HADDOCK: FOLLOWING TESTING RULES HURT ME
Thu, 2009-08-20 20:54
Terry Haddock is about as frustrated as he’s ever been in drag racing.
Haddock is discouraged because he’s one of many racers who interpreted
the NHRA’s testing limitations as assigned to the driver, car and team.
The independent racer, who admittedly competes by racing
from-race-to-race, is up in arms about a recent clarification of the
testing rules by the NHRA.
Haddock was penalized earlier in the year for a testing violation after participating in two IHRA events.
Haddock currently ranks twelfth in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel points standings, the same position held by Robert Hight in the Funny Car standings, whose fifth test session of the season as a driver has sparked a raging fire of debate. The NHRA agreed with John Force it was within the rules for Hight to test in the No. 7 Castrol Ford normally driven by Force.
Haddock is discouraged because he’s one of many racers who interpreted
the NHRA’s testing limitations as assigned to the driver, car and team.
The independent racer, who admittedly competes by racing
from-race-to-race, is up in arms about a recent clarification of the
testing rules by the NHRA.
Haddock was penalized earlier in the year for a testing violation after participating in two IHRA events.
Haddock currently ranks twelfth in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel points standings, the same position held by Robert Hight in the Funny Car standings, whose fifth test session of the season as a driver has sparked a raging fire of debate. The NHRA agreed with John Force it was within the rules for Hight to test in the No. 7 Castrol Ford normally driven by Force.
Following the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., team owner John Force issued a statement that he and Hight were going to switch rides for the next few races. JFR, with the understanding from the NHRA, put Hight into Force’s Castrol car believing that the testing goes with the car number and the crew.
That reasoning muddies the water for Haddock who believes he has been cheated by the system.
“I think it’s pretty crappy that they allowed him [Hight] to change cars because in playing by the spirit of the rules, I’m not likely to make it into the Countdown. We followed the rules, but we also stuck to our commitments because if you don’t have your word, you don’t have anything. If I could have changed the rules, I could have driven someone else’s car at both IHRA events.
“We could rightfully be in the top ten or have a much greater shot of getting in. I don’t think we’d be any further back than Robert is.”
Haddock told CompetitionPlus.com that before the NHRA had introduced their testing policy that he had commitments in place for IHRA events as well as a match race in Salt Lake City, Utah. He had planned to run as many of the NHRA Full Throttle events as he could to stay within striking distance of a Countdown to One berth.
He was scheduled to race the first two races of the IHRA season as a means of doing his part to assist in the sanctioning body's attempts at procuring a title sponsor. Besides the goodwill gesture, Haddock also had sponsorship commitments requiring his participation in those events.
Haddock raced his
dragster in the IHRA Mardis Gras Nationals in Baton Rouge, La., en
route to the NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. He also competed
in the dragster at the IHRA Spring Nationals in Rockingham, N.C.
Haddock said that he received a call in the days prior to the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., from the NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light informing him that he couldn’t claim points at the event in the Top Fuel dragster category.
“I just said screw it, if I can’t claim any points with the dragster, I ought to at least run the Funny Car,” Haddock added. “I figured I’d drive the Funny Car and rent the dragster out. If they’re changing the rules to say the car, who’s to say that I drove my car?”
CompetitionPlus.com contacted the NHRA for clarification on this ruling but as of the posting of the story, no response had been received.
A quick glance of the NHRA points on their website shows that Haddock gained points for his Funny Car in St. Louis, but his dragster, which was leased that weekend to John Smith, received no points. Per an explanation of the rules by an NHRA official, the driver would be docked points at the next event he or she races in.
Haddock drove his Top Fuel dragster next in Bristol two weeks later and received points for the event.
Later in the season, at the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co., Gary Densham drove Haddock’s Funny Car and received no points.
Densham has raced in only seven events and while he might not fill the role of championship contender, however there is one scenario which concerns him. In a worst case scenario, if Densham loses his 16th place ranking headed into the NHRA Finals at Pomona and it rains, forcing the NHRA to seed the field on points, he could be the odd man out.
“The bottom line is ‘who knows?” answered Densham when asked why he was docked. “In most cases it wouldn’t matter to me because I’m not going to be in the top ten. The one scenario of missing out on Pomona is the one that would bother me the most if it came down to that. I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. I don’t think the NHRA should be out here messing with people’s money. If John Force has enough money that Force can test 300 runs a year. Then let him have at it.
