One of the main reasons they need the big dollar sponsorships is travel expenses and upkeep for going to 23 national events if they race the full circuit. In the old days teams used to match race to make money and go to the 4 (maybe) national events a year. Now, running the circuit is a full time job and then some. No time for match racing anymore. The old days are long gone. Slowing the cars down will never bring them back.
And BobR is correct. There is only one reason that P/S and PS/B run BEFORE the fuel cars. The stands would be empty if they didn't. Every class from P/S on down is merely space filler between rounds of fuel.
NHRA is partly complicit here in doing away with match racing - seeing as to how fuel teams are now limited as to the number of 'test' runs they can make after the start of the year. That was billed as a way to cut costs but it sure put the knife in the match racing circuit.
