Some years ago, when the NHRA national event schedule was such that the Brainerd race came right before Indy, Connie Kalitta found himself face-to-face with an ESPN television camera and reporter.  It was, if memory serves me on this, just prior to the semifinal round, where Doug Kalitta was slated to face Connie’s son, Scott.  The reporter wanted to know who was going to win the race.
 
“Who do ya think’s gonna win it?” Conrad rhetorically asked, rather incredulously.  “Doug’s going for the championship, and Scott’s just out here havin’ a good time.”
 
Okay, stop with the slings and arrows if we didn’t get the quote exactly right, but those were the gist of Connie’s words.  In effect he was publicly announcing that Scott was going in the tank, and Doug was going to the next round.  Connie hadn’t been making light of his son’s efforts, but had merely been pointing out that Scott had only competed in a few races that season, and was certainly no factor in the championship chase, while Doug was a serious player.
 
Switch the scene to the Gatornationals a few years later, where Connie was again being asked the same question because team driver David Grubnic was to face Doug Kalitta in the semifinal round.

Some years ago, when the NHRA national event schedule was such that the Brainerd race came right before Indy, Connie Kalitta found himself face-to-face with an ESPN television camera and reporter.  It was, if memory serves me on this, just prior to the semifinal round, where Doug Kalitta was slated to face Connie’s son, Scott.  The reporter wanted to know who was going to win the race.
 
“Who do ya think’s gonna win it?” Conrad rhetorically asked, rather incredulously.  “Doug’s going for the championship, and Scott’s just out here havin’ a good time.”
 
Okay, stop with the slings and arrows if we didn’t get the quote exactly right, but those were the gist of Connie’s words.  In effect he was publicly announcing that Scott was going in the tank, and Doug was going to the next round.  Connie hadn’t been making light of his son’s efforts, but had merely been pointing out that Scott had only competed in a few races that season, and was certainly no factor in the championship chase, while Doug was a serious player.
 
Switch the scene to the Gatornationals a few years later, where Connie was again being asked the same question because team driver David Grubnic was to face Doug Kalitta in the semifinal round.
 
“We’re racin’,” was his authoritative answer.  “Of course, that’s now (when it’s still early in the season).  Later (as the points race tightens up), things could be different.”
 
Some decried Kalitta’s honesty in stating that the fix was in at Brainerd, but who could blame him for making the best decision possible for his race team and his sponsors.  The idea was to get the championship for Doug, and if that meant Scott had to lose, so be it.

 

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On Sunday afternoon at Maple Grove Raceway the same scenario took place in the first round of eliminations when supposed teammates Melanie Troxel and Morgan Lucas faced off.  Troxel was just two thin points outside the Countdown to the Championship when eliminations started, and Whit Bazemore, two positions ahead of her in the standings, had already lost.  Lucas wasn’t even listed among the top 12 points earners as the day began.  If ever there was an opportunity for a teammate to do the so-called “right thing,” this was it – but Lucas didn’t.
 
Oh, it was a helluva race all right.  The numbers show that.  Lucas was out first by 0.046 seconds, and then ran a 4.560/321.12 to Troxel’s 4.588/328.54, so he moves to the second round and Troxel, well, she’s apparently going to jump ship at the end of the season and drive for someone else.
 
The word has circulated that team owner Forest Lucas had insisted there be no funny business during the race, and we don’t doubt that.  But at the same time one wonders how sponsor Evan Knoll felt about the outcome for his driver, Melanie Troxel (We acknowledge that Knoll is a major advertiser on this web site, but we’ll also unequivocally state that we’ve never spoken with Mr. Knoll on any subject, nor has he spoken with anyone affiliated with CompetitionPlus.com about this article.)
 
Just to make sure no one misunderstands where we’re coming from on this issue, had the situation been reversed, with Morgan still with a chance to make the Countdown and Melanie completely out of the picture, we would have written the same opinion piece from that perspective.
 
We know drag racing fans often resent references to NASCAR, but in this scenario it’s worth listening to the crew chiefs being interviewed on their pit boxes during a race.  At this time of the season, with but a handful of events left in the Race for the Chase, we constantly hear references to “the big picture.”  Crew chiefs will say things along the lines of (and we’re obviously paraphrasing here), “We just don’t have enough to run down and pass the 24, but looking at the big picture second place keeps us in the Top 12, and that’s where we need to be to qualify for the Chase.”

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It’s time everyone realizes that NHRA’s new points structure has forced a “big picture” situation in drag racing, and this was one of those instances where that so-called “big picture” was completely ignored.  We’re not faulting Mr. Lucas for telling his drivers to go out there and race.  We just believe that one straight-up race turned into a major negative for the team – and a month from now, when all the media will be talking about are the Countdown contenders – no one is going to remember that first round in Reading. 
 
In our opinion no one from Lucas Oil had completely thought through the possible ramifications of Morgan’s first round victory.  Had Troxel won and qualified for the Countdown there’s nothing to say that her car couldn’t have been re-lettered to de-emphasize the veteran’s affiliation and maximize the Lucas Oil signage for the balance of the season. 
 
As things now stand Lucas will have to win races in order to generate publicity, because anything less won’t cut it because the majority of the exposure from now until the Finals is going to be devoted to the championship contenders.  Everyone else is just along for the ride.
 
What were they thinking when they didn’t tell Morgan it was time to take one for the team?
 
Apparently they weren’t thinking at all.

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