“They made this scenario to save the little guys money and it probably isn’t saving anything anyhow. I can understand how people are upset because Graham Light explained it to me the same way that Capps said on CompetitionPlus.com”
Haddock could have denied the Funny Car run in a match race in Salt Lake City, Utah and later as an exhibition vehicle at the IHRA event in Edmonton, Alb., belonged to him but said he won’t attempt trying a game of deception, but his point of contention is, had he known the rules were as recently clarified, that he could have made legal arrangements.
“We’re twelfth with missing four events,” Haddock said. “We
had a match race the Norwalk race weekend. Had we have known the
testing counted against the car we could have made a change. What’s to
stop a person from when they get in trouble with their test days to
bring out a new chassis?”
Haddock said he was in a Catch 22 situation financially and needed those extra dates for his racing survival.
“We’re not making any money out here … we’re just holding enough money to sustain us from race to race,” Haddock explained. “When you race three weekends in a row, the cash-flow keeps you going. It doesn’t make you any money but it keeps you through the next billing cycle. The bills for the races generally come two weeks later. It lets you buy a little time. It’s not the smartest business plan but if we aren’t out there racing, there’s no way we can earn.
“With the IHRA races, we were able to go further in eliminations so the payout was better. Match races are so hard to come by that when you give a man your word that you are going to be there, you have to be there if you hope to have that race again.”
Haddock said a racer in his financial position could have made good use of the potential money a Countdown finalist would have earned. The likelihood that he could have been the underdog story of the year is one that he’s possibly out of the running for. At this time, he says, he’d need a miracle.
“I lost 120 points by not running St. Louis and I would have had a better chance of making it in the Countdown. Besides, when have you ever really and truly seen an independent make it into the Countdown,” Haddock explained. “Yeah … you can say Jim Head … but the man is a millionaire. He’s not like me, living out of trashcans and going race to race just to survive. There’s a big difference.
“This sure takes a lot of integrity away from the sport when the heroes get all the television time and now the heroes get to dictate the rules. Or, adjust them as need be.”
Haddock is discouraged because he’s one of many racers who interpreted
the NHRA’s testing limitations as assigned to the driver, car and team.
The independent racer, who admittedly competes by racing
from-race-to-race, is up in arms about a recent clarification of the
testing rules by the NHRA.Haddock was penalized earlier in the year for a testing violation after participating in two IHRA events.
Haddock currently ranks twelfth in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel points standings, the same position held by Robert Hight in the Funny Car standings, whose fifth test session of the season as a driver has sparked a raging fire of debate. The NHRA agreed with John Force it was within the rules for Hight to test in the No. 7 Castrol Ford normally driven by Force.
Low Buck Top Fuel Team Was Penalized For Racing IHRA and Match Racing
Terry Haddock is about as frustrated as he’s ever been in drag racing.
Terry
Haddock, shown here with team marketing manager Julie Moser applying
decals, feels that had the NHRA's testing rules been explained better
by the NHRA that he might be in a better position for the Countdown.
Instead, he says, he followed the rules of the statement issued by the
NHRA and was penalized for it.
Haddock was penalized earlier in the year for a testing violation after participating in two IHRA events.
Haddock currently ranks twelfth in the NHRA Full Throttle Top Fuel points standings, the same position held by Robert Hight in the Funny Car standings, whose fifth test session of the season as a driver has sparked a raging fire of debate. The NHRA agreed with John Force it was within the rules for Hight to test in the No. 7 Castrol Ford normally driven by Force.
Following the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, Minn., team owner John Force issued a statement that he and Hight were going to switch rides for the next few races. JFR, with the understanding from the NHRA, put Hight into Force’s Castrol car believing that the testing goes with the car number and the crew.
That reasoning muddies the water for Haddock who believes he has been cheated by the system.
“I think it’s pretty crappy that they allowed him [Hight] to change cars because in playing by the spirit of the rules, I’m not likely to make it into the Countdown. We followed the rules, but we also stuck to our commitments because if you don’t have your word, you don’t have anything. If I could have changed the rules, I could have driven someone else’s car at both IHRA events.
“We could rightfully be in the top ten or have a much greater shot of getting in. I don’t think we’d be any further back than Robert is.”
Haddock told CompetitionPlus.com that before the NHRA had introduced their testing policy that he had commitments in place for IHRA events as well as a match race in Salt Lake City, Utah. He had planned to run as many of the NHRA Full Throttle events as he could to stay within striking distance of a Countdown to One berth.
