So, is this the NHRA or is it the WWE?

[1960Zody]

is it Drag Racing as a sport and as we know it or is it Sports Entertainment?...

http://www.nhra.com/story/2010/1/21/four-lane-raci...

[Flying Toilet]

If it attracts new people to the sport I cant see the problem myself.

[TheMighty]

Are they going to have twice the number of Safety Safari staff and equipment? Surely the capacity to deal with four fires at once, four extracations, four injured drivers will be a requirement however unlikely that a two car incident may occur on both sides of the track.

[1960Zody]

Flying Toilet said:

If it attracts new people to the sport I cant see the problem myself.

I'll give you that, on the proviso that it stays as a 'Spectacular', and does not get incorporated into the usual race schedule.

[MotorPsycho]

It's sports entertainment and been getting worse since Wally passed on

I don't bother reading nhra to see whats been happening but I stayed up til 3am watching the bangshift live feed from Bakersfield, make of that what you want,

[Bigmouse]

Drag racing is like any other motorsport in at least one respect; the movers and innovators will keep trying new things to bring more money/spectators into the sport; some will work out, some won't. They deserve credit for doing something IMO

[Bob Jarrett]

TV is the market in the US, not spectators. Only the track owners need them, same as in FI or NASCAR. Unfortunatly there is no market for Drag Racing on UK TV

[ScoobySuZe]

In my VERY humble opinion (and of course this is just MY opinion)... Utter Rubbish!

How can a Championship be run when ONE round is conducted under a completely different format and rules??? Really doesn't seem fair to me???

Why can't they operate under the same rules, with 2 pairings running side by side - it hardly seems fair that the first 2 cars from any lane will advance through - meaning that both cars from one pairing could progress - leaving the other pairing both on the trailer home.
Tracks are hard enough to prepare to make sure both lanes are prepped to the same standard - let alone 4 lanes.

It's been proved how different the 2 lanes previously used for competition at Zmax are - just look at last season - almost every Top Fueller or Funny Car running in the right hand lane smoked the tyres - with half the Countdown (don't even start me on the Countdown) contenders going out in the first round of Eliminations!!
How the hell are they going to make sure that all 4 lane run to the same standard??

And a 4 car Final......???? That's just plain daft!!!! Surely the whole idea of a Final is that it pits the 2 best drivers against each other....????

Come on.... They may be the biggest name in Drag Racing... but surely that doesn't give the NHRA the right to make the rules up as it goes along...????

As a friend posted on my facebook page the other night..... "When a sport's governing body starts messing about with the basics of a sport it's never good. In drag racing we have a perfect set up already, 2 cars or bikes, quarter mile track and the winner moves on to the next round, the loser goes home. It's beatiful in its simplicity"

Think that sums it up perfectly for me!!

[TheMighty]

If we can have different rules at different tracks why aren't they running 1/8th mile at Pomona/E-town, 1000ft at the ok tracks and 1/4 mile at the long "safe" tracks like Z-Max, The Plex etc etc. Makes far more sense than all this four wide rubbish. Drag racing is a head to head gladitorial battle between two racers, not 4, not 6, not 43. Where will it end? Who's going to be the first to build an 8 wide dragstrip?

If we had a situation like the late 60's and early 70's where sometimes it was quite possible to run a 64 car field in the pro classes I could understand the need, but these are the basic concepts of drag racing they're messing with. Yes its ok as a bit of fun, but this is supposed to be a serious world championship.

Edited by TheMighty on Saturday 23 January 12:35

[NitroWars]

Wait until it is only one winner who progresses from each four lane elimination and then the final can be run with all four first round winners... Everybody can go to the track after breakfast and be home for lunch!

ScoobySuZe said:

How the hell are they going to make sure that all 4 lane run to the same standard??

Exactly! and the rest of your post

Edited by NitroWars on Saturday 23 January 16:11

[TheMighty]

Can you imagine the kerfuffle if there's an oil down and the guy with low et decides he wants to swap lanes just before they fire them up.

[Mooneyes]

Well I think four lanes is a very silly idea, although I would like to hear 4 top fuelers launching at the same time.
But the qualifying and the eliminations would all be over much too soon.
And has been said before the safety aspect is very scary!!!!!