Just Wondering ... It's no secret that both NHRA and IHRA tailor their "primetime" broadcasts to their respective Pro Classes, but would it kill them to devote a two-minute segment of each broadcast to a stellar sportsman racer or accomplishment for a little variety? NHRA's broadcast especially has plenty of time for that since they often have a couple of hours of air-time on both Saturday and Sunday. I'm thinking that a two minute interview with Gary Ormsby Jr. when he ran a 5.13 in an AFD would have been pretty good television. The sportsman spot they do on NHRA 2day is good, but in my opinion it's not enough.

Just Wondering ... Am I the only television viewer getting tired of watching super slow motion shots repeatedly showing Fuel cars "dropping a cylinder" or "blazin' the hides? " I mean, that shot is pretty entertaining the first half-dozen times but then it starts to wear kind of thin, doesn't it?

Just Wondering ...Why not use the overhead boom camera to shoot some super slo- mo or maybe some close-up, super slo-mo of both cars launching so we could see what a holeshot really looks like, or shots of just the driver and engine on a Top Fuel launch?

Just Wondering ... Why does NHRA continue to maintain the charade that Pro Modified is to be just an "exhibition" class. It has a qualified field, a purse, a points system and its own television show on ESPN2. What's the old saying: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then.... Must be some political deal that I don't understand.

Just Wondering ...When are the sanctioning bodies going to require member tracks or promoters who rent those tracks to have the same level of safety and medical teams on site for those events featuring vehicles that regularly exceed 200-300 mph that they require for their National Events? Doesn't it make sense that regardless of who promotes the race if it has jets, Pro Mods, Pro Street or Alky classes that they be required to have the same medical and safety crews that NHRA and IHRA bring to their National Events? How many racers are going to get burned or maimed for life or worse before something is done?

Just Wondering ... Do the ad agencies that schedule commercials on televised racing events ever consider what kind of race is being covered? This past weekend during the CART race on ABC, Miller Brewing ran a great ad featuring Larry Dixon and the Miller Top Fuel team. Then on the NHRA race broadcast on ESPN2, Felpro gaskets ran an ad for their product extolling its virtues as the official gasket of NASCAR! I don't know, do you think maybe the agencies were doing some cross marketing?

Just Wondering ... How long will Pro Stock racers like Warren Johnson, Jim Yates and others be content to be the second fastest doorslammer class when NHRA makes Pro Mod a professional class? And, yes Virginia, Pro Mod is going to be an NHRA Pro Class next year.

Just Wondering . . . Whatever happened to the new Harley for NHRA Pro Stock Bike competition? They're just as far behind the Japanese bikes in terms of Elapsed Time with the new water-cooled engines as they were the old air-cooled ones, despite pouring a ton o' cash into the Harley Pro Stock program.

Just Wondering ... NASCAR has the Daytona 500, CART/IRL has the Indy 500, even the sprint car racers have the Knoxville Nationals. All those races are showcase events that are on every racing journalist's and racing fan's must attend list. When is drag racing going to wake up and do whatever it takes to put drag racing's U.S. Nationals on a par with those events and give drag racing a truly "National Event?"

Just Wondering ... Am I the only one who thinks that the competition in the Pro Stock class, or any class for that matter, has become too equal when nearly as many round wins are decided by the driver and car's reaction times as is decided by who has the baddest hot rod?

Just Wondering ...Why is drag racing the only motor sports that puts more emphasis on the starting line than at the finish? As a spectator I see much more of the excitement of the races from seats starting at 1,000-ft than I can from those on the starting line.

Just Wondering . . . Why don't tracks build more suites at the end of the quarter-mile and let the suite users watch the starts on TV instead of vice-versa?

Just Wondering.

photo by Randy Fish

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