Just Wondering ... Why do the producers of NHRA/ESPN television feel compelled (nearly always) to interview Larry Dixon or John Force or Tony Schumacher at the end of the track whether they win or lose? It seems to me that the spontaneity and excitement of a driver who beats one of those guys or better yet the first round losers would make better television than another interview with Force, Warren Johnson, KB, or LD. Get those guys in the second round. Ditto for the crew chiefs. Let's spread the wealth and make some new heroes.

Just Wondering ... How can any sanctioning body or sponsors doubt the popularity of Pro Modified? In recent years Super Chevy, NHRA, the NMCA and PRO have all added Pro Modified cars as marquee classes to attract paying spectators. Why the hell doesn't NHRA just make the Pro Mod a professional class? I would almost guarantee that as soon as they do, a sponsor for the class and sponsors for the teams will start signing up!

Just Wondering ... Who cares if a racer on a multiple car professional team takes a dive so that the number one car advances? Historically it happens all of the time in all forms of big time motorsports, including drag racing. Just ask Kurt Johnson. Why are so many people concerned that the Force team may be doing it? It's a business decision. There is an old saying that explains it: "The guy with gold makes the rules!" It's time for the media to find something else to beat up on John Force about.

Just Wondering ... Is it possible that the lawsuit currently being pursued by the former Pro Stock Truck teams is actually having some effect on NHRA's decision on whether to make Pro Mod a professional class? If it is, isn't it ironic that the only people the truck owners are actually harming are some of their fellow racers?

Just Wondering ... When will drag racing's sanctioning bodies learn to just say 'No'? I see where at least one of the import series and one of the Ford series have made classes that allow thinly disguised Pro Stockers with turbo-charged V-8's under the hoods to compete. It's those kinds of decisions and classes that inevitably raise the cost of being competitive and drive the budget racers (which those sanctioning bodies are supposed catering to) away from those series and back to the street. Remember when 50-75 cars used to show up at the NMCA race at Memphis in Super Street? Not any more. The rule makers allowed the class to get out of hand and drove most of the guys that liked that class out of organized drag racing and turned it into a few racers' personal playground.

Just Wondering ... Am I the only fan who doesn't understand or relate to the Stock/Super Stock classes any more? I mean Super Stock had 83 classes and Stock had 80 listed in the 2001 NHRA rule book and there are probably more in 2002. What casual fan sitting in the stands knows what the hell an SS/GT car or Modified Stock car is? Plus the class is basically just another bracket racing class. Spectators hate bracket racing. (They stay away in droves.) What these classes need are more events like the SS/A-SS/AA class elimination at Indy.

Just Wondering ... Has the IHRA Top Stock program actually turned into an A/S- A/SA automatic class shootout? And what changes will Bill Bader make to the class to "trick it up"? Don't be surprised if mandatory wheelstands and nitrous become part of IHRA's Top Stock program.

Just Wondering ... Who convinced IHRA's Bill Bader that ten-second, wheelstanding doorslammers were more entertaining to fans than those eight-car shootouts that IHRA used to have for six-second IHRA Top Sportsman slammers or Top Dragsters? My lips are sealed, but the initials of the party partly responsible could be GM.

Just Wondering ... Couldn't IHRA's Sunday program use a few more classes? At the races I've been to this year there always seems to be a point on Sunday where for an hour or so all the fans get for entertainment, while sitting on aluminum seats under a blazing sun, is watching track crews groom the track while listening to the announcer's psycho-babble. (See above for answer.)

Just Wondering ... When are the NHRA and IHRA television producers going to something to show the casual channel surfer what a 6000 hp, nitro-burning race car is really like? If drag racing on television is ever going to be really successful, we need something dramatic like the "speed shot" where 40 cars speed by the camera in 15-20 seconds. Here's my suggestion, aim a directional mike at the pipes of a couple of nitro burners during a pass at night. Then replay that shot during the opening and closing of the broadcast in Super Slo-mo with the audio turned up just during that shot. Maybe then the casual sports fan or racing fan will understand the attraction of nitro. Dean Papadeas did something like that on some of his videos and it's very impressive. Conventional TV coverage of the cars simply doesn't convey the power and sound of Fuel cars to the viewers, which is what separates drag racing from the rest. That's a real shame.

Just Wondering ... Where would the Pro Stock Motorcycle class be without Angelle? She attracts bigger crowds in the pits than any Pro Stock team and, for my money, she is doing for the Pro Stock bike program what Don Garlits, John Force, Don Prudhomme and Bob Glidden have done for their respective classes: get the attention of the mainstream press. Don't think so? Just look at the coverage she gets in the mainstream press compared to her peers. It doesn't hurt that she wins but she also has a lot of charisma.

Just Wondering ... When is some car owner or Detroit car company going to get smart and put a woman driver in a competitive Pro Stock car? Right now the class reminds me of some stodgy, old, men-only athletic club. If NHRA or IHRA wants to attract some new sponsorship and interest in the class, they should get someone like Pro Modified driver Annette Summer or Linda Bertozzi a ride a Pro Stocker or a Pro Modified.

Just Wondering ... When it gets to the point that everybody in Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle can cut a .400 light. It is the direction those classes seem to be going. Will the sanctioning bodies go to a three-tenths tree?

Just Wondering ... Am I the only person who gets a cold shiver down his back when a nitro racer starts off a sentence with "I told the crew chief we ought to put a dial-in on the window and go bracket racing." Bite your tongue. Besides, they'd need about a .015 package to be competitive, and none of those guys can cut .400 lights consistently...yet.

photo by Randy Fish

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