Short fields (1 Viewer)

[Luke Nieuwhof]

While there are all kind of political narratives around this race bEcAuSe CaLiFoRniA, look at the basics from an event promotion point of view:

- The event was moved from a well-known date that people plan around.
- The event was poorly branded, why on earth carry the Winternationals name into July?!
- The event was run in hot weather, in the middle of the day, at a venue with barely any shade where the main bleachers face west.

Given that qualifying was run into the night on Saturday, this event strikes me as a missed opportunity. They could easily have planned to run two qualifiers on Friday, then eliminations on Saturday in a twilight format. Saturday night nitro in the summer under the lights in SoCal - isn't that the thing everyone gets teary eyed about around here?

 

[sammi]

We live 45 minutes-ish from the track. I really wanted to go but...
1.I didn't want to pay $20 to the parking mafia and still have a mile walk to get to the starting line.
2. The NHRA won't let you bring a cooler in. (not buying the" safety concerns" Peter)
4. Lunch is $30 a head with appropriate liquids to stay hydrated.
5. $65 to get in. That value proposition is settled law.
6. At Pomona, the only shade is in the NHRA executives suite in the tower.
7. Aluminum does an outstanding job radiating heat into the human body.
8. Short fields
9. NHRA.TV actually works pretty well and you don't have to endure Tony and Brian.
We have all harped on this stuff since Winston left the NHRA. I would like to see Peter or Glen accompany a newby to a Sunday race and stay with this newby the entire day. Nothing replaces seeing a problem through your customers eyes.

As stated before, NASCAR agressively dealt with their product problems and they are soaring.

 

[Jim]

I would agree with a few others that said the changing demographics of SoCal played a part. A LOT of people are cashing out of their houses and moving away, a lot of drag racing fans are aging out and none of the youth out there are really interested in drag racing (or circle track racing either). SoCal is no longer the "hot bed of hot rods" it was 40+ years ago.

If a lot of people are cashing out of their houses and moving away, that means they are selling their houses to people moving in. I think you are spot on about fans aging out and not being replaced.

Another thing to consider is just how boring drag racing has become. The same drivers racing the same cars every week for years. I've lost interest in it and only occasionally watch on TV.

 

[mick]

ted, i'd put the over/under at 5 for the topeka event, and 27 for the remaining 2021 events.

 

[Old21stud]

Short Field points, win money and Wally worth the same as full field points, win money and Wally.
Leah Pruett had what has to be the easiest Top Fuel ladder ever.
First round she drew Brandon Welch whose best qualifying effort was 5.395 127.85 to her 3.780 @ 321.88mph. That’s a 1.5 second advantage in 1000.
Second round when typically she would have had a serious competitor, she had the bye.
Third round was her only pressure race of the day when she beat Mike Salinas with a slower .104 r/t and 3.927 @ 311.05 to his quicker .093 r/t, but dropped cylinders 4.360 @ just 194.80.
Final round turned into another bye as Justin Ashley wisely didn’t take a chance of hurting himself or both of them.
Two byes, a 1.5 second advantage first round and opponent with dropped cylinders.
Some days you’re the bug and some days you’re the windshield.

 

[Topfuel386]

She had Chrisman round 1.

 

[Old21stud]

Woops... Read that wrong. He qualified with a 5.40 and Welch had a very slightly better 5.39. Thanks for the correction..

 

[Ssfuel]

Stale. That’s why there were not many fans. The same characters, much older, no new blood, and how many new things can force possibly come up with after a sub 4 second run? Pretty difficult after 40 years. And his team, which represents what 20 percent of the nitro category, are not people who put there time and life into the sport. They are family or buddies who needed a job, didn’t exactly have to yield the discipline to grind, so not much shaping or character building took place. I’m sure Height is a swell guy, so is my dentist, except I don’t pay him for entertainment.

Ive been watching since the late 90’s. Attended 3-4 nationals a year, and could never quite meet all the drivers and get an autograph. Now I think I can accomplish that in a weekend.

the racers went and so did the fans. In the nascar hay day if all whoever won or got airtime was Jeff Gordon, less people would have went. Even tho he could be considered the best at that time, it was the others who held a shot that drew a diversity. Mark martin, Earnhardt, bodice, Stewart, elliot, jimmy Johnson etc.

Another comparison I can compare this too is pro wrestling. In its glory days of early 2000s, there was competition. If a wrestler didn’t tow the compan line, they can leave and be with several other competing organizations. WWE, WCE, ECW, New Japan etc. Then it became only wwe, forced guys to become bland and be told what to say, and rating dropped.

In top fuel, if you burn your bridge with DSR, you are done, unless you swindle kalitta. After that, then what. If you’re a crew chief and fight force, where exactly are you going? Haddock?

Never forget in the 90s first time I saw a force look a like car, Tony p. I was 15 and though man that is stupid, 1/8 of field are team mates. Imagine in baseball getting 6 outs instead of 3. Would have never guessed 2 years later that’s all there would be. To me a lot of racing is predicting the track, and finding a balance of getting down the track on the gas and being competitive without smoking the tires. When a team mate goes before you, kinda gives you a barometer of the track that other single car teams don’t have.

