Yes or no...do you like the Countdown?

[Paul]

Here, I'll offer the olive branch and get the thread back on topic, Paul. Where's your usual "Like it or not folks, the Countdown is here to stay." stuff? Looks to be about nine to one against.

OK, at the end of the day will this change the NHRA's view on the Countdown? I didn't think so.

 

[clwill]

Looks to be about nine to one against.

There are about 1,500 people on the Mater. ~225 of them voted for a 15% turnout at this "election". Not an overwhelming turnout.

And the results are that ~200 people said "no", making it about 0.6% of the typical national event crowd. Or 0.06% of the typical TV audience for an NHRA broadcast.

Then consider the fact that the 1,500 people here are, by definition, the most die-hard fans. We're not the new audience NHRA is trying to attract with the countdown.

This thread is not likely to convince NHRA of anything. Sorry.

 

[PJ]

There are about 1,500 people on the Mater. ~225 of them voted for a 15% turnout at this "election". Not an overwhelming turnout.

And the results are that ~200 people said "no", making it about 0.6% of the typical national event crowd. Or 0.06% of the typical TV audience for an NHRA broadcast.

Then consider the fact that the 1,500 people here are, by definition, the most die-hard fans. We're not the new audience NHRA is trying to attract with the countdown.

This thread is not likely to convince NHRA of anything. Sorry.

It may or may not but without trying we'll never know.

Hockey made major changes several years ago, po'd the hard core fans witch the nhl thought were gimmes and would still watch regardless. They didn't and nhl got dropped from thier network tv deals due to the ratings drops. Now after the lock out they have been regrouping and things have changed to make the game better and more of what it should be.


I get why they tried this, but from the beginning I said it wasn't right. I like it even less now after watching what has happen these two years. It they are hell bent on a playoff then at least have the playoff team go against each other. Then it would mirror the nfl and other sporting orgs that people point to.

In the end I have to question, if the leaders of our sport don't think its exciting enough, even to the point of creating this contrived fiasco then what does that say about the sport or the leaders? What message does that send to sponsors, current or potential, when the leaders of the sport resort to gimmicks to determine a champion.

 

[Bob]

Hey Ron, the original post was edited to remove the slam at another member. Do you think it is appropriate for another member to resort to name calling? I asked a simple question. This is my way of ensuring the member knew he was in the wrong for posting what they did and I wanted to drive home the point it was not appropriate for doing that. You must be bored if you are trying to make something out of this. Enjoy the last day of the holiday weekend. If you would like to discuss this further please do so in a PM as I did with Bill.

Last post on this topic. Almost every time I posted about a yr ago I had to put up with his personal slams and name calling because he didn't like my opinions.

You did nothing. That's what I mean about protecting your buddies. I post and state my opinion of his comment on this thread and it gets edited out. You have a double set of standards.

If you followed the same rules for all people it would be a different story. BUT YOU DON'T!

 

[clwill]

It they are hell bent on a playoff then at least have the playoff team go against each other. Then it would mirror the nfl and other sporting orgs that people point to.

I agree. I'd like to see a way to do this that doesn't penalize the sponsors of the non-playoff teams. As it is, the non-playoff teams can play spoiler and get exposure. If you did what you (we) want, sponsors of the non-playoff teams would only want to pay for 18 races Not sure how to fix that...

 

[PJ]

Put 8 in the playoffs on one side of the ladder and the 8 non playoffs on the other. That way every one still races, still 16 car fields (or close next season) As it is the teams not in contention don't get much coverage anyway.

Like I've said before The Giants were not the best team in the nfl last year but they had to beat other playoff teams to prove that they deserved it then. Until the nhra fixes that then the countdown will always lack what they are trying to achieve

 

[clwill]

Put 8 in the playoffs on one side of the ladder and the 8 non playoffs on the other. That way every one still races, still 16 car fields (or close next season) As it is the teams not in contention don't get much coverage anyway.

So why do the non-playoff 8 even show up? At least now they can be a spoiler. They get a mention and TV when they line up against a playoff contender. What's to prevent TV from just not showing the whole non-playoff runs at all?

I'm not saying I disagree, but I'm sure these are some of the points they discussed around the conference table in Glendora...

 

[PJ]

last year we had a champ that wins by not having to race other playoff teams, this year one sneaks through and doesn't even have to win a race. Those reasons alone point to the need of having the playoff teams compete with each other.

Non countdown teams already don't get much coverage and it starts much earlier in the season as the first cut happens. By the end of every season (traditional or cd) the focus is always on the top couple of cars so nothing there really changes there. Right now under the countdown people get knocked off the "who gets tv time list" much sooner. By at least having half the field non cd teams that would allow for some tv for both car/driver. Whereas now it seems they would like to just block out the non countdown car in the next lane.

