Should NHRA Start Giving Away Tickets?
October 31, 2009
There is no escaping the wide reaching effects of the economic recession we are currently in. Industries once thought to be “recession-proof” have been hit hard forcing layoffs or wage decreases. The NHRA was not immune to this and just two weeks ago issued pink slips to a number of its employees, some of whom had worked for the NHRA for over 40 years. These layoffs might have been prevented had the NHRA chosen to give away tickets to their races rather than charging for them. Read more
John Force Racing-What Would You Do
September 9, 2009
I had a reader comment on my last article about Ashley Force Hood and the lack of respect she garners as a world class race car driver. The reader proceeded to provide his opinion on a number of topics including the events that took place at the recently completed U.S. Nationals revolving around John Force Racing.
The first point, which is well taken, was that the NHRA needs to revisit the rule of allowing teams to field more than two cars in any one professional division. I have to say that I agree to some degree with the reader about NHRA needing to limit the number of cars per team, per division and I think that would make sense from the standpoint of allowing other, lower budget teams an opportunity to compete for more race wins and potentially the championship. However, what that does in turn is take away a number of sponsored teams that would not be in the sport if it weren’t for the multi-car opportunities that exist. John Force Racing and Don Schumacher Racing can offer those companies exposure across six or more teams making that partnership far more valuable than it would be where they looking at single or two car teams. By minimizing those multi-car teams you then face a crossroads of either not having enough competitors to fill the existing 16 car fields, or filling those 16 spots with inferior teams which will in turn cause increased oil down delays and unhappy spectators. Drag racing fans are some of the most educated in all of motorsports and they know if they are getting what they paid for as far as entertainment value goes and won’t stand for a subpar product very long.
The second point the reader made was in regards to John Force intentionally throwing his semi-final matchup against teammate Robert Hight at the U.S. Nationals. And although we all know Force threw the race in order to get his fourth team car into the Countdown to the Championship, you can’t blame him for playing within the rules that the NHRA has laid out. In all fairness to John he only did what several other teams would have done were they put in the same position. Don Schumacher would most certainly have done that given his savvy with sponsorship relations and the opportunity to move up in the standings in an effort to earn more, albeit not very much, championship money. And I believe that given the same circumstances the Pedregon brothers Tony and Cruz would have opted for the same scenario as Force where dollar signs and long term sustainability far out ruled winning or losing one round of competition. The NHRA rules clearly indicate that if the drivers performance or the tune-up of the car do not directly relate to an obvious attempt on the teams part to fix a race then there is nothing they can do to penalize the team. Yes, John cut a .209 reaction time and Hight made his slowest pass of the weekend, but those two elements combined are not enough to prove that the race was fixed. The NHRA even went so far as to analyze the tune-up data from Force’s pass, which it turns out would have been conducive to a representative run for that team. So how can you hate them or penalize them for playing within the rules?
Yes, the spirit of our sport is competition, and that’s what the fans pay to see, but they also pay to be entertained and there’s no arguing that the drama which ensued directly following that run and which has continued to feed the fire this week is just as exciting for the fans as seeing John and Robert duke it out during the semi-finals at the U.S. Nationals, if not more exciting.
I say stay tuned, this will make for some great sound bites and intriguing matchups for the duration of the championship battle.
Force Hood, Still Not Getting Her Props
September 9, 2009
When will the sporting world wise up and realize that Danica Patrick is no more than a has-been that never was and start paying attention to the “real” number one female competitor in motorsports in the world, Ashley Force Hood.
Is there any other woman on the planet that can claim she has gone over 300 miles per hour on land and won the most prestigious race that her sport has to offer? Granted, she has been blessed with a father who has the resources necessary to make those things happen, but it still takes a tremendous amount of guts to get behind the wheel of an 8000 horsepower Funny Car, not to mention the skills necessary to have consistent reaction times and a knowledge base extensive enough to convey important and accurate information to your crew chief.
As much as most of us are sick of the John Force Racing show that basically is the NHRA broadcasts on ESPN, the PR team at NHRA could stand to take the Ashley Force Hood angle to the media in a more aggressive manner, outside of their own broadcasts.
