exactly people see what they want to see. Al has had a hard on for this show from the beginning as others have. that's ok we don't care, best show on tv about drag racing in a long time. real guys doing their thing despite the nay sayers. I see a lot of jealousy

Jealousy....Now that there is funny

You don't "push" my buttons, nor does anyone else.

The fact of the matter is just what I said. Drag racing needs TELEVISION exposure. I can tell you from very limited conversations I have with locals that street racing is picking up around here and is getting back to numbers like they had in the 80's and early 90's. Is that because they went to a National and watched throttle stop classes. I stopped going to my local National because the track is a cesspool (and after at least 3 decades and counting that I know of) they have done little to nothing to fix it, and probably never will, and I stopped encouraging new people to go, because by the time we drove to said cesspool, paid through the nose, parked in bumpuckt Egypt, finally got to the crap stands, over paid for food and beverages (I guess we could have kept food in the car but the HOUR walk one way would have burned up the day) watched a 1 lane, tire smoking pedal fest in fuel, which naturally caused several blowers to unbolt themselves and many rods to vacate the crankshaft and ventilate the block, causing the enivetable 3/4-1 hour clean up, after all that, we watched 8 pairs of Pro Stock, then the alcohol guys provided us with more oil down time, AND AFTER ALL THAT, ALL THAT CRAP, we got S/C, S/G and good old S/ST. WTF? How do you explain THAT to a newbie? Is that drag racing? If it is, I can tell you, from my experience, newbies don't want to see throttle stop racing, even more so after all that. In fact, a friend of mine who had never been to a drag race EVER, and his wife, summed the day up better than I ever could. They said: "I'd rather watch this on TV. The TV cuts out 90% of the crap, and my DVR does the rest for me".

That was when I realized something has to give.

Not surprisingly, I had not been to my local track since October 2007. I was there a couple of weeks ago. It was a (I want to say about 12-15 good old fashioned US Army type swear words here) disgrace. The (more swear words here) CAR SHOW drew more spectators and participants than the weekly drag race did. WTMFingH is going on here? That weekly program was the ENVY of EVERY track on the west cost during the 70's, 80's, and even the early 90's. After that, the big hitters got old, retired, died, just said piss on it (although some are still doing LODRS and a few Nationals with some big bracket races thrown in) and the people who came along to replace them are just not there. Part of that is a societal issue, but part of it is that throttle stop racing kills the concept of drag racing. My wife and I were in the stands watching the few fast cars that were there in the stands. Several of them still ran their T.S. for a bracket race. My wife was stunned (she is NOT a drag racer nor much of a fan, she is just there because I was) and I had to tell he he was working on his "tune up" for a big race. More than likely that was BS but it is what it is. She thought the T.S. deal was way more boring that watching two cars in a bracket race.

At any rate, this all comes down to why Street Outlaws KILLS NHRA on TV ratings. Most non-gear head people who didn't grow up in the sport think drag racing is about two cars lining up, and the fastest one gets the trophy and kisses the girl.

In 2015, that is mostly, not true. And so, unless you cut out the crap at Nationals, get some QUALITY TV coverage, and start encouraging our kids and grandkids that it is not criminal or a sin to work with your hands, that cars and motorsports are NOT killing the earth, then we will see more of the same, with a slow, grisly death of drag racing to follow.


BTW, where are all the "ricers" that were going to be the future of hot rodding I was hearing about in the 80's and 90's? Don't see them flocking to the track either.

Kill the SPORTSMAN kill the SPORT.

madscientist PLEASE don't take this wrong but the way I look at it
#1. your are NOT a racer so your opinion won't matter to many. Mine included.
#2 You don't enjoy watching the sport.
#3. You don't have anything good to say about the sport.
#4. You should consider buying a mustang and check out a few local car cruises like a lot of other non-racers do.

Thanks for the tips.

I will treasure them always, and do them faithfully.

pittsburgracer PLEASE don't take that the wrong way.

I have no problem with Mad's views or opinions, some of his points having validity. IMO more/better TV coverage is one of the many things the sport needs. Something needs to be done to generate non racer interest and I think SO has to a degree has done that. Look at the videos of grudge racing, the stands are packed, so are races like Holly springs big radial races. Maybe the NHRA needs to replace the .90 classes with the radial/small tire classes at national events? Personally I think it would put more butts in the seats and more TV viewers. I fully understand you can't do grudge/no prep races at a national event but local tracks could do it one night a month and make money.

These are the opinions of a lowly part/some time bracket racer, your mileage may vary.

