NHRA and the Olympics

[Terry Cain]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

One reason is the TV exposure time....the other reason is its ONE race...ONE winner. Not multi winners at each race. To many different eliminators, to many classes in each eliminator plus the handicap starts and breakouts = confusion to the non car guy TV viewer. Not all who watch are car people. They want entertainment. Who really won? Sure we like the class structure.....we are car people but to the large mass of people who watch and buy avertised products...they are confused when watching Top fuel whatevers and they very rarely get down the track side by side. The TV time never even bothers with the sportsman eliminators. HOW does one fix this?

Ya know, I was thinking the other day about how the normal fan does not understand handicap racing and how to explain it in a way they would understand.
How about first round of stock eliminator (everyday at a national meet) run two cars, say an A or so car and have it run a lower class car and have the announcer explain it as their running.

[Michael Beard]

Originally Posted by Terry Cain

the normal fan does not understand handicap racing

This is a myth. This is like saying The Price Is Right is too difficult to understand. People have watched and understood game shows for decades. Here's the set of rules, here's the objective. It's NOT hard. I have explained the sport to novices in the stands (or over the PA) on numerous occasions, and people not only pick it up quickly, but also start to enjoy it -- once somebody BOTHERS to tell them what it is they're looking at. It was only a matter of minutes before a 12-yr-old boy watching Super Rod running at Tri-State (1/8th mile) was pointing to the scoreboard, "Dad, look! There's another 6.40!"

Announcing at a bracket race with all racers and no spectators is a different discipline than announcing at a National event. I was given the opportunity to give an NHRA announcer a pizza break at Maple Grove one year, and got to announce a round of Super Comp. I had Stocker guys tell me that was the most interesting Super Comp had ever been to them... like, they actually paid ATTENTION to it.

Know your audience. Inform, then entertain.

[Marvin Robinson]

You guys are all talking AROUND the central point of the problem as far as TV goes... there is no apparent will on the part of the NHRA TV crews to enlighten the television audience about sportsman gasoline racing... it would not be too difficult to put an announcer in place that could pass along the nuances of the sportsman competitor, they just need to want to (granted, part of that wanting is driven by how many revenue dollars they think it will generate). I point again to the phenomenal rise of televised POKER... a sport where everyone sits at a table and plays with CARDS!!! The interest comes from giving a CLEAR explanation of strategy, potentials and outcomes to the viewer, and making a connection to the personalities for the audience... how easy would THAT be for NHRA to do??? Right.... not hard at all, the problem is with NHRA, not the spectators.

[FED 387]

Marvin---ABSOLUTELY correct---everybody is talking about/around the subject both in this thread and the other one concerning the old days of TV---somebody makes the decision on what gets shown and what does not--the announcer can only announce what is presented to him or what is happening before his eyes----If whoever ONLY presents PRO classes then that's all the announcer has to work with---what has to happen is to find out who makes the decision as to what gets shown--- if its tow cars or golf carts then thats all they have to work with---if its Pros same scenario---if its sportsman same thing---comp

[Greg Gay]

Thank you for the responses, everyone. My real problem is not with the television coverage, it is with the money, although after rereading my post, I can see why the discussion has gone down this path. I remember hearing of guys in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s winning three times as much as they had invested in the car. When I bought my Stocker, I paid $18,000 for a car (and trailer) that could win $15,000. Not THAT long ago, I heard rumors of a guy building a Hemi Plymouth, and he would have $40,000 invested in it by the time he was done. That was considered outrageous at the time. Now, how much does it cost to build a Stocker? And, how much can you win with it?

My two main points were that we missed a huge opportunity when Wally Park’s proposal to split the Pros from the Sportsman didn’t go through (with what amounted to a trust fund to support sportsman racing well into the future). And two, I think the publicity that we do get is what separates NHRA Sportsman racing from other forms of racing at the same level. Many organizations have put together a $10,000 to win race for far less entry than $305. Here, more and more money continues to go to the nitro class. But, they know they can continue doing it, and still keep the fields full, because we all want to see our picture in National Dragster, I guess.

[Ed Wright]

When I quit drag racing the first time (1979) points races and national events (including contingency money) paid the same to a little more than now. That same dollar number does not go nearly as far as it used to. A new $100,000.00 SS/GT roller now would pay for three or four complete SS cars back then.

[skills]

I can only give my opinion as a spectator since I have never raced. I attend 2-3 national events and a few divisionals and the dutch. The problem I think is NHRA just doesn't care as much for the sportsmen racers. They could enhance the racing experience for all fans by pushing the sportsmen classes more. If you could get more sponsors in sportsmen it would boost the payouts and up some of the fields. Maybe Lucas should push a sportsmen show if only an hours show maybe show the quarterfinals of comp on down. You could do some pit stuff on the cars and some of the racers. Explain the classes if you did that and more it will draw more fans to the local tracks. Look at inside MMA everybody knows the UFC but they talk about the amateur shows all over the world and show highlights. People care about the UFC because they know the fighters. You mean to tell me putting somebody like Fletcher on tv wouldn't be entertaining?