IS THERE SANCTIONING-BODY COMPETITION?
OK... does anyone think that the NHRA is changing its schedule to "thwart" the IHRA and their efforts? You better believe it.
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When Winston ran NHRA's promotion effort, Winston knew they needed everyone to be a smoker so they never pushed the situation. At one point they sponsored both, but aftertheir departure the NHRA got a case of the egos. They believe they are GODs and should control it all; they never screw up. Gee wasn't it ESPN that showed the world that they were giving wins to the wrong bike riders? Wasn't it their timing system that had problems but was still perfect? No matter what they do everyone is expected to bow down and kiss their. . .well. . .back side. Don't question, just do and deal with it.
While they are the strongest sanctioning body for drag racing (for now) they do not have the power of NASCAR to 100 percent dictate to the competitors or fans what they should see or do. They don't have the TV numbers or the corporate backing. Case in point: how fast did the sunglass war come to an end between NHRA, SPY and OAKLEY. Seems Spy is still around.
One thing I truly believe after seeing a couple NHRA and IHRA events in person, if the NHRA had their way the IHRA and the Sportsman racers would no longer exist, there would be only pro class racing with 32 car fields...
Go get them E Knoll. Keep Bruton out of the picture. . .trust me.
Billy Weeks
North Carolina
REAL RACERS DON’T HAVE ELECTRONICS
I have to say that when the cars running those delay boxes hit the starting line, the fans leave the stands and do whatever they do when they're not watching real racing. Because that is NOT racing, not in any way. And the fans know it. DUMP the boxes. Bring driving back into drag racing. Now, the driver's only function is to cut a light and steer. And they call themselves racers! Real racers have doors but don't have electronics.
Steve Graham
Duluth, GA
MEGA-TEAMS MAKE PRO RACING BORING
I don't even bother to watch pro drag racing anymore. I mean, for what? You've mentioned the number of teams some owners have. That's why.
Think about it for a moment: On any given Sunday DSR could possibly cover 25% of the P/S field, 12% of T/F, and whatever the percentage of three F/Cs gets him. Who's going to win is pretty predictable. It's boring and except for P/S there is very little close racing. Watching and participating in bracket racing is a whole lot more fun.
I saw Erica Enders, bless her heart, speak of the P/S points chase recently. She was decrying the fact that they were only 7th. What points chase? Out of 22 cars? That's not a point chase. Try 13th out of 100 of more. Now that's a points chase.
Don't get me wrong, I can't drive any Pro car, but even a mediocre racer can drive a bracket car and go four rounds more often than not.
Consolidation in this country is killing us and drag racing is no exception. Buy up all the teams and pretty soon the team owner wins no matter what. No more competition, just order which team has a turn to win this week. Reminds me of the WWE.
Bruce M. Guertin
Auburndale, FL
