Um, yes. If the teams earned the points to be in the lead they do deserve to win the championship, regardless of when they were earned.

By your rational, NHRA should just make the first six or so events the "preseason" and not have anyone earn points, that way everyone would have a chance to get their programs together; just like the stick and ball sports.

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No, he deserves to be Champion because he is/was the points leader going into this farce.
chumpionship

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Looks like I'll be needing some ice cream after today!!

Great reply Terry. By your rational, everyone should be screaming and crying when the Indy Colts go all season undefeated only to lose in their first playoff game. They should be the REAL Champions because they won the most games, right.

Hey, it's the playoffs, better bring your A game!

You have bested me.

Now just explain to me why NHRA Drag Racing, a single elimination competition with durations of less than eight seconds in the professional categories, needs to emulate any other form of competition. By design you "bring your A game" every time you stage the car. You don't have the luxury of multiple periods, overtime or cautions.

PS your NFL strawman argument doesn't really work, it would if I was posting on the NFL site in praise of the swithcing to a different points system.

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And another thing, this thread has a huge hole in it. How many teams went into test mode because they knew that they only needed to make the top 8 by Indy. The points up until Indy is the real farce. Tracking this is a total waste of effort.

I do agree 100%, maximum effort should be put forth in all competition. However, there is one thing that everyone is forgetting, mainly because everyone here is either a diehard Drag Racer or Fan.

As a Professional Sport, entertainment of the fans should be the number one priority, PERIOD.
With that said, having this playoff system is a hell of alot more entertaining than crowning Greg Anderson Champion next week in Memphis. It's happened too many times in too many classes. BORING

If you don't believe me, just look at this board, without the Countdown there would be half as many threads, nothing for you guys to cry about, and only a few threads speculating on where Scelzi will end up next season. See it's working already!

Lance....

I'm Bit*hing, not crying...
I'm over how meaningless The Chase is.... just like not holding a kid back in school because his peers learn something and he didn't....

let's take this to the next step.... take the score board down and the win light, someone smokes the tires, they get a re-do.... cross the centerline, same thing as stepping out of bounds, restart the race from that point... first to reds are freebies, only the third red and you're out.... level the playing field and no one will care....

Drag Racing is NEVER BORING....
It's about who wins each week... Not about who's the season Champion... Drag Racing in and by itself is never Boring.... And I personally like early wrap ups as much as last years 'last run'... the person who did best over the whole season was champ... and I'm not a Tony fan.... The Show is never Boring.... The Hype for The CHASE is....

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i agree with pj!!1 this new system is a JOKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! how about greg anderson, he was up 148 points going into indy 1-4-8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he went to the finals now hes in second! thats total bull. and whoever says so what, just imagine your favorite racer ( probably someone from $$$humacher) up by that much then in 1 round hes in 2nd. the countdown is a farce, if anyone but rod fuller, ron capps and greg anderson win, its as tainted as barry bonds last 300 home runs!

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kalitta motorsports kb/summit pro stock john force racing-#1 fan visit a legend@ arniebeswick.com

I am glad to see I am not the only one who feels this way! I was watching the Reading race from 2004 on ESPN classic the other day and Schumacher and Anderson were wrapping up the titles there. I like the excitement the Countdown is bringing. Some people just can not accept change; the funny thing is that the crowds this year in Indy did not seem to be impacted by the anti-countdown crowd. In fact, the biggest anti-countdown proponent was at Indy enjoying the race after he said he would not go just to show his displeasure with the countdown.

Oh, really? Were you there? On Monday NHRA changed entire reserved seat sections on the west side to general admission to try and get people in them.
The east side wasn't much better. Something sure kept them away, whether it was six hours of tv, sheer expense, or the Countdown.

I still can't get over the fact of how close Doug Kalitta actually was last year - a fraction of a second - nearly faster than you can inhale a deep breath and exhale it, right now sitting at your computer...... then compare it to where he stands right now. Who in thier right mind at the awards banquet last fall, thought that Doug would end up in this position just a year later? It's very intriguing.

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On my arm until the day I die, but in my heart forever

Taking a dive is not entertainment.

I was there Saturday and Sunday and it was packed, it seemed like a lot more people than I have seen the prior 2 years I was there. I wasn't there on Monday because my son could not be up late on Monday so he could wake up on Tuesday.

Hey! what's wrong with the new points countdown?
This new countdown deal sucks!
Either way it's what we get, at least this year.

What sucks is:

One good qualifying run and three bad ones.

Sitting out Q rounds.

One Lane race tracks.

Team orders to take a dive.

Smokefest '07

I would like to see four good passes in qualifying.
Maybe give bonus points for for each Q pass after
round 1 that is above the bump spot that round.

Too many qualifying sessions this year have been "Boring"

Thank you for your time, you may address any complaints you may have to:
NHRA.com

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You guys are so predictable.

Just hang on, the sky isn't really falling............

Alan