Up front: Racing is killing drag racing (2 Viewers)

[Super Mod]

Just read Jon Asher's article on Comp Plus. He offers some very valid points. Most of it sounds like he would like NHRA professional racing to reflect the nostalgia circuit. To me this sounds like wishful thinking and not based in reality. I would show a link, but may be against Bobby's policies.

 

[mike]

if the "racing" is what the root cause of the sameness of ever class, as I suspect it is, then, yes, I agree the racing is the problem...at least for me

but what do I know, I'm just a fan...

 

[Crazy]

I agree with what was said. NHRA and the Nostalgia Races, (funny car & TF), that I've attended, are just flat boring. I really expected a little showmanship, from the Nostalgia rigs. You know, long burn outs. Dry hops. But, they have gone the way of "The Big Show". Notice the word "show"? There's no show at all, anymore.
Oh well, that's why I go to my local track, and see real drag races, with racers, that are having fun. And run my rig, occasionally. Not go and watch something that looks like reruns of all the previous races.

 

[yoda]

Repost from my Facebook comment:

Two totally different sports. Or actually, two different sanctioning bodies. If Jon wants the "show", then attend more IHRA races. And while he's at it, tell him to bring a few thousand of his friends, because that sanctioning body, even with the flamethrowers and sideways passes, still draws less than an NHRA National event. NHRA is the PGA, the NFL, the NASA- it's about the best teams proceeding in the best ways to achieve the best competitive result. And IHRA understands that. As does the ADRL and other small sanctioning bodies. They are looking for that audience that wants the show, and if they could convince the $5000 a pass guys to come out and play for $2000 a pass and have a bit of fun, Jon could get the sport he wants to see back. Jungle and The Don had a fleet of cars that ran match races at all levels of quality- from Wednesday at E-Town to Saturday at Cordova, as well as their "competition car" for Sundays at Wally's.

 

[Johnson]

At the very least, Big Show nitro racing needs to return to being able to tip the can. More than any other change NHRA has brought about in my time watching the sport, the reduction in nitro percentage has been the thing that's considerably reduced my enjoyment of going to the track. Heck, the first time I heard 85%, I did a double check to see if I had stumbled into the sportsman pits. It's a bit more tolerable now, but the cars just sound crap compared to burning a full load of pop. Bring back max cackle. Just my $.02...

 

[TSK]

That article is yet another reason I like reading Asher so much.
He speaks the truth. But, these days, most people don't want to hear the truth. They want to hear what makes them feel good.
It's those people who will whine about the article. Feed 'em fish heads.
And, keep those articles coming Jon.

 

[rckymtn3]

I'll watch to see how this thread pans-out. I've seen numerous threads with most saying if we don't change drag racing, it's doomed....

After reading Dale Armstrong's article about how to slow them down and prevent a crew chief work-around, I think it's completely doable.

Jon Asher's article is on the money. I hate contrived drama, but there's nothing wrong with real emotion.

He spoke of the long burnouts, which I do remember the crowds cheering for the longer ones, especially Force, mostly because they expected it.

For me, it was the dry hops and launches. The quick whack made a car leap off the track and bounce around a bit on the tires. It punctuated the potent cackling sculpture. It gave the whole starting line procedure a life of it's own. The explosion of sound echoing around the track served to emphasize you were seeing something VERY powerful. Then they would do a dry launch and it got only got BETTER! Did it hook up? Did it tilt a bit and was that a wisp of tire smoke? How would the driver deal with it? Would they ride the brake just right and take it to a win? There was a ton of excitement, and this was all before they lined up and raced.

Not to mention the classic throttle whacks in the pits....

I can take or leave the burnouts, as they did little for me anyway....but the sound of a nitro engine under load...several times from the same car before the laundry was thrown out and the track got quiet again...if only for a little while before the next pair started. Damn....

Jon Asher got it straight. Where's my excitement?

 

[Bobby Bennett]

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag-racing/editorials/26057-up-front-racing-is-killing-drag-racing1

Not at all Jack, it's just when people cut and paste the full content when we get bothered.

