AS GOOD AS IT GETS?
Hello Jeff; I usually find your commentaries
right on the mark, but I think that given
the present state of affairs in the NHRA,
the Pro show is as almost as good as it could
be. I am not a racer, merely a fan that attends
4 or 5 National Events a year. I do not want
to see the Top Fuelers and Funny Cars turned
loose. I think the NHRA is right in slowing
the vehicles down and keeping some semblance
of parity. The NHRA is smart enough to realize
if they implement measures that will take
2 tenths and 15 MPH out of the car, that the
racers will get it back by the end of the
next season. The tuners/engineers will always
be ahead of the rules, as they are in all
forms of motorsports.
I think if it was truly unlimited in rules
structure, the cost of running a fuel car
would go through the roof. Someone like Connie
Kalitta or Kenny Bernstein would very quickly
be spending 15-20 million per car. There are
very few sponsors out there willing to pay
that kind of dough for a "fringe sport" such
as drag racing. The size of the field would
also quickly dwindle to 8 cars. You think
we see the same guys giving top-end interviews
on TV every week now?
Another side effect of turning a fuel car
loose would be oil downs, lots of oil downs.
Whether it's a big team like Kalitta's experimenting,
or the little guy trying to "run a number"
to keep up with the big teams, parts are going
to get broken more than they would now. I
don't really care about oil downs affect on
TV coverage, but I don't want 1 qualifying
session to last 4 or 5 hours or eliminations
to run 10-12 hours when I am at the track.
That is too long to stand/sit in the sun whilst
being held hostage for $5 hot dogs and $6
beers. To most of the fans in the stands,
there is not much difference between a run
at 4.60/315 and run at 4.48/325. The cars
make the same amount of noise, throw the same
amount of header flames and the same guy that
runs either number usually wins. More importantly
to the paying spectator, they fire the next
pair right up and run 'em right away.
So, the question is, what can be done to
improve the show? I say qualify sportsmen
racers on Wednesday and Thursday, and run
their brackets on Friday and Saturday. No
offense to those guys who are the backbone
of the sport, but no one but their wives want
to see them run on Sunday. I say give Pro
Stock EFI and Traction Control. If the NHRA
fears they can't police it, then legalize
it. If traction control is good enough to
get Michael Schumacher through Eau Rouge flat
out, then why can't it help WJ get through
low gear? Besides Burkster, it gets the cars
closer to their theoretical peak performance,
which is what you want to see.
I want to see a control wing (reduced in
size) in Top Fuel. I would like to see the
same body rules in Funny Car as there are
in Pro Stock. That way Force's cars actually
look like Mustangs. Or go the NASCAR route,
and have a standard body template for all
Funny Car bodies, and then let them stick
whatever manufacturer badge on them they want.
That would, in theory at least, put the honus
on the tuner and driver in Funny Car, since
they would all have the same body. It should
also reduce costs, since you throw expensive
wind tunnel time and R&D time right out the
window and all bodies come from 1 mould, which
should make them less expensive to purchase
and manufacture. I want to see Turbos in Pro
Mod. I want Goodyear to build a tire that
won't lose traction. I want buy 1 get 1 free
beers...ok, now I am getting silly.
All in all, I like the show the NHRA puts
on. I like that it starts at 11 and is usually
done by 5. I like the breaks between rounds
to tour the pits, meet the racers, or go back
to the RV and drink our own beers (hey, I
never said I paid $6 for beer). I like that
everyone does everything they possibly can
to avoid oil downs. I like that there is stringent
penalties if they do spill on the track. I
like that someone is putting some thought
into improving the show. Granted it is being
done for TV's sake, but it will benefit the
paying spectator at the track as well. That
I can live with.
Chris Cook
DEAD-ON FEEDBACK
Jok, I thought your Dead-on article about
why drag racing is boring was "dead-on." I
don't see why drag racing can't take a lesson
from poker and provide the audience with an
inside look at the strategy involved in winning
a sportsman class. If they understood dial-ins,
indexes and open-comp along with what is required
to hit those numbers I think people could
be come interested in drag racing. If the
audience could "see my cards" by viewing the
computer and weight tweaking involved in hitting
a number that is now a tenth below my best
qualifier. And even though I had a few parameters
set to slow me down the day before, a change
in the weather now means that I'm pulling
my passenger seat and airing up the front
tires to try to hit the number.
This kind of coverage would require several
cameras and some editing (so no live events)
but these kind of strategic insights are what
today's viewer has proven he is interested
in. I mean, before you could see the hole
cards in the world poker tour, poker was probably
the most boring game on earth. Now it's a
phenomenon. And why are people so interested
in it? Because they believe that they could
do it themselves. Never mind that it's probably
not true.
Thanks,
James Meredith
