Brainerd 2022 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter mick
- Start date
qualified17th
Nitro Member
Paying $10,000 to win on top of the usual purse and still only getting 12 entries... not good
mick
Nitro Member
brainerd not very centrally located. i'm surprised this race is hosting PM in lieu of PS two years in a row, not to mention small field of MMPS
qualified17th
Nitro Member
MMPS has always been an 8 car field (at least in NHRA and PDRA). So 9 entries is about right.
mick
Nitro Member
40 years ....... was this the 12th race added to series in '82? ...... winters / gators / southerns / cajuns / grands in canada / springs / summers / mile-highs / us nats / keystones / finals
edit: BIR was 10th race added to schedule. winters / gators / atlanta (by 1 year) / englishtown / columbus / denver / indy / finals ...... were the original 8 events, plus sanair which ended in '92
phoenix / reading / dallas followed soon after ........ seattle / sonoma / houston / topeka / memphis were the next additions.
edit: BIR was 10th race added to schedule. winters / gators / atlanta (by 1 year) / englishtown / columbus / denver / indy / finals ...... were the original 8 events, plus sanair which ended in '92
phoenix / reading / dallas followed soon after ........ seattle / sonoma / houston / topeka / memphis were the next additions.
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Chili
Nitro Member
According to the announcer for Q1, he had yet to arrive at the track for qualifying yesterday. Not sure if he made it for today.
Luke Nieuwhof
Nitro Member
mick
Nitro Member
i can not tell you how much time was wasted before the nitro finals. we stayed in our seats after E2 of pro cars and watched all other classes, especially E5 of stock, super stock,
and E3 of comp......as those rounds completed, E3 of TF, FC, PM ran just prior to short break before all of the finals. quick bathroom break and rite back in bleachers.
here are time stamps from DRC
- 16:32 first sportsman final
- 17:06 last sportsman final.....just ran 11 finals in 34 minutes......you can see TF and FC in the lanes behind PM and JR's
- joe costello starts doing sportsman driver interviews. the speakers on the far end of large, main bleachers aren't working. couldn't hear a word.
track dragging continues endlessly, as if the screech of the tires makes listening to driver's interviews any easier, even if you had a good speaker working in front of you.
- 17:32 26 minutes later PM runs it's final (just prior were 3 quick exhibition jr. dragster runs, which were cool)
- more track dragging......
- 17:44 FC final
- 17:48 TF final
ok. 11 finals in 34 minutes
42 minutes later the show ends with 3 finals and 3 exhibitions
i get it, i'm sure they were working on a live FOX tv window.
next year i will leave after sportsman finals. been there too many years. 42 minutes in hot sun is not worth it for essentially 2 nitro runs.
mick
Nitro Member
couple other thoughts from yesterday
- track staff very efficient. as they always are.
- for first time ever, with cooperating weather, there were no parachute jumpers for anthems. disappointed. anyone have answer why? just a money thing?
- do not have to yell 'lets burn some nitro' and play corny music immediately following anthem. start the motors seconds after last note and burnout. alan should say first words as they backup.
- very odd so many crew chiefs didn't figure out track in early rounds.
- tony schumacher never made a clean pass yesterday, including final. don't want to hear 'he's back'. that team was nothing but lucky yesterday.
- in fact, in the 6 runs including E2 and E3, there were only 2 runs under 4 seconds, and it was ashley and langdon in same race in E2
- torrence beat tony E1 seattle 3.83 to 3.96........he beat him again yesterday 3.86 to 3.94
- tasca team has their stuff figured out. what a performance. again.......on the TF side, always a fan of grubnic, but really like recent performance from antron.
- antron's recent surge produced his first .6 pass in a long time, unfortunately mr. unlucky clay millican was there with a nice .72 only to lose in E1 again to antron.
- heartbreak for bobby bode. what a great pass to get around cruz in E1.
- chad green's E1 win over instant tire smoke by wilk, moved him around campbell into 10th spot in points. wonder if he'd run all 6 C races if he stays in after indy?
- 4.81 losing effort and personal best for krista baldwin. that team has name? helping from her dad's former team and i believe dakin's team. great looking pass for krista and the team.
- 4.96 losing effort and personal best for dale creasy jr. against tasca E1. should bob have faultered.......
- doug winters was way out on rickie smith in final, and could have taken him, but shook and had to pedal. his first final w/mn based sponsor. darn it.
- brett speers over bruno in comp final. brett had him covered. could hear him get off throttle towards line to tighten it up. was also semi-finalist in stock.
- watched first round of TF and FC with 3 newbies. left seats headed for pits. stopped to watch 2 cars cackle, was great. by the time we walked a little further to
pits, all of TF was towing up for 2nd rnd, and all the FC's had already warmed up......not knowing how fast things happen, my newbies wanted food, and promptly missed 2 TF E2 runs.
have said time and time before. the pit experience is SO advertised, but unless you know EXACTLY when to go there, you can barely make it back to seats, and take care of food, beverage, and bathroom,
much less look for and buy souvenirs, which is certainly part of the nhra take for the day........leave time for people to spend their money! the pro rounds turn too damn fast.
and if you're a fan of any other class/es, there is just no way to take it all in........the first 3 rounds were so rushed, and then everyone sat in hot sun and waited 40+ minutes for show to end.
the sunday schedule was not very fan friendly yesterday. especially for spectators with little or no previous experience. qualifying is far more conducive to a good pit experience and to buy stuff.
yesterday was fun, but average.
- track staff very efficient. as they always are.
- for first time ever, with cooperating weather, there were no parachute jumpers for anthems. disappointed. anyone have answer why? just a money thing?