When I listen to Danica talk I hear a self-centred, childish person who doesn’t appreciate how much exposure she gets for really never having accomplished anything significant in her career other than winning a race where the three drivers in front of her ran out of fuel in the final laps. Ashley is exactly the opposite. Such a good role model for young girls aspiring to be all they can be when they grow up, no matter what they choose to do. It’s never pointed out anymore that she is a woman, and that’s part of what makes NHRA so great, but it’s also the drawback that has relegated Ashley to the background as far as women in motorsports goes.
Here we’ve got the daughter of the 14 time class champion who paid her dues in the sportsman ranks before being handed the keys to one of the baddest hot rods on the planet. And she’s struggled with the steep learning curve when making the transition to the professional ranks, which makes for an even better story when you realize that she has a legitimate chance at becoming the first female NHRA Funny Car champion in the history of drag racing this year and on top of that she just won the most prestigious race our sport has to offer, the U.S. Nationals.
So I say let’s cut the crap within the NHRA broadcasts, we know that most of the people watching are quite aware of John Force and his four car dynasty anyways. Let’s use that time to promote the guys like, Clay Millican, Tim Wilkerson, Rickie Jones and Doug Horne, who all bring great stories and in some cases great sponsors to the sport. Let’s put the NHRA’s media team and the PR firms they have working for them to work and get a real push going behind the fact that Ashley Force Hood is the number one female in professional racing…period!
NHRA Introduces New Point System With Bonuses Awarded
September 8, 2009
Prior to moving the finish line to 1,000 feet in the wake of Scott Kalitta’s death, the NHRA awarded bonus points for setting a national record for elapsed time. Once the finish line was moved, E.T. records were obsolete and no longer applied to the new finishing distance. Now with over a full year racing to the new, shorter distance, the NHRA will recognize national records in Top Fuel and Funny Car and create a new bonus point system for pro qualifying sessions.
The start of the NHRA Full Throttle Countdown to the Championship at the NHRA Carolinas Nationals at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C. will begin the of recognizing national records and the new bonus point structure. NHRA will recognize official national elapsed time and speed records to 1,000 feet for both Top Fuel and Funny Car. Teams that set a national record for elapsed time (E.T.) will be awarded 20 points. Speed records are not eligible for bonus points. The starting point for the national record will be established using the quickest times and fastest speeds to 1,000-feet that were backed up by another performance within 1 percent during the course of a single event weekend, occurring since 1,000-foot racing started at the midway point of 2008. Those drivers who currently hold the national records in each category will not retroactively receive the 20 point bonus.
In order for performances to be certified as NHRA national records, the eligible performance must be backed up by another performance within 1 percent during the course of a single event weekend. Only one 20 point bonus will be awarded in each category per event.
The current 1,000-foot E.T. and speed records in Top Fuel and Funny Car are as follows:
Top Fuel
E.T. — Tony Schumacher, 3.771 sec., Richmond, Va. (Oct. 2008)
Speed — Tony Schumacher, 318.92 mph, Las Vegas (Nov. 2008)
Funny Car
E.T. — Ron Capps, 4.023 sec., Phoenix (Feb. 2009)
Speed — Ashley Force Hood, 312.13 mph, Atlanta (April 2009)
In addition, NHRA announced a new bonus points structure that will offer teams opportunities to score critical points during qualifying sessions in all four professional categories: Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle. The team in each category with the quickest elapsed time during each qualifying session will receive three bonus points. In all, a team that records the lowest E.T. in all four sessions could receive a total of 12 bonus points during qualifying. Teams with the second and third quickest elapsed times during each qualifying session will receive 2 and 1 bonus points, respectively.
These changes are designed to enhance the qualifying sessions by encouraging more side-by-side racing and providing an opportunity for all competitors to earn additional points toward their standing in the top 10, as well as their pursuit of NHRA Full Throttle Series world championship titles.
Although records will be recorded to 1,000 feet in the two nitromethane categories, NHRA continues to evaluate and test combinations to reduce power in the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories. Only after testing and analysis is concluded will a decision be made on whether to remain at 1,000 feet or return to quarter-mile racing in the two classes.
