Alan, you raise some excellent points. As for struggling car counts and public appeal, I think the television production could help in that arena.
There are so many fluff pieces filling the void between rounds on the TV broadcasts that NHRA should use them more to their advantage. I love a tech piece as much as the next guy about how things work, but most of the little cutaway shorts are fluff pieces about win streaks, loss streaks, blah blah blah.. At any given national event there are 250+ sportsman racers, most are self made folks who work hard through the week to go race on weekends. I liked the stories on Fletch and Rampy, but those are guys who drag race for a living now. Not saying we make it a reality show, but I think if you can show the public that the bulk of NHRA is regular, everyday men and women(and their families) who work hard, just like they do, I think you'll gain more fans and participants. Most of the world can't relate to millionaires and billionaires going out to have fun, but they can relate to the mechanic that grinds at work all week, works on the car after work and goes racing on weekends with their family. If we can do a better job showing the world that with a lot of work, help from friends and family and obviously some sacrifices, almost anyone can come out and race on the same stage as the Big Boys, I think you'll regain a lot of people able to relate to the sport and the racers. Pro drivers should be put on pedastal, especially if you're relying on their show to pack the stands, but the sportsman needs to be better celebrated. We've lost a lot of the relatable nature in the Pros, and that's not to take away from what they do, you just don't see the everyman image in the Pros now outside of our part timers, and they sure don't seem to get much coverage. But the Pros should be elevated to another level, where people love to love them and love to hate them, just like every other form of motorsports. Already have that among the hardcore fan/member/racer base, but NHRA needs to not rely so much on us addicts alone to grow the sport.
Bottom line, people love a good story. There are hundreds out there in the pits at any given event. Don't just feature people who have been phenomenal at a national level either. The more we feature the human side instead of the corporate side of the sport, the more we can show the average potential fan/racer that there is a lot more to this sport than waiting for a light and driving in a straight line even on the sportsman level, the more respect, fans and potential racers I believe we'll earn. I think that's where we set ourselves apart from other forms of racing, besides successful women racers, the size of the sanctioning body and number of "everyman" participants. I mean, what we do at National Events is really amazing if you tried to compare it to other motorsports. It would be like having GT/Le Mans/SCCA cars completing a race on track while F1 cars had 3x 1 hour long pit stops during the race. Or NASCAR having everything from Hobby Stock to Late Models running features while they had 3x 1 hour long pit stops on race day. Not only that, but the fans can stand 6 feet away from the Big Show cars while they are serviced during those hour long pits stops and get autographs from the drivers without having special passes. And to your credit Alan, I hear you talking about exactly what I just mentioned quite often when you're on the mic. And that's great for those in attendance and watching the AllAccess, but you're only reaching the audience we already have.
P.S. Alan - Can I put in formal request to have you announcing for Top Alcohol classes at Nationals? I know you have to the TV show for Eliminations, but the current staffing can be really painful to listen to at times between bumbling names and knowing nothing about the drivers or cars.
