Little man at Phoenix ?
Little man at Phoenix ?
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Mark13

Original Poster:

411 posts

199 months

Saturday 20th February 2010
quotequote all
I have just looked at the coverage of the Arizona Nationals and no mention of Andy Carter in either qualifying 1 or 2. I thought he was doing this event in the Terry Haddock car.

Bikermoore

146 posts

214 months

Saturday 20th February 2010
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They found a problem during the warm up in the pits. And didn't make either Q yesterday, they hope to get out today if the rain stays away.

WJM

333 posts

209 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
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Managed to get in with an 8 as there were only 16 cars, meets Tony S in round 1.

Bill

Geoff Stilwell

679 posts

196 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
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Andy got beat but ran a 3.90. Well done Andy.

Mooneyes

19 posts

206 months

Sunday 21st February 2010
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Whole different ball game out there,such a shame,but well done Andy...

WJM

333 posts

209 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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Aparently led off the line but Schumacher passed him on the run, a 3.9 was an excellent run given all the problems they had had at the 2 meets, I read in Eurodragster that Andy is not doing Gainesville after all which is a pity as it looks like he would have been in decent shape.

Bill

Eurodragster Tog

657 posts

228 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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Assuming the run continued clean Andy's 3.947 extrapolates to, at slowest, a 4.693 over the quarter.

badbird

171 posts

208 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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so what would thomas nataas' 3.84?? run "extrapolate" to assuming the same?

cheers

Graham

Edited by badbird on Monday 22 February 11:35

Mark13

Original Poster:

411 posts

199 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
quotequote all
Would the track hold more power than Santa Pod?
I am not a racer but i struggle to understand the fascination of running in the nhra events with little chance of progressing, even when performing so well. The budgets for the likes of Schumacher must be massive in comparison and ultimately the money will tell.

TheMighty

584 posts

232 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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badbird said:
so what would thomas nataas' 3.84?? run "extrapolate" to assuming the same?

cheers

Graham

Edited by badbird on Monday 22 February 11:35
That'd be somewhere between 4.49 and 4.55 Graham

badbird

171 posts

208 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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Mark13 said:
Would the track hold more power than Santa Pod?
I am not a racer but i struggle to understand the fascination of running in the nhra events with little chance of progressing, even when performing so well. The budgets for the likes of Schumacher must be massive in comparison and ultimately the money will tell.
In sportsman racing i can see the point ( TAFC TAD and Pro Modified are sportsman classes in NHRA)

the best in these classes are near enough to be concidered a worthy oponent for most US teams,
Pro Stock in europe is also a class where the best would qualify well in the US some of the time,

TF and AFC... forget it

the Anderson brothers have done an awesome job im sure Bob could step up his FC if he wanted,

the teams over there are another league Jim Head is about the only guy doing reasonably well on a non existant budget in FC,

top fuel... just look at the names who either DNQ or struggle on some tracks then ask yourself are we better than them?? do we have a quater of their budget?? if the answer to either of these is yes then go...


just my oppinion though means nothing


Mark13

Original Poster:

411 posts

199 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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I think all opinions count Graham and many people agree with your sentiments.

I just find it frustrating for the best european teams to spend their budgets going over to the NHRA to be also rans. Judging by the comments regarding the track announcers, they are also being disrespected. Frankly it does not suprise me that the commentary teams show such poor research skills being in their comfort bubble of 'world series' sport in the US. I know a few Americans (a few of the 15% who have passports and the 3% who have used them)and they are always embarrased by the naive inward looking comments from their fellow countrymen.

hornet

6,333 posts

271 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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I'm sure I've asked this before, but I'll ask it again anway. From a TF point of view, what's the benefit of running NHRA races as opposed to IHRA, which strikes me (with admittedly limited knowledge) as closer to the European level in terms of budgets and whatnot? I can see the appeal of going out and competing in the top flight series, but what's the actual benefit? If it's track time and performance, wouldn't it be better to be in a series where you had more chance of going rounds, or is it more about profile and contacts? I'm genuinely curious. I have a few IHRA highlights videos at home, and I'm sure Five used to show races, and it always struck me as a "nicer" series in terms of not being so corporate dominated. Is it that much inferior to the NHRA that people wouldn't consider competing?

