None of the Non-qualified Fuel cars from Friday night's session made it in Today. Unless these guy's/gals get lucky with cloud cover or Cool weather, Saturday's qualifying is becoming a total waste!

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Shift for Brains!!!!

Not a waste, Gives the crew chiefs a chance to test out the race day set-ups, the night session is the one that is the least beneficial to the teams as far as data is concerned.

Brian, people Pay to see performance not testing! I'm glad I didn't sit through that...

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Shift for Brains!!!!

C'mon Joe
People pay to see fire and smoke, hear the roar of Nitro, and wander around in the pits...the vast majority of a Saturday crowd are not nearly as discerning as you are!! Of course, If NHRA had went with 32 car Pro stock feilds back when 40 cars were the norm, had 3 rounds of qualifying, and 1st round Saturday night...that would make the 4th session more entertaining.

Roar of Nitro yes, Tiresmoke I disagree. People go to see 4 sec. runs at 300 MPH! I remember at Chi-town the Early Sat. session and FC was a joke! After about 4 Tiresmokers in a row. Mike Ashley and whoever was in the other lane went 4.87 to 5.02 or close. And there was applause! I don't know anybody who pays to see '60-'100 passes.

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Shift for Brains!!!!

There's a perfect solution for the Friday-night-if you-don't-hit-on this-run-you're-done problem. It happens once every week. It's called Saturday night. MJ

you left out a couple things.. get John Force's autograph.. shop for trinkets, and look for a good deal on a used slick

I'm just an ordinary schmo in a sea of experienced racers, but I am a fan and I have a recommendation that may alleviate some of the concerns about the Friday night session. If Drag Racing is typically won with consistency, then why not start rewarding teams by taking qualifying consistency into account? Yeah I know they have the pit crew challenge, but I mean really reward them. How, you ask? Well, let me explain.

What if qualifying ladders were established based on average qualifying times rather than the driver's quickest 'single' ET? I know I'm going to get pummeled by the anti-NASCAR crowd here, and that's alright. All I ask is that you consider the pros:

1. Driver's & crew chiefs would still have to stand on it during the Friday night session in order to keep their overall numbers consistent with everyone else's.

2. They'd work just as hard under the new format that they do now because they need to get down the track four times to keep their average as low as possible.

3. The ladder, typically, would be a little more balanced because after four qualifying efforts using an average ET. I think the field would be a lot more closely aligned. (I haven't done the math on that to prove it, it's merely a hunch.) If I get time later, maybe I will - it may disprove my theory, who knows?

4. The Gary Scelzi's of the world would be in the show based on averages going into yesterday's fourth session and Zippy would have more than likely used a tune-up to get from 'A' to 'B' rather than have to stand on it in the heat "hoping" to get in. Less tire smoke is a good thing, no?

*Use the Pro Stock field this weekend as an example - where would Greg Anderson have qualified using the system I describe above?

Cons:

1. There'd be an impact to the low-buck teams who often choose to sit out a session or two because their averages would suffer. Concessions would have to be made - nothing slower than 12.00, for example, and that would be not only the slowest time that would count against a driver, but also what a driver would get if he/she chose to sit out a session.

2. Driver's trying to bring their averages down, even slightly, would probably pedal it during qualifying to get to the other end as quickly as physically possible, potentially hurting parts while doing so... and delaying action with oil downs.

I don't know if this is the answer, probably not, but I'm a thinker and I like to think of possible solutions rather than simply sit around and complain about it. And to me, canceling the Friday night session altogether is NOT the solution.

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Gordon 'Flaps' Carlon
Work the solution, not the problem.

Personally I think the quickest and easiest and best way to solve the problem is to just push back the times of qualifying on Sat. Have 2 night sessions. I understand that it just takes another run away from them as far as real data on race day but as much as these guys run under the same conditions week in and week out I dont believe it would hurt them that much plus the fans get a better show and it allows someone who isint in the opportunity to get in. I think its an easy fix but I am sure there are problems with it but I dont believe they outweigh the positivies from it.