WHP Observations (1 Viewer)

[The Counterfeiter]

1. Easy in, good parking control.
2. Lots of irritated fans who were forced to throw away any drink other than bottled water or schlep cooler back to their car. No signs, just a surprise when you tried to enter.
3. Ticket scanning off of phone worked perfectly - very nice.
4. Regular handicapped shuttle service with courteous and helpful drivers.
5. Appeared to be plenty of concession stands with variety to handle today's crowd.
6. Remodeled bathrooms which along with rest of site were kept very clean.
7. Two routes to exit track this year, another huge improvement.
8. Sound system is much improved - could hear AR very clearly!
9. After a shaky start in P/S Q1, track improved rapidly. In spite of somewhat warm weather, lots of really good ET's and a few good speeds.
That being said . . .
1. Very sparse crowd compared to Friday of last year.
2. Disturbingly, only 14 cars made runs in T/F (Faria & Chrisman entered - did not run) and F/C (Diehl & Haddock entered - did not run). Only 13 in P/S ( Gray entered - did not show and I was told Nobile was on site but did not run).
3. Indycar is testing at PIR this weekend for April race - FREE parking and admission. Probably not many crossover fans, hope it doesn't hurt.
Overall, a very nice day with little downtime. The fans that were there were obviously enjoying the experience. If NHRA wants fans to come back, this is the way to do it !

 

[Nitro Cane]

14 TF 14FC and 13 PS cars ......sad

 

[JB3]

...
2. Disturbingly, only 14 cars made runs in T/F (Faria & Chrisman entered - did not run) and F/C (Diehl & Haddock entered - did not run). Only 13 in P/S ( Gray entered - did not show and I was told Nobile was on site but did not run)

Jim ... You were there? Nobile made attempts in both sessions, he shutoff both times before staging the car. That's why he is not on the Q sheet.

Shane Gray withdrew from the event earlier this week, it was posted on every site.

 

[JB3]

There are

14 TF 14FC and 13 PS cars ......sad

16 TF and 16 FC on property. Lower funded teams conserving $$ since all will qualify.

14 PS on property as Vincent Mobile shutoff both sessions today before staging the car.

 

[The Counterfeiter]

Yup - missed Nobile not staging. Guess i should pay more attention instead of enjoying the event with friends. Gray is still listed as an entrant on NHRA National Event Entry Statistics site, guess it is not part of "every" site. If you go to NHRA.com/entry list, Gray is still listed as entered - what site reported Gray was withdrawing?

 

[JB3]

Yup - missed Nobile not staging. Guess i should pay more attention instead of enjoying the event with friends. Gray is still listed as an entrant on NHRA National Event Entry Statistics site, guess it is not part of "every" site.

Sunny and 80's has to be a good time, right.

 

[Nitro Cane]

all run show in TF and FC still only 14 PS ....Oh

 

[JB3]

Yup - missed Nobile not staging. Guess i should pay more attention instead of enjoying the event with friends. Gray is still listed as an entrant on NHRA National Event Entry Statistics site, guess it is not part of "every" site. If you go to NHRA.com/entry list, Gray is still listed as entered - what site reported Gray was withdrawing?

Seriously ... It was on all the usual sites Comp Plus, DRO, and NHRA homepage.

 

[JB3]

all run show in TF and FC still only 14 PS ....Oh

Yup ... pretty weak event.

 

[Nunz]

Not a weak event. There are really only a handful of events that have more than 16 cars show to qualify, and that is dependent upon which ones the part-timers attend. I guess that we should be happy that for the most part, the tour sees full fields. But barely. And, the days of drama filled qualifying seem to be behind us, for now anyway. We just need to find out how to attract more teams, and how to get the part-time teams that exist to run more events. Actually we all know the answer: money. It's what hurting virtually every class at every event, other than Pro Mod, which is a pay to play series of only 10 events.

 

[Old Guy Rookie]

Mark Lyle had a go-round with the Gas Monkey PS team when they wouldn't shut off when they were instructed, they pushed their limits and got their hands smacked. The team had a problem getting the car back to the start line after their burnout, a little too long for Mark since Jason Line was ready to run and he told them to shut off. They in turn, ignored him and attempted to stage when Mark came over and attempted to shut the passenger side door and it got a little physical; but, they got it smoothed out after Jason's run.