NHRA 2010 Schedule Out: Some Good, Some Bad
August 30, 2009
The NHRA released the schedule for the 2010 Full Throttle Drag Racing Series earlier this week and I will have to admit that some changes I like, others I disagree with. Because most people enjoy controversy I’ll start with the dislikes. What is up with the addition of a second race date at zMax Dragway in Charlotte? I get that Charlotte is rapidly approaching the same level of status as Indianapolis in regards to being a motorsports Mecca but I thought the NHRA was out of the game of awarding new tracks with multiple dates. History has proven time and time again that double dates outside of Los Angeles rarely work. Read more
Wishy Washy NHRA
August 20, 2009
It seems the NHRA and the powers within are up to their same old tricks. Just when you think they may be showing signs of sensibility with their efforts to get nitro cars back to 1320 foot racing, something I feel is integral to the heritage of our sport, and with their continued efforts to offer their loyal spectator base discounted tickets, they go and kick the guys in the groin who make the whole deal go round, the racers.
The restrictions on testing implemented by the NHRA for the 2009 season were made clear to the teams well before the first event of the season in Pomona, CA. This was done as a way to level the playing field between the “haves”, like Schumacher, Force and Bernstein and the “have not’s” like Gary Densham, Joe Hartley and Terry Haddock during tough economic times.
In a statement issued to all the teams from NHRA VP of Racing Operations Graham Light, it was made clear that no driver or individual team could exceed four test sessions over the duration of the 2009 season, once the Winternationals had begun. That included Monday testing after NHRA sanctioned events, competing in International Hot Rod Association events and independent test sessions. This quote comes directly from the issued statement; “In an ongoing effort to assist in curtailing escalating costs associated with the operation of Professional nitromethane-category vehicles (Top Fuel and Funny Car), NHRA has implemented the following testing limitations for the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season. Unlimited testing for Top Fuel and Funny Car teams will be permitted until the 2009 season opener at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, Feb. 5. At that point, and during the 2009 NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series season (Feb. 5 to Nov. 15), Professional nitromethane teams will be limited to a maximum of four one-day test sessions. This policy applies to both the team and driver.” And until this past Monday that policy seemed to be enforced as it was introduced in the off-season.
Enter John Force Racing.
With the very real threat that one of his heavily sponsored teams, the AAA Auto Club of California Mustang driven by his son-in-law Robert Hight, may not make the Countdown to the Championship, the patriarch of JFR made the decision that he would put Hight in his Castrol GTX High Mileage Ford for the next two events leading up to the countdown. Now that move in and of itself is completely within the boundaries of what a team owner can do. However, when that driver switches vehicles, which Force made perfectly clear was happening directly following the conclusion of the Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, MN, that means the driver points earned that season transfer to the new team essentially making that team the one associated with Robert Hight.
This is where the head scratching begins. On Monday following the Brainerd event Hight tested with his “new” team behind the wheel of Force’s Castrol sponsored Funny Car. The only problem being that Hight had already used his maximum of four test sessions for the season which, given the original guidelines provided to the teams for the testing restrictions, would mean that no matter what vehicle he was driving, he no longer had any test sessions available in 2009. On the other hand Force’s “former” team had only used two of their potential four test days to that point in the season. The NHRA states that they granted JFR permission to conduct the test, claiming that the Castrol GTX High Mileage team that Hight tested for, still had two test days remaining, regardless of who was driving the car…BUT WAIT A SECOND…wasn’t this the final line in the statement issued in January; “This policy applies to both the team and driver.”?
So was this a case of flagrant disregard for the rules on a part of John Force Racing? Not at all. He asked the permission of the NHRA before making the move. What this is is another perfect example of the NHRA’s blatant disregard for the handling of relationships with their professional competitors. Sure, John Force is happy because he got to put Hight in the seat to get a feel for his new ride, but what about the other teams who have been using qualifying sessions as testing in order to ensure they stay ahead of the curve?
Well the answer is obvious only three days after the incident took place. Ron Capps, who drives the NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger for Don Schumacher Racing, couldn’t believe that the NHRA allowed this to take place given the way it was laid out to everyone from the start. And how about Terry Haddock who had prior commitments, made before the restrictions were made public, for the 2009 season? He even went so far as to notify the NHRA once he found out about the restrictions in order to let them know that he had already made other commitments. But did the NHRA grant him an exemption for those non-NHRA sanctioned events? Not a chance. Instead they stuck to the ruling that, no matter where the driver is competing it counts towards their allotment of testing days.
