THE POINTS DEBATE BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
As first suggested the change called for five bonus points for the quickest elapsed time in each of four qualifying sessions, but Alan Johnson, unquestionably the sharpest tuner now working in drag racing, quickly told NHRA competition director Graham Light that five was far too many points. He reportedly told Light that he felt he was on the verge of getting the Al Anabi Top Fuel car driven by Larry Dixon in top form, and while he knew the possibility of picking up 20 points just in qualifying – the equivalent of a round of racing – might work to his benefit, he considered it unfair to the competitors. Another consideration, apparently voiced by Kenny Bernstein and several others, was the possibility that the bonus points alone could settle the championships well before the Finals in November, completely eliminating the kind of tension-filled season-ender that generates major publicity and helps fill the grandstands. The result is a program calling for three points going to the quickest car in each session, two to the second quickest and one to the third. This was apparently widely agreed to, yet the rumors continued to escalate at Indy that a major confrontation between NHRA and the competitors was likely to unfold.
It’s always surprising how facts can put rumors to rest. After CompetitionPlus.com reported on a pending announcement from the NHRA that an altered qualifying points system would be introduced with the beginning of the Countdown, rumors began circulating that the drivers and team owners were adamantly opposed to the plan.
As first suggested the change called for five bonus points for the quickest elapsed time in each of four qualifying sessions, but Alan Johnson, unquestionably the sharpest tuner now working in drag racing, quickly told NHRA competition director Graham Light that five was far too many points. He reportedly told Light that he felt he was on the verge of getting the Al Anabi Top Fuel car driven by Larry Dixon in top form, and while he knew the possibility of picking up 20 points just in qualifying – the equivalent of a round of racing – might work to his benefit, he considered it unfair to the competitors. Another consideration, apparently voiced by Kenny Bernstein and several others, was the possibility that the bonus points alone could settle the championships well before the Finals in November, completely eliminating the kind of tension-filled season-ender that generates major publicity and helps fill the grandstands. The result is a program calling for three points going to the quickest car in each session, two to the second quickest and one to the third. This was apparently widely agreed to, yet the rumors continued to escalate at Indy that a major confrontation between NHRA and the competitors was likely to unfold.
In a meeting between Light and numerous racers on Saturday afternoon at ORP Light produced a list of a dozen team owners representing 24 touring professional cars who he said had agreed to the 3-2-1 points program. That completely took the air out of the sails of the racers opposed to the plan, who suddenly found themselves in the distinct minority.
His list of the 12 and 24 effectively put the rumor of unhappy competitors to rest – but two hours before the meeting began the most outspoken of those opposed to the points-for-qualifying-efforts program made it seem as if the entire fuel brigade was furious and about to revolt – or at least balk at the concept.
Two well known pro drivers may be responsible for the entire change in the points program, for they made the tactical error of publicly saying they were using Saturday’s qualifying sessions as test runs. Their comments ultimately found their way onto the Internet, and were widely read and discussed. This lit a fire in the NHRA offices, because they believed this was a widespread practice. Cars smoking the tires on Saturdays and shutting off were deemed to be testing, with full quarter mile runs obviously being denied the fans. As one prominent team owner, requesting anonymity put it, “Sometimes the show sucked, and this is supposed to be about the fans. On Saturdays we’re trying to get our car ready for Sunday’s eliminations. We are absolutely not testing. We’ll give the track anything we think it will handle. If we smoke the tires it’s because we gave the car too much power. For those guys to have said they were testing was a huge mistake, because if they were, they were short-changing the fans. We do everything we can to put on a show, because that’s what this is all about.”
From the NHRA side the hope was that the allure of bonus points would force the competitors to take a more serious approach to Saturday’s action, and it’s possible that, in some instances, it may have the desired affect.
The other matter that seems to be concerning some competitors is the plan for four-wide exhibition runs at zMAX Dragway in Charlotte. Along with concerns about track preparation and staging procedures, the question of compensