FEEDBACK ARTICLE:   TIME TO TINKER WITH THE NHRA'S COUNTDOWN?

Why do we emulate what Nascar does.The only things we share are 4 tires and we both fall under the Motorsports category.If the countdown has to continue, why not make the series 2 part.Crown a champion at Indy,small trophy,small check. Then include everybody who has competed at all events in the countdown, So everybody get equal TV and Media coverage at the beginning. Its hard to justify to your sponsor why you can not finish any better than eleventh if you finish the season strong.In today's economy corporate funding is hard to come by, and when you are completely excluded from coverage, it only adds to the problem. - Doug Kuch

FEEDBACK ARTICLE:   TIME TO TINKER WITH THE NHRA'S COUNTDOWN?

Why do we emulate what Nascar does.The only things we share are 4 tires and we both fall under the Motorsports category.If the countdown has to continue, why not make the series 2 part. Crown a champion at Indy, small trophy, small check. Then include everybody who has competed at all events in the countdown, So everybody get equal TV and Media coverage at the beginning. Its hard to justify to your sponsor why you can not finish any better than eleventh if you finish the season strong.In today's economy corporate funding is hard to come by, and when you are completely excluded from coverage, it only adds to the problem. - Doug Kuch

Lets forget for a minute how much the Countdown sucks and talk more about the fact that racing to 1000 ft SUCKS even more. As far as I am concerned the E.T.'s - Speeds and records are meaningless. As soon as Fuel comes on I tune out. - Rick Brown
 


The Countdown stinks! I have been in the sport since I was 13 and seen alot of close points battles. Just dont like how Hight strugled all year then barley
made the Countdown, then won a championship.  Not saying Robert is a bad person or anything, I like him. Just would of like to see someone that performed good all year win than someone that did good the last 5 races. Scrap the Countdown go back to the old way and reward people that perform all year. - Brandon Blanford



NHRA's Countdown was a terrible idea to begin with and has gotten no better with time. Points should be earned the same year 'round, and if Indy is double points, fine. But this idea of a final four or whatever is ridiculous. It's also probably why ADRL is growing and NHRA is not. Personally, I think NHRA needs a complete shakedown from the top, or it needs to wither up and die. - Gary Smrtic
 
 
It's very simple guys just listen, scrap the qualifying points in the beginning because that just helps the big teams and not the small teams. Then award "1" point for a round win and a extra 5 for a event win. This should keep most of the drivers close to each other then with ten races to go switch to this format. 5 points for low qualifier, 5 points for a round win and 10 points for a event win. With this system everybody is still in the chase, the drivers are happy, the sponsors are happy and best of all we don't look like Nascar. - Jerry Fascione
 
 
I feed the pro categories should gain points as do all the other racers in the NHRA. The Countdown sucks and takes the real winners out of the running if they should have a bad outing in the last three or four races. They build a point lead why not let them keep it? - George Scott

I am an old time racer 1959 to 1966, also in the Hall of Fame, why can't NHRA leave things alone and let the championship be decided on the amount of wins you have during the year? This points and points for qualifying are BS lets go back to the old racing and let the best team win. - Byron Parmenter Krohn Parmenter &Rue

12-18-2009

Tinkering?  How about scrapping it?  Having been an NHRA member for 35 straight years I can honestly say that since this "follow NASCAR" countdown started I don't even follow the end of the season anymore.  This idea of "forced affection" by trying to make it more appealing to fans is absurd.  True fans follow the sport all year and know what is what and who the players are.  The casual fan that tunes in to ESPN once a month is not what built the sport and is not the real potential customer for the sport's sponsors.  The hard core fan is very loyal to the brands that support drag racing.

Why does NHRA see it as a necessity to follow NASCAR?  We are not NASCAR and never will be.  The Pro Stock truck deal worked out real good, didn't it?  A true champion in any class of drag racing should be the one that, day in and day out, keeps their nose to the grind stone and out performs their competitors.  It is an accumulation of hard work and perseverance that should be what champions are crowned from - not some "playoff".  Bring back real racing and real champions. - Joe Percoco

My first impression of Capps' suggestion is "I like it."  I need to give it more thought, but something must be done to rewd the driver(s) who have done the best during the early season.

Every year, some driver (or more than one) loses al the points accumulated and never recovers.  It is just not fair.

I would like to see the top ten racers stay in the order they have earned and the points adjusted to a 50 point spread unless their naturally earned spread is less.  Example a 200 point spread would be adjusted to 50, but a 17 point spread would remain untouched. - Gary Minty

It is still hard to fathom that NHRA made the decision to even begin the Countdown to 10 several seasons ago. Perhaps their intent was to inject another percentage of drama into the season as it neared its' end. But, if my memory serves me well..there have been so many hard fought battles over the past seasons ... that it is difficult to comprehend why the addition of even more pressure on the Pros. It was only a matter of time before a J. Force-T.Pedregon  situation arose simply because of the additional pressure to even make the show.  

With the continuation of economic struggles in the Nitro ranks, the additional pressure in 2010 will become unbearable. Are we still having fun? - David Gutierrez

Tinker with the Countdown? They should get rid of it all together. NHRA had more than its share of nail biting points championships before they mindlessly mimicked NASCAR's Chase (I'm not a fan of the Chase either). Ratings may prove me wrong but I doubt creating an artificial "playoff" has done anything more for the ratings than a good old fashion points race like the Amato/Ormsby years in the early 90's or the last pre-Countdown Top Fuel championship where Tony Schumacher had to win the race and set a national record to win the title... and did both, setting the national record in the final. How can you beat that? - Jim Altemus

Go back to the old system, this Countdown stuff SUCKS big time! Award the titles to who ever has the most wins at the end of the season! Those over paid stuffed shirts in Glendora need to pull their heads out of the dark! NHRA is so BORING now days. - Brian Dutton

Yes, the countdown needs some tinkering,especially when the father-in-law takes a dive so the son-in-law can make the countdown something needs changing. - Jim Tacchia


Absolutely the system is flawed. It is ridiculous that a "playoff team" can be kept out of the race because of a poor qualifying. If there is going to be a playoff system then they need to have only the teams that made the playoffs enter into it. Send the rest of the teams home. I know, everyone will cry about sponsors but you know what, when a football team doesn't make playoffs they lose
a ton of money from ticket sales, food and beverage sales, tv, etc...

My vote is they have the top ten make the playoffs and then those ten qualify for 8 spots at each playoff race. This will keep qualifying important at each race. Then on Sunday run double eliminations with the 8 qualified teams. This will give the fans a full day of racing while giving the playoff teams the exposure they want.

The points also need to be looked at, I like the changes to qualifying points but this all needs to be evaluated with an emphasis on wins.

By the way, I sent an email to NHRA a couple years ago when this all started showing how crazy it would be in traditional sports to include all the teams into the playoffs. - Jim Voss

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