State of the NHRA (1 Viewer)

[z28]

they need to get the stars out among the folks. Cut back on the Pro tour to 15 or 16 races and guarantee the top racers a reasonable payday to match race at some of the other tracks that can't handle a full blown national event. When I was a kid we turned out to see the local guys race against the "big time" guys and that led us to follow the tour. Put together some family packages so an average fan can bring the kids. Buy some ad time on non-traditional venues. Use some of the sport and entertainment folks who already like the sport to be spokesmen. They always show the rock star or NFL'er at the starting line, why not pay them to do a commercial or two. (or tweet or facebook or whatever) Lots of folks don't know who John Force is. Give them somebody they know. Upgrade the tracks. Big screens and easy access to facilities. Pave the parking lots or offer free park and ride from someplace that's not a mud hole. Find a network that will show the races at a standard, reasonable time.

 

[Huge]

I agree with about everything thats been talked about. I started Drag Racing in 1969 and it was affordable then and it can be today. Families went racing back then and the kids learned about Drag Racing by being at the track. I built a lot of Camaros and we found Dana, Ford rear ends out of salvage yards not Titanium, what I'm getting at is you can still build a nice safe car without breaking the bank and have lots of fun, don't get me wrong technology is a good thing and we should use it. I also think the organizational wizards should losing up on match racing, there was always two or three a year and the place would fill up and everyone enjoy themselves and could not wait till the next. I even read that the Pro Stock guys would consider match racing themselves. There could be some awesome match racing if it was allowed.

It is allowed...but, there just isn't very many teams that want to do it.

 

[clwill]

I know their are facility where they can race at night. Their has in the past even been night events at Pomona. Yes, some communities may have an issue, but I know their are others that it's not an issue. In communities where this is a challenge if I were NHRA I would at least attempt to get a variance. And if that community didn't grant it I would threaten to pull the event and the money it brings to that community and send it somewhere else where it's wanted.

NHRA threatening to leave some of these places is just what the communities want. NHRA has been working with the city of LaVerne for years, and gets nowhere. They want them to leave.

There are three (3) drag racing events at the Pomona Fairplex. The winternationals, the finals, and some other non-NHRA event. That's it.

 

[FABMAN]

Eugene, thanks I figured it was band because they didn't want teams to do it because they may use it for testing. I think it would gain popularity for Drag Racing. I know the Friday night races at Lakeside local circle track are always packed and that's a positive for Nascar.

 

[Raconteur]

Limit top fuel and nitro funny car to single 75 gallon pump, any engine type (AJPE, BAE, Hemi, Ford, Chevy LS, or whatever), any blower, any heads, just limited to a single pump with no more than 75 gallons. Have the crew chiefs figure out how to arrange whatever combination,weight, cubic inches, trans, no trans, rear end gears. Bring some variety back to the nitro classes.

Then split the distances… 1000 foot at Pomona, E-town and the short tracks, 1,320 at LVMS, Phoenix, Atlanta, Gainesville, etc. There is a Groundhog Day boredom factor that has taken over the NHRA Big Show, we have all been here before.

Make the schedule based upon a computer generated map of the shortest distance to the next event. Who says that Gainesville must follow Phoenix, next hold an event in Texas or Denver. There is an incredible amount of wasted fuel and labor to stick with a system that was developed over fifty years ago when gas and diesel was well under $1.00 per gallon.

Then allow only two or three qualifiers max for a two day pro race + Pro Mod, nitro Harleys. Combine it all with Sportsman in fierce competition on the days preceding and after Pro racing. Flame Away, much of the core audience needs to be welcomed back and the Board of Directors cannot find the directions on how to fix the downward financials.

Put on a SHOW!

 

[clwill]

Make the schedule based upon a computer generated map of the shortest distance to the next event. Who says that Gainesville must follow Phoenix, next hold an event in Texas or Denver. There is an incredible amount of wasted fuel and labor tho stick to a system that was developed over fifty years ago when gas and diesel was well under $1.00 per gallon.

This isn't done for the teams, it's done for the attendance. Spreading the show around so that people want to go see the show.

So hold it at Brainerd, then Rt 66, then Indy, then Norwalk. Four weeks, less than 1000 miles. Great for the teams, terrible for attendance. Why would someone in the Midwest want to go to four shows four weeks in a row?

 

[Raconteur]

This isn't done for the teams, it's done for the attendance. Spreading the show around so that people want to go see the show.

So hold it at Brainerd, then Rt 66, then Indy, then Norwalk. Four weeks, less than 1000 miles. Great for the teams, terrible for attendance. Why would someone in the Midwest want to go to four shows four weeks in a row?

Where is your data that proves how terrible it is for the fans? There are a lot of ways to organize a schedule without holding an event in Pomona, then Phoenix then all the way to Florida… then back to Vegas. How bad is the attendance with Pomona then Phoenix, either one lose out? Why not put Gainesville between California and Arizona, isn't that "Spreading the show around"?

