What i would do about drivers Throwing races (1 Viewer)

[yoda]

If the team owner would man up and just admit a dive happened, I think most fans could live with that.
It’s when a dive is blatantly obvious and the diver tap dances around the subject, acting all huffy for getting called out, that makes me wish there was some legitimate way to penalize them.

The majority of fans that know and care that the race was thrown are the amount on the message boards we all frequent. Maybe that many.

The fans that know that race was thrown and don't care that nobody has manned up about it fit into the next catagory, and are slightly more than the first group. Maybe that many.

The fans that have no idea that anything was done prior to the green light are NHRA's target audience, and they outnumber us by a huge number. It's entertainment to them, and they also don't complain when the wrestling match goes to the guy expected to win, or the NASCAR guys all pile it up on the Green-White-Checkered... They were entertained...

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

If the team owner would man up and just admit a dive happened, I think most fans could live with that.
It’s when a dive is blatantly obvious and the diver tap dances around the subject, acting all huffy for getting called out, that makes me wish there was some legitimate way to penalize them.

Ted we all agree, but, NHRA has a rule against. So they are forced to fake it. That's why I suggested NHRA drop the rule so the team car can pass, or forfeit,...... and it would save money.

 

[TSK]

Ted we all agree, but, NHRA has a rule against. So they are forced to fake it. That's why I suggested NHRA drop the rule so the team car can pass, or forfeit,...... and it would save money.

Paul, it makes me wonder why NHRA bothered to enact a rule in the first place that everybody knows cannot be enforced.

 

[Muddy]

"What i would do about drivers Throwing races" Get over it. It's been occurring since before most of you were born. We we're splitting purses and having coin flip's in the 60s and I'm sue it was occurring before that. Nothing new but team cars make it more visible.

 

[JHOLE]

For what it's worth I remember watching funny car match races in the 60's and I never knew until about ten years ago they were all fixed and the promoters knew each round which car was going to win!!
When a driver would not agree to go along with the promoters then would find themselves no longer booked for match racing.

To me it always look like real racing and it did not look fixed in anyway but it was!!!!
Remember back in the 60's there were only a few big time promoters who were booking match races from California to Maine so either you did what they wanted or you took your car and went home.

I learned about this from someone who raced his funny car for years and he told the story not only to me but to many others. No names but I will tell you he ran out of Texas.

Jim Hill
www.nostalgicracingdecals.com

I'm calling BULLSHIT on this...

 

[junglevsbrutus]

I messed up by hitting "send" before I

My solution is to start a campaign of shaming anyone who intentionally lays down for a team car. For example in Force's case I would send a reporter to his pit before the run and ask him, in coy way, is he gonna race straight up, or……., in other words let him know everybody's watching and what everybody's thinking. If he proceeds to throw the race anyway, than instruct all the track announcers, TV reporters, print guys to bring up the subject of diving as often as possible, eventually taunting the perpetrator enuff that it becomes as embarrassing as 'ED' .

I'm wondering if something like this, is one of the reasons why Schumacher's cars don’t lay down for each other (at least not so u would notice) . Years ago when it appeared that one of his cars 'tanked' for the other, the camera panned over to don and he had the same look on his face, my cat has when I walk in to the house and the trash is tipped over with food all over the place

James Forney, I think you've got a good idea there.
After all, look how emotional the racers get when they are questioned!

But I've got another idea that would require a new way of accepting how cars are paired off. Right now it's 1 vs. 16 all the way down to 8 vs. 9. Here's how my solution would work. When the Countdown begins to use the following format.
Whenever team cars match up in the first 3 rounds shuffle them around so they do not. That is, the competition director would have the ability to supercede the standard pairing chart. For instance, at Las Vegas Round 2 had 2 Schumacher cars facing each other along w/ a pair of Forces. Trade both pairs so each match is a Force vs. Shoe pairing. There would be instances where this isn't possible, like the final or more than 2 teams cars surviving into the semi's. But it could work in many instances.

Some will say it ruins the incentive to qualify high on the list but it can't be any worse than the break rule of the early years where a first round loser could come back and win the event. Others may say it gives too much arbitrary power to the officials. I'd counter that by saying it's tiny compared to what happens in stick and ball sports (the strike zone , NBA fouls, etc.).

