Just Wondering... 2/3/06
Just Wondering…is Bruton Smith really going to make an offer to buy the NHRA or is this just a “shaggy dog” story? Mr. Smith has been quoted may times over the last six months and in an interview with this magazine that an offer to buy would be tendered to NHRA, each time "within a week or 10 days." Just Wondering…If bracket racing promoters can get bracket racers to pay a $10,000 entry fee for the chance to win $400,000, why doesn’t one of the sanctioning bodies put on a $400,000 to win race for nitro cars and charge them a $25,000 entry fee? Just Wondering…Wouldn’t
it be cool from a fan perspective if drag racing had a “Speed
Weeks” somewhere, where over a period of two weeks the various
sanctioning bodies staged races? Wouldn’t it be cool if you
could go to one location during the month of January and over the
period of a couple of weeks see an NHRA, IHRA, Goodguys, ORSCA,
NMCA, Outlaw Street car race and a big bucks bracket race plus testing?
Just Wondering…With NASCAR coming to ESPN, wouldn’t it make some sense for the NHRA and the PRO organization to get together and fund the purchase of some primetime broadcasts of NHRA’s premier events on one of the major networks? It’s probably too late for this year and contractually impossible, but maybe for 2007? Just Wondering…Will there be new ET and Speed Records in either Top Fuel or Funny Car in 2006? Based upon the quarter-mile times from the Schumacher, Kalitta and Force teams as well as the short times recorded at the Las Vegas and Phoenix test it appears the existing records could fall. The real question here is if that happens will NHRA adjust the rev-limiters downward yet again? The answer: absolutely! Just Wondering…Will Bob Glidden get through the 2006 season working for Don Schumacher? Just Wondering…Have you heard this one? Reportedly, Ray Allen’s 1970 Chevelle Super Stocker with just about 50 original miles on the odometer -- which sold for over $1,100,000 at the Barrett-Jackson auction -- had actually been crashed and repaired. According to this “urban legend,” Mr. Allen’s ex-wife had a photo of the supposedly pristine, numbers-matching car after it was crashed and emailed the photo to the buyer of the car after the sale. Ouch! Oh well, so far this story is nothing more than an urban car legend but it does make a funny story to tell over a couple of cocktails. Just Wondering…Why does IHRA allow the NHRA to dominate the start of the drag racing season so much? By the time IHRA gets around to their first race at San Antonio in late March the NHRA has had three test sessions and three national events under their belt. As a result, NHRA cars and drivers dominate the Internet and print magazine pages for at least the first half of the season. The IHRA should go to Florida in January or February, rent a track, and have their own pre-season testing to get themselves and their drivers some ink. Just Wondering…How many Nitro Funny Cars that aren’t racing on the NHRA circuit will show up for the IHRA series? So far this magazine hasn’t received one press release or call from new fuel flopper teams being put together for IHRA competition. Just Wondering…When will NHRA and their member tracks realize that making all seats reserved not only creates bad feelings with their fans and racers (the Strange Engineering fiasco at Chicago last year comes to mind), but also hurts their public image and makes them appear greedy and uncaring about the fans? Besides, I’ve never, ever seen an NHRA venue sold out in my 40-some years of attending their races. Just Wondering…Why doesn’t NHRA quit punishing the injected nitro racers and their fans and allow the only traditional nitro-burning class left in drag racing to pursue the last realistic accomplishment left in NHRA nitro racing -- the four-second injected nitro pass. Just Wondering…Why doesn’t the official motorcycle of NHRA drag racing, Harley-Davidson, step up to the plate and fund a five- or ten-race series for those wildly popular fuel Harleys at selected NHRA national events? Better yet, why not back a special race for them at the U.S. Nationals, kind of like what Mopar does for the SS/AA cars? Just Wondering… Whatever happened to Frank Bradley?
Just Wondering… How much John Force is too much John Force? Just Wondering…Am I the only one who would pay big bucks to watch tire-smoking, wheels-in-the-air Top Fuel cars again? The Top Fuel nostalgia cars we see today are just pseudo front-motored cars that don’t even faintly resemble the cars they are supposed to represent. Just Wondering… Why aren’t there more Jr Dragsters on nitro? I recently saw a few of these in an exhibition and I was very entertained. I’d buy a ticket to watch those cars run. Just Wondering…Speaking of
Jr Dragsters, I wonder why Jr Funny Cars have never taken off?
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