There have been many, many posts, on how "boring, this or that class is, and how such and such class is what people REALLY want to see". Well, I have NHRA All-Access, and as it turned out, due to many unavoidable on track issues, over all four days, the Lucas cars were the LAST cars down the track. Pro Mod, which has been touted MANY TIMES here, as "what puts butts into the stands", because it's so much more exciting and "what fans really want to watch, not that belly button Pro Stock crap". Well let me tell you, whe the Pro Cars were finished, the beloved Pro Mods had about the same number of remaining fans, as they have at my local bracket track. Top Dragster, Top Sportman and Pro Mod don't appear to be any bigger draw than Super Pro. I personally enjoy all of the classes, but evidently, as witnessed today, a large percentage don't feel the same way.

A local friend of mine went there to run Top Sportsman and last time I looked there were only 15 cars entered. How pathetic

Weather here at my home 30 miles from z Max was 100% perfect--we stayed home and grilled out--Top Fuel is something you must see one time after that it is never the same as that first time many feel same way Crowds for anything and I mean garden show, races , NHRA, NASCAR, Local dirt track, circus etc is all declining Looks like Gun Shows only deal that is getting bigger
What does that say about our country

1966 Jr Fuel could draw 100 cars at a 70 car field of Top Fuel--because every guy or few guys that had an Esso station or garage could build one cheap and have fun No way now when a JR Dragster can be a $20K deal Crazy world

I watch it this afternoon, the stands where not anywhere near full all day that I saw
Times are changing

You guys have so much choice its sickening,down here we have maybe 7-8 1/4 mile tracks,maybe 10 1/8 mile tracks and a few airport deals.You see more than a full season of topfuel in 3 rounds of qualifing than we see in a whole season.Its sad that a lot of the pro classes are close to not being full or like prostock 90% camaros and Allan P the man fighting the good fight against the mega bucks of elite and the sumit guys.Nhra in the early 90's was was awesome i've got great memories of that time when underdogs really had a decent chance and did win.Enjoy what you have we dont even get drags worth watching on tv.

http://www.sydneydragway.com.au/events/gulf-western-oil-nitro-thunder/

Cole heres the link to this weekends round of IHRA here in Sydney . Numbers are certainly down in all classes
Yes the yanks have it better than us .

Tex

You need to take in to consideration the size of those stands.

The crowds at ZMAX Saturday and Sunday would fill most venues many times over.

The NHRA National Events have sold out several times this year. To once again murder the Mark Twain quote, "The death of NHRA Drag Racing has been greatly exaggerated."

Bill Lamb

I watched a little, 4-- Wide does nothing for me , I thought the stands looked fairly full

Yep. And those who left before the Pro Mod final missed a hell of a good race.

Sometimes it is hard to judge the crowd size by the fullness of the stands. A lot of people are walking around.

Doesn't 4 wide favor the faster cars/better drivers? I watched a bit yesterday for the first time.

Since the first 2 to the stripe advance, that means in order to advance you need to beat at least 2 cars. Therefore, a poor driver or mechanical failure in the other lane is FAR less likely to hand you a win.

Likewise, in 2 lane racing, when you get staged next to car/driver that performs really well, you're probably done for the day, even though your performance might have been the 2nd best of the day.

While one of the lesser performances of the next race will advance.

Am I missing something here?

We've been to the 4-wide deal, once. Lots of noise and sensory overload. But it's for the fans, real drag racing for racers is 2 go down, one comes back. The facility at Charlotte is an awesome place, can't knock that.

Go to local strips, meet real people, talk, have fun, even help out somebody make it what the way it should be!!

The stands looked "nearly full", at least appeared to be. After pro classes, mass exodus.

Well, there's fans of the fuel circus, period. Then there's people who understand and appreciate all or most of the classes. Two different groups, but they all buy tickets and spend money.

4 wide sucks!

at this point if it generates interest, packs the house like it did for the Vegas spring race, and aids in filling a track owners pockets.... bring it on.

.. if your trying to watch closely at
the cars to see if/when they spin and who is out
front at that time then 4 wide just doesnt make
it.. theres just to much going on in 4 seconds
but there is plenty of noise if thats all your
in to.. and the event is way quicker

It all looks good on TV watching it on tape delay. They struggled all day and kept falling further and further behind on All Access. Tracks have struggled for years trying to keep two lanes fair and racable so there's no way to keep up with 4 lanes. The drivers not knowing what is happening in the other lanes have to keep at it leading to more engine explosions. Bottom line for me is I hate it.

4-wide is for the short-attention-span folks who aren't interested in the details, but only the novelty of the amount of sound generated. I can see where it might help NHRA run through an event with shorter TV times, and where the tracks will see a bump in attendance for awhile, and that it's kind of newsworthy for awhile.
But I'm not interested in it.
I don't even like (as a spectator) being as far away from the actual track as most places are; almost seems like watching it on TV, except for the aromas.
But I'm not the modern demographic, I suppose; I'd rather be a participant, and I grew up in the era when even as a spectator, I'd be within 20 feet of the guardrail. That was risky at times, but it sure was tangible.