- do not have to yell 'lets burn some nitro' and play corny music immediately following anthem. start the motors seconds after last note and burnout. alan should say first words as they backup.
- very odd so many crew chiefs didn't figure out track in early rounds.
- tony schumacher never made a clean pass yesterday, including final. don't want to hear 'he's back'. that team was nothing but lucky yesterday.
- in fact, in the 6 runs including E2 and E3, there were only 2 runs under 4 seconds, and it was ashley and langdon in same race in E2
- torrence beat tony E1 seattle 3.83 to 3.96........he beat him again yesterday 3.86 to 3.94
- tasca team has their stuff figured out. what a performance. again.......on the TF side, always a fan of grubnic, but really like recent performance from antron.
- antron's recent surge produced his first .6 pass in a long time, unfortunately mr. unlucky clay millican was there with a nice .72 only to lose in E1 again to antron.
- heartbreak for bobby bode. what a great pass to get around cruz in E1.
- chad green's E1 win over instant tire smoke by wilk, moved him around campbell into 10th spot in points. wonder if he'd run all 6 C races if he stays in after indy?
- 4.81 losing effort and personal best for krista baldwin. that team has name? helping from her dad's former team and i believe dakin's team. great looking pass for krista and the team.
- 4.96 losing effort and personal best for dale creasy jr. against tasca E1. should bob have faultered.......
- doug winters was way out on rickie smith in final, and could have taken him, but shook and had to pedal. his first final w/mn based sponsor. darn it.
- brett speers over bruno in comp final. brett had him covered. could hear him get off throttle towards line to tighten it up. was also semi-finalist in stock.
- watched first round of TF and FC with 3 newbies. left seats headed for pits. stopped to watch 2 cars cackle, was great. by the time we walked a little further to
pits, all of TF was towing up for 2nd rnd, and all the FC's had already warmed up......not knowing how fast things happen, my newbies wanted food, and promptly missed 2 TF E2 runs.
have said time and time before. the pit experience is SO advertised, but unless you know EXACTLY when to go there, you can barely make it back to seats, and take care of food, beverage, and bathroom,
much less look for and buy souvenirs, which is certainly part of the nhra take for the day........leave time for people to spend their money! the pro rounds turn too damn fast.
and if you're a fan of any other class/es, there is just no way to take it all in........the first 3 rounds were so rushed, and then everyone sat in hot sun and waited 40+ minutes for show to end.
the sunday schedule was not very fan friendly yesterday. especially for spectators with little or no previous experience. qualifying is far more conducive to a good pit experience and to buy stuff.
yesterday was fun, but average.
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Chili
Nitro Member
To answer a few of your questions.
Chad Green is running the rest of the season. Dakin’s crew chief Scotty Graham was helping Krista in Brainerd. I don’t believe NHRA has had a jumper since the pandemic began. I’m sure it is probably cost related.
With the live TV window for the finals, they space it out and gives them a little extra time window at the end. The flip side is a nasty oil down earlier in the day and the window before the final round is really tight like it was in Denver. They had to run TF before FC in the final round to give the Tasca team the extra time to make the finals. I generally don’t leave my seat between 1st and 2nd round but will usually walk around between 2nd and Semis and semis and final rounds. If you want some extra time, go to a four wide event. Almost too much time between some of the rounds.
Chad Green is running the rest of the season. Dakin’s crew chief Scotty Graham was helping Krista in Brainerd. I don’t believe NHRA has had a jumper since the pandemic began. I’m sure it is probably cost related.
With the live TV window for the finals, they space it out and gives them a little extra time window at the end. The flip side is a nasty oil down earlier in the day and the window before the final round is really tight like it was in Denver. They had to run TF before FC in the final round to give the Tasca team the extra time to make the finals. I generally don’t leave my seat between 1st and 2nd round but will usually walk around between 2nd and Semis and semis and final rounds. If you want some extra time, go to a four wide event. Almost too much time between some of the rounds.
I like and agree with almost all you wrote in both posts. Very well stated. "do not have to yell 'lets burn some nitro' and play corny music immediately following anthem. start the motors seconds after last note and burnout. alan should say first words as they backup." was spot on! At least that one idiot (Brian??) isn't circus barking between rounds like he used to (although it's stil annoying and not entertaining in the least, that video shell game and such)
I also have found it annoying that so much time elapses between rounds 3 and 4 for the pros, and that the event schedule can't seem to be followed (oil downs aside). When you're looking at least a 4 hour drive home, it's nice to get out before the cows come home.
Ironic that the fastest motorsport takes that amount of time, at times!
mick
Nitro Member
for sure i realized live tv was causing delay, and very much because they didn't have lots of cleanup yesterday........i'm stuck leaving seat cuz once the sportsman classes run, i almost want to
see them as much as, and usually more than the pros. lol! it's a no win situation ...... in a situation like yesterday, it mite be a good idea to explain to crowd the timeline; maybe announce there
are a few minutes to get out of seat and maybe go spend a few bucks. let everyone know, hey, be back in your seat at 4:45pm, FC final will go off at 4:50......or something like that.
thank you for the answers to my questions
Prestaged
Nitro Member
There was no live TV. I watched the finals in my office on NHRA.tv. Then I went in the house and turned on the TV to watch the local news. I was channel surfing to get to the station I wanted and landed on Fox. They were at the point of interviewing Steve Torrence after his semi-final win, and they were almost a half-hour away from showing the finals. So, the TV broadcast may have had something to do with the delays, but it was not because they were showing anything live.
qualified17th
Nitro Member
I feel like they already do the best they can with letting people know how much time they have before the next round. During qualifying and the first round or two they'll always flash something up on the jumbotron saying "Next round of nitro at Xpm"
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