I'm in the garage welding. I got hot and took a break and watch this episode of "MoPar Inlaws"

Yall keep it up, I'll be back
Back to welding

What you may gain in spectators you will lose in participants. No participants=no sponsors. Look at the entry numbers already for Indy. Do you think they could pull heads up cars like that, that will also pass the NHRA National event tech? Also will you expect those cars to run 1/4 or 1/8th mile?

LOL...

As I said before the lack of spectators has more to do with pricing than any other factor period. How many responding have been to a National. event in the last few years? The prices are RIDICULOUS, they have priced themselves out of their target market. ALOT of the reason the small tire and grudge stuff gets butts in the seats is pretty simple. Promotion and low entry prices. The racing is awesome for sure and fun to watch, although I suspect many attend hoping to see the wrong things. Not close racing but cars hitting things. I hear it all the time at the heads up stuff we attend from the fans. Tickets to most all heads up events are dirt cheap compared to NHRA stuff. Kinda like places like Firebird in Boise or Norwalk in Ohio. Those places promote very well, have low entry prices and pack the stands for bracket races...

Jacob there are some very nice heads up cars out there and yes they will pass tech. Why couldn't they run the 1/8? Look at a 1/4 mile time slip, the clocks are already there.

Al, I agree on the costs to attend a national event are outrageous. Does it really matter why people are in the seats? A lot of nascrap seats are filled with people waiting on the "big one", there is no difference in their money than the diehard fan who is there for "the race". Do you honestly believe that the seats are (mostly) full when the fuel cars run because the fans want to see a good clean race? I don't, they're there for the show. Because cars are loud and unpredictable, have spectacular explosions and crashes. Similar to a drag radial race?

I don't have the answers for sure, but like everyone else here I'm entitled to my opinion.

If you have not noticed NASCAR is suffering form the same issue. Priced themselves out of their target market. Look at the stands during a race. Heck Indy was almost empty when they were there, as has been most every race they have run this year. I don't care why they come, just stating that is part of the allure of heads up stuff. Carnage and mayhem, couple that with cheap tickets and good promotion and the stands are full.

Now run those very same cars at an NMCA race and they stands are nowhere near as full. The reason, they aligned with the NHRA a few years ago and called it NHRA Unleashed. Ticket prices are significantly higher at NMCA events. We run NMCA and while there are a few fans, it is not what it should be. Thay have also chased away their fair share of racers for various reasons, tech being a BIG one.

So, do you REALLY think if I (or anyone else) paying money for a National event wants to see ANY super class racing you are nuking futs. You might think it's all that to you (I have done it and was bored to tears by it) but from a spectator point it's stupid.


So which is it? You race or just critic?

Yes I've noticed nascar prices too, for years my cousins and I went to four to five races a year. Now we don't go at all. It's not because of the prices though, it's because it has became a spec, sanitary, cookie cutter driver (no) personality race series. The only way it could be more boring would be to go to a IROC format where the driver and crew show up on Friday and draw for a car, qualify on Saturday and race on Sunday.

Does it matter?

Evidently you think I can't have an opinion on womens issues because I am a man, or can't have an opinion on war because I'm not a combet vet.

The truth is it's none of your business what I do, or how I form my opinions.

You ain't my wife or mother (mom, are you on the interwebz screwing with me again???) so I don't answer to you.

Have a nice day.

sorry man, I forgot Big Daddy Al has it all

This is essentially what I am saying, except you did like how and some of what I said.


I'm assuming you have been around a while, so you know prices NEVER go down, EVER. Just the value of the federal reserve notes in your wallet gets less (which is a whole 'nother issue). So you have to give the spectators (and the TV audience you want) a product that has better content. So, killing PSM is one way to reduce costs and not hurt the show (motorcycle fanboys can now chime in and have their way with me). And use a less expensive class to fill it's place. If every pass was a good show, there would be no beeotching about prices. The BEST model to look at is NFL football. The game is (suppossed to be) about 3 hours long. It has plays that last 5-10 seconds, then you have about 25 seconds off and it starts again. Of course, you have TV time outs and crap like that, but the NFL fits broadcast TV to a "T" (see what I did there??)

You'll never get NHRA drag racing like NFL, but you can fix the content, and try to stop oil downs (rev limiters ain't it) and make it fit a TV package better But the dudes running the clown show known as NHRA are NOT drag racers. They are stuffed suits, filling their pockets off the back of a sham nonprofit deal. Until those twits are gone, you'll never fix it.

You're a special case my friend. I've noticed in more than one of your posts. I'm not being combative. Just curious as to what racing you enjoy since you have a dig for all of it.

I know AL has a Championship Wally.
And he's had some bad a$$ cars.

I know quicktree never posts vids or timeslips.

I'm wondering what madscienctist runs besides his ?

I know Eric is hard on parts lol

Back to work on my contraption.