Track condition = better conditions-saturday (1 Viewer)

[jimbo]

Another thought - is it really that fridays runs are that much better than saturday a result of better track prep before the event or just deteriorating conditions from oil and debris on the track from running all those cars for 2 days.

I know atmospheric conditions plays a big part in performance of any race car, with fridays late qualifying runs having having optimal conditions.

I wonder if consideration was given to changing the times of qualifying on friday and saturday to be the same each day and/or try to match approximate times of eliminations on sunday.

One would think this could be a more equitable solution to the situation.

 

[Toejam]

Jim, I like the Friday night sessions as much as anybody. But I will say that the qualifying sessions were much more consistent before when they just ran in daytime.

 

[Joker]

Jim, I also agree and have said for a while that a change needed to be done to get rid of the one session being the only one some weekends and that the easiest way to do it was to have a Sat night session also. I know that some are against it but to me its alot easier, no 12 on Fri 4 on Sat stuff which makes it easier for the fan to follow and the racer as well.

As far as I'm concerned there should always be a night session b/c there is nothing like nitro at night and the fans deserve it.

 

[mick]

i still think they should have a few selected nat. events
with elims. sat. nite - (those races would only have 3 qual. runs)
also frees up sunday for rain date.
then your friday nite qualifier actually would mimic raceday conditions.

 

[Sully]

IHRA tried that - they ended up trading off a so-so Sunday crowd for a non-existent Thursday crowd. Plus it made life tough for the Sportsman racers since they had to park on Wednesday to run on Thursday. That's already an NHRA Sportsman problem at the four-day events.

 

[Treeshaker]

The Friday night sessions are ran because it increases the Friday attendance substantially. It is hard on the Top Fuel guys now because they run last Friday and first on Saturday. They do not run Saturday night to give the teams time to get everything ready for eliminations on Sunday. Remember, you must have enough equipment serviced and ready to go for four runs on Sunday. As it is teams keep expanding personel wise to get the job done.

Also, the lights at several tracks are not adequate for the speeds the cars are running now. PRO asks for the driver's opinions of lighting at each venue, and there are always a few that need upgrading.

 

[none]

Not meaning to derail the thread, but, Virgil, is there a direct relation between the lighting of the track and track overall quality? pavement, etc.
What tracks have the best lighting?
Lee
Nitroclovers

 

[jimbo]

The Friday night sessions are ran because it increases the Friday attendance substantially. It is hard on the Top Fuel guys now because they run last Friday and first on Saturday. They do not run Saturday night to give the teams time to get everything ready for eliminations on Sunday. Remember, you must have enough equipment serviced and ready to go for four runs on Sunday. As it is teams keep expanding personel wise to get the job done.

Also, the lights at several tracks are not adequate for the speeds the cars are running now. PRO asks for the driver's opinions of lighting at each venue, and there are always a few that need upgrading.

Virgil
I sort of figured that the reason they don't run late on saturday was to give the teams a break and to help attendance on friday , but, I'm sure some compromise could be worked out.

 

[Kelly]

SIDEBAR: Virg....it's so nice to see you around! I, for one, have missed you!

 

[Treeshaker]

Lee - I don't know the correlation of the track surface and lighting. The ground and track surface are moving entities that change yearly due to weather and maintenance. Lighting is usually constant, and some places have just needed an upgrade to keep up with the performance of cars.


Jim - I think you have seen the compromise that NHRA has worked out. No, it isn't utopia, and some teams are going to get hurt by it, but others will be thankful it is in place during the year.

Kelly - thanks for the thought.

 

[Toejam]

Holy Cow!!! A Virgil Sighting!!!!

 

[merc49]

Shame on me for getting old. A friend and I were discussing women TF drivers the other day and neither of us could think of Rhonda's name! Thanks to the Virgil sighting it came right back. I warn you youngsters, Senior Citizenship ain't for sissies!

As to the topic, and the mention of track preparation - I believe that it'll never again be as good as it was just 2-3 years ago, by design. As a safety thing, I feel the NHRA just doesn't want cars in the 4.30s at 340 MPH.

 

[jimbo]

Shame on me for getting old. A friend and I were discussing women TF drivers the other day and neither of us could think of Rhonda's name! Thanks to the Virgil sighting it came right back. I warn you youngsters, Senior Citizenship ain't for sissies!

As to the topic, and the mention of track preparation - I believe that it'll never again be as good as it was just 2-3 years ago, by design. As a safety thing, I feel the NHRA just doesn't want cars in the 4.30s at 340 MPH.

Bob
That thought has also crossed my mind many times this past year. I think you have hit the nail on the head!