Route 66 Friday night

[Sue]

Oops...sorry posted on wrong board...meant for someone else...

 

[Paul]

The NHRA just can't win sometimes. I was at Joliet a few years ago when they ran a pro session well past midnight and people were complaining then about them running too late just to avoid having to give refunds. I can't tell you how many times I have been to a race where the 2nd session was cancelled due to impacts from earlier weather delays even though it appeared the weather was fine to race. I am no expert on track conditions and running a race, so if the NHRA says it's in the best interests of the fans/racers to only run 1 session then so be it. There always another day to see some racing if mother nature doesn't cooperate.

 

[clwill]

There really is no "win" for NHRA here.

People are paying to see a show and are disappointed when they don't get it all. I get that.

Racers want to run as often as they can -- really. Laps are everything in drag racing, whether it's the sportsman racer or the pro. Practice, practice, practice, and data, data, data. I'm sure if NHRA had said "yes", they would have lined up to do it.

But NHRA (and the teams) also have to be mindful of conditions. This sport is dangerous. I was 30ft away at the finish line when a friend of mine put his SC car into the wall, had to be cut out of the car, nearly died, and spent months in the hospital and rehab. All because they were run late at night, after the pros, on a track that may or may not have been right. People die because of the track conditions.

If NHRA runs them and the tracks not right, people complain. If NHRA doesn't run them because they're worried the track's not right, people complain. If they run them too late, the neighbors complain. If they don't run them too late, the spectators (and racers) complain.

There are a lot of moving parts, and until you've been sitting in the tower watching the sky, the schedule, and the track, you just don't know the complexity of the problem. But it sure looks easy from behind a keyboard...

 

[Sue]

Been there and done that for 20 years! Pretty well aware of track conditions so don't need to preach to that. Been in the tower, watched weather conditions and such..didn't want my racers getting injured in any way.

 

[None]

Exactly my point! I assumed I was paying to see 2 sessions. Some of us have to work on fridays and still get done as soon as possible and rush to the track to see the sport we love since it is only around once a year. I'll think better of it next time.

The biggest defender of the NHRA has been very quiet on this. Why? The defenders will never give in. It is my NHRA right or wrong for them. NHRA has nothing to do with safety, it is only about money. They got yours and don't give a $hit.

 

[Professional Fan]

As in many things in life, good communication can eliminate a lot of upsets. If NHRA had just explained to the fans at the track and on the web why session 2 was being cancelled, all this speculation could be avoided. I wasn't there so I won't comment on whether they should or should not have cancelled it. I was surprised to read when going through Pro Stock results that they told the racers during PS there would only be one session. Sure seems early to make that decision.

 

[None]

Cancel a round = more rounds at the bar for the NHRA staff.

 

[clwill]

Cancel a round = more rounds at the bar for the NHRA staff.

Wow. I suggest you friend Mark Lyle (chief starter) on Facebook. He posts regularly about his travels. They get there at dawn, and one of their biggest issues is finding restaurants still serving dinner by the time they leave each night. He travels continuously, often home for just about 24hrs before he has to turn around again for the next event. Pretty sure "hey let's cancel this round, I could use a beer" is not in his vocabulary.

 

[None]

Wow. I suggest you friend Mark Lyle (chief starter) on Facebook. He posts regularly about his travels. They get there at dawn, and one of their biggest issues is finding restaurants still serving dinner by the time they leave each night. He travels continuously, often home for just about 24hrs before he has to turn around again for the next event. Pretty sure "hey let's cancel this round, I could use a beer" is not in his vocabulary.

Travel the circuit for a few years. See how fast the staff gets out of there on canceled round and where they end up. Then get back to me.

 

[clwill]

Let's see if I can sum up this thread. NHRA's primary mission is to see how fast they can separate people from their money, and return the least possible amount of entertainment value for the dollar, all while screwing the participants and get to the bar as fast as possible. Do I have this right?

 

[MM]

If I were the one in charge, I would have done the same thing they did.

 

[FC138fan]

As in many things in life, good communication can eliminate a lot of upsets. If NHRA had just explained to the fans at the track and on the web why session 2 was being cancelled, all this speculation could be avoided. I wasn't there so I won't comment on whether they should or should not have cancelled it. I was surprised to read when going through Pro Stock results that they told the racers during PS there would only be one session. Sure seems early to make that decision.

I was going to post, but Brian already stated what I was going to write. I wasn't there, maybe they announced why over the PA and it got missed, but a simple explaination might clear things up.

Or at least generate something else to complain about. I guess if I were there I'd be pissed too, but it's not me doing the driving.

After I had time to think about it, I did a search on the internet to see why it was cancelled. I was unable to find anything from where I would expect to see the reason.. NHRA.com, NHRA twitter, NHRA facebook... so I googled and found nothing... so I searched various NHRA driver twitter accounts... NHRA personalities twitter feeds - found nothing. Only thing I could find was from a private twitter account re-tweeted by Force racing that said it was due to weather - which is still vague... was it due to weather pushing curfew? Was it mosture? Was it threatening rain?

I'm just curious at this point... why didn't NHRA tweet something? Route66 's twitter didn't mention it either... Did I just miss it or is the communication that bad?

 

[Dave]

I made a post on Route 66's Facebook page and the reply I received was "Due to the earlier weather delay we had to condense the schedule." No reasoning. It wasn't raining or threatening at that point. Yes it would have been nice to have a twitter or track update to the schedule. The casual fan doesn't check dragracecentral.com like I know to to get revised run schedules. Of course by the time it was posted there, it was too late for me. It was just disappointing. It's not even about the money, just the disappointment of not seeing the show.

No matter. It's all water under the bridge now. Saturday's performances were astounding, but you always have that "what if" had they been able to have one more session.

 

[nwspeedshots]

"..."dim" Light..."

That is so very clever.