Leakers beware. Any Top Fuel dragster or Funny
Car that spews oil on the track is going to
pay dearly for it. In an effort to keep its
day-long show moving at an eye-catching pace,
NHRA has upped the ante for oil-downs. "We are
by far the most exciting motorsports on the
planet," NHRA President Tom Compton said. "Although
we have greatly reduced the amount of oil-downs
over the last few years, recently we've seen
the beginnings of a possible trend going the
other way." The organization's answer is to
allow each Top Fuel and Funny Car team one violation
without penalty. A second violation will result
in a $500 fine, whether the incident occurred
in qualifying or eliminations. That comes with
a loss of 10 points in the championship standings
if the oil-down happened during eliminations.
Subsequent violations will carry fines that
increase in $500 increments.
NHRA is cracking down even harder on multiple
violations at the same event, doubling fines
and slashing even more points for offenders.
Six violations will warrant a review, with punishment
ranging from probation to testing requirements
to expulsion from competition. The sanctioning
body will reward teams who make 25 consecutive
oil-free runs at national events with one credit.
Just about the only ones who benefit during
oil-downs are the souvenir and food vendors
at the race track. Oil-downs aggravate the drivers
waiting to race and the crews who clean up the
mess. They bore the fans. Graham Light is afraid
they'll
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scare
away potential fans and investors. "It is imperative
we continue to provide a quality show on the
track not only for current sponsors and fans
but to sell the sport to new sponsors and grow
our fan base."
No one would probably love to eliminate oil
downs more than the producers of the NHRA Powerade
Drag Racing SSeries television programming Oil-downs,
rain delays, and various glitches challenge
the quality of the ESPN broadcast at every event.
Kenny Bernstein, one of the leading proponents
of the current package, had some ideas for improving
coverage. Still, he lamented that drag racing
has yet to devise the perfect approach to showcasing
it on television. "Sometimes when you put it
on for so many hours, it loses a little bit
of punch," he said. "The best thing that could
happen to us, and it's going to be difficult
ever to do, is to have it live. We really need
to try to find a way, and I don't know how,
believe me." He pointed to the NHRA Finals last
November. "It killed us at the last round at
Pomona when we got knocked off the air because
there were oil-downs earlier in the day. That's
the problem you get and it's a bad problem,
because live would make a big difference," Bernstein
said. "So far, none of us has come up with an
answer, because there is no right answer now,"
he added. "Who's going to tell that engine not
to blow up when it's not happy out there?"
Since he was named driver of the Castrol Syntec
Ford Mustang that Tony Pedregon vacated after
winning the 2003 Funny Car championship, Eric
Medlen has been respectful of his predecessor.
"I'm happy for the guy," Medlen said of Pedregon,
who struck out on his own in an alliance with
brother Cruz. "He got his dream and I'm getting
mine." While he was careful to clarify that
Pedregon and Dickie Venables, who was co-crew
chief with Medlen's father John at Force Racing,
have earned the distinction of displaying the
No. 1 decal on their new Quaker State Funny
Car, he said he cannot forget that the Castrol
Syntec Mustang is the car in which Pedregon
won eight races and qualified No. 1 eight times.
Nor can he overlook that he has many of the
same crew members for the championship run.
"They are the champions. They have the championship
trophy," Medlen said of the Pedregon team. "But
we're the ones keeping it in our hearts."
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