 

[vegasnitro]

The schedule is also done for weather concerns ... You don't want to be in Phoenix or Gainesville or Commerce or Vegas in the Summer. You don't want to be in Epping or Brainerd or Norwalk or Joliet in April or October.

When possible I would like to see Saturday night eliminations. Denver and Ennis are 2 places where fans always melt in the Sun. Start at 6pm Saturday ... Done at 11 or 1130, everyone has Sunday off.

Traditional dates also matter. EVERYONE knows the season starts and ends in Pomona, Indy is Labor Day, Brainerd is 3 weeks before Indy, Gainesville is the middle of March, etc.

 

[Raconteur]

OK, I see, THIS tradition is important, but the Countdown format or 1320/1000 foot and $60 admission tickets isn't.

Makes sense to me

 

[vegasnitro]

OK, I see, THIS tradition is important, but the Countdown format or 1320/1000 foot and $60 admission tickets isn't.

Makes sense to me

I only say the dates matter because of consistency and it allows for fewer scheduling conflicts in a given market. Everyone knows the traditional dates, whether they still want to buy a ticket and go is another matter entirely (and the most important matter, as the fans in these markets used to show up). If you blow up the whole schedule, you might chase your regulars off their plans. Let's say you move Gainesville to October ... Can you attract enough new fans to offset the ones you will lose?

Just for the record Darr, there are no playoffs in motorsports, we should find a way back to the full quarter and the prices need reigned back, in my humble opinion.

 

[d'kid]

This isn't done for the teams, it's done for the attendance. Spreading the show around so that people want to go see the show.

So hold it at Brainerd, then Rt 66, then Indy, then Norwalk. Four weeks, less than 1000 miles. Great for the teams, terrible for attendance. Why would someone in the Midwest want to go to four shows four weeks in a row?

Gee... the fans are a bonus... it's really only about my car is quicker than yours for 1000 feet or 1320 feet.... who's faster? let's take 'em to a dry lake bed and find out...

And once more... f a show... I want racing... three tracks in one weekend used to work find... and they were in the same "city"... It's too bad my kids don't like drag racing and only look at cars as transport...

d'kid

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

When possible I would like to see Saturday night eliminations. Denver and Ennis are 2 places where fans always melt in the Sun. Start at 6pm Saturday ... Done at 11 or 1130, everyone has Sunday off.

I like that idea Chris, gets folks out of the scorching sun, and gives Sun as rain date.

 

[Pais]

Pomona was the first race I have been to in a long time. I used to race import cars with NHRA in the Pro Import class and have not been to that many events since I stopped racing (I make a really poor spectator).

NHRA probably wasn't quite ready for us at the time we were racing, although they did make an effort to bring us to some national events. It was a little bit weird which national events they invited us to as they were not big markets for the type of racing we did. I remember racing at national events in Kansas and Texas and I could never figure out why they would choose those markets. I always figured it would have been wise to bring us to markets where we draw large crowds, to try and bring a new demographic to a national event and to introduce our fans what NHRA has to offer at these events. Instead we went to national events in markets that we didn't even have a sport compact race in, I'm not sure what results NHRA was hoping to accomplish by going to these events. At some point you have to look at the money your spending to go to these events and start to wonder what you are doing. It was a non-points race, qualifying was set before you even got to the track by your position in the points, the top 8 teams in the points were invited. It cost just as much to attend these events as our points races but what was the benefit.

As I was at Pomona last weekend sitting in the stands I wasn't thing about how they should have import cars at these events, I was more confused about where the show went. I looked at the parking lot from the top of the stands and it just seemed like there was a pretty empty manufacturers midway (maybe it was the way it was organized but it looked empty to me). Drag Racing has always had a horrible TV package and was always in danger of getting pre-empted by a girls volleyball game. That's ok, I remember having our import races pre-empted by lawnmower racing.

I wish that the monster platform that has become what social media and youtube is today was around when we were racing, it would have given us a great chance to develop a huge audience. Let's face it, we were younger, grew up with computers and communicate differently than older generations. I noticed before qualifying that NHRA asked the audience to pay attention to the big screen at the track as they announced that all videos and pictures at the race should only be used privately and not be used for any type of broadcast on the internet because the product is the property of the NHRA. This is kind of old thinking to me, let everything be broadcast in as many places as possible. Invite as much media to the event as possible and spread the word about drag racing in as many outlets as possible.

I'm not a professional in any way when it comes to this but in case you haven't noticed, 90% of younger people spend their whole lunch break on their smart phones while they eat. What are they doing on those phones, they are probably not watching sub 4 second funny cars passes but shouldn't they be? Shouldn't people be getting more educated about how fast these cars are? Maybe explain how quick this car is from 0-60 (that's something that people car relate to). This Ferrari does 0-60 in less than 4 seconds but this NHRA pro stock car does it in less than .6 seconds. That's something that will make the average fan think. To be honest, I don't see much excitement in waiting for a pro stock car to break the record by .001 seconds.

