Vegas entry list

[Dragracer]

What you see on the entry list will probably be it. Tomorrow is move in day and usually Monday is the last day for pro entries. I suspect if someone called NHRA today they could get in but it looks like 13 for T/F. Don't know what a 13 car ladder looks like. Their are others cars in SoCal who could race but I think the 4 wide is a negative.
Shorten the race schedule and make the 4 wide speciality races with more money and points.
The only way Pomona will go away is if the LA County Fairgrounds and the city don't renew their lease. NHRA wants Pomona. It's their home track and is close to their Headquarters.

 

[Cliff]

In the mid 1950's, a dragster with a blown hemi OHV engine on (low amounts of) nitro could run 9 seconds at around 150. 2019, a T/F dragster is capable of 3.50's at 340. This with a 70 year old OHV hemi design that has been engineered to a point that unreal speeds & ET's are possible. All of this technology that has been developed has cost $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. And that is not only the nitro classes. Pro Mod, T/AD & TA/FC. Pro Stock. T/D & T/S. Comp Elim. On and on. It's so expensive to race a Pro class that the fields are thinning out. What is the solution? More prize money? I dunno. Even if NHRA would mandate that no class can run anything but an 8:71 blower, it wouldn't be long before costs would go to the moon again. It's just the nature of the beast. I wish the days of 32 T/F were still here, but.....

 

[MM]

What you see on the entry list will probably be it. Tomorrow is move in day and usually Monday is the last day for pro entries.

Who is moving 10 days before the race?

 

[Dragracer]

Sorry Mike, got my calendar screwed up, was thinking it was this weekend. F/C has 16 cars. T/F 13.
They will have full fields by race day.

 

[Huge]

Damn, I thought I might have mixed up my dates and I was going to be late.

 

[Dragracer]

Eugene, you doing BPR friday?

 

[R.I.P. O.C.I.R.]

pro mod could and i expect would keep butts in the bleachers. but NHRA will continue to have a "calm" class after the fuel cars to vacate the stands. NHRA is not stupid and they make no money with your butt in the bleachers. if top fuel harley - pro mod followed the fuel cars, they wont vacate the stands. followed by the alcohol cars. NHRA makes big time money when the stands clear out for pro stock / pro stock bike. whatever follows the 2 fuel classes, NHRA will make sure it gets the fans out of the stands. mark my words.

 

[Huge]

Eugene, you doing BPR friday?

Yes

 

[camaro]

pro mod could and i expect would keep butts in the bleachers. but NHRA will continue to have a "calm" class after the fuel cars to vacate the stands. NHRA is not stupid and they make no money with your butt in the bleachers. if top fuel harley - pro mod followed the fuel cars, they wont vacate the stands. followed by the alcohol cars. NHRA makes big time money when the stands clear out for pro stock / pro stock bike. whatever follows the 2 fuel classes, NHRA will make sure it gets the fans out of the stands. mark my words.

every class that follows nitro, including Pro mod, causes an exodus from the stands. When ever your headline act comes on before the 'undercard', this will always happen!

 

[Tom Slick]

I'd say the simplest and most popular way among most teams to reduce costs is to:

1. Reduce the number of events to 18. This would reduce travel costs, lodging, parts usage, meals, etc.
2. Reduce the professional race weekend to two days. This would reduce the number of days that crews would need lodging and to be paid and fed.
3. Reduce the number of qualifying sessions to 3. If the qualifying sessions are run at the time of day that eliminations would be run, each session would have meaning to the crew chief. If the NHRA is going to race during the day, the evening qualifying run is pointless. If the NHRA wants to get creative, run some events at night at venues that allow it. Therefore qualify the evening before so that crew chiefs can get a handle on the conditions for race night.
4. Based on what I've seen, the turn out on Saturday at most national events is larger than Sunday. Perhaps having a Friday qualifying day and the race on Saturday is worth a try.

In summary, the more days on the road, the more expensive it is. Lodging these days is outrageous, even at dive hotels. Rental cars aren't cheap, food is expensive, etc. My estimation by going to a two day, three qualifying pass, 18 event tour would reduce costs by nearly a third.

 

[Cliff]

Chris, you have some good ideas. Some of this has been done before, like when the old AHRA ran races at Orange County in the 1970's. Q on Friday, race Sat and always ran the nitro cars at night (no curfew) to put on a show. Only problem I can think of at a Nat'l event today is giving the Sportsmen time to Q and run elims. Would be hard to do with a 2 day race, unless fields are limited. Other ideas have been to seperate Pro's & Sportsmen. A Nat'l event would be, say, T/F, F/C, Pro/S, Pro Mod, Pro/S motorcycle, Nitro Harley. You could add T/AD and TA/FC. Basically an all heads up show. Sportsmen would be Divisional races only, with T/D and T/S and Comp as the headliners. You would need to have a "filler" at a Nat'l race, especially in the later rounds. There are all kinds of ways to run a 2 day race, but it could be done.

