Hi.
I'm David Baca's daughter and I am a senior at Saint Mary's College and for a final project I'm making a video on the NHRA focusing on the Countdown controversy. So this is kind of a weird request and I'm sure I can find a lot of info just going through all of the old threads (which I will also be using for research) I would also like some personal thoughts and anything you guys (the fans) have to say about the Countdown and how this season ended up this year. Especially because my main involvement this year was just watching it on TV and participating in the last two races. My main point/argument is that they are doing this to try and compete with Nascar, make drag racing more exciting, attracting a bigger fan base and making the season ending more exciting (even though it ended up EXACTLY like last year when the countdown wasn't in place). So please, please, please help me with any ideas (or other points I should focus on) and comments you have!

Thanks so much for the time!!

Well Alex, if you haven't already used the search box, I might suggest that first. There has been several direct threads debating the issue, and a few that got derailed into a countdown thread.

(Maybe more than a few derailed threads---Hey PJ!)

Good Luck!

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Alex....i would perhaps look at from the point of view of a potential sponsor...for example, one who is thinking about getting involved in one of the pro classes but is hesitant because they are worried that if their driver does not get into the countdown, they will not receive good exposure, or some type of take off on that

and PS.....i am a senior at Western Illinois....i feel your pain on these final projects at this time of year!!!!

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Nostalgia Racing is where it's at folks!!!

Motown Shaker '08

Hi Alex, glad you could join us here.
Your ole man is awesome, I have a lot of fun cheering for him.
From Vegas:


About your project:
the single biggest thing that I noticed was how the crowd reacted for the last 2 pairs of cars at Pomona2.
Usually every year the crowd goes nuts and cheer wildly.
This year it was eerily quiet. Everyone knew how "fake" the championship was.
It literally sucked the excitement out of 30 some odd thousand spectators that night.
There are videos on youtube that people took this year and previous years, and you can see and hear the difference.

Well, wishing you all the best and success in your studies. Take care.

If you go back enough pages, you'll find a few threads with high post counts in which people "passionately" debate the issue. Most do it without disrespecting those they disagree with. Some have that problem.

I think we "traditionalists" care more about stripping away a points lead that a team may have EARNED over the season, unfairly giving number eight a chance at number one in a sport where luck may play more of a role at individual races. Anyone can smoke the tires at any time.

Others think that if the Countdown were to work, putting more fans in the seats and making the sport more popular is more important than an injustice done to competitors. They say it's not an injustice if the competitor knows the rules going in and still chooses to participate. If you've spent years compiling people, a multi-million dollar operation, and data, your only other option would be the smaller IHRA where your sponsor will get less exposure. In other words, NHRA may be the only game in town at your level.

This is obviously a biased view. If you find the poll thread, you'll see that over 80% of the people here are against the Countdown.

I LIKE when an underdog can luck through a national event. Nobody will root for an independent or lesser sponsored team than myself. I LOVE watching a David beat a Goliath. I DON'T want someone lucking through for a championship in the same way, though. I want that team to be the one who has the best average performance at ALL the tracks and in all the conditions that an entire season provides.

Like I've said before, baseball playoffs are different. That guy should have the same judgement whenever a ball is coming at him. They don't change the traction coefficient of the ball from game to game depending on where they're playing. Drag racing is different. The most a tuner can do is go out and scuff his shoe to judge what traction is like at THAT moment, then make his best guess as to what he can throw at it. Combine that with all the variables including how consistent and adaptable the person's tuneup is. Staging the car an inch to the left or right, IMO, probably makes the difference between low ET or up in smoke. I don't think you throw away a majority of a season's worth of better guessing so someone with a worse average guessing record can have a shot at you for the sake of the fan. I think there's a point at which you refuse to be a corporate wh*re and tell the fan "This part is not for you." I think the competitors and the fans are equally important, and this system favors one too much more than the other. It's an insult to the achievers who are the BEST of the sport.

Why don't you make part of your story about how nitro match racing was a huge industry in the 70s, about how people used to get paid to put on shows and that their main customers were people in the stands, not corporate names on the sides of the cars and people in suits thousands of miles away. Take a look at 70sfunnycars.com. I think it was a lot more enjoyable when the nicknames on the sides of the cars were part of the entertainment, when the side of every car wasn't a commercial, making the fan further pay by watching after they've already paid to get in.

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I'm an optimist. My glass is 1/4 full, not 3/4 empty!

Not sure how long you've been around here. It seems I have a bit of a reputation for being against this countdown

Rather than going through all my points against it again and I fear that would end up derailing your thread feel free to pm me. Unless you're wanting to see the debate back and forth for more ideas for your paper.

I'll have to look but at one point I did have articles I had saved regarding how the chase had negitively impacted nascar, its ratings and sponsorships. I'll have to search and see if I still have them.