There are so many things that can probably increase the value of the NHRA package and I really hope that everyone involved in the sport can benefit from it. The people involved in it work so hard that they really deserve to reach higher levels of success and notoriety. I can go on and on for days about what I think should happen because I lived this life for several years. At the end of the day I have my own challenges to overcome in my business that need attention so I gave up drag racing even though I had a very successful team that brought in a lot of sponsor dollars. There is a limit to what you can provide for your sponsors if the sport that you are involved with is not growing. I have my fingers crossed for you guys and wish everyone the best.

 

[Raconteur]

I only say the dates matter because of consistency and it allows for fewer scheduling conflicts in a given market. Everyone knows the traditional dates, whether they still want to buy a ticket and go is another matter entirely (and the most important matter, as the fans in these markets used to show up). If you blow up the whole schedule, you might chase your regulars off their plans. Let's say you move Gainesville to October ... Can you attract enough new fans to offset the ones you will lose?

Just for the record Darr, there are no playoffs in motorsports, we should find a way back to the full quarter and the prices need reigned back, in my humble opinion.

Chris, thanks for the civil response.
However, if you made slight, computer assisted planning change such as Pomona, Phoenix, Vegas or Dallas and then Gainesville, I guarantee that the Polar Icecaps won't melt! Going from Phoenix to Gainesville and then back to LVMS is simply stupid. Then towing back to Charlotte & Houston.

I never said there needed to be a wholesale shakeup and change to the national schedule, but some moves of a week or two would make a large dent into fuel costs and wear and tear on the fleet of Pro and Sportsman racer support vehicles.More little "changes" or "tweaks" could result in something like the Western Swing.

 

[Project Paladin]

"Limit top fuel and nitro funny car to single 75 gallon pump, any engine type (AJPE, BAE, Hemi, Ford, Chevy LS, or whatever), any blower, any heads, just limited to a single pump with no more than 75 gallons. Have the crew chiefs figure out how to arrange whatever combination,weight, cubic inches, trans, no trans, rear end gears. Bring some variety back to the nitro classes."

I'd build one right now. So would 5 other guys I know.

 

[Muddy]

"Limit top fuel and nitro funny car to single 75 gallon pump, any engine type (AJPE, BAE, Hemi, Ford, Chevy LS, or whatever), any blower, any heads, just limited to a single pump with no more than 75 gallons. Have the crew chiefs figure out how to arrange whatever combination,weight, cubic inches, trans, no trans, rear end gears. Bring some variety back to the nitro classes."

I'd build one right now. So would 5 other guys I know.

The only thing you need to change is the size of the fuel tank. Just cut it to ?? gallons. No fuel and they start eliminating the expensive unneeded items like mags, fuel pumps etc themselves. It's easy to police and not expensive to change. Then you can remove other restrictions on blocks, heads etc if you so desire.

 

[Dragracer]

There is a very good article about John Force and drag racing in general at AUTOEXREMIST.COM. As Peter says he doesn't follow drag racing but not only did a very good article on Force but also pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding the future of drag racing.
Also, the latest edition of Autoweek did a very long piece on drag racing. I was totally amazed to see Autoweek devote the amount of time they did on drag racing.

 

[vegasnitro]

Chris, thanks for the civil response.
However, if you made slight, computer assisted planning change such as Pomona, Phoenix, Vegas or Dallas and then Gainesville, I guarantee that the Polar Icecaps won't melt! Going from Phoenix to Gainesville and then back to LVMS is simply stupid. Then towing back to Charlotte & Houston.

One thing we are forgetting is that most nitro teams are based in Indy, and with few exceptions return to Indy after most races. So the schedule looks like this: Pomona-Indy-Phoenix-Indy-Gainesville-Indy-Vegas-Indy etc. Pro Stock looks like Pomona-Charlotte-Phoenix-Charlotte-Gainesville-Charlotte-Vegas etc. So does it really matter if Gainesville is out of sequence with the early races on the West Coast? Not a lot of opportunity to save the teams miles/fuel/airfare.

 

[PJ]

One other issue with scheduling, is what else is going in a town. The computer may want it a certain way but you wouldn't want to roll into town on the same weekend as a nascar race. While I agree it could be done better there also is a need to space it out a bit. I can hit Norwalk and Indy in a season, but in back-to-back weekends(not even counting Chicago) makes the budget scream. Same thing with the nascar schedule. You don't want to Bristol the week after the nascar race, nobody has sobered up and they are out of money. It's not as easy as just drawing a line on the map as to what the shortest distance is.

 

[Huge]

One thing we are forgetting is that most nitro teams are based in Indy, and with few exceptions return to Indy after most races. So the schedule looks like this: Pomona-Indy-Phoenix-Indy-Gainesville-Indy-Vegas-Indy etc. Pro Stock looks like Pomona-Charlotte-Phoenix-Charlotte-Gainesville-Charlotte-Vegas etc. So does it really matter if Gainesville is out of sequence with the early races on the West Coast? Not a lot of opportunity to save the teams miles/fuel/airfare.

Chris, you are correct that most of the time the teams go back to their shop in Indy, but, when they are on the west coast they leave the haulers there and some stay out there and some fly home for a week.