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

I never heard a group of people that dislike a sport so much but stay on here to complain complain complain all the time. If you folks hate the nhra so much why do you bother to tell us so often. If you dont like the show stay home and watch dance moms but why rant here so much??
I am lucky enough to go to an nhra national event 2 or 3 times a year. And i love it and so do the thousands of other fans that are there. The old days were great( and i was there) but the present day is pretty damn good. If you dont think so thats fine. Go find something you do like and praise it instead of coming here and spewing negativity

 

[none]

I read on here some people are complaining how the nitro cars don't sound as good now because of the % of nitro being run. Most are running 90% , This is about normal for many back in the day. There are many factors that can change the sound of a fuel motor, expecially at idle such as, Cam , compression, fireing order,and I'm sure many other things. I agree the old setup sounded better at idle but when the butterflies go flat there is nothing on gods green earth that can match the thunder of the modern fuel motor!

 

[none]

I never heard a group of people that dislike a sport so much but stay on here to complain complain complain all the time. If you folks hate the nhra so much why do you bother to tell us so often. If you dont like the show stay home and watch dance moms but why rant here so much??
I am lucky enough to go to an nhra national event 2 or 3 times a year. And i love it and so do the thousands of other fans that are there. The old days were great( and i was there) but the present day is pretty damn good. If you dont think so thats fine. Go find something you do like and praise it instead of coming here and spewing negativity

Barry, When you find out what motivates these deciples of doom please let me know. I to have been a fan of drag racing for over 55 years and agree 100% with you on your post. Thank you

 

[Wayne]

Barry, When you find out what motivates these deciples of doom please let me know. I to have been a fan of drag racing for over 55 years and agree 100% with you on your post. Thank you

Barry/Paul: 3rded!!!

 

[Toejam]

I read on here some people are complaining how the nitro cars don't sound as good now because of the % of nitro being run. Most are running 90% , This is about normal for many back in the day. There are many factors that can change the sound of a fuel motor, expecially at idle such as, Cam , compression, fireing order,and I'm sure many other things. I agree the old setup sounded better at idle but when the butterflies go flat there is nothing on gods green earth that can match the thunder of the modern fuel motor!

What he said....^^^. I want to go on record by saying I enjoy the Nostalgia cars, mostly for the awesome Cacklefests we see at Indy, hope they do it again this year! But I have noticed an arrogance from the Nostalgia crowd in the last 2-3 years especially! It's like any Drag racing after 1990 is somehow Phony Drag racing, and unless you were there in 1968....1975 whatever, you never saw REAL drag racing! It's as old as the Cival War by now!

 

[Super Mod]

Everything for making a good "show" is counter productive for making a good run. Putting excessive heat in the clutch and tires, wheelstands, dry hops....you name it. All these old school practices will not work today. So what's the point in pining for the past?
They need to work on keeping the racing operation costs down and the ticket prices down. I think IHRA did that.....but what have they got?
A WATERED DOWN PRODUCT. but I don't think the average spectator really cares. So what is the measure of success?
__________________

 

[I was NITRO BREATH]

Here i think lies the key to all we have been talking about. What is success for the nhra and drag racing fans?? Is it ticket sales like so many here think. They seem to feel that if more tkts get sold more racers will show up. While that may raise prize money it still wont make up for the millions it takes to run a fuel car. Some feel we need more cars trying to qualify. That would be nice and it would make the qualifying show better but does that make sunday better?? What about improving the show as many have talked about here. Well, dry hops are great and long burnouts are fun. But isnt the show pretty great right now?? Insanely loud ground pounding cars going 325 mph is a unique and exciting experience in my book. some seem to think that if only whit bazemore the moody broody prince hamlet of drag racing came back that everything would be great again cause we need more drivers who " speak their minds". Whit was a good driver but a sore loser. Do we really want more like him?? So what is success??