 

[Ron]

So why do the non-playoff 8 even show up? At least now they can be a spoiler. They get a mention and TV when they line up against a playoff contender. What's to prevent TV from just not showing the whole non-playoff runs at all?

I'm not saying I disagree, but I'm sure these are some of the points they discussed around the conference table in Glendora...

Simple, they get a better shot at winning a race and/or going more rounds since they are not competing against the better performing teams (at least before the playoff started) until the finals.

Seems to me a better chance to win a race or at least go rounds should be incentive enough. If they are not out there to win rounds what are they doing there in the first place?

 

[Paul]

Last post on this topic. Almost every time I posted about a yr ago I had to put up with his personal slams and name calling because he didn't like my opinions.

You did nothing. That's what I mean about protecting your buddies. I post and state my opinion of his comment on this thread and it gets edited out. You have a double set of standards.

Sorry Bob, but I barely remember what happened yesterday let alone a year ago. If this did indeed happen a year ago, I apologize none of the mods caught it.

 

[yoda]

There are about 1,500 people on the Mater. ~225 of them voted for a 15% turnout at this "election". Not an overwhelming turnout.

And the results are that ~200 people said "no", making it about 0.6% of the typical national event crowd. Or 0.06% of the typical TV audience for an NHRA broadcast.

Then consider the fact that the 1,500 people here are, by definition, the most die-hard fans. We're not the new audience NHRA is trying to attract with the countdown.

This thread is not likely to convince NHRA of anything. Sorry.

Look how many think the BCS system sucks- and yet nobody is making that system any better, no matter how large the outcry is...

Yet, since the Countdown has been implemented, NHRA HAS made changes to bring it to a better standard than it was when it started. It is without doubt that they lurk here, and also have an open door policy to some that post here (TIMMAH!!!!! ), so the ideas that have come across, especially the on about the 8 being on one side of the ladder (qualifying position based on where you are in the points maybe?), may be addressed and quietly implemented come January bcause of our input.... As long as we don't look like a bunch of yahoos with all this acting like *****es and calling smack on each other (trust me, I know...)

 

[Paul]

For the 90% here who don't like the Countdown, would you be more receptive to the program if the points awarded during each event would be different then the regular season? For example, once the Countdown starts the points awarded at each event would be how they they finished compared to the others in the Top 10. For the racers who go out in the same round, qualifying position would be used to award the points. Among the Top 10 the best finisher of the event would get 10 points and the worst finisher would get 1 point. This is just something I am throwing out there.

 

[RAPID]

Paul, it is my opinion that in our racing venue, the team who gets the most points at all the different tracks, weather, etc is the champion. Winning against all those odds are what makes a championship, not being lucky enough to win in the last couple of races. Anything else is just dumbing down the sport and what we all try to accomplish every single time we get into the hot rods. To that end, lets just quietly let them admit it didn't work as planned and let it quietly disappear,,like right now.

Rapid {Ya, I read the part about "No need to comment, just Yes or NO" but I did keep still for a few days }

 

[mike]

what I don't get about the "drag racing needs playoffs, because the stick and ball sports have playoffs" argument is the fundamental difference between drag racing* and other sports is that every week racers race every other team...not once or twice a year like other sports

the "Sweet 16" and "Final Four" happen at every drag race...no other sport has that excitement week in and week out...and maybe if the NHRA and ESPN put more emphasis on that we wouldn't have to worry silly, forced changes like The Countdown





*and most racing for that matter

 

[PJ]

For the 90% here who don't like the Countdown, would you be more receptive to the program if the points awarded during each event would be different then the regular season? For example, once the Countdown starts the points awarded at each event would be how they they finished compared to the others in the Top 10. For the racers who go out in the same round, qualifying position would be used to award the points. Among the Top 10 the best finisher of the event would get 10 points and the worst finisher would get 1 point. This is just something I am throwing out there.

I don't think so. Too complicated. If they don't allow for a season long champ then at least have them race each other.

 

[Andy]

With all the discussion, for or against, I'd like to ask a simple question. No explanation for your answer is desired. Please just answer yes or no.

No. The Countdown sucks.

I never understood why NA$CAR did it. I don't know why NHRA desires to be like NA$CAR but racing is plenty exciting without a playoff system. All the track championships here went to the final races. Most of the IHRA classes went down to the final race and every other motorsport series (ARCA, Nationwide, Trucks, IRL, etc) went to the final race. You don't need a Countdown playoff system to make racing exciting.

 

[clwill]

I never understood why NA$CAR did it. I don't know why NHRA desires to be like NA$CAR but racing is plenty exciting without a playoff system

Love the way people do that -- put in dollar signs to indicate disgust. Like in NA$CAR and Micro$oft. Like money is a bad thing...

I think we'd all be in hog-heaven if NHRA had 1/10th the sponsor and TV dollars flowing around that NASCAR has had in the last several years.

 

[flash]

No. I don't like it.