Thoughts on a 1000 ft

[funnycarguy]

Just got back from Seattle. As a racer and fan forever I was pleasantly surprised how good the PRO classes were. Still fun to watch fans at there first national event. If it saves even one member of the racing community from injury or worst it will do as intended.

 

[You!]

Since you were there, maybe you can answer this question...

Were they really removing the reflector boxes from the 1/4 mile finish line when top fuel and funny car ran? And then they resiliconed them for the rest of the classes? Seems like a lot of aggravation to go through all day long.

Was it an issue down time wise?

 

[clwill]

Was there too and noticed this. In the first rounds (or was it qualifying -- lot of days of racing ), they had reflectors and blocks up at both 1000' and 1320' and I noticed a lot of fuel drivers not shutting off until 1320'. Then I noticed very distinctly at one point a change so that there were only the correct reflectors and blocks for the correct classes.

I think the reflectors (on the side walls) were/are just on some kind of hook thing, that they just hang on the wall. The blocks in the track, of course, are a joke to just toss out there between fuel and the other classes.

 

[possum]

In looking at my pictures from Saturday the orange blocks are at the 1320 and both TF cars are past them with the chutes just starting to come out.
The blocks didn't get taken away from what i'd seen.

I thought 1000 ft was weird. A car runs 3.85 and it's like nobody in the stands knew whether that was good or bad.

 

[Chili]

In Denver they removed the blocks for each pro sessions and for every elimination round. It didn't really cause a delay since they are always prepping the track for the next class.

 

[Student of the sport]

I was there, and the racing was tight, oildowns were minimal the whole day, in fact, it was running ahead of schedule towards the finals.

I think, (I didnt go into the pits between rounds), the parts attrition may have been down, only because we didnt see too many "boomers", Cory had a fair sized fire, and Robert banged a blower right about 400', but overall it was good racing all day.

As far as 1000', adjusting to the times might be one of the only factors for the casual fan, side by side at 280 / 300 mph goes by real quick.

I had 3 "virgins" with me and they all walked away with big smiles and talking about next year.

"D"

 

[FABMAN]

Were the stands a little lite with fans during qualifying or was i just seeing things. It looked like to me the teams were running the full 1/4 mile since the track is well long enough to handle any problems. Unless there's catastrophic failure i believe that 1000' has giving the Army team a win at every race left this season.

 

[SAS]

Were the stands a little lite with fans during qualifying or was i just seeing things. It looked like to me the teams were running the full 1/4 mile since the track is well long enough to handle any problems. Unless there's catastrophic failure i believe that 1000' has giving the Army team a win at every race left this season.

And that is why they are all for it. Bet he wins at least 5 more this year.

The countdown may give someone an slim outside shot.

 

[clwill]

Were the stands a little lite with fans during qualifying or was i just seeing things.

Friday seemed lighter than normal. By maybe 15-25%.

Saturday seemed like more folks than usual, and the traffic was WAY worse than normal for Saturday. PRI had two (2) cops helping on the inbound traffic (for a crowd of 25,000+??) Worse, one was just standing at the entrance pointing the way in (gee, thanks the big sign there wasn't good enough) and the other was sitting on his motorcycle watching it all -- while there was over an HOUR backup on the freeway in both directions. On the way out, there was an accident on the one way in/out, so there was a two hour delay. Ugh. Worst traffic I've ever seen there.

Sunday was as full as I ever have seen it -- only empty seats were from people standing at the rail. Traffic was a little better, maybe there were four cops. But then we had wised up and we shot the **** with a driver friend for an hour or so while the traffic cleared.

 

[Rich]

I disagree with Christopher in that I thought the Friday qualifying session was about the same as it has been in years past. As for Saturday, I agree that if anything there were probably more people than in 2005 or 2006 (there was bad weather in 2007 that undoubtedly kept both the Friday and Saturday attendance numbers down last year). And the statement that "Sunday was as full as I ever have seen it -- only empty seats were from people standing at the rail" is right on target.

