The End of Drag racing as we know it

The End of Drag racing as we know it

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Discussion

Turbobird1

Original Poster:

443 posts

147 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
with the demise of the FIA races so widely talked about, and the possibility of an anglo/german championship
if this rumor comes to fruition will it effectively be the end of pro car racing,
we have pro mod cars here Rune has TF cars based in the uk but with no TMD 2 or 3 TMFC no PS there will be no stepping stone to TF or FC
no point building a car to race yourself so no new pro racers coming through,

thoughts anyone?
and keep it respectful

Total loss

2,138 posts

226 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Turbobird1 said:
and the possibility of an anglo/german championship
I've heard that its been talked about of possibly the British Pro Mod championship having one round in Germany (maybe the other pro classes as well ?)
Is this the anglo/german thing, or something else ? what about the Scandinavians ?

Turn7

23,502 posts

220 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Whats the rumour on the FIA deal ? Bartlett pulling out ?

DWphil

269 posts

210 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
So who is the FIA series Promotor at the moment ?

Do the Scandinavians [ Speedgroup ]want to go it alone ? i believe Alastaro is part of track group Europe along with Pod and Hockenhiem

Pro Stock in terms of racers is a Scandinavian championship

Can Tierp survive on what looks like another small gate ?

Hockenhiem is all about the Saturday night show

Joe public wants to be entertained so would it harm UK drag racing if there was no FIA championship ? and the format changed to....

I,m thinking T/F [8] , Pro Mod[16], TMD [4] , TMFC [4] , [or maybe Pro Comp [8]] Fuel Alterds [4] Possibly Top Fuel Bikes and Supertwins also ,Street Elim and Jets backed up by some sportsman classes, as much heads up racing as possible , obviously a lot of the Pro classes would have to come from abroad. Make the event 2 or max 3 days with shorter days racing days to make it a more compact all action entertainment

If we do get an Anglo/ German championship will it just be 3 rounds ?

The FIM bike championship has already been ruined by Politics / Power struggle please dont let European car drag drag racing go the same way

Just a few random thoughts



Edited by DWphil on Monday 25th August 14:53


Edited by DWphil on Monday 25th August 15:21

37chevy

3,280 posts

155 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
First off, what exactly is being talked about, I'm on social media and the internet, but heard diddly squat....maybe you could let us less informed people know exactly what the situation is? It would be unfair and unwise for me to form any opinion on anything other than fact (learn from my mistakes n all that!!!)

One thing I will say though, power struggles are never a good thing, look back to any sports series (motorsport or otherwise) and tell me which have come out better than before the power struggle started....indycar is still losing the war to NASCAR, ihra hasn't over taken the nhra, the NHL is still suffering from its issues and the wwf American football series hasn't exactly taken off!

No matter where you are in the world if people want to get power of someone else all you do is end up dividing the teams you have and end up with 2 ste championships rather than one good one, all the teams, drivers, sponsors, fans and tracks loose out, struggle along for 20 years at which point it kills the sport or they get back together again but you've lost 20 years worth of development and fan base and have to rebuild things from scratch

Edited by 37chevy on Monday 25th August 16:28


Edited by 37chevy on Monday 25th August 16:33

Mark13

403 posts

177 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Graham
Can you put some meat on the bones of your first post?
That would bring it alive and form the basis of some interesting and polite debate.

Turbobird1

Original Poster:

443 posts

147 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
no Mark the first post says clearly what the rumor is, there is no meat to add, its just a talked about and in some places worried about rumor nothing else at this point in time,
not sure about those numbers Phill 16 PM...without the scandinavians ? remember the 3 dutch teams are hard core teams and they will most lightly look to tierp as their home track, and bruno and marcus hilt cannot be included in our championship as they have the wrong licence, there is not 4 tad ...do you think the germans and maltese will run for fun, 4 tmfc is that enough to warrant a championship
sure any of this can be brought in for a show for hockenheim
i cant see the andersons breaking ranks with their Scandinavian roots
so our two big meetings of the year become international shows rather that intense racing by the best in the business right now,
you can pad out the big meetings with all sorts of stuff, but it will be a show,
maybe this is what will sell to joe public easier than an FIA championship ??
im aware finland is in the group but honestly will anyone travel to Finland for a round from the UK ?






