not in the top 12 Friday, Saturday is a brand new day. And if you qualify your Pro Stock #12 Friday with, say, a 6.60, it's still possible for you to be bumped out of the field Saturday - if you don't improve and five Friday nonqualifiers run quicker.
Lots of people like the 12 Friday/16 Saturday format. Personally I think it's confusing as hell and they should revert back to the best 16 standing at the end of Q4, period.
Lots of people like the 12 Friday/16 Saturday format. Personally I think it's confusing as hell and they should revert back to the best 16 standing at the end of Q4, period.
Professional Fan
Nitro Member
As Bob Frey has put it a number of times, if you're not in the top 12 on Friday, it's as if you never made a qualifying pass.
mike
Nitro Member
I don't understand what is so hard to understand 
it is still (or at least can still be) the fastest 16, and the whole order can change on Saturday. It is just that no more than 12 cars can keep their time from Friday night...so if you were number 1 on Friday night and on Saturday 16 cars go quicker than you, you are out.
IMHO it really helps the low buck teams that don't have the budget or tune to "turn the Earth" on Friday night but still have a reasonable chance on Sunday to win a round or two...it also gives the fast guys a chance to shoot for a record without worrying too much about losing a run and not having a chance to make the show on Sunday.
as long as one session (Friday night) is frequently gunna be significantly better than any of the other sessions; and the Friday night session, is nothing like the conditions they see on race day, the top 12 deal seems like a reasonable compromise...
it is still (or at least can still be) the fastest 16, and the whole order can change on Saturday. It is just that no more than 12 cars can keep their time from Friday night...so if you were number 1 on Friday night and on Saturday 16 cars go quicker than you, you are out.
IMHO it really helps the low buck teams that don't have the budget or tune to "turn the Earth" on Friday night but still have a reasonable chance on Sunday to win a round or two...it also gives the fast guys a chance to shoot for a record without worrying too much about losing a run and not having a chance to make the show on Sunday.
as long as one session (Friday night) is frequently gunna be significantly better than any of the other sessions; and the Friday night session, is nothing like the conditions they see on race day, the top 12 deal seems like a reasonable compromise...
I understand the format.
I just think it's BS that, say on Sat. Joe Doe goes out and runs a #14 position run. You can't compare that run with what he ran Friday. True he didn't make the top 12, it would be nice to compare Fridays time without doing a lot of back tracking on the results page.
I just think it's BS that, say on Sat. Joe Doe goes out and runs a #14 position run. You can't compare that run with what he ran Friday. True he didn't make the top 12, it would be nice to compare Fridays time without doing a lot of back tracking on the results page.
Nick Name
Nitro Member
It is part of the show. The fans love the friday night nitro qualifying. However, that is usually going to be the quickest session.
If there was a 16 car qualified field on Friday night, the Saturday qualifying show would be weak. If you couldn't get in on Friiday night, you are not going to get in on Saturday, so just pack it up.
In order to have a Friday niter show and Saturday show, they had to leave 4 spots open for Saturday.
If there was a 16 car qualified field on Friday night, the Saturday qualifying show would be weak. If you couldn't get in on Friiday night, you are not going to get in on Saturday, so just pack it up.
In order to have a Friday niter show and Saturday show, they had to leave 4 spots open for Saturday.
Here's what really sucks. Let's say Friday night's conditions are stellar, and your 3.85 only gets you a 13th spot....then a warm front moves in overnight and come Q3, conditions are downright lousy by noon Saturday and no one can even match that 3.85....the #16 qualifier at the end of the day Saturday, who might have run a best of 4.20, is in the show and your Friday 3.85 isn't. See ya next time. In other words, you can run #17 Friday and #13 Saturday and you're in...but if you run #13 Friday and #17 Saturday, you're out. Fair?
I understand how it works, it's still confusing and it still screws people. Of course, the old method can work against you as well, just in a different way, so I suppose it's a tradeoff.
And I still don't like it, any more than I like #1 running #16 on Sunday or any more than I like the Clown Down. Too much Old School left in this old boy.
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my friends call me Zappy
Nitro Member
Joker
Nitro Member
As much as I still hate the crapdown and alot of other stuff NHRA does, I actually like the qualifying rules the way they are now. If you have half a brain, it aint hard to figure it out.
