Random notes scribbled on a Hank's Hamburger napkin (est. 1949) on old Route 66 in Tulsa

I read in the paper that NASCAR is going to ban private testing for all of their teams beginning in 2015 with the exception of tire tests demanded by Goodyear! The press release went on to say that any team caught testing would be tined 150 driver/owner points and a six-figure fine.

I hope the NHRA follows NASCAR's lead in this case just as they did with the "Countdown" and bans any professional testing. Smaller teams simply can't afford testing while the mega teams can. That would cut the cost of competing in NHRA pro racing classes significantly for all teams and owners. I'd bet Goodyear won't have any lack of volunteers for their NASCAR tire tests!

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Rumor has it that the NHRA is seriously considering elevating the Top Dragster and Top Sportsman Eliminators they offer at selected National and LODRS events from an occasion to a permanent sportsman class at every event due to growth and popularity of those classes. My sources say those two eliminators are the only classes in NHRA drag racing that are actually growing! Evidently they are looking for a “major sponsor” for one or both of those classes before they make them “legit” Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series classes.

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What media buyer in his or her right mind would recommend their client buy a commercial on the ESPN NHRA race broadcast if they knew that the Saturday broadcast of qualifying for an NHRA race wouldn't be aired until 1:30 a.m. on Sunday? Or worse, what advertiser is going to pay for ads that run at 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning for example?

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Obviously Mitchell Scruggs and the rest of the investors in the PDRA are committed to hiring personnel and providing the funding required keep the PDRA series up and running! Having a PDRA race is almost a guaranteed payday for track operators and they all would like a PDRA race. The only major hurdle the PDRA faces is the same one all the previous versions of eighth-mile doorslammer racing faced, and that is how to attract ticket buying fans and non-automotive sponsors to their series. In a move reminiscent of the NHRA, the PDRA has hired a VP (Mike Condgon) with no apparent background in drag racing but a solid one in oval track racing to try and help that issue.