|
1/14/04
It's all about numbers
 n
a recent blast I went off regarding the current Professional
class "ladder" for pairing up qualifiers for the first round
currently used by both the NHRA and the IHRA. I suggested
that it resulted in some pretty boring racing numbers (i.e.
low speeds, high elapsed times), engine explosions and oildowns,
and too few first rounds where the opposing drivers raced
each other. Since then de facto PRO headman Kenny Bernstein
took the time in an interview on NHRA.com and noted that
something needed needed to be done right away about the
oildown problem.
At the time I wrote that column I only had my own observations
to back up my argument that the current ladder used for
the Pro classes wasn't the best when it came to providing
the fans and racers a "level playing field."
Well, since then DRO's "Sultan of Stats" Jim Hawkins got
in contact with me and forwarded real world numbers about
the first round of Top Fuel and Funny Car competition since
1999 at NHRA events. The stats seem to prove that the quality
of racing the fans both at the track and in front of the
television screen currently see during the first round of
eliminations, at least for the nitro classes, is lame.
Hawkins' stats cover Top Fuel and Funny Car racing from
1999 to 2003 and compare the number of bad runs to good
runs in the first round of competition. He defines a bad
run as a lap where one or both of the contestants smoked
the tires, blew the engine or had some other malfunction
that aborted the run. During those four years more that
55 percent of the first round races in Top Fuel ended up
aborted and more than 54 percent of the Fuel Coupe first
round races resulted in one or both competitors aborting
their runs, which means no race!
By anyone's standards if only half of the races the fans
see actually have both cars driving to the stripe, what
they're viewing can only be termed as terrible entertainment.
Is it any wonder there are so many lame, meaningless Top
End interviews; inane, insipid features; and repetitive
ads shown during the live TV? Generally speaking there's
damn little racing worth watching or telecasting until the
second round but I don't believe it has to be that way.
I asked Hawkins to check his stats and see how many qualifiers
from the bottom of the ladder -- and I'm talking about the
numbers 14, 15, and 16 qualifiers -- advance to the second
round on average. Those numbers were really telling. On
average only about 20 percent of the Funny Car racers and
15 percent of the Top Fuel cars that qualified at or near
the bottom of the ladder made it out of the first round.
You talk about boring, predictable and, yes, unfair racing...mama
mia! I say again let's look at changing the ladder and give
the fans at home and on the premises a better show.
I've got a few more thoughts referring to numbers rolling
around the Burkster's fevered brain. My great-granddad used
to tell me this about numbers, which he referred to as figures.
"Liars sometime figure, but figures never lie," old E.T.
would say.
Have you noticed that while diecast models of NASCAR, monster
truck and even Super Chevy's Nitro Coupes can be found all
over the shelves at your local K-mart and Wal-Mart, there
are very few if any diecasts of NHRA's cars and stars. According
to my source in the diecast industry, the main reason for
this is that most NHRA drag racing's stars evidently believe
they have the same popularity with the fans that their NASCAR
brethren have and, consequently, want the same kind of money
those racers get to authorize using their cars and image.
This source quoted some numbers that indicates the drag
racers are wrong.
The Number One drag racer in terms of diecast sales by
a huge margin is John Force. No other racer is even close.
That's the good news. Here's the bad news: out of the top
50 racers selling diecast, Force ranked number 39. The 38
in front of him were all NASCAR racers and the number 38
ranked NASCAR racer sells more diecast than Force by a large
margin.
NHRA and their premier racers need to take a few lessons
from this information.
- Drag racing is no competition for NASCAR on any level.
- On Christmas Day, little kids (future fans) everywhere
were playing with diecast models of NASCAR cars, monster
trucks and even Super Chevy Nitro Coupes, but there probably
were damn few NHRA team cars in the stockings or under
the tree.
- NHRA Pro racers and management need to get over themselves
and start looking at the big picture. Drag racing can't
compete for the fans if we aren't even in the game. If
the sport doesn't start educating and attracting a younger
crowd, it will continue to lose ground to other motorsports.
My main point here is that drag racing is a tremendous
sport with great fan appeal and, if everyone would concentrate
just a little more on promoting the sport and developing
more fans by improving the package instead of worrying so
much about lining their pockets, the sport might once again
have the growth in numbers of teams, sponsorship and fans
that it did in the 1980's. If not, then the number that
will be prime for professional big time drag racing will
be TWO!
|
