Can anyone explain US Fuel qualifying?

[topnitro]

This week at the US Nationals (eliminations are today) sees the return to the track of Connie Kalitta's DHL Solara Funny Car in the hands of Jeff Arend - the team having reformed since the sad loss of Scott Kalitta at Englishtown earlier this season.

I just can't work it out. At one time you'd look at qualifying - see a good qualifying time and speed and irrespective of performances over the rest of qualifying - if the good one stacked up at the end of qualifying, then you're in the show.

Apparently, this is now not the case:-

Left Lane: Jeff Arend Runs 4.193/297.75, Now #1

(which would have been good enough for 14th in the set Funny Car field) ends up as:-

22. Jeff Arend DHL Solara 6.816 297.75

Can anyone explain?

[Flying Toilet]

Richard,

As far as i see it, after the two Friday sessions (or Saturday in this case) only the top 12 get a locked in spot and the other 4 spots are reset making Arends 4.19 void. A bit of a joke really...

[topnitro]

Flying Toilet said:

A bit of a joke really...

Any chance of "Why?", Dan?

[Flying Toilet]

topnitro said:

Flying Toilet said:

A bit of a joke really...

Any chance of "Why?", Dan?

Well, i think the old format of the fastest 16 over the 4 sessions qualify worked fine. It has done for years...

I know it was done to try and eliminate the Friday night session times setting the field but it means that this weekend that Arend and co missed the field.

[topnitro]

Flying Toilet said:

topnitro said:

Flying Toilet said:

A bit of a joke really...

Any chance of "Why?", Dan?

I know it was done to try and eliminate the Friday night session times setting the field...

Thanks for that, Dan. Still beggars belief, though and begs a number of other questions....

Anyway, there's a well known phrase that I've been a great fan of for many years and it applies to this situation very much indeed:

"If it aint broke, don't fix it"

[Nitrohaulic]

More Countdown-like welfare. Like I posted on a similar thread about this at Nitromater yesterday, might as well incorporate bracket racing type first round "buybacks" for professional ranks. We gotta round off ALL the corners in life, I guess.

Like a comedian basically said. We didn't have seat belts and air bags. We had steel dashes!

[Time Machine]

I was going to say NHRA stopped being about the racing and became 'Sports Entertainment' about the time it was sold to a company specialising in Media and Entertainment but it appears the sale may not actually have gone through:

http://www.fastmachines.com/nhra/hd-partners-acqui...

Maybe it is since the sad passing of Wally Parks? Is all he dedicated his life to going to fall apart in a shambles of a committee lead organisation?

Well that was controversial of me but if I was a stateside racer I would be tempted to go IHRA.