Has professional drag racing lost it's audience?

Hell, Son . . . !!!

He's an Indy Car announcer from way back.

Sort of like the pop singers going over to country music to make a buck.

K

 

While I'd never turn down an opportunity to achieve sensory overload by being at a top fuel event, the NHRA has enough of my hard earned $$$. Getting a bit too pricey. Has been for a while. My cash has been going to the local nostalgia events as of late.

 

NHRA is done. Wish the AHRA could make a comeback but I guess that's out of the question by now.

Bracket racing is kinda weird, it's fun to do but boring to watch.

 

I have been racing my 56 and 55 in the bracket cl***es since 1992. The cost has gotten to be out of hand. NHRA seems to focus on the big dollars as usual and the little guy always struggles just to make it to an event. Bracket racing is good in a way because you can run on your own time and can have fun with it but also the delay box throttle stop stuff costs you an arm and a leg and most people including me hate to see a car scream off the line and then shut down. ANRA has a good nostalgia circuit but anymore it just bugs the heck out me to see a guy in his motorhome bracket racing in the same cl*** as everyone else. Just to get ready to race this year I had to buy new seat belts (every 2 years) a new flex plate shield and new slicks so the ****ty part is that I haven't even got to the track yet and already dumped 700.00!!! COOL!!! I still love the drags but at the same time the rules and the cost has me hanging out in the garage looking at old drag mags and drinking alot of beer instead of racing!! HAPPY MOTORING!!!

 

As far as the fuel cars are concerned, it's a joke. The entire record book dating back to day one is based upon the 1/4 mile. The potential to witness firsthand a new world record was always part of the allure of going to Englishtown each year. I understand the safety issues behind the change, but until they go back to 1320 it really is meaningless.

Last great race for me: Mopar Parts Nationals in 1998. Perfect weather, 100% nitro back then. Force and Amato traded the m.p.h. record back and forth several times over the weekend , posting eye-popping e.t.'s and speeds. In the finals, Force ran a 4.845 with a top speed of 323.89 mph, taking the speed record back from Amato and making this the first time in NHRA history that the overall national speed record was held by a Funny Car instead of a Top Fuel dragster. The track had this magical buzz goin on through the whole event- one of those weekend you didn't want to end.......I'm afraid those days are over.

 

I have been a fan since Garlits broke 200 and was on the cover of Hot Rod back in 1964. The appeal to me has always been the yearly ratcheting up of E.T., speed and technology. And also safety.

Now that it has reached the point where they're as fast and quick as they're ever gonna let them go, that appeal has been lost.

1000 ft. hard pill to take, but if it saves lives, then, that's just the way it's got to be. I would like to see 1000 feet remain at the short tracks and go back to 1320 at the tracks that have a long shut off.

The Countdown? It seems contrived. Comes from the same place as the prancing people tee shirt cannons during down time. It makes luck more of a factor than being a good racer with a good team. A years worth of excellent racing can be wrecked by bad luck at the last one or two races. Not so much with the old way.

Bracket Racing - all the electronics have made this appeal to the participants and their entourage ONLY. To those not steeped in all the tech, it simply comes off as downright boring and peculiar. Some of the oddball cars and trad cars like Henry J's Willys, Anglias still make it quasi-cool.

One of the things I would like to be invented is a new SYSTEM. Everybody has a dial in and leave the line heads up. The slower car gets the finish lined moved up to the distance at the track they would be at the exact time the faster car crosses the finish line.

Of course, this could be a mathematically/scientifically implausible wet dream. And I bet it could also be ruined in some way by some new electronics if it were ever enacted?

But, I like to daydream about how to fix stuff that's broken. Or just try to make stuff better.

Fortunately, I've got to meet a lot of FED and nostalgia F/C people on the net. So I can be part of their entourage at the track now and then. Drag Racing is a lot more interesting if you know some of the people doing it personally.

-90% jimmy

 

I know this thread is seven years old but I must agree with everything 85-percent said...I'd also like to add that the pursuit of speed over the decades, the record-setting numbers defined progress, advancements and ultimate achievment. Unless the NHRA figures out a way to create rules packages that will allow for 'new' records to be made and broken, I fear that professional drag racing may die a slow death and if the NHRA loses enough viewership to a point wherein they have no TV package, then it's over. No TV-no sponsors-no national series.

 

The AHRA is on it's way back, check it out.

http://ahradragracing.com

 

Exactly Toothawg..... Couldn't agree more....

Why is nostalgia drag racing appearing to be gaining in popularity? Just like hot rods, each car is different rather than just the damn stickers on the side of the car..... Nostalgic cars have a variety of mills, paint schemes, body styles, no electronics and the list goes on.... Who else pulls a wheelie like Roothawg, thats what people want to see....

Too many $$$$ in the pro ranks, its all about business rather than drag racing.... Ummmm, why has "The Snake" left?

 

Way to go fella's and great looking hot rod...

