More Wondering

07/03/07

Just Wondering … If the NHRA is supposed to be so concerned about safety why did they allow ESPN2 to show the body exploded off Del Worsham’s Funny Car over and over and over? The first dozen times or so were okay, I suppose, but after that it was just boring.

Just Wondering … Did any of NHRA’s insurance people happen to see the people running away from the top end guard wall each time they repeated that scene? Yikes.

Just Wondering … Did someone forget to tell the announcing crew the correct wording now is Checker, Shucks, Kragen and MURRAY? Who goofed? I’ve got to know.

Just Wondering … Didn’t Luigi Novelli cut off his ponytail on TV after he ran his first four-second pass -- which I don't believe was 30 years ago?

Just Wondering … Was John Force drinking the HDP kool aid. . .er I mean. . .the POWERade during an interview on the Sunday ESPN2 broadcast? John couldn’t have praised HDP and Tom Compton any more lavishly.

Just Wondering … Did Lewis Bloom get another job or does Paul Page just not pay attention? There were so many gaffs by the announce team last Sunday it was ridiculous.

Just Wondering … Who is actually responsible for the track condition at a national event, the track or the NHRA?

Just Wondering … How do the sanctioning bodies determine when the track surface has too many dips or other issues? Are there guidelines that tell us the difference between “ripples” and the “moguls” that Warren Johnson refers to?    

Just Wondering …  Wasn’t current Pro Stock racer Dave Connolly banned from Norwalk Raceway Park for life (by Bill Bader Sr.)? Oh well, as the saying goes money talks and bullsh*t walks.

Just Wondering … Did the Pro Stock Truck fiasco and the NHRA’s rumored loss of the lawsuit insure that the NHRA can never add or subtract another professional class for fear of a lawsuit?

Just Wondering … If the current deal between HDP and the NHRA falls through, now that the “pro assets” have had their value set would someone else step up and pay the $121,000,000? Someone who may not want to retain the NHRA to administrate the series for them?

Just Wondering … Will the NHRA administration that has demanded and got clout and respect from sponsors and racers get the same from the sponsors and racers as hired administrators? How long will it take for a made racer or sponsor to go straight over their heads to someone at HDP?
 
Just Wondering … Once professional drag racing becomes a publicly traded for-profit company how much more common will lawsuits become?  Very common I’m thinking.

Just Wondering … Don’t you think that the folks at HDP and their investors are pretty nervous about the fact that the current points leader in the NHRA’s premier class of Top Fuel evidently doesn’t offer enough in the way of exposure or advertising value to get even a minimal sponsorship?

Just Wondering … Why doesn’t the NHRA would use its influence to get the Rod Fuller team some kind of sponsorship just to avoid the embarrassment to the sport? A billion dollar company like DirecTV would be a good sponsor, don’t you think?

Just Wondering … Where was all of the outrage when we printed the paragraph from HDP’s security and exchange commission filing that said they could cut the number of sportsman racers at national events by 50 percent in ten years if they wanted to?

Just Wondering … Do we all get it now? You can get a pound of ice cream at Norwalk Raceway Park for a dollar and the Bader family spent six million dollars fixing up their track. Am I the only one who felt like those were the biggest stories from the Norwalk Raceway Park TV coverage?

Just Wondering … Between all of the snappy patter between the announce team and the fluff pieces that were thrust on viewers I heard Paul Page mention that Morgan Lucas’s teammate, Melanie Troxel, was “upset” about the wholesale changes in her team including losing her crew chief. Why didn’t anyone follow up on that story instead of giving more shots of Luigi Novelli getting a haircut or one more roll of the Del Worsham explosion or more notes about the track? There was not one more word about that story for the rest of the broadcast.

Just Wondering … When is Tom Compton or Eddy Hartenstein going to hold a press conference with the racing media so that the story of the sale actually becomes a news story in the mainstream press? Or would they rather not meet the press? 

jeffburk@dragracingonline.com

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