CLIMBING THE LADDER
You're pretty much right. . .first round,
fuel cars are pretty boring and I'm a long
time lover of nitro racing. . .lol. NHRA,
on behalf of their stars, sticks with the
first races 16th ladder??? Get real, go figure
the stats on how many 16th qualifiers have
won, in the last few years? Nitro cars used
to be paired, 1st races 9th, and so on,,,
Damn, what a concept, "Give the little guy
a shot" . . .lol, Good column, Jeff, keep
bangin' on the door, there's a few of us that
heard you....
Chris Dunn
Las Vegas,
P.S. Yeah, I raced in top fuel a long time
ago, circa, 1975,,, C.C. Dunn & Co.
SPORTSMAN SUGGESTION
I completely agree with everything except
(Burk's) number 1 statement that drag racing
is no match for NASCAR. Remember fans are
fickle and NASCAR is having their troubles
as well, i.e. points change to make it more
exciting, manufacturers' unrest at the fact
that all makes are so close in design that
race Sunday buy Monday doesn't work anymore.
Drag racing has the ability to excel to that
level but as you have stated the "racing package"
needs to be refined. I remember about 4 or
5 years ago when we couldn't even find the
drags on tv; now we have a fairly good package
and providing that you're a vampire and live
on the east coast, you'll be able to watch
all the races the same weekend. I see the
problem as such: NHRA feels they are NASCAR
and not only charges WAY too much for entry
but also discourages most venders by the exorbitant
fees it charges to display product on their
grounds. NHRA also would not be if it were
not for the racers, and their recent decision
to cut us sportsman drivers out, and generally
never televising sportsman racers is also
a hindering factor.
Here is my solution, which parts I have stolen
from IHRA because I feel some of their cars
are more entertaining than those ran NHRA:
Cut out the weird tidbits shown on tv,
dumb
spots about fans in the parking lot, pets,
etc. and create a tv package as such. Run
top fuel, funny, top alcohol, pro mod, mountain
motor pro stock, comp, super comp, bikes and
that should fill up their time slot, keeping
the fans in the seat at the track will equivalate
(sic) into more people watching the tube,
less visual SPAM and growth. We race and clearly
see that the moment the last fuel car runs,
the stands empty as if Wal-mart had a pre-Christmas
sale.
On a final note, NHRA must realize that their
organization is us race drivers, help out
with marketing packages meant to attract sponsors
for CARS & DRIVERS not sponsors to sponsor
events because without sponsorship at the
highest levels there would be no cars to run,
no sponsors needed to sponsor races and no
NHRA.
Ken Becker
JETS STILL AROUND
(Martin) finished (his) Arfons article saying
"Airplanes in cars or dragsters? No the sport
has moved on." Just curious, but aren't jet-powered
funny cars and dragsters powered by Jet "airplane"
engines? Seems to me they just evolved into
different types of airplane power.
Always enjoying your articles, sincerely,
Karl Wortman
Akron, Ohio (home of the Arfons brothers)
FIXING GAINESVILLE
(The Agent's) comments about the sportsman
racers and NHRA's work at Gainesville were
totally off base. The improvements that NHRA
is making will do nothing to stem the type
of problems that caused the fiasco of the
2003 Gatornationals! If NHRA were concerned
about making improvement to make things better
for the racers they should have started by
working on the drainage and paving more areas
in the pit, not the return road!
As always, your crazed super category racing
reader,
Greg Stanley