Edited by Turbobird1 on Monday 25th August 18:45


Edited by Turbobird1 on Monday 25th August 19:00

Turbobird1

Original Poster:

443 posts

147 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
37 chevy cant you read...
and now your banging on about power struggles and giving examples that have no bearing at all on the thread
you dont need to be informed I asked a simple question based on some what ifs, end of story

and the what if is simply if the plug is pulled on the fia races in the uk

Edited by Turbobird1 on Monday 25th August 18:45

DWphil

269 posts

210 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
DWphil said:
Unfortunately if there was no FIA championship including Scandinavia then yes Graham i can see our 2 big meetings becoming shows not racing,of course that would mean buying in a show from across Europe which would take us back to how things were in 70/80,s. After all the work to get the European Championship to where it is now does any body really want that? Yes it would sell to Joe Public but would just be a bigger Flame and Thunder [ the Easter Meet is already going that way ]

Turn7

23,502 posts

220 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Graham, what would you do if the FIA series was canned ?

Do you want to race as a Pro team in an FIA series OR do you just want to go fast ?

Burndown

732 posts

165 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
I can only see a demise if

a) all of the tracks decide not to apply for a round. You either request to hold a round within the FIA guidelines or don't.

b) racers boycott events in the championship and even then home racers would attend most probably. You don't have to attend an event in each country anymore to run in the championship.




37chevy

3,280 posts

155 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Turbobird1 said:
37 chevy cant you read...
and now your banging on about power struggles and giving examples that have no bearing at all on the thread
you dont need to be informed I asked a simple question based on some what ifs, end of story

and the what if is simply if the plug is pulled on the fia races in the uk

Edited by Turbobird1 on Monday 25th August 18:45
I can read perfectly well....I was just asking if there was anything more than just rumours....and if there's was any fact behind them. In terms of the power struggle thing I was referring to DWphils post who mentioned/asked if it was a power struggle thing and was simply stating it never ends well....

And I was asking to be informed as you are asking for opinion on something without giving any actually information about the rumours, or facts....how can I give you my thoughts in s respectful way, if I don't know what the rumours/facts are?

Edited by 37chevy on Monday 25th August 19:38

Turbobird1

Original Poster:

443 posts

147 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
i asked for an opinion based on the facts as i told them phill was referring to the bike series and saying that power struggles could hurt series, so it diddnt need repeating or embellishing
if you cant comment based on the facts as i gave them...dont...simples

37chevy

3,280 posts

155 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Turbobird1 said:
i asked for an opinion based on the facts as i told them phill was referring to the bike series and saying that power struggles could hurt series, so it diddnt need repeating or embellishing
if you cant comment based on the facts as i gave them...dont...simples
Ok.......what ever graham, that was the problem, you didn't really give many facts....I'm not the only one that asked for more p, so that I could form a proper response....,anyway, nevermind, no point in posting a response again if you don't give any information, and then when requested by others and myself don't give any either and just expect us to know,,,,,I'm outta here

Hope the cars going well and your getting back to full fitness

Adam

Turbobird1

Original Poster:

443 posts

147 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
fkin hell how many times do i say there is no facts until someone gets it its simply a rumor that is circulating in some circles Adam you are just fishing you cant stand it that your not in the know and you expect me to tell you something i dont know...tough st, ... right start again... given that the rumor was true just for arguments sake will pro classes survive and will the big races become simply drag racing shows and is that a bad thing? I diddnt invent this as some here will know i just wonder what the long term implications would be for the racing classes lightly to be included in any "show"