 

[R.I.P. O.C.I.R.]

NHRA clearly does not want to get creative. if they wanted to fix this sport fast? find another bill donar type as the promoter. bill could put more entertainment on the track in one day/night than NHRA does in 3 days.

 

[R.I.P. O.C.I.R.]

stop n go cars. why would ANY kid want to return to the dragstrip for those????????????

 

[MHayes]

I'd say the simplest and most popular way among most teams to reduce costs is to:

1. Reduce the number of events to 18. This would reduce travel costs, lodging, parts usage, meals, etc.
2. Reduce the professional race weekend to two days. This would reduce the number of days that crews would need lodging and to be paid and fed.
3. Reduce the number of qualifying sessions to 3. If the qualifying sessions are run at the time of day that eliminations would be run, each session would have meaning to the crew chief. If the NHRA is going to race during the day, the evening qualifying run is pointless. If the NHRA wants to get creative, run some events at night at venues that allow it. Therefore qualify the evening before so that crew chiefs can get a handle on the conditions for race night.
4. Based on what I've seen, the turn out on Saturday at most national events is larger than Sunday. Perhaps having a Friday qualifying day and the race on Saturday is worth a try.

In summary, the more days on the road, the more expensive it is. Lodging these days is outrageous, even at dive hotels. Rental cars aren't cheap, food is expensive, etc. My estimation by going to a two day, three qualifying pass, 18 event tour would reduce costs by nearly a third.

The one key item that you didn’t address was, how much will the sponsorship funding decrease as a result of decreasing the number of races and days racing? You can’t just focus on one side of the equation, that’s too easy.

 

[none]

alan= my answer to your question? billy torrance. he let it be known he will not be at all races. he wont make it to all races but will make top 10. thats my point. terry mc was easy pickins till he got a bit of help from other ppl, so he did not improve, others improved his consistency for him. he blew up everything. so, yeh, we have 10 cars lol!!! look at the amount of cars we had in the past. the amount of fuel cars left is a joke, and of the top ten, what? 4 ppl own all 10 cars in T/F?? nobody wants to discuss that im sure. if this sport can only draw 14 T/F cars at the winternationals, this sport has now proven it is in serious, serious, trouble. as for leakers and slackers? we have one T/F car here at seattle that runs no more than one NHRA event per year!!! and that car fails to make full pulls. and it only makes the program as only 15 other T/F cars show up. he could do/has done a burnout, coast down track one time and he is in the race sunday. 14 cars at pomona, and no shoe?? this sport has never been in so much trouble. bill d. put on events that were a local disaster so many ppl showed up. seattle is allowed X amount of night time events. but the northwest nats. get shut down at 5 or 6 pm in mid summer!! no fri. / sat. night racing. and on sunday eliminations are over at what? 3:30 pm?? 4 pm??? why even go on sunday? one must wear sunglasses from the glare of empty aluminum grandstands at seattle on sunday. alan, im sorry to vent, but this sport has gone down the drain just like NASCAR. as being drag racers lets address the problem and solve it. wheelstanders / jets / and god forbid a class that must do a 200 ft. burnout or get docked a couple tenths on the tree!!! no burnouts / wheelstanders / jets?? sunset is now considered as night time racing. nothing like watching fuel cars in the black of night. drag racing is getting just what it asked for. the 4 wide tracks are great for big bracket races. so 4 wide eliminates even more racing from a event. 16 wide is the answer. that way the next generation can spend there day on the phone at the track.

Billy could very well make the top ten, but you still didn't tell me if he is a Leaker or a Slacker? I'm pretty sure we both know that he's not underfunded. And yes, there was a time when Terry McMillen was struggling and he got some help, he also hired Rob Wendland and now not only is he a contender, he is the reining US Nationals Champ. At one time John Force was considered a Leaker, and then he got some help and hired a great crew chief. Seemed to work out OK for him. Bob Vandergriff has two cars running part time, I wouldn't call them Leakers or Slackers. What about T.J. Zizzo? I can guarantee you that NOBODY pulls up next to him on raceday and thinks "This will be an easy win." Oh, and I count seven different car owners in the Top Fuel top 10 Shoe, Force, Torrence, Kalitta, Salinas, Stringer and McMillen.

I assume that you were referring to Ron Smith, what would you do? Tell him not to try? He knows he doesn't have the latest stuff, and that he's not going to set the track record, but everyone says the little guys don't have a chance to do this anymore and when one tries you say he shouldn't be here. Which is it?

