When Leaders Lead

[House of Darts]

Originally Posted by jmcarter

Why he’s called The Captain....we have a series of Gilligans

I think the board of directors are more in line with Thurston Howell III and Lovie. They don't have a clue beyond their corporate clouds.

[jwsamuel]

Originally Posted by pmrphil

They should start that with Pro Stock.

I would have Pro Stock run stock body profiles. No change at all.

[Travis Miller]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

That's great but first you have to get them to the track.

And when you get them to the track you take them up into the stands for time trials. You explain that racers get a few runs to either qualify for positions or to make runs to figure out how quick their car is running that day. Explain how the starting system works, first with the staging lights and then the countdown to green. Point out that the scoreboards at the finish line show the elapsed time (ET), which is how long it takes the car to cover the measured distance. The scoreboards also show how fast in MPH the car was going at the end of the measured distance. That gives everyone a clear view of how each car preforms.

Now comes eliminations. If the first eliminations are heads-up, it is easy to see who wins as shown on the scoreboards. When handicapped eliminations start, a driver gets to the pick the ET their car will run. That ET is shown on the bottom of the scoreboard as the driver approaches the starting line. The difference in ET between the two cars is where the handicapping comes into play. The slower car by ET gets to take off first then the faster car chases. As the cars cross the finish line the scoreboards show which lane is the winner. It is possible for a car to lose by running quicker than the dial-in even though they got their first. All this can be seen by the spectators if the dial-in is still shown on the bottom of the scoreboard Tracks that replace the dial-in by showing the MPH on the bottom of the scoreboard during handicapped eliminations can confuse new spectators making it hard for them to understand why a car lost.

If the dial-in is still shown on the bottom of the scoreboard during handicapped racing it is easy for any spectator to understand the race. When the MPH replaces the dial-in it can get confusing for the spectator. There is no reason to show the MPH during handicapped eliminations. Leave the dial-in on the board.

[jwsamuel]

That's a great explanation but too complicated. If you want to put fans in the stands, it has to be quick, fun and exciting. That means simple. Casual fans don't care about time runs or qualifying. They don't want to have to look at the numbers to figure out what happened. People can understand handicapped starts and why one car gets the green before the other. Where they have trouble and lose interest is when one car gets to the finish line first but loses the race.

There are a lot of changes I would make in the sport if I were in charge. But if I did, I bet at least 75% of the people who come to this website would want to see me put away and things taken back to where they were.

[Lenny5160]

Originally Posted by jwsamuel

People can understand handicapped starts and why one car gets the green before the other. Where they have trouble and lose interest is when one car gets to the finish line first but loses the race.

Most tracks don't have seating anywhere close enough to the finish line where the casual spectators can tell who got there first.

What we do is far more complicated than a casual fan is willing to fully understand. I've had surprisingly interested responses when I've explained throttle stop racing at a high level when a fan has asked; how the stop works and what we are trying to do.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

They should have known that 20 years ago. Where were the leaders then??

I was watching very closely back then, and it was apparent that this wasn't even on their list of things to keep an eye on. This was when the "tech is a PITA and too expensive" thing started. The NHRA had been embarrassed by the Glidden boys and instead of correcting the problem they more or less threw their hands up and walked away.

Back then, Don Ness in particular was doing some amazingly creative things to improve aero and handling on his cars, and he was clever enough to do it so the cars would still pass the template test. Jerry Bickel may have been doing the same, but I never worked closely with any of his cars at the time so I can't say for sure.

I'm not sure that a lot of people know that chassis builders were involved in getting the spec bodies designed, built, and sold. It was easier for them to build a car with an already tweaked body and they were making a profit on every body they installed.

Some of them had invested in the development and so were even getting money from the bodies another builder installed. It was not the customary profit from getting a dealer discount and then charging retail. Since they were involved in the manufacturing they could charge whatever they thought they could get.

They had enough pull to convince NHRA that this was a perfect way to not have to worry about a close inspection of bodies since everybody would have the same ones for any given model. So no precision templates needed to be built for every new model, and no tech inspectors were needed. Real cost savings so more money for bonuses! And no more embarrassment when you've been outsmarted. I doubt it took very long for Glendora to jump onboard with the plan.

I was told by a supremely reliable source that before the move to spec bodies, NHRA had been approached to do laser measurement much like NASCAR developed. They refused to consider the proposal. They'd been planning on saving money, not spending it so the cost of keeping tech workers on this job along with the cost of the system was out of the question.

The manufacturers got involved and allowed wind tunnel time. It was an easy way to fix a great looking but very bad aero model into the best of the best.
Fast forward and we have certification sticker on blobs.

[Mike Pearson]

Does anyone know how old Roger Penske is. I would guess he is about 80.

[Travis Miller]

Originally Posted by Mike Pearson

Does anyone know how old Roger Penske is. I would guess he is about 80.

Wikipedia says he was born on Feb 20, 1937. That makes him 82 years old.

[Mike Pearson]

Originally Posted by Travis Miller

Wikipedia says he was born on Feb 20, 1937. That makes him 82 years old.

That’s pretty old to be taking on that big of a venture. He must have paid a fortune for the speedway.

[AJ Laferty]

Handicap racing seems exciting to the fans only when it is close---the finish line. But, putting stands there is dangerous and drives up insurance costs. I've advocated for jumbo tron displays with a camera at the finish line. Fans can see just how close the racing is. However, jumbo tron displays are ridiculously expensive for local tracks. Instead, put a camera at the finish line, and stream the finish line camera with all the RT/ET data via a wireless local area network. Fans can see the finish on their smart phones and still enjoy the excitement of the starting line. This would be pretty cheap to install. Just my 2 cents.