Some people speak about the natural progression of the sport which has introduced us to the present issues being faced with by the NHRA. However; there comes a time when the natural progression leads to the spirit or vision being lost.

For those living in the north who watch hockey, remember the red/blue puck flying across your TV screen, well that was progression of a sport and it was a terrible idea which failed, remember the players wearing long pants instead of the traditional uniform, that was progression and it failed.. What is killing hockey, the huge $$$ involved, much like the NHRA...

It is no longer about the sport it is about the $$$$'s and who has the most......

Oh well, what do I know, I'm just an average guy......

 

Yes, I get more enjoyment being on the Hamb.

 

Hey,

Last year I went to what was once the summer nats at E-town, first time I went in years. They had these cars that launched like a bullet and then did what we once called "bogged" and then can back to life ? At first I thought it was a fluke but then it happened over and over again...wtf ?
They can keep that !

 

This is what people want to see.
I am not really a fan of NHRA any more. IMHO they peaked years ago.
Go back to the way it was in the early to mid 70's and the stands would all be full.

 

I think it has more audience than anyone knows, I see when I look through my channel guide even the gay channel has a drag racing show on... "RuPaul's Drag Race" ... have never been curious enough to see what it's about, though.

 

Riiiiight!

 

Saw some program on the satellite guide called The Cheetah Girls . Tuned in thinking it would be a reality show about the girls at the Cheetah III strip club in ATL.

Turned out it was some wildlife show for kids. Damn, what a letdown.

 

its pro wrestling on asphalt

 

Think about it.......................most bracket racers (60% or better) today do not even know what a Cl*** Car is.......nor every earned the chance to ever win a cl*** in their lifetime, .....What is HP/CU IN; LBS/CU IN.....when does TV talk about the backbone of racing.........the number of guys paying the fees and registrations for what? no TV, they run most of the cl*** cars on WED, THUR, FRI morning, so barely any audience sees the guys that did not win cl***, it's like hiding the step child from the neighbors. NHRA is not just PRO CL***ES. Who wants to see 9 cars try and qualify for 8 spots...........is that ridiculous? How bout 25 cars for 8 spots......CHRR and NHRR nostalgia.............that is racing..........standing at the fence cause you can't sit down..............WOOO

 

They lost me the first time I went to Bonneville in 1984 and the guy at the entrance said $25. I said no, I want to go for the whole week. He said that is for the whole week. Fastest cars in the world all week for $25, NHRA you can kiss my A## !

 

I think it Died when the factory came in and ever vender came in.

 

Drag Racing like almost everything else is experiencing a loss of customers. But I believe the p***ion for drag racing has been on the skids for decades. Drag racing in the Fifties and Sixties was relatively new and had that certain aura about it that has been lost. I still enjoy NHRA Nationals but enjoy NHRA Hot Rod Reunions even more. I am in my 60s but talk to guys much younger that feel the same way.

 

I dont want to step on any bodys sauage, but do ya allrember who one of the first corprate *****s was............. last name jim and him starter was pam think about it boys

 

here's the real drag racing, guys - ADRL - American Drag Racing League - runs national tracks - nmca & pro mod rules - runs 1/8 mile - check it out - billy glidden, quain stott, charles carpenter etc. live there - best drags going

 

Well, I have been to ONE NHRA event since 1973 when I walked away from the track and sold my 442.
I seriously doubt I will get to another one. EVEN if it was free.
Well, maybe if there were free ******s.

 

Stopped going when the prices went up at the gate to get in, stopped watching it when it went to 1000ft.

At least down here we run more nitro and still go 1/4 mile

 

I feel the same way about NHRA as I do NASCAR, they're too busy kissing every corporate conglomerate's *** to even remotely care about the actual racing or sport. With that said, I still enjoy going to Talladega once a year, but it's absolutely not the same, and that's coming from a 21 year old kid. My buddies and I don't get to make it out to a track very often, but we always try to make it to some kind of gr***roots venue. We find ourselves much more satisfied with the racing we see at those kinds of places.

 

NHRA National events use to have a policy if the pros made one run they did not haft to Refun your money if there was a rain out, but if they didnt they had to give you a rain check, I don't know what they are doing now.
on the adverage to run S/C 5 Division races and say the Finals I spent about 10,000 a year with almost not breakage to speak of only to say I ran at Pomona.

 

Drag racing has ****ed ever since billy meyer started bracket racing! In the day we named our cars. You remember, swamp rat, tamless tiger, and so on. Now it big e-fing business finny car. Nascar ain't much better. Bonneville is our last hoorah.

 

If you remember back..............you had to win cl*** or go home? So there was nothing but thrashing to get the car to run...........that was when it was fun, always trying to find a tenth of a second to make it in the show. Barely enough time to even eat...Bring back the time trials and cl***es..........makes a more intelligent racing environment.

 

Everyone has touched on this well. I have no interest in it either.