The top ten as it stands now doesn't include Scott Palmer who has made it the last couple of years, or Brittany Force who won the Championship just a couple of years ago. And we will add one more contender when Schumacher comes back, that leaves some spots that are usually filled by part timers, and there are plenty of those. And often times they will wait until the last minute to enter. But don't confuse part time with not competitive. I refer you again, to Billy, T.J. or the BVR cars. The 14 cars in Pomona has as much to do with the California DOT than anything else.

Our attendance is up the last few years, and we have sell out days fairly regularly, Saturday has become the biggest day as a rule, but on Saturday you know that you get to see all the cars run twice, where on Sunday your hero might be out first round. Plus Saturday is a bit more laid back so you have a better chance to get you autographs come to Nitro School and such. And with the live (or at least same day) coverage some fans would rather do something else with their Sunday and watch the race when they get home.

I know some of the hard core fans don't care for Four Wide, but the crowd that comes out tells me loud and clear that casual fans like it a lot. And if that's what it takes to introduce someone to the sport, then I'm all for it.

I'm not saying that it's all sunshine and rainbows, there is certainly room for improvement. I am saying that the sky isn't falling. Anybody remember when the Snake sat out a year for lack of sponsorship? He put together a deal that brought him back fully funded for many years, instead of just grabbing whatever might have been offered just to be there.

Those who are asking for an 18 race season, what do you propose? Do we just tell our fans in certain cities that we don't care about them anymore? When E-Town closed, Richmond jumped in and the fans from Virginia came out in force to support us returning to the track. Would it have been better to not make that move?

As always this is just my opinion.

Alan

 

[Tom Slick]

Billy could very well make the top ten, but you still didn't tell me if he is a Leaker or a Slacker? I'm pretty sure we both know that he's not underfunded. And yes, there was a time when Terry McMillen was struggling and he got some help, he also hired Rob Wendland and now not only is he a contender, he is the reining US Nationals Champ. At one time John Force was considered a Leaker, and then he got some help and hired a great crew chief. Seemed to work out OK for him. Bob Vandergriff has two cars running part time, I wouldn't call them Leakers or Slackers. What about T.J. Zizzo? I can guarantee you that NOBODY pulls up next to him on raceday and thinks "This will be an easy win." Oh, and I count six different car owners in the Top Fuel top 10 Shoe, Force, Torrence, Kalitta, Salinas, and McMillen.

I assume that you were referring to Ron Smith, what would you do? Tell him not to try? He knows he doesn't have the latest stuff, and that he's not going to set the track record, but everyone says the little guys don't have a chance to do this anymore and when one tries you say he shouldn't be here. Which is it?

The top ten as it stands now doesn't include Scott Palmer who has made it the last couple of years, or Brittany Force who won the Championship just a couple of years ago. And we will add one more contender when Schumacher comes back, that leaves some spots that are usually filled by part timers, and there are plenty of those. And often times they will wait until the last minute to enter. But don't confuse part time with not competitive. I refer you again, to Billy, T.J. or the BVR cars. The 14 cars in Pomona has as much to do with the California DOT than anything else.

Our attendance is up the last few years, and we have sell out days fairly regularly, Saturday has become the biggest day as a rule, but on Saturday you know that you get to see all the cars run twice, where on Sunday your hero might be out first round. Plus Saturday is a bit more laid back so you have a better chance to get you autographs come to Nitro School and such. And with the live (or at least same day) coverage some fans would rather do something else with their Sunday and watch the race when they get home.

I know some of the hard core fans don't care for Four Wide, but the crowd that comes out tells me loud and clear that casual fans like it a lot. And if that's what it takes to introduce someone to the sport, then I'm all for it.

I'm not saying that it's all sunshine and rainbows, there is certainly room for improvement. I am saying that the sky isn't falling. Anybody remember when the Snake sat out a year for lack of sponsorship? He put together a deal that brought him back fully funded for many years, instead of just grabbing whatever might have been offered just to be there.

Those who are asking for an 18 race season, what do you propose? Do we just tell our fans in certain cities that we don't care about them anymore? When E-Town closed, Richmond jumped in and the fans from Virginia came out in force to support us returning to the track. Would it have been better to not make that move?

As always this is just my opinion.

Alan

Don't get me wrong, I'm a nitro junkie and would love to have a national event every weekend. I'm all for keeping all 24 events, but also feel that reducing the number of events would help car counts, reduce cost and increase fan attendance. Sometimes quality is better than quantity. I'm not saying that this is the best answer, just throwing out some ideas.

