Recent DNQ’s Lend Legitimacy to NHRA
Written by David Lamm · June 12, 2007
The rash of drivers that failed to qualify at this past weekend’s Torco Racing Fuels Route 66 NHRA Nationals was actually a good thing for the NHRA. Huh? You mean to tell me that such heavy hitters like Mike Ashley and Robert Hight in Funny Car and Brandon Bernstein, Whit Bazemore and David Grubnic in Top Fuel not qualifying was a good thing? That’s exactly what I am saying.
NHRA.com: Upset-filled final qualifying day sets stage for big changes in eliminations
To steal a quote from the movie A League of Their Own, “There’s no crying in baseball.” That quote could be altered and could be applied to the NHRA in that there are no provisionals in drag racing. Unlike Nascar Nextel Cup, if your car is not fast enough to make the NHRA qualifying field, you go home. There is no crying. There is no whining. There is no back room meetings with the top brass to convince them you should be in the show. You want to race on Sunday? You better show up with a fast race car. You failed to qualify? Sorry, Charlie. Better luck next week in the next town we visit.
For years, Nextel Cup has allowed drivers with inferior performing cars provisional starting spots based on owner’s points or being a past race winner or a past champion. This practice is essentially ’saving’ a spot for a driver whose car is slower than the field. But because he has a higher name recognition than others he is allowed to start the race. It’s an absolutely ridiculous and out dated practice if you ask me. Wouldn’t the fans in the stands and the fans watching on TV want to see the best cars on the track? That is what the NHRA delivers every weekend no matter who fails to make the show.
I am confident that many of the Nascar loyalists and apologists will read this article and immediately feel the compulsion to slam me. (Feel free. The comment section is right on the bottom of this article.) Their argument will be that Nascar is more popular and more widely recognized than NHRA. To that point I have no argument. Nascar is king and everyone knows it. But wouldn’t it be better if the fields were set based on performance and not name recognition? John Force failed to qualify at the Las Vegas race in April and thousands of fans still bought tickets and watched the race in droves. Having a legendary driver like John Force, a man that has won 14 Funny Car championships and had qualified for 395 consecutive races, sit on the sidelines and watch did not hurt the gate. I am sure the TV ratings did not take a hit either. People like drama in their sports and by dumping the provisional rules and letting the best cars run on Sundays will improve the gate and TV ratings for qualifying shows.
It stinks that guys like Hight and Bazemore didn’t race this past weekend but the moral of the story is get a faster race car. Sounds harsh but that is a valuable life lesson. In today’s day and age where parents are more concerned with building up their child’s self-esteem, they are failing to teach valuable life lessons. Not everything goes your way in life because you are popular or beautiful or rich or all three. (Just ask Paris Hilton.) The NHRA’s ‘no provisional’ policy should be a life lesson to be learned and applied in other aspects of life. If everyone would take this advice, we wouldn’t have to see these Generation Y kids on American Idol crying their eyes out because Simon Cowell told them their performance was ‘dreadful’. Life isn’t always fair and when your effort doesn’t cut the mustard you shouldn’t be allowed to play ‘just because’. In the real world there are no ‘gimmes’ or ‘do overs’.
At the end of the day, fans want to see tight, door handle to door handle racing. That holds true if the cars are going in a straight line on a quarter-mile drag strip or around a two and half mile Super Speedway. For once it would be nice to see Nascar follow the NHRA’s lead rather than the other way around.
Comments
19 Responses to “Recent DNQ’s Lend Legitimacy to NHRA”
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
BRAVO!!!!!!
Well Spoken!
Any true race fan wants to see the fastest cars race on Sunday, not the most popular drivers.
The top 35 in points provision is a relatively new innovation in NASCAR, and is probably (hopefully) going away after this season. I don’t mind the champions’ provisionals (it’s a 43 car field, they can pad a little), but when guys like Michael Waltrip can qualify midpack and still not make the race, the system is seriously messed up.
I sounds like a good idea. Do we give the Cup drivers 3 or 4 tries at qualifying or NHRA 1 round to qualify?
In response to ED’s comment, NHRA essentially does give only one legitimate shot at qualifying and that is Friday night. In most cases if you do not make the field on Friday night, there is a good chance you will be going home early!
RIGHT ON!!! GO FAST OR GO HOME is the way it should be.
You are 100% right on. I don’t watch Outcome Based Racing (NASCAR) any more. They aren’t “stock cars” , and the races are more demolition derby than racing. Drag racing rules. Dan
In NASCAR they get time on the track other than just qualifying. In drag racing every pass is qualifying or eliminations.
NASCAR IS OVER RATED ANYWAY ! NOTHING ON THE PLANET DISPLAYS SUCH BRUTAL HORSEPOWER AS A NHRA EVENT,AND FEELING A COUPLE TOP FUELERS MAKING A PASS SHAKING YOUR BRAINS. THATS RACIN’ MY FRIENDS !!!!
I still can’t understand why Nascar with its power base, doesn’t allow their drivers to have to qualify. It shows off the pureness (is that a word) and true racing culture that NHRA and all of drag racing portrays. You want to know why drag racing fans are so fanatical? “Go fast or go home”.
I went to the NASCAR event last year at Joliet and I had all to do just to stay awake. Yawn!! Round and round. NHRA rules
yes it hurts when your driver doesnt make the race. Im a waltrip fan, yea I know.nascar has turned into a circis event. I flew to vegas from ny and Im a force fan.had the best time because the racing was great.and the fan base is a pleasure to be with.hope nhra doesnt change.
I am a long time drag race fan. I like all forms of racing but drag racing is at the top of my list. A big part of it is the fact that the little guy or the racer that is unknown has the same opprotunity as the well known racers. The racers that you see on race day are the ones that earned it. They are not there because of who they but because of who they want to be.
I liked the article and agree with what was said.
go fast or go home should be the only way to do it because nhra has a need for only the best and the fast
I am a fan of both NHRA and Nascar.
I am all for nascar going to a pure qualifying system instead of the provisionals .. but if they do that I would like to see them add another round of qualifying, so everyone could get a fair shot. somthing like locking in the fastest 20 in the first round, then the fastest 22 of the combined rounds would fill the last 22 spots, and allow one champions provisional.
I think the NHRA qualifying rounds are as exciting as the final round.. and sometimes there is more drama.
Kenny Bernstein once said it all when he said (actually this is rocket science)as an old drag racer, I can relate. You either get right or get out.
As a former IMSA team owner, I agree that we have left the compitition behind in difference to the spectical of show. In both the seat and the garage, rules stifle the thinking to “level” the playing field. We now reward money rather than talent. To bad todays fans never saw the NOVI or the Lotus 25 thru 32 series designs in action.
NASCAR can’t be to screwed up since NHRA is follwing their lead with the Race to the championship stuff that NASCAR does.
NHRA is in trouble and they know it, and I love the NHRA but I am not blind either.
all nascar fans are flaming fags
NHRA RULES!!!