AS WE SEE IT - TIME TO COUNT RECORDS
Mon, 2009-02-02 18:54
With the season-opening
NHRA Winternationals about to begin it’s time for the NHRA to stop considering the records and points situation and make the
changes necessary to level the
playing field for every professional competitor.
First, for those of you
who are still complaining about 1,000 foot drag racing, please note that our
sources within the NHRA have told us numerous times that they are continuing to
investigate ways of slowing the cars and returning to full quarter mile
racing. The organization wants
that, the fans and media certainly want it and, under the right, safe
circumstances, so do the majority of the
competitors. The problem is
in putting together a reasonable plan that will result in safe competition
without putting a severe dent in the pockets of the team owners. Despite the announcement that all of
this year’s races will be run to 1,000 feet, give the NHRA a break, and assume
that we’ll return to full quarter mile racing as soon as possible, and let’s
further hope that’s at the Winternationals in 2010.
IT’S TIME TO CHANGE THE RECORD
PROCEDURE – AND
IT COULD BE DONE IN TIME FOR
THIS WEEKEND!
With the season-opening
NHRA Winternationals about to begin it’s time for the NHRA to stop considering the records and points situation and make the
changes necessary to level the
playing field for every professional competitor.
First, for those of you
who are still complaining about 1,000 foot drag racing, please note that our
sources within the NHRA have told us numerous times that they are continuing to
investigate ways of slowing the cars and returning to full quarter mile
racing. The organization wants
that, the fans and media certainly want it and, under the right, safe
circumstances, so do the majority of the
competitors. The problem is
in putting together a reasonable plan that will result in safe competition
without putting a severe dent in the pockets of the team owners. Despite the announcement that all of
this year’s races will be run to 1,000 feet, give the NHRA a break, and assume
that we’ll return to full quarter mile racing as soon as possible, and let’s
further hope that’s at the Winternationals in 2010.
Over the last decade or so
there have been numerous performance-changing alterations in the rules, most
noticeable in the percentage of nitromethane permitted. Each time one of those changes was
instituted the performance potential of the dragsters and Funny Cars was
directly impacted, yet at no time did the NHRA recognize those changes by
erasing the existing elapsed time and speed records, and allowing new marks to enter
the books. Along with those new
records there would have been points awarded, points that might have had a
significant, meaningful impact on the championships. By failing to erase and establish new records the NHRA was,
in essence, denying a competitive team from enhancing its points position. Without digging all the way back it’s
at least conceivable that a new record might have meant the difference between
a driver making the Countdown or not.
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It is also long past the
point when the NHRA should be allowing speed records to result in a points
reward. There may have been a
valid reason for downplaying speeds when the cars were on the verge of breaking
the 300 mph barrier, but that time has long passed. Drag racing, more than any other form of motorsports, is all
about speed, and the NHRA should recognize this and have it work to their
advantage. The lack of points
rewards for speed records at a time when the cars are only running to 1,000
feet is simply incomprehensible.
Look at the Pomona track speed record held by Tony Schumacher at 334.65
mph. At the Finals Schumacher’s
best was only 317.42 mph. The
fastest speed at the Winternationals should become the track and national record – until someone exceeds it. And whoever that record holder is should
receive the 20 bonus points that should go with it.
The NHRA Media Department
works hard to promote the Full Throttle Series, and if they had the prospect of
new records to add to their arsenal it would be one more weapon to help fill
the grandstands. But, as things
now stand their hands are tied.
The press release they just produced for the Winternationals touts track
records that are simply absurd when it comes to 1,000 foot drag racing. The odds are that any Top Fuel driver
who doesn’t exceed Tony
Schumacher’s mark of 4.428 seconds isn’t going to be racing on Sunday. The same goes in Funny Car, where Tony
Pedregon’s 4.659 is about four tenths of a second slower than the was the bump at the Finals.
It’s time to eliminate
this failure to recognize the reality of 1,000 foot drag racing and erase the
existing quarter mile records, re-establishing them only when we return to full
quarter mile racing. And, when we do return to quarter mile competition, if the
configuration of the cars is such that it’s going to be impossible to approach
those existing marks, erase them and start over.
In honor of the sport’s
quickest and fastest the record books can simply be asterisked, with the
all-time marks still there along with a simple explanatory sentence along the
lines of, “The all-time speed and elapsed time marks were established under a
different set of technical specifications for these cars.”
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