Just Wondering … When will a major sponsor step up and back a nostalgia series? Most of the major market cities now host nostalgia races and the fastest growing professional class in numbers of new cars being built is nostalgia Funny Car. Nitro sells and nostalgia racing offers more nitro classes and cars than the NHRA.

Just Wondering … What are the chances of seeing four-wide “exhibitions” at Bruton Smith’s Charlotte track when circuits other than the NHRA (like Super Chevy Show, NMRA, NMCA, and others) come to that track in 2010? I make the odds 10-1 for it happening from at least one of those circuits.

Just Wondering … Have you noticed that although the NHRA pro classes at national events have for the most part been full fields that the pool of cars in each class has shrunk dramatically? Where there used to be 80-100 pro teams at an NHRA national event to fill the four 16-car/bike fields now there are almost never more than 70 teams to fill the 64 spots available.

Just Wondering … Did you know that Bruton Smith tracks now hold a quarter of the events on the NHRA calendar?

Just Wondering … NHRA says publicly that they have little or no control over content of the broadcast of their national events. How can they pay ESPN between $7M and $9M for the air-time and have little or no influence on the content? If that is true, Tom did a lousy job of negotiation on that one point. The race broadcasts are for the most part sports entertainment in my opinion and therefore not subject to the rules of objective journalism so NHRA should have a big say on the content -- which I believe they do, by the way.

Just Wondering … Am I the only who has noticed that the broadcasters of the NHRA races no longer speak as if there was a chance that the sanctioning body could go back to the quarter mile?

Just Wondering … Does it make you as crazy as it does me when the broadcasters of the NHRA drag races talk about some nitro racers making their fastest pass ever when they make a 315-mph pass and you know that the driver has gone over 320 in the quarter-mile?

Just Wondering … Why my initial reaction and those of some readers to monster trucks drag racing at an ADRL event was one of dismay? As my pal Ian Tocher of the ADRL pointed out, no one gets upset about jet cars or wheelstanders making a lap at a drag race, so why get upset about a couple of monster trucks. He’s right about that.

Just Wondering … Could the reason why the NHRA national events have such relatively expensive tickets be that most of the tracks actually hold 25,000 people or less and sell no more than 18-20,000 tickets a day. With the overhead and purse they now have they simply can’t make the return on investment they need selling tickets in the $20-$25 range.