Edited by Turbobird1 on Monday 25th August 20:10

37chevy

3,280 posts

155 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Turbobird1 said:
fkin hell how many times do i say there is no facts until someone gets it its simply a rumor that is circulating in some circles Adam you are just fishing you cant stand it that your not in the know and you expect me to tell you something i dont know...tough st, ... right start again... given that the rumor was true just for arguments sake will pro classes survive and will the big races become simply drag racing shows and is that a bad thing? I diddnt invent this as some here will know i just wonder what the long term implications would be for the racing classes lightly to be included in any "show"




Edited by Turbobird1 on Monday 25th August 20:10
Graham, I don't care if I'm not in the know, I just wanted more information on what the rumours were?? You asked for an opinion on things, but didn't give much information....I've just learnt from past experience not to make a comment on things if I don't know what I'm making a comment on that's all! No need to be rude about it.....

Anyway never mind

Like I said good luck with the new car and your recovery

Adam

Mark13

403 posts

177 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Should the FIA series end what would happen?
The MSA series looks to be growing in strength so Pro Mod may survive and grow. The TF (won't call them top oilers in case Graham thinks I am taking the piss) class is mainly Finnish drivers which leaves concern about the methanol classes. I am not sure what could be done other than a limited match series. Pro Stock is almost 100% Swedish anyway.
The 2 big meetings at the Pod would be hugely hit unless a massive effort was. Put into assembling a representative Nitro entry. IMO it would be a huge backward step. I personally think that Pro Mod is the most interesting class but the ste attendances at the National Meetings shows that many fans are Nitro obsessed.

Flying Toilet

3,621 posts

210 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
Are the FIA still looking for a promotor? Does the contract end this year or is it a rolling deal?

http://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/basicpage/f...

Jon C

3,214 posts

246 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
I race at the other end of the food chain to those who run in the "pro" classes. Even at my level, I have learned very quickly the levels of determination and sheer hard work it takes to run a car or bike at any level. It is my personal belief that those whose hard work, drive and determination have enabled them to race st the highest possible levels will find a way to make it happen.

Racers have to race, it is hard-written into their DNA.

With regards the future of the sport? Who knows what is around the corner for any of us? I can't pretend to know a lot about how Speedgroup and the new incumbent at Tierp will work together. It is clear looking at the pictures from the pro sessions this last weekend that the attendance figures were considerably below capacity and therefore also presumably below the original projections in the original business plan.

I have heard rumours about FIA as well, and I think open speculation on such rumours at what could (for sll we know) be delicate stages of negotiations could be damaging.

From a business point of view, sorry guys, but Hockenheim remains the jewel in European Drag Racing's crown. None of the other tracks gets close to sixty thousand paying punters. Many of those sixty thousand actually have little or no interest in drag racing, but from a business standpoint, who cares? Clearly there have been issues with the track, but for certain high-profile racers to post on social media that they had to find a "special T(rack) G(roup) E(urope) tune" for Hockenheim was not only divisive, but also a slap in the face to Ian, David, Jerry and everyone else who had busted a gut working on the track. I understand completely the reasons why Pro Stock had issues and felt that they couldn't run on the track, and clearly a long term solution needs to be found. Interestingly, a group of racers at York today also felt the track wasn't up to their cars, and they went home at lunchtime. Four hours later the track held Robin Read's 7.66 @ 176 mph 3/4 pass including a 1.06 60' time. Tracks can and do improve during an event.

To answer Graham's original point, yes, European Drag Racing has a future. Racers come and go, careers wax and wane, and some years are busier than others. It was not that long ago that there were 2-3 top fuel racers at FIA events, and to say that eight car fields in Europe remain the norm rather than the exception after six years of a global recession is remarkable. TMD and TMFC are producing world class performances and the FIM/UEM bike series are the envy of the world. I would say that inspite of everything, European Drag Racing is in reasonable health, and reports of its demise are greatly exaggerated.

Turbobird1

Original Poster:

443 posts

147 months

Monday 25th August 2014
quotequote all
do you think the big events could evolve into a hockenheim style show event, A nitro show with other non drag racing attractions like they do at hockenheim ?
and yes open speculation could be harmfull and thats why i have asked only a what if question for opinions of how the future may look without the FIA in england and not treated this as any more than rumor