So, now you have Terry Haddock, the ultimate salt of the earth independent trying to make a living racing with no major sponsorship, sitting in 12th position in the points, might I point out the same position as Hight currently sits, who was penalized by not being able to earn points at one of the NHRA events he competed in because of his participation in other previously committed to events. Here is a guy who has helped the NHRA at several events this season by filling out some very thin Top Fuel fields and that finishing in the top ten in points would be a huge boost to. And let’s be honest, he poses no real threat to win the championship this year, so why penalize him and allow the guy who has finished as runner-up for the championship and has more money than Terry Haddock can dream about to break the rules?
Your guess is as good as mine, but I’ve got a few!
The Pedigree of a True Champion
August 19, 2009
2-time NHRA Funny Car Champion Tony Pedregon and the Crew Chief that guided him to both those championships, one with John Force Racing and the other as a team owner, parted company just two days prior to last weekend’s Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota.
Crew Chief juggling and changing of teams is nothing new in the sport of drag racing but for any team at this point in the season, just three events shy of the cutoff for the Countdown to the Championship, it makes for a newsworthy story if their Crew Chief decides to move on. What can make it even more intriguing is when you consider the characters involved and the amount of success they have achieved recently.
The fact that Tony Pedregon and Dickie Venables had such a successful relationship in the past, and heading into Brainerd found themselves atop the Funny Car points standings made this story that much more interesting.
Now in most cases, under these circumstances, the majority of teams going through this type of transition would struggle for a few events with a new crew chief at the helm. Oh but not T-Ped. His veteran savvy helped him make all the right moves when it came to filling the vacancy on such short notice. Rather than allow someone to come in and change the winning combination in his Quaker State Impala, he went out and found two guys who could work with the data that Venables left in his wake, in order to keep the team on track. Pedregon acquired the services of Tony Shortall and former team owner Dexter Tuttle who were able to analyze the data and apply that knowledge to his Funny Car the same as Venables had been doing.
They say the proof is in the pudding and I guess when you go out and win an event just days after losing an integral part of your team youre obviously doing something right.
So my hats off to Tony Pedregon, who rather than putting his head down and avoiding the steely eyed glare of adversity, instead starred that menacing force straight in the eye and served notice to the rest of the drag racing world that he’s got one goal in mind…to win his third NHRA championship this year and he’s not going to let anything stand in his way.
Motivation is a powerful thing!
When Was the Last Time a Driver Truly Won an Event?
August 19, 2009
Now I know most of you are probably just reading this and licking your chops to get through it so you can post a comment about how “off beat” or “out of touch” I am with the reality of the sport. But before you run off on some rant consider the following things:
When was the last time that you saw a Top Fuel or Funny Car driver singlehandedly win an NHRA national event? And so you say, don’t they win them all? Technically yes, they are the ones with the stones big enough to jump into those 8000 horsepower, fire breathing monsters and aim them towards the ultimate glory our sport has to offer. But isn’t it time that we start to give a little more recognition to the crew chiefs, and to a lesser degree the team members, who put those drivers in the winner’s circle time after time?
Now granted, the driver has to perform under extreme pressure and is for all intents and purposes the face of their respective teams, but what about those unsung heroes that make the difficult and calculated decisions between rounds? Don’t they deserve a little more credit when a driver wins a Wally?
Just pause for a second, think back, way back…when is the last time you can remember off the top of your head that a Top Fuel or Funny Car pilot put his or her car in the winner’s circle, based solely on driving talent, on a consistent basis? Whether that is because they cut a better light than their competitor or had to do a pedal-job to get the car to recover and make it to the finish line first, it doesn’t happen as often as the car going from A to B without missing a beat.
Think about Antron Brown’s sweep of the Western Swing or Tony Pedregon’s recent dominance of the Funny Car class. How many of those races were won more so because of the crew chief, rather than the driver?
It appears to me that, although it still takes a ton of skill and guts to get behind the wheel of a car that accelerates form 0-100 miles per hour in a second, the current versions of Top Fuel Dragsters and Nitro Funny Cars have become point and push (the accelerator that is) machines.
The driver guides the crew chiefs vision down the quarter mile. If the driver pedals the car, pre-determined settings automatically retard the engine so the driver can recover quicker with less “feel” for the car. And just who do you think determines what those settings will be?