WJM

333 posts

209 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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The thing is drag racing is a US sport and they have always been the best at it, the Yanks for example play rugby union {poorly} and the big countries {NZ, SA, France, England etc} don't regard them as serious opposition, their fans are not particularly interested in watching the US play because they know it won't be competitive. At Gainesville last year Urs was not really "disrepected" but just regarded in the same way as say a local Florida car on a tight budget ie there just to make up the numbers.

At the moment I think I am right in saying that none of the Europeans in the last couple of seasons has ever got past round 1 of eliminations and while that continues they will never make much of a splash out there. If for example there was a US based F1 team that consistently either failed to qualify or just got on the back of the grid and finished last I could not see European F1 fans showing much interest.

Bill

Eurodragster Tog

657 posts

228 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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badbird said:
so what would thomas nataas' 3.84?? run "extrapolate" to assuming the same?
4.609 at the slowest.

BTW by "at the slowest" I mean assuming a clean run and the car doesn't put on any more speed after 1000 feet - the cars all have different aceleration curves so it is difficult to say with any certainty what the quarter speed would be. So my extrapolation assumes they stay at the 1000-foot speed.

DWphil

269 posts

232 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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hornet said:
I'm sure I've asked this before, but I'll ask it again anway. From a TF point of view, what's the benefit of running NHRA races as opposed to IHRA, which strikes me (with admittedly limited knowledge) as closer to the European level in terms of budgets and whatnot? I can see the appeal of going out and competing in the top flight series, but what's the actual benefit? If it's track time and performance, wouldn't it be better to be in a series where you had more chance of going rounds, or is it more about profile and contacts? I'm genuinely curious. I have a few IHRA highlights videos at home, and I'm sure Five used to show races, and it always struck me as a "nicer" series in terms of not being so corporate dominated. Is it that much inferior to the NHRA that people wouldn't consider competing?
Take a look at the IHRA website and you will see that the racing is now a show where each car runs twice and the quickest 2 from round one run the final and the others just run for minor places , i believe they now do this twice during a meeting.

jpw90

44 posts

217 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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Mark13 said:
Would the track hold more power than Santa Pod?
I am not a racer but i struggle to understand the fascination of running in the nhra events with little chance of progressing, even when performing so well. The budgets for the likes of Schumacher must be massive in comparison and ultimately the money will tell.
the main thing right now, especially in TF, is they are struggling for full fields, so a low buck team can turn up, run a reasonable qualifying time, lose round 1 and earn $13,000. That's before costs of course, but providing you keep it all together it's worth it, even if you know you can't match the budget of the top teams. And as long as they're there then they always stand a chance of going a round or two.

Mark13

Original Poster:

411 posts

199 months

Monday 22nd February 2010
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I understand the numbers but you don't need very much damage to be well out of pocket. In effect you are still living off crumbs, with little or no chance of winning more than the odd round. I respect the desire to be in the fire up road with the likes of Schumacher and the Force family etc, but my own competitiveness would not make me comfortable with this scenario.

NitroWars

667 posts

232 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
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Mark13 said:
I understand the numbers but you don't need very much damage to be well out of pocket. In effect you are still living off crumbs, with little or no chance of winning more than the odd round. I respect the desire to be in the fire up road with the likes of Schumacher and the Force family etc, but my own competitiveness would not make me comfortable with this scenario.
Whilst I agree with a lot of your sentiments I am concerned about your last one. If that is the way all racers felt then the sport (indeed any sport) would die. How many years was it before John Force won a race? If he had the same attitude that you have then he would not be where he is today! (I was going to say the force that he is today... but that would have been just terrible!)

badbird

171 posts

208 months

Tuesday 23rd February 2010
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NitroWars said:
Mark13 said:
I understand the numbers but you don't need very much damage to be well out of pocket. In effect you are still living off crumbs, with little or no chance of winning more than the odd round. I respect the desire to be in the fire up road with the likes of Schumacher and the Force family etc, but my own competitiveness would not make me comfortable with this scenario.
Whilst I agree with a lot of your sentiments I am concerned about your last one. If that is the way all racers felt then the sport (indeed any sport) would die. How many years was it before John Force won a race? If he had the same attitude that you have then he would not be where he is today! (I was going to say the force that he is today... but that would have been just terrible!)
I agree, up to a point,Yes some of if not all of the top guys in the sport or indeed any sport when they start at the bottom, usualy have a painfull start, "Eating crumbs from the table"
difference being that a hard time for them was an open trailer and a duely and 2 days driving, Dining on greasy burgers,

crossing oceans at great expence to eat crumbs seems prety pointless