He was scheduled to race the first two races of the IHRA season as a means of doing his part to assist in the sanctioning body's attempts at procuring a title sponsor. Besides the goodwill gesture, Haddock also had sponsorship commitments requiring his participation in those events.
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Haddock
had made commitments prior to the NHRA's testing moratorium and one of
those commitments was in a two-car match race and two IHRA events
adhering to sponsor requests.
Haddock said that he received a call in the days prior to the NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis, Mo., from the NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light informing him that he couldn’t claim points at the event in the Top Fuel dragster category.
“I just said screw it, if I can’t claim any points with the dragster, I ought to at least run the Funny Car,” Haddock added. “I figured I’d drive the Funny Car and rent the dragster out. If they’re changing the rules to say the car, who’s to say that I drove my car?”
CompetitionPlus.com contacted the NHRA for clarification on this ruling but as of the posting of the story, no response had been received.
A quick glance of the NHRA points on their website shows that Haddock gained points for his Funny Car in St. Louis, but his dragster, which was leased that weekend to John Smith, received no points. Per an explanation of the rules by an NHRA official, the driver would be docked points at the next event he or she races in.
Haddock drove his Top Fuel dragster next in Bristol two weeks later and received points for the event.
Later in the season, at the NHRA Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Co., Gary Densham drove Haddock’s Funny Car and received no points.
Densham has raced in only seven events and while he might not fill the role of championship contender, however there is one scenario which concerns him. In a worst case scenario, if Densham loses his 16th place ranking headed into the NHRA Finals at Pomona and it rains, forcing the NHRA to seed the field on points, he could be the odd man out.
“The bottom line is ‘who knows?” answered Densham when asked why he was docked. “In most cases it wouldn’t matter to me because I’m not going to be in the top ten. The one scenario of missing out on Pomona is the one that would bother me the most if it came down to that. I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong. I don’t think the NHRA should be out here messing with people’s money. If John Force has enough money that Force can test 300 runs a year. Then let him have at it.
“They made this scenario to save the little guys money and it probably isn’t saving anything anyhow. I can understand how people are upset because Graham Light explained it to me the same way that Capps said on CompetitionPlus.com”
Haddock could have denied the Funny Car run in a match race in Salt Lake City, Utah and later as an exhibition vehicle at the IHRA event in Edmonton, Alb., belonged to him but said he won’t attempt trying a game of deception, but his point of contention is, had he known the rules were as recently clarified, that he could have made legal arrangements.
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Click to visit our sponsor's website
CompetitionPlus.com
sought clarification from the NHRA regarding two unique situations but
as of press time never received it. Because Haddock participated as an
exhibition vehicle at an IHRA event in Edmonton and later a match race
in Salt Lake City, Utah, Gary Densham, who leased the car for the
weekend was given no points for Denver. That might be a non-issue at
this time but if a race is ever seeded on points, Densham could be in
trouble. (Below) - Haddock was informed in the days leading into St.
Louis that he would gain no points in the dragster for running two IHRA
events. He subsequently leased the car to John "Bodie" Smith who
received no points for the event.
Haddock said he was in a Catch 22 situation financially and needed those extra dates for his racing survival.
“We’re not making any money out here … we’re just holding enough money to sustain us from race to race,” Haddock explained. “When you race three weekends in a row, the cash-flow keeps you going. It doesn’t make you any money but it keeps you through the next billing cycle. The bills for the races generally come two weeks later. It lets you buy a little time. It’s not the smartest business plan but if we aren’t out there racing, there’s no way we can earn.
“With the IHRA races, we were able to go further in eliminations so the payout was better. Match races are so hard to come by that when you give a man your word that you are going to be there, you have to be there if you hope to have that race again.”
Haddock said a racer in his financial position could have made good use of the potential money a Countdown finalist would have earned. The likelihood that he could have been the underdog story of the year is one that he’s possibly out of the running for. At this time, he says, he’d need a miracle.
“I lost 120 points by not running St. Louis and I would have had a better chance of making it in the Countdown. Besides, when have you ever really and truly seen an independent make it into the Countdown,” Haddock explained. “Yeah … you can say Jim Head … but the man is a millionaire. He’s not like me, living out of trashcans and going race to race just to survive. There’s a big difference.
“This sure takes a lot of integrity away from the sport when the heroes get all the television time and now the heroes get to dictate the rules. Or, adjust them as need be.”
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