Whatever happened to classic pedal-fests like Force vs. Pedregon in ’92 and how can we bring those classic, crowd pleasing types of runs back? I say the answer lies somewhere in the NHRA’s commitment to reinstating 1320’ drag racing for the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes. If you’re going to reduce the number of fuel pumps, blower overdrive, tire size or whatever it may be to slow the cars down, why not at the same time reduce the amount of electronic assistance the crew chiefs have at their aid and give some of the ability to determine a race based on driving skill and experience back to the drivers?
Just food for thought in world where everyone’s got an opinion…now let’s hear yours!
Media Misses the “Obvious” Story of Brown’s Sweep
July 28, 2009
Amidst the celebration and jubilation of Antron Brown becoming just the eighth driver to sweep the NHRA’s fabled “Western Swing”, ESPN and all the other media outlets failed to report one obvious storyline. It was right there in front of everyone’s eyes and somehow every media person at Infineon Raceway missed it. No one, not one person made a mention that Antron Brown is the first African-American to sweep the Western Swing. How could they have missed that very obvious fact? Read more
NHRA Needs To Do The Unthinkable
May 25, 2009
In this modern era when motorsports and sports media are interwoven, I am going to suggest the unthinkable. The NHRA needs to schedule the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals on Memorial Day weekend.
The Mac Tools U.S. Nationals, the longest running and the most prestigous drag race the NHRA hosts, has traditionally been held on Labor Day weekend. The race is so large and the competitors are so numerous that an additional qualifying session is granted to the professional competitors and elimination rounds are held on Monday instead of Sunday. It truly is a unique racing experience given the history and tradition of “The Nationals”. So if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Because it could be so much better with just a slight change in date.
I would suggest the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals be moved to Memorial Day weekend. I am not suggesting moving the U.S. Nationals away from O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis. I am not suggesting changing the daily racing schedule. I am merely suggesting moving the race dates from Labor Day weekend to Memorial Day weekend.
I can hear what everyone would be saying already… “Don’t you realize that the Indy 500 is held in Indianapolis that same weekend?”. “The NHRA can not compete with the Indy 500″. “The U.S. Nationals would get lost and pushed to the wayside in the wake of the Indy 500″. I would argue that the U.S. Nationals would greatly benefit from sharing the national spotlight with the Indy 500.
Let’s face it. The nation’s top motorsports journalists will already be in Indianapolis covering the Indy 500. With business travel budgets squeezed tighter than a drum, we all know that the Indy 500 is so huge that news outlets must budget every year to send at least someone to Indianapolis over Memorial Day weekend. They know their competitors will be there so they just find the money in the budget to go. Convincing a motorsports journalist’s editor to send a writer to Indianapolis to cover racing two times a year is nearly impossible.
I speak from a position of experience on this one. When I was working for the NHRA’s Media Relations Department I was the lead manager in charge of the U.S. Nationals for a few years. I would make calls and send emails to all the heavy hitters in the world of motorsports journalism and invite them to Indy for the U.S. Nationals. After all, it is the NHRA’s Super Bowl so why wouldn’t they be there covering it? Many of the responses from those big time journalists I had targeted was the same. “Sorry, there is no money to go to Indy twice a year. Given the fact they I was already in Indy in May, we can’t pull it off to go there in September.”
If the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals were moved to Memorial Day weekend, all the world’s motorsports journalists would be at The Brickyard on Sunday. I am not so naive to believe they would skip that race to attend the final day of qualifying of the U.S. Nationals. But extending their stay in Indy an extra day in order to cover the U.S. Nationals eliminations would not be a hard sell to those dolling out travel budget per diems. Everyone would prefer to have the reporters on site for qualifying and eliminations. But wouldn’t you rather have the number of reporters covering the eliminations be double or triple than what you normally get if they weren’t covering the NHRA on Sunday? After all, qualifying results are nice but it is the head to head racing that most people are concerned with.
Will this suggestion fall on deaf ears in Glendora? Possibly. But it is something to consider if the NHRA wants to be considered a major player in the world of motorsports. Sometimes you need to change things drastically that will undoubtedly annoy the traditionalists in order to move the sport forward. Then again, traditionalists are not the ones moving the sport forward. If it were up to them Fuel Altereds and Front Engine Dragsters would still be competing.
