Thoughts on TV Qual. Coverage (1 Viewer)

[house]

Has anyone ever done any research on which round of qualifying produces the most #1's or perhaps the most 1-10's? It seems to me that the drama of who will be in #1 and most of the top 10 is usually settled after the better weather conditions found during the Friday night session. The Saturday sessions determine who gets bumped and shuffles the stack somewhat. My question is, should the network show the Friday night session, with all the flames and drama of who will probably be #1, as opposed to a long Saturday show, that recaps Friday and focuses on who will be bumped?

Obviously, we have to assume that ESPN would delegate time on Friday night for this to happen. I just would like to hear what all of you think about the idea....not whether ESPN would be inclined, or able to do it.

 

[Chili]

Well at one time they did have Friday night qualifying on ESPN. Since NHRA 'buys" the air time it is too costly for them. One problem was the time slot that they did use. The east coast races were fairly early on tape delay but the west coast races wouldn't air until midnight on the east coast.

 

[Nazgul]

One thing NHRA could do (but it'll never happen) is have Saturday's 4th qualifying session later in the evening... around the same time Friday's is. It won't happen, and most fans who actually attend the event probably don't want to stay late on Saturday anyway.

We'll just take what we can get I guess.

 

[Nazgul]

Or why not let Friday be a practice day, & have potentially 4 qualifying rounds on Saturday...



...naw!

How about having pro stock & psm eliminations on Saturday, and letting Sunday be a Nitro only show for the pros. The pro stock classes could have one day of qualifying (Friday), the Nitro classes will qualify on Friday & Saturday.

 

[Kelly]

Saturday has always been more of a 'wrap up' telecast anyway. I do wish they would show more full runs from Friday......but they DO show highlights.

 

[merc49]

Qualifying on TV is just a little more than nothing to me. The sidebars, interviews, and extra stuff is the best thing about it. For keeping up with actual qualifying I get a better feel for it all by following it on the internet on the results page. The descriptions Friday night of Kurt's and Dave Northrups troubles were chilling to read. The followups on TV yesterday filled in some blanks. Now it's Sunday, that's what it's all about. Period.

 

[S&M]

One thing NHRA could do (but it'll never happen) is have Saturday's 4th qualifying session later in the evening... around the same time Friday's is. It won't happen, and most fans who actually attend the event probably don't want to stay late on Saturday anyway.

We'll just take what we can get I guess.

Not to many years ago (maybe more than I care to remember) NHRA had a Saturday night session. Then there was a year when the nitro teams had a lot of major damage in that late session. The teams would then be up all night repairing the damage & then have to race the day. The teams got together & got NHRA to run the final session earlier.