Looking Forward by Looking Back
It's 2007 and time for another season of drag racin'! Since it's still early in the year, I'll review a few stats from last year and perhaps provide some food for thought for the upcoming season.
Don't tell me that drivers don't pay attention to who is in the other lane. Witness Jason Line's 15 holeshot losses. Drivers knew the only chance they had to beat him was to leave on him. So I don't buy the "I'm only racing my race" or "I'm just racing my lane" comment.
Don't tell me all tracks are the same. How do you explain 11 PSB redlight losses at the Vegas event? Either roll out was off or everyone stayed up way too late and couldn't focus.
Don't tell me you are bored with the Pro Stock classes. Okay, they don't belch nitro and shake the earth, but they produce the closest racing and qualifying. The cars average a .05-second difference in elapsed time between #1 and #16 for any given event. Both
classes have an average of over 90 percent full throttle, non-aborted runs -- this doesn't happen in the fuel classes. Also, you are more likely to see a driver out-drive a competitor. In Pro Stock Car, nearly 25 percent of all elimination rounds were decided by a slower elapsed time.
Don't tell me Alan Johnson doesn't try to rotate the earth on every run. (Maybe he can?) Tony Schumacher recorded the lowest average e.t. ever (4.561) and even with the timing retardation and shortening the speed traps from 132 feet to 66 (actually I have forgotten how long ago that was), Tony recorded the fastest average mph ever (323.56). On a side note, why not bring back the bonus points for setting the speed record?
Don't tell me you know all the stats on Force, John that is. Since 1987, John has an average qualifying position of 3.5, a holeshot record of 37-25, qualified at 405 events, at the #1 slot 130 times and only 25 of those qualifying in the bottom half of the field. What position has John NEVER qualified at since 1987? Sixteenth!
Those are a few stats from 2006, hopefully to get you stoked about 2007. Also, I have included my top 12 stats for the pro classes to help you predict who will do well in 2007. Enjoy!
THE DATA
Top Fuel |
Funny Car |
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Pro Stock |
Pro Stock Bike |
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click charts to enlarge |