I can feel the desperation too. We are getting up close looks into teams like Haddock and Rupert, who i can remember from maple grove were lucky to be pitted on asphalt. An afterthought if you will. Now they need to make them look like stars, well because that’s all there beginning to have.

 

[Al]

We live 45 minutes-ish from the track. I really wanted to go but...
1.I didn't want to pay $20 to the parking mafia and still have a mile walk to get to the starting line.
2. The NHRA won't let you bring a cooler in. (not buying the" safety concerns" Peter)
4. Lunch is $30 a head with appropriate liquids to stay hydrated.
5. $65 to get in. That value proposition is settled law.
6. At Pomona, the only shade is in the NHRA executives suite in the tower.
7. Aluminum does and outstanding job radiating heat into the human body.
8. Short fields
9. NHRA.TV actually works pretty well and you don't have to endure Tony and Brian.
We have all harped on this stuff since Winston left the NHRA. I would like to see Peter or Glen accompany a newby to a Sunday race and stay with this newby the entire day. Nothing replaces seeing a problem through your customers eyes.

As stated before, NASCAR agressively dealt with their product problems and they are soaring.

Sorry Mark, but I totally disagree. Most of us dedicated race fans have gladly dealt with all of these issues with most of the races on the circuit from day one (yes, even in the Winston days). Charlotte is the only track I've been to that allows you to bring in your own beer if that is what you want.
I went to the NASCAR Pennzoil 400 last year and all of the things you mentioned (except the short fields) are in place there, but at even higher prices !! Plus they have no pit access, just a kind of viewing corridor called Neon Garage that costs almost as much as a seat ticket. NHRA gives much more bang for the buck than NASCAR !
That's my opinion anyway.

 

[Cliff]

Allan, I agree that you get more bang for the buck at an NHRA race. I love just crusin' the pits, Pro & Sportsmen. Best car show in the world.

 

[Nunz]

There's plenty of new blood coming into the sport, but you won't see them as often until the financial model improves. And that applies to every class, TF all the way down. And one easy way, IMO, to improve the fuel show, is get Goodyear to make tires with real rubber so the billows of smoke return. I know I'm probably talking out of my a** but if that could be done, I think some of the drama would return. But really the biggest thing is giving enough monetary incentive to racers who want to at least offset their travel expenses. If you get more newcomers and partial schedule racers to travel to more events, that bolsters fields, and those very same racers are able to build and improve their programs as a result of racing more. And the whole deal starts to expand again.

 

[Cliff]

Nunzio, you brought back some ancient memories. (heh) When the slipper clutches started coming in, the days of smoking the tires off the line were pretty much over. Spectators hated "no smoke" runs. Then we all got used to it, especially after the T/F cars started running in the 6's. Still..... watching the cars smoke the tire off the line was sooooo cool! Talk about billows of smoke..... then the cars would drive out of the smoke around 1/2 track & you could see them. Ah yes.....

 

[Luke Nieuwhof]

And one easy way, IMO, to improve the fuel show, is get Goodyear to make tires with real rubber so the billows of smoke return. I know I'm probably talking out of my a** but if that could be done, I think some of the drama would return.

They also need a coarse racing surface. When the fuel cars do burnouts on road surfaces for exhibitions, it's smoke city.

 

[M Jones]

They also need a coarse racing surface. When the fuel cars do burnouts on road surfaces for exhibitions, it's smoke city.

Just curious are they using rubber tires or current tires

 

[.]

I live between Sonoma and Pomona. I didn't go to either because gas is $4.25 a gal here and also I knew I'd have to pay full face value for tickets. Everything else is generally more expensive too. Just didn't feel like paying the higher prices.

 

[Nunz]

Just curious are they using rubber tires or current tires

Not sure what you mean Mark, but I remember reading an article where Robert Hight (who seems to do the best burnouts in the current era) said that the tires now are not really rubber, but are actually made with some type of synthetic material, which does not create the billows of smoke.

 

[M Jones]

Not sure what you mean Mark, but I remember reading an article where Robert Hight (who seems to do the best burnouts in the current era) said that the tires now are not really rubber, but are actually made with some type of synthetic material, which does not create the billows of smoke.

If they are using rubber or synthetic rubber tires at exhibitions events

 

[Cliff]

Am thinking the current tires have to be made of various materials to withstand 340 MPH, tire growth, etc. Probably no rubber at all in them. I'm amazed the tire companies have developed tires like this. I still remember tire distortion, even at 220 MPH in the front motor cars, because of tire materials. Well, we could always go back to hard rubber M&H's and ......

 

[none]

Sucks that Seattle didn't get to run their race. We'd have been up there for sure, like we always are. Thought about going to Pomona briefly. Good news is the Finals looks to be well attended. I was on the NHRA site for tickets and the Sections we normally sit in are all bought up. Sat. Pit Side is booked up to around the '500 ft mark and Sun. West Side is full to Sec. G. I love that side on Sunday. There's a good reason why Pomona is run in Feb and Nov. F**k that heat and no shade.

 

[mick]

15 each FC and TF in topeka?.......too bad dale creasy jr. is a no show at topeka, tek pak FC scheduled to compete the following 3 weeks
in a row.......BIR / cordova / indy. wow. ....... BIR still one short in TF, hoping scott palmer decides to show.......brainerd will mark the end of 5 races in 6 weeks.