 

[Rexfiles]

And that is why they are all for it. Bet he wins at least 5 more this year.

The countdown may give someone an slim outside shot.

Who, right now, is going to "drive around" the Army car.

1320, 660, 1000', that is a BAD hot Rod.

And I ain't a DSR fan either.

REX

 

[Prestaged]

Don't like 1,000'. Slowing the cars down significantly will improve the show and make for fewer oil downs and better racing. Just MHO.

 

[clock guy]

Back to the main question. YES we are removing the 1254 and 1320 blocks during TF and FC. We now have them mounted to industrial VELCRO for easy of removal and replacement.
Two reasons to remove them: dont want the chutes to rip them up, and want the drivers to see the last block on the track as their finish line.
Jeff Foster

 

[You!]

Thanks Jeff! I was hoping you would chime in on this as I was really confused as to what I was seeing on the tv coverage.

 

[possum]

Jeff is right, i see that the blocks are missing comparing top end shots of fuel cars vs alky. I also see several fuel cars well past the end blocks with no chutes yet and sat through more than one car stuck on the track when it couldn't make the turnoff.

I enjoyed the day and somehow didn't get stuck in traffic too long on Saturday either. I came in through 405/167/Central/Kent-Kangley Rd/132SE and it took an hour from I5/405 interchange till i was parked by 9am.

I started the car in the parking lot at 6pm and took Hwy18 to I5 and was in Smokey Point by 7:30.

Not like the old days of having to cross 18 and there was always a fatal accident as soon as the crowds started to leave. I sat in traffic there for three hours almost every year and rarely got home by midnight.

 

[Rich]

Tom, I drive down to Pacific Raceways from Mount Vernon and take that same route. No need to broadcast it though.

 

[Toejam]

I disagree with Christopher in that I thought the Friday qualifying session was about the same as it has been in years past. As for Saturday, I agree that if anything there were probably more people than in 2005 or 2006 (there was bad weather in 2007 that undoubtedly kept both the Friday and Saturday attendance numbers down last year). And the statement that "Sunday was as full as I ever have seen it -- only empty seats were from people standing at the rail" is right on target.

That was my 6th time at SIR.......I mean Pacific Raceways! This was by far the Biggest crowd I've ever seen! As far as the 1000' racing? It's certainly better than nothing, but I'll take 1320 back in a Heartbeat!

 

[MW]

I didn't like the idea of 1000' racing, and after seeing it live this weekend I have only 1 word....YAWN!! We took notes and an informal poll, and while we heard the BS about better racing, less downtime etc... the majority (by far) could not stand it. Mind you we watch from the finish line terrace which used to be one of the best vantage points in Drag Racing (at least in my opinion). Now instead of being between 1200' & the stripe you are 300' past the 1000' line. For the first time in 40 years of attending NHRA national events I sat in the shade while the fuel cars ran. Maybe at other tracks where you sit from the tree to 1/2 track it might look ok. Race day was a little better, but my group has always been numbers and history oriented, and the numbers are insignificant. Larry Dixon had the comment of the weekend when informed by Alan that he had run a 3.88 "is that a good number Alan, cause I really don't know". A couple of other notes: Round 1 of qualifying featured 22 of the 33 fuel cars being "dragged off" after stopping short of the turn off, and only 9 of the 30 fuel races on Sunday were close. The better side by side racing analogy is ridiculous (if it's close at 1000' it should be close at the quarter), and the "drag offs" of tracks that are long enough make up for a few less oil downs. I can see limiting the cars to 1000' at Pomona, E-Town, Denver etc.., but Sonoma, Indy, Vegas, Dallas etc are plenty long, and if the crewchiefs are truly running the cars the same (LOL) it should'nt be a big deal. I guess we will be doing a few extra rounds of golf during the "Big Go almost to the real finish line".