 

[cephus]

Barry maybe u otta read the 1st amendment,, free speech, u may not like our rants but this is wats nice bout the US, and a public forum. I still like drag racing but don't agree with the NHRA's suits and think some things culd be changed to improved for the fans imagine that

 

[rckymtn3]

I never heard a group of people that dislike a sport so much but stay on here to complain complain complain all the time. If you folks hate the nhra so much why do you bother to tell us so often. If you dont like the show stay home and watch dance moms but why rant here so much??
I am lucky enough to go to an nhra national event 2 or 3 times a year. And i love it and so do the thousands of other fans that are there. The old days were great( and i was there) but the present day is pretty damn good. If you dont think so thats fine. Go find something you do like and praise it instead of coming here and spewing negativity

I like the current drag racing just fine, as do many others. Yeah, we all get that the current mechanics of a fueler don't allow the car to achieve it's full potential if they were run as they used to be (addressed in the article this thread is about), but we're right here, right now, discussing an article that was written that discussed the fact that -this- racing has turned into an exercise in perfection, rather than an exciting motorsport. Other motorsports had to change to make themselves more exciting. Formula 1 added DRS to improve the probability of one car passing another, for fear that race after race finishing in the same order as they started would bore a spectator after a while. IndyCar did the same with push to pass.
I've never liked jet cars, I've never liked wheelstanders, but there's something to be said for putting more show into the go. If some wish to bury their heads in the sand and say it's going swimmingly, that's great, just please, don't expect some folks to pick up the pom-poms and cheer along side of you.
Jocko Johnson once said in an interview (I believe by Cole Coonce?) that he thought drag racing should be boiled down to the essence of what it really is, and that the competition should be held on dynamometers, thus eliminating all the other stuff that seemed to detract from the real point of this type of racing. Did I agree with him? No. I liked all the other stuff that made it more of a show. Did I think he was speaking blasphemously? Hardly. I understood his comment. I agreed with him that this is a sport of mechanical horsepower.
Veiling one opinion as the voice of reason, and dashing another opinion against the rocks smacks of arrogance.

 

[Riley7]

I love NHRA drag racing. I loved it 40 years ago as a little kid, and I love it now.

That being said, I was at the Brainerd race yesterday, and I have to agree that the Big Show has lost some of it's spice over the past few years. The long, smoky burnout was a sure way to fire up the crowd back in the day, and of course the entire dry-hop process was the finest kind of Fuel Foreplay. I get the mechanics and technical reason for that stuff not happening any more, but it really did add flavor to our sport.

The Fuel cars still boggle the mind, and the performance numbers of the current Pro Stock cars are incredible, given the parameters they run under. The problem with Pro Stock, is even with the scoreboard lighting up with killer speeds and times, the runs are almost always ho-hum to watch. The Super Stock and Top Sportsman cars are more fun to watch, in my opinion.

One thing mentioned in this article that was spot-on, was how little emotion the crowds show now, compared to a few years ago. For the most part people sat on their hands during Pro qualifying yesterday. There was very little cheering, and a lot of that had to be induced by the announcer. Oh sure, a few passes elicited some polite applause, but nothing like I've come to expect in years past. It was kind of disappointing, but I'm not sure what the cure for apathy might be.

I also think NHRA could do a MUCH better job of entertainment between rounds. Those dudes from Geico screaming and hollering and playing the fool are simply annoying.

 

[Larry jr.]

Jon is an old family friend so I'm not going to bash His comments.

That being said, it would be difficult for anyone on the sidelines to understand why nitro racing has evolved the way it has.

Having been there, I will say this, most of the stuff everyone says they miss like the Long smokey burnouts, dry leaves were all done for a reason much more related to the poor track conditions or lack of track prep what so ever, dryhops are cool and had there place, we seated the clutch with the dryhop, but again really hard on parts. I miss it too, and whacking the throttle is the one I miss the most, Probley why I do it so much with the Shirley car at our cacklefest shows.


There is no real reason to do all that stuff with the current track prep cost of equipment and the clutch is seated in the pit on the warm up where the CC's and clutch guys can make adustments before the car even heads to the lanes if need be.

Its a different era.

I'll tell you what, when I get my F/C done and out I'll do some dryhops for you all.

 

[Nunz]

Larry are you building a NFC, hopefully a Trojan Horse tribute?