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Hi Alex,
I miss the college parties but not the deadlines. I have been against the countdown from the time it was announced, last year. I hate reality TV and this was a reality TV type forced drama scenario, that punished consistency and excellence. It was done in the name of increasing mainstream media interest and gathering new fans and I think it failed miserably (I can't get Stars and Stripes to carry the NHRA results). I think if NHRA truly wanted to grow the sport and generate more interest, they would increase the purses and points fund to a level that makes since/excites the mainstream media (Winston Million like), work with teams to aquire team sponsors (and be less concerned about their official sponsorships) and promote the sport. I'm not against needed/smart change, but poorly thought change just for the sake of change is worthless. Good luck with the project, I'm sure you'll ace it

Semper Fi
D

Live I've said, we don't need reality TV for drama. We didn't get it every year but, when we did, it was real and that made it more special. Now it's contrived. Like Dr. Laura said (Whose show I DON'T like, LOL), one cookie is special. The whole bag and you're a pig! Eat enough lobster, I hear it tastes like soap.

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I'm an optimist. My glass is 1/4 full, not 3/4 empty!

Alex, I would make sure you add the part about sponsors now wanting to cut sponsorship money if there drivers dont make the countdown. I know the point was to "produce" excitement and gain more fans but I dont believe that happened at all. Also, in Funny Car the championship would have come down the final round with Robert Hight winning it under the old format but under the new one, the championship was really pretty much decided at Vegas. And add to that fact that I believe Tony only beat 1 racer in the Countdown with him the entire time.

You can also look at every poll that was taken on here, and its about 80% people AGAINST the countdown. And also, how can someone (Tony Shoe) lose 12 first rounds, 3 in the last 4 races and still be a champion is just crazy.

Hope you get it down and get a great grade. I would be interested in reading it if you could post it after your done with it. And tell your Dad it was great having him back even if it was just for 2 races. Hopefully he can get a rid.

Justin

Justin, I must have missed it, when and where was that edict issued?
Previous to the countdown announcement, a lot of "fans" wanted NHRA to change and be more business like, and to me, the countdown was business driven. I find it interesting that the web "fans" appear to be more affected than the racers. Granted, many racers are against it, but, it seems the majority were atleast willing to try it.
If my memory serves me correctly, the Schu's pulled a crazy championship win in 2006, pre-countdown era.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a fan of the countdown either, it just doesn't affect my daily life like it does to others. I still like to watch the nitro cars race. When a car wins, I don't think about the countdown implications, I just enjoy the moment. I leave the points issue to those who are affected the most, the actual race teams.

I guess I'm a "the glass is half-full" kind of person.

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Alex,
Like everything else in life it is neither all good or all bad. Before you choose which side you are on or the direction that you are going to approach your paper, leave personal feelings aside and make two lists of the positive side and a list of the negative side to the countdown. When you are done you will clearly see where the answer lies.

Personally the countdown is livable if they start with the top 10 [not 8] and the rest of the season is devoted to finding the champion. This would eleviate the "luck" fact as plauged the funny cars this year.

Second it could work if there was a concerted effort to maintain a balance of exposure for all racers involved and scale back all the fake hoopla of the countdown. You don't need to pump it up if it is working as advertised.

Good luck and I would love to read it when you are done.

jim

I see the Countdown a little different then most on here. In my opinion, the Countdown created excitement and exposure to teams that normally would not have been in contention for the title. Look at the attention the teams battling for 8th received during the middle part of the season; this would have never occurred in the past. This is why I do not understand peoples gripe with teams not receiving attention, hell in the old system they would have never received attention if they were in 8th. The Countdown ensures there will be a battle to the end for the title and I like that the NHRA is trying to do something to help improve the sport. Right or wrong, the NHRA is trying. Now if they can address the race purse issue.

Alex,I do not like the countdown for many reasons but here are the main points: Let me preface this by saying that I went to 6 races this year (STL, CHI, E-Town, Sonoma, Reading, and Vegas (2) and I found the value of the races before Indy to be insignificant. It was especially clear at Sonoma and Reading when several of the top cars were in test mode, yet the NHRA was still charging top dollar ($55 for GA Sat in Sonoma) for what could be considered a glorified test session. The fans at Reading really got screwed because even though there was all kinds of green all over PA on the radar map on Sunday morning they attempted to start a race they knew there was no way they were going to finish (it was even sprinkling throughout the first round of Top Fuel) and ended up completing it on Monday and Wednesday with maybe 2000 fans in the seats. Instead of rescheduling the race for the following weekend they had to finish it ASAP because of their beloved countdown. If a countdown happens in the middle of the woods and no one's there to hear it, does it make a sound??? I remember sitting in the stands at Vegas and thinking that I was at a race and the countdown was just something going on in the background. Because the championship was basically down to two races it watered down the value of the championship compared to year's past to the point that it really didn't matter to me who was the hottest over the last two races. I have a hard time buying the fact that Rod Fuller, Robert Hight and Greg Anderson aren't champions. It's kind of ironic because I think NHRA would have gotten a lot more publicity with Hight winning the championship in the last round of the season than they got with the Countdown. They keep saying how all the stick and ball sports have playoffs when the sport they have really emulated with this system is college football, because now we have a debate over who the champion is. The motto for 2007 could have been for the fans...at the expense of the fans.

Alex, Good luck on your project. The only thing I can add to the above excellent posts is the countdown is doomed to fail. Anytime you have a majority of racers and fans WHO ABSOLUTELY HATE IT it can't succeed.
I never whined about it but I missed the Finals for the first time in 30+ years
and raced my old Thunderbolt in the PSCA here in Vegas. Say hi to your dad
and Mom, Vegas is great but I miss Discovery Bay! Bob