Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Elsass
When did NHRA put quotas on national events and why??
It seems counter intuitive to limit the number of Stock and Super Stock cars since it is a cash cow for NHRA. First and second round runner-ups get sent packing with 0$. The entry fees allow NHRA to give the PRO'S free entry.
Some of the races are limited to 55 cars. DUH. How many bye runs are in a field of 55??????? I am not a math wizard but would it not be 3?
I attended my first race in 1955 at the Akron, Ohio airport.. Saw the first Green Monster. Ran at Magnolia in 1960 using a flag man. Set first record in 1973. Won first national event in 1977. Is there anyone out there who remembers when drag racing was fun??
Sarge
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Fred,
The Quotas started roughly about 15-20 years ago but, at that time you had a quota of 75-80 per class (Excluding Indy which always was around 164). As events went from 4 days to 3 days the quotas got smaller and smaller, right now only 9 out of 22 events are 4 days (Even though 1/2 the field gets to the track on a Monday to stack). When Fox became the TV supplier of NHRA the quotas shrunk even more because they were offering more "Live" TV on a mainstream network meaning everything became timed out so when Fox said at 4pm we're going "Live" with Nitro finals, they were at the line ready to go at 4pm. Just this past year at VMP, Super Stock was 1/2 way through their eliminations with Worner and Robbie D doing a burn out at the line and they were told to back up and we'll run you later because they were approaching the 12pm Pro Elim start. This year NHRA started a quota by race, meaning they would release a quota number normally in December of all 22-23 events for the total year but, this year they did it where the day before the event was to open to a Grade 8, they release the quotas, some were dead on.....others were crazy (60 at Gainesville...it filled in like 8 hours total for all the sportsman). They basically want to reward the racers who go to 7-8 divisional races in a year because they are the "Professional Sportsman" who support the Lucas Series on a regular basis, the guy who goes to one race who spills oil down on every run doesn't have a shot at some nationals. Some tracks like Denver and Probably Seattle will be lucky to get 40-50% full but, you have places like Vegas that will get 160 Super Comp cars for the Lucas Race but, only take 70 for the National.