8/8/07
In part 2 Lee Beard talks more about the quality and integrity of the NHRA “show” and TV and the way the show is run. As usual he was frank and to the point. Click here to read Part 1.
Let's talk a little bit about one of the problems with the NHRA show and that is in most cases, not all, if you can’t afford a three-day ticket and miss the Friday qualifying sessions, you are going to miss the best performances. There’ve been a lot of crew chiefs saying on national television that if they don't make a good lap Friday night then they are probably not going to qualify if there are more than 16 cars in attendance. What are your thoughts about that issue?
Lee Beard: Well, obviously the “grip” of the race track is going to be better at night when the track temperatures are 100 degrees or cooler than it will be in the heat of the day when track temps are in the 115-140 range. You just aren't going to be able to go as quick on a track that is 140 degrees as you will on one that is 80 degrees. So, if you really stand back and look at that, logic tells you that the best show for a drag race program happens at night time. So, I ask myself, why don't we qualify and race at night? I think you find that there are many sporting events besides racing that have their events at night. Baseball has most of their games at night, there’s Monday night football, the biggest stock car race at Bristol, Tennessee, spectator-wise, is the night race. The IRL night race in Texas is outstanding.
So, in looking at putting on a better quality of show for spectators, I think night racing is the answer. Instead of people sitting in 90-100 heat in the hottest part of the day in the summer, with the sun beating down on them and the racetrack, watching a lot of tire-smoking passes, maybe we ought to consider racing more at night. Let’s look at completing our pro classes Saturday night and leave Sunday as a back up for a rainout.
So you are advocating changing the current pro race schedule and perhaps run the sportsman finals on Sunday?
LB: Yeah. In the real world corporations constantly have to change their business model as the world changes and I think as racers - and we’re not only racers, but we’re also in the entertainment business - are supposed to put on the best possible show. All things should be considered so that we can put on the best show.
To be fair, in the past I've heard racers bitch about racing at night because they had to get up early the next morning to get ready for race day. Is this issue something you guys can overcome without a big problem? Race at night and be out there early Saturday morning or Sunday morning?
LB: Well, if you qualified Thursday night and Friday night and raced on Saturday night, you wouldn’t have to arrive at the track until mid-afternoon and then you can stay out there until
the midnight hours. The problem we encounter right now is that we run this Friday night qualifying session and a lot of times the session doesn't start when it's scheduled which is what happened at Sonoma -- a subject I want to talk about. It doesn't start when it's scheduled, so then we are running late so then the crew guys are out there late on Friday night -- I'm talking like 2-3 o'clock in the morning -- and we are scheduled to run at noon or 1 on Saturday. You usually have a 20-40 minute commute back to the hotel (and usually there are no decent places to feed the crew open at that time) and then another commute back to the racetrack in the morning. It definitely takes a toll on the crew, but we get paid to do that so we shouldn’t complain about it.
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