 

[mltdwn12]

Sunny day and man I didn't use enough sunscreen! Like Jim said, after a shaky start the Pro runs were pretty good. I was thinking there hadn't been one clean up that day. Of course 1 minute later someone put a little on on the top end! Oh well, not a long delay. You can see they've tried upgrading the looks of the property some as well. I've been to at least one day of every race but one since they started running at Firebird / WHP and no matter what month it is, it seems to be always hot , but I guess it beats a rain out! If I have one gripe it's the number of media photographers along the wall. If you want some good pics at the start, you're going to have heads in the shot, I counted 14 of them in Q-2 I took some good top end shots, but would have liked to get some starting line shots without a bunch of bodies in the shot.

 

[mltdwn12]

Would have been a good shot

 

[FABMAN]

There isn't enough money or payouts for smaller teams to race, it's just too expensive. Same has happened to Nascar, short field for Atlanta chartered teams are sucking up the money. 36 charter teams only 39 cars entered, last year there there was 43,44 cars each race and 43 place paid enough to pocket a little cash but it's gone now. Basically Dale Armsqtrong was right slow them down and cut cost or the players aren't going to show up. Think about it, i would rather see racing like 80's and 90's were the fields were packed

 

[DAN]

There isn't enough money or payouts for smaller teams to race, it's just too expensive. Basically Dale Armsqtrong was right slow them down and cut cost or the players aren't going to show up. Think about it, i would rather see racing like 80's and 90's were the fields were packed

Agree 100%. 3.70s are cool, but oversubscribed fields are even better.
The current nitro show is brilliant. The car counts are not....
In Australia, the team I crew for essentially has a 1995 combination and has run 4.68 and 306mph (1/4). Consistent 4.70s most of the day.
Armstrong's 'blueprint' is along our lines of thinking. Lower compression, lower fuel volume - don't try to stick rev limiters on a fast race horse. Both have the same effect, but one solution is much cheaper. If that's the case, it may entice some smaller teams to come out and play again. If not, perhaps this could be an opening for IHRA to investigate.
Sadly, this isn't pre-2008 where sponsors were easier to sign and the economy was in much better shape.
I love the professionalism of the NHRA, but just like the sweeping changes made to Pro Stock (also in part to contain costs, as well as update technology), nitro class cost containment will become more of a polarising issue in the next few years.

 

[Dave]

Would have been a good shot

Well you know we need at least 8 different pictures of the same thing..

 

[JB3]

Would have been a good shot

This is how most of those folks make a living. Great shots sell.

 

[Old Guy Rookie]

Well you know we need at least 8 different pictures of the same thing..

Well, actually it's 8 different entities that want pictures of that "thing" for their own. In that shot are photogs from Nat'l Dragster, Toyota Racing (I believe,) BangShift, and a 'mater that shoots for WHP.

 

[CrewMan]

2. Lots of irritated fans who were forced to throw away any drink other than bottled water or schlep cooler back to their car. No signs, just a surprise when you tried to enter.

That was one of the things I mentioned to NHRA over the summer when the reigns changed hands to Pete Clifford. It never used to be a problem....I ran into this at Rt 66 a long time ago and they (gate person not NHRA), claimed it was a "security / post 9-11 issue". You want people in the track, you want people to stay and enjoy, you have to let them bring food and snack in. Otherwise they come, they stay until they are forced to take a loan to buy overpriced food and water or whatever and then they leave...and probably not leave happy.

Unhappy customer...no repeat customer.

I understand they have to not allow liquor, beer, etc in even when they sell it there...but cmon'.

A lot of those people who bring the cooler packs in...they have a lot more stuff to eat / drink in the car...and part of the experience...is tailgating...going out and cooking some dogs etc between rounds...etc etc. Happy customer...repeat customer.

 

[JB3]

That was one of the things I mentioned to NHRA over the summer when the reigns changed hands to Pete Clifford. It never used to be a problem....I ran into this at Rt 66 a long time ago and they (gate person not NHRA), claimed it was a "security / post 9-11 issue". You want people in the track, you want people to stay and enjoy, you have to let them bring food and snack in. Otherwise they come, they stay until they are forced to take a loan to buy overpriced food and water or whatever and then they leave...and probably not leave happy.

Unhappy customer...no repeat customer.

I understand they have to not allow liquor, beer, etc in even when they sell it there...but cmon'.

A lot of those people who bring the cooler packs in...they have a lot more stuff to eat / drink in the car...and part of the experience...is tailgating...going out and cooking some dogs etc between rounds...etc etc. Happy customer...repeat customer.

Your principles makes sense theoretically. But when you think about it, the whole concept of concessions would die. That's where the money is in every sport. We know they are ridiculously over-priced, but the profit margin for the facility and the firm managing the concessions is how they make money.

Movie Theaters, Ballparks, Race Tracks, Fairs, Carnivals, etc. all make their profit this way. If we are allowed to bring in our own food, what is the economic impact to that business owner?