 

[camaro]

installing any rules regarding team cars is not feasible, as what actually constitutes a 'Team car'? The only document that says a car is a team car, i'm guessing, is the entry form, where there's a line for car owner and if that's the case, u can fill out anybody's name in that box. I remember a few years back nascar implemented a rule regarding maximum entries per owner and all of a sudden relatives of mega team owners started popping up as car owners. In drag racing guys like steve torrence and morgan lucas are listed as owners of their multimillion dollar operation, when you know, their father is the one who ultimately foots the bill. The only evidence of 'tanking' is an admission of guilt, that's probably why owners cant just fess up and be honest. Anybody remember the old detective show Colombo. His method was to nag the perpetrator to death until a confession was made or in the case of drag racing, make the owner regret taking a dive and not tempted to do it again

 

[junglevsbrutus]

No solution can cover all bases but we know most of the team cars, at least the ones that will be in the hunt during the Countdown.
Colombo: "Ah sir, just one more thing before I go.....!"

 

[Bruno]

Unreal. Really? "Throwing" the race? These are TEAMS. If I have one of my team cars fighting for the championship and the other is not close to the championship you are a fool to race "straight up". There is millions at stake here. There are multiple team cars for blocking, data and a better chance to win the whole enchilada. Lets not have running backs have blockers in front of them...or quarterbacks taking a knee at the snap....or pitchers intentionally walking a batter to get a better advantage. What is fun to watch is when it goes wrong and the car that is supposed to win goes up in smoke and the other is peddling their ass off to try to not finish first. Kind of like a batter stepping up and reaching for an intentional walk pitch that is a bit too close to the zone and smacks it into the outfield.

You want all straight up racing? Then pay everyone the same amount of money for every run, win or loose.

 

[Muddy]

I'm calling BULLSHIT on this...

Don't know what world you were/are living in but match races were very rarely not decided prior to the race.

 

[JHOLE]

Don't know what world you were living in .

Noted.

 

[Butch]

Don't know what world you were/are living in but match races were very rarely not decided prior to the race.

Jeff was probably sleeping on the floor in the back of a Crew cab travailing from a Match race / Booked in show.
the kid grew up at the track

 

[mastertone]

Y'all need to quit crying about it and enjoy what racing there is, if Force or Shu pulled their teams there would be no more nitro racing!! SO SHUT UP!
And of course Asher said it the best!

 

[junglevsbrutus]

Y'all need to quit crying about it and enjoy what racing there is, if Force or Shu pulled their teams there would be no more nitro racing!! SO SHUT UP!
And of course Asher said it the best!

Huh? Why do we need to "shut up" about any topic?

 

[Ice Bucket]

While we all want to see heads up no BS racing, I fully understand why a team would “make arrangements “. If Robert Height winds up second by less than a round the difference in championship payout is several hundred thousand. That additional money would take a lot of burden off of the 2018 budget. Not to mention much easier to retain and attract sponsors as the champ compared to runner up in any sport.

 

[Stan]

Just because a race does not meet your smell test, does not mean anything fun happened.

Before you can do anything about a driver who Throws a race, you need to be able to prove that in fact is what happened. Good luck with that.

Stan

 

[JHOLE]

Jeff was probably sleeping on the floor in the back of a Crew cab travailing from a Match race / Booked in show.
the kid grew up at the track

Hey Now.. I didn't always have to sleep on the floor... The first week they actually held me... then, that got old - so they made room for the basinette... WAAY before that crew cab stuff - we had more than enough room,,, You missed alot of the REALLY EARLY stuff... ( that bus has ALOT of miles on it at that point...) ...

 

[ironpony]

So how do you explain to sponsor A that you let sponsor B win??? Sponsor A is paying as much money as sponsor B to be on the side of the car. Now sponsor A has lost air time and time in front of the spectators that they are PAYING for.
Maybe that is why Castrol did not renew??? We will never know.

 

[Nick Name]

Y'all need to quit crying about it and enjoy what racing there is, if Force or Shu pulled their teams there would be no more nitro racing!! SO SHUT UP!
And of course Asher said it the best!

Would that really be a bad thing? New teams would spring up overnight if they didn't have to race those guys.

 

[mikebcurve]

Would that really be a bad thing? New teams would spring up overnight if they didn't have to race those guys.

That's an interesting take I hadn't thought of.