"The Countdown"
 

Well now that the year has ended and "The Countdown" is completed, what are your thoughts of the way the champion is now chosen, the way it ended, anything?

Re: "The Countdown"
 

It sucks.JUST do good enough to qualify for the cutoffs and who ever is the luckiest at the last few races wins.Case in point Jeggie and Pedegron.But thats NHRA for you.

Ed F.
NHRA #1945
IHRA #14
T/SA

Re: "The Countdown"
 

It pretty much SUCKS. It should be a season long points battle. If you are not in the final group you may as well go home. No TV coverage unless you are in the final four. I would think the sponsors would not like it. They have the power to make changes. Not the racers. Just my opinion. Brian

Re: "The Countdown"
 

Dumb....really dumb!

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Absolutly hate it!! To me a championship should be won by being consistently better than everyone else. You mess up once, your done!! Schumacher lost in the first round 12 times this year!!!!!!!!

Re: "The Countdown"
 

dave c in pro stock ,how many times did he win,dosen,t get a sniff,throw it away

Re: "The Countdown"
 

They made themselves lap dogs to Nascar, and came up with phony champions.

Bob

Re: "The Countdown"
 

Who would be the champions under the old format?

Re: "The Countdown"
 

According to what I've found in Competition Plus and Nitromater, looks like the only person that won under both formats was Matt Smith in Pro Stock Bike. According to the old format,
Rod Fuller would have clinched before Pomona
Robert Hight would have won Funny Car at Pomona
Greg Anderson would have won Pro Stock at Pomona

So with the old format three of the four classes would have gone to Pomona without a clinched champion so we really didn't need the new format to drum up drama at Pomona. I think I feel the worst for Robert and JFR. How great would that have been to win the championship after the awful year that team had to endure. There wouldn't have been a dry eye in the house.

Kelli
1236 S/ST

Re: "The Countdown"
 

Bingo.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

This is without a doubt one of the dumbest things NHRA has ever done. Crowning champions who don't deserve it is stupid. I'm willing to bet the only ones happy are the fake champions. Compton needs to go! Jim

Re: "The Countdown"
 

We also need to take into account the teams that clinched births into the Countdown who decided to test the couple races before Indy. You wonder what would have happened if they were in "competition mode" all season long. I read an article in which Ron Capps admits going into "testing mode" was a bad idea and will not do the same thing next year.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

Kelli-they didn't need to win a championship to prove anything to me about what that group is made of. I say that as someone who's often said that a first round loss for John Force makes Sunday better. They showed me something different this year. I can't begin to describe how much admiration I have for John Medlin and his willingness and strength to go on. He turned the loss of his son into something very positive in terms of trying to build safer race cars. Plus by the end of the year he was doing that segment for Ford on the ESPN show where he answered viewer questions.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

...whoever came up with the new points format is a complete ****ing idiot. If I were a major Sponsor, I would find other ways to promote my product..has anyone ever gotten a reply from T. Compton ever? When he gets the boot, I hope he decides to come to the most powerful city in the world to make another career. I expect to see him sink, again. From what I can gather, he has no team building skills, and morale couldn't be worse. If this was my Company, I wouldn't sleep very well.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

I would like to thank all who replied. I am not crazy. I got involved in the Fantasy picks since I was unable to race this year and I followed the races closely. While I did get into the top 100 I was disappointed in the final outcome myself. Several of the champs are some of the best racers I have ever seen, but this was not the year for them, only the last two races were. How can 2 guys win 8 races each and come in 2nd and 3rd?

I hope that this type of format will never enter into the sportsman ranks. I feel it will only degrade the sport and the image of the champion. It is a sad day for NHRA. I hang my head.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

Schumacher not only lost twelve first rounds in 23 races, he only won one round between Indy and Pomona - at Vegas - and that was enough to give him the championship when he pulled off an event win at Pomona.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

The "Countdown" and the "AHFS" must have been authored by the same idiot! Jim

Re: "The Countdown"
 

it was more exciting but its still BS,,,,a championship shouldnt be decided by a few lucky rounds but by consistently performing all season,,,,Im a big GA fan and to see jeggie win this was sad,,especially when he didnt really win it,,,,The only way this will change is for all the drivers get together and agree that if they DONT make the countdown,,,their season is over and STAY HOME,,,,,,fans will not pay to see a few cars in the pits......this will come to bite smaller underfinanced teams,,,,,one they dont make the countdown, wonder if sponsors will pull the plug???

Re: "The Countdown"
 

The Countdown to 8 wasn't too bad, but after that it really stunk. Perhaps giving the top 8 a larger point spread between them at that point may help. What did they have this year a 10 point spread between each? But whatever they do,,,,,, DON'T have a countdown to 4/1!!!!! This seemed almost as bad as the winner of the Finals is the champ.

It NEEDS FIXING!! or just toss it out.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

It is just like the stick and ball sports, you don't have to win them all, just the ones that count the most. When the chips were down the leaders failed to do what they did all season. I loved it. Maybe next year they won't go into test mode and lose their edge.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

In stick and ball sports,the playoff teams play the other playoff teams.This format doesn't work like that.If an NFL team had to play the Rams,Dolphins,and Jets in the first three rounds of the playoffs,I think they could do well.The system works okay through the countdown to eight,but they need to make some changes after that.

Re: "The Countdown"
 

I liked the format, the last few races were very exciting. I'd like to see the final countdown expanded to more than 2 events, that was a little severe.