Drag Racing Online: The Magazine

Volume VIII, Issue 9, Page

9/8/06

How competitive are the pro teams?

TOP FUEL
Nothing really noticeable in this class.

Team Kalitta:

Kalitta v. Will:
2-0 with one win for Doug on a holeshot
Kalitta v. Grubnic:
2-1 Doug was outrun once by Dave
Grubnic v. Will:
2-0 Dave has outran her twice

Team DSR:

Schumacher v. Troxel:
0-1 Melanie out ran him

FUNNY CAR
Here is where the majority of teams are.

Team Force:

Force v. Hight:
2-0 with one win being a "holeshot"
Force v. Medlen: 2-1 
Hight v. Medlen:  1-1

Team DSR:

Bazemore v. Capps: 
3-3 and a memorable rivalry
Bazemore v. Scelzi: 
They haven't raced this year.
Capps v. Scelzi: 
3-0 with one holeshot win for Capps and two wins from aborted runs by Scelzi.

Team Worsham:

Worsham v. Burkart: 
They haven't raced this year.

Team Pedregon:

Cruz v. Tony: 1-0

*Mike Ashley was under the Worsham umbrella and is now under DSR.  Mike is 3-12 this year...he lost 3 times to Worsham during the Worsham days and beat Gary Scelzi in Memphis.

PRO STOCK 

Team Johnson:

KJ v. WJ:  Guess what...haven't race each other this year...

Team Black:

Anderson v. Line: 
Greg has lost twice, with one of times being in the final at Bristol.

Team DSR:

Way too much drama to figure this out!  I tried, but I'll wait until they are more competitive to report the stats.

P/S MOTORCYCLE

Team DSR:

Brown v. Sampey:  1-1 with Brown losing on a redlight at Gainesville

Team Bryce:

Ellis v. Smith:  Chip out ran Matt once

Team Vance and Hines:

Hines v. Tonglet: 
Andrew has outrun GT 3 times this year.

NHRA recently passed a rule that owners of race teams are only allowed 16 entries...given that there are only four pro classes. John Force mentioned Sunday night (Aug. 27) on Wind Tunnel that he was glad to know that piece of information.  I guess John was thinking about going five wide in the Funny Car class?  He'd have to add two more funny cars for that to happen. 

Personally, I don't understand the limits on the teams. What could be the possible reasons  Too many blockers? Too much pit space taken up? Too much to keep track of by NHRA? Too many squabbles by teammates? Not enough positions for independent racers? Uncompetitive racing, because a teammate be lying down? NHRA want to be like NASCAR? (After hearing about the Countdown to the Championship, there may be some validity to this.)

Like most of you, I follow (to a lesser extent) a few other motorsports, namely Unlimited Hydroplanes, drag boat racing and ChampCar.  If you are familiar with any of these venues, they really don't have an overflow of contestants.  I can't imagine one of those sanctioning bodies turning down quality cars/boats, to allow under-funded and non-competitive racers to make the field for their fastest class(es).  Wouldn't the fan rather see competitive racers race, than watch uncompetitive racers race? 

If the reason is the taking up of field positions by large highly funded competitive teams AND NOT leaving open spots for independent racers, then you must be happy with the 5-second bubbles that we saw at Sonoma and Denver this year.  I'll be candid with you, in times past I've sat in the stands wondering what driver X from that low-funded team was going to do on his next qualifying attempt...grenade a motor, slip slide down the track, or what.  But I really didn't go to the races to watch that, even though I was admittedly intrigued.  

So, in the interest of fair reporting, I give my annual teammate report card to review whether there is competitiveness in the pro classes...this is just based on team ownership and not "engine technology sharing" teams that are in Pro Stock.

To conclude, there doesn't appear to me any obvious laying down or "race throwing" going on.  Bring on the multi-car, well-funded teams and let's have some close and great racin'.

HOLESHOT UPDATE IN PRO STOCK

There have been 63 holeshots in Pro Stock this year, a historic 25 percent of all rounds.  Never have there been this many holeshots in any pro class and the season still have more events left on the calendar. 

Dave Connolly and Allen Johnson are 10-1 and 7-1 respectively and Greg Anderson and Jason Line are 1-8 and 2-11 dis-respectively.  Altogether, these four Pro Stock drivers have been involved in 65% of the class's total holeshots!

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