Generally speaking up until last years 4-wide, the Spring race in Vegas was horrible for attendance. Charlotte is another venue that seems to lake at some of their events. Perhaps we only need one Vegas and one Charlotte race. And from what I've seen on TV, there are a couple of other events that seem to be running pretty lean on attendance. Perhaps those need to hit the chopping block as well.

The Pro Mod guys don't want to run many more events than they currently do and the reduction of Pro Stock races has seemed to boost car counts.

And regarding the two day event idea, that was simply for the pros only. The overall national event can still be a 3-4 day extravaganza with sportsman racing, grudge racing, etc. Just the touring TF and FC teams run two days only. These are typically the teams that are on the road all season and are most effected by extreme costs.

And as for sponsorship, perhaps with a better produced event and a much more in depth television package we could actually raise the bar for sponsors. Think of it like this. Reduce the number of events slightly, go to two day pro program and really blow it up. Have a 2-3 hour qualifying show, a bi-weekly NHRA magazine show that highlights teams, cars, drivers and sponsors. Make the eliminations show a 3 hour deal that really gets into the racing with onboard cameras, behind the scenes in the pits, etc. I think the sponsors will find great value in this and a team is much more likely to land a full time sponsor if the cost is less to run a team for a season.

Again, just bench racing and throwing ideas around since this subject seems to come up quite often. Flame away fellas!

 

[Porkchop]

Dave I don't ever expect to see the fuel classes go to 1/8 mile. The only track that has problems with the track length and shut down is Pomona. It's the shortest on the circuit and has no way to get more room. If it gets to be a problem they will just slow the cars down again. The major reason for slowing the cars down was when Hight went 339. Goodyear was not happy as their tire is rated to 350mph and Robert was too close when you figure the speed shown is not the actual speed but the average between the speed traps. Taking away the record and points for speed was done so the teams would not be pushing for the speed and driving it through the lights.
It will be interesting what the fuel car count ends up at. I agree that the 4 wide may keep some away. Will have to wait and see what happens at Bristol 4 wide. They do have a advantage as there are more part time racers in the right half of the coumtry.

wrong, Denver is also a problem. Its up hill but with no air the chutes dont hit nearly as hard. Norwalk isnt that long, goes into a field. I dont believe Reading is very long either.

 

[Porkchop]

What you see on the entry list will probably be it. Tomorrow is move in day and usually Monday is the last day for pro entries. I suspect if someone called NHRA today they could get in but it looks like 13 for T/F. Don't know what a 13 car ladder looks like. Their are others cars in SoCal who could race but I think the 4 wide is a negative.
Shorten the race schedule and make the 4 wide speciality races with more money and points.
The only way Pomona will go away is if the LA County Fairgrounds and the city don't renew their lease. NHRA wants Pomona. It's their home track and is close to their Headquarters.

Pomona almost went away a couple years ago. Anything can happen and usually does!

 

[TooTall999]

every class that follows nitro, including Pro mod, causes an exodus from the stands. When ever your headline act comes on before the 'undercard', this will always happen!

Even if you started with the undercard, most of the so called "fans" wouldn't head to their seats until they hear the fuel cars.

 

[R.I.P. O.C.I.R.]

i consider anyone that does not make all events a slacker. billy is only out there to get in the top10 and he will with limited races. in the past, you miss a national event and your chances for a championship were nil. sure, ron is one of our local racers on a budget. does that mean he gets to play on sunday since only 15 other cars showed up? what happened to the days of EARNING a spot for sunday?? i fully expect pomona to stay. and be the first to run 1/8th mile. we all joked when we seen the first 1000 ft. beams on a track. oh, thats just no big deal we thought and some were scared that was our future. guess what?? it was our future. laugh at me all you want. but i will step up and say 1000 ft fuel racing will be history sooner than later. a 16 wide race on 1/8th mile track solves the problem. all cars run one round. and its over. solves noise issues / give the casual fans the day to spend on the phone at the dragstrip. the top 10 T/F cars are owned by 4 ppl. i notice nobody replied to that. i lived and was a part of the glory days of drag racing. that scale of entertainment will NEVER return to this sport. if you could put a national event on tv the same time as a 64 F/C shootout donar put on we all know what will get the ratings. given all things being equal, that one man could all but bankrupt NHRA when it comes to tv ratings. idiots doing motorcycle stunts / wheelstanders / burnout contests / the guy that tried to jump cars with a go-cart did not go so well, but tv ratings would skyrocket. how about that car named "smokey red" that had wheels under it and could smoke the tires far past the 1320 mark. god forbid adding entertainment to our sport that will draw a crowd. at age 5, if my first drag race was like todays events, i would have never devoted my life to this sport.