Reason I like it, is bc Fri night was always the hero session. Especially in Pro Stock. The Fri night session set the field 90% of the time.
I remember one race several years ago, it was either Force or one of the JFR funny cars I cant remember which one. They had the fastest times in Q1, Q3, and Q4. But they smoked the tires Fri night. And didnt qualify.
Reason I like it, is bc Fri night was always the hero session. Especially in Pro Stock. The Fri night session set the field 90% of the time.
I remember one race several years ago, it was either Force or one of the JFR funny cars I cant remember which one. They had the fastest times in Q1, Q3, and Q4. But they smoked the tires Fri night. And didnt qualify.
my friends call me Zappy
Nitro Member
Reason I don't like it. Lets look at this race. Fri. Neff runs 4.13 good enough for ANY 16 car field. BUT he is number 13, so it doesn't count.
Now Sat comes, lets say in Q3 he smokes, Q4 he brakes a belt. Meanwhile,#13 runs 4.20 - #14 runs 4.30 - #15 runs 4.40 - #16 runs 4.50. They are in, but Neff , with a far quicker time, is out.
Now Sat comes, lets say in Q3 he smokes, Q4 he brakes a belt. Meanwhile,#13 runs 4.20 - #14 runs 4.30 - #15 runs 4.40 - #16 runs 4.50. They are in, but Neff , with a far quicker time, is out.
d'kid
Nitro Member
Zappy,
The Chicago Rule was Set Up because of A Super Hot, One Lane Track... Even then, on that track, even during the Hero Runs on Friday Night, there was almost a tenth between the two lanes. No one came close to bumping in on Saturday.... The field was set in Q2... After the the race, I believe PRO Asked for the Four Spot hold back...
d'kid
The Chicago Rule was Set Up because of A Super Hot, One Lane Track... Even then, on that track, even during the Hero Runs on Friday Night, there was almost a tenth between the two lanes. No one came close to bumping in on Saturday.... The field was set in Q2... After the the race, I believe PRO Asked for the Four Spot hold back...
d'kid
my friends call me Zappy
Nitro Member
U sure it was PRO that wanted it??? Sounds like a glendora brain trust move to me...
I still like the quickest 16 gets to race, don't mater what day you do it.
If you pass fuel check and weight, why discount a run?? Just adds to racers cost.
I still like the quickest 16 gets to race, don't mater what day you do it.
If you pass fuel check and weight, why discount a run?? Just adds to racers cost.
While the chance that a faster car does get bumped is out there. It hasn't happened nearly as often as you would think. Granted that's not comforting to the guy with a quicker slip sitting out on Sunday but it with the Friday being such a one off session, I get why they do it
d'kid
Nitro Member
Just look at the way it's called on the NHRA Event Schedule.... Two Nitro SHOWS on Friday, Two Nitro SHOWS on Saturday.... the key being Nitro Show.
It's a Show, not a Race anymore.... you can't drag your mess to the line ten or more times at Indy anymore to make the field...
There's no business like Show business
d'kid
I actually agree and I would like them to keep the time up that the non top 12 guy ran. Maybe next year they could put an asterisk to note that or something. It's nice to not have to wonder if they really ran there best of the weekend or not
smokemasterJ
Nitro Member
Good luck trying to get the NHRA to modify their website. Let's see... no mention of lane when looking at eliminations results (I guess that there's been so many one-lane tracks, they don't want to call any attention to it). Spoilers everywhere you look (the first page of NHRA.com will tell you the winners before the show has aired); scrolling results right next to the individual classes. I for one LIKE to read the race-by-race account, especially for qualifying. I agree, the "no prior run" is a bit misleading. Tell us what they ran, I think we all know that only the top twelve are in after Friday. And, I've said this before on other threads, the PM, PSM and PS guys must think they are sucking hind teat -- buried in the schedule, but the nitro guys are featured in big red letters at the bottom of the PDF schedule that NHRA provides. Oh well, thank whatever god you believe in for the other websites that give you real info.
clwill
Nitro Member
Umm, the left result is on the left side, the right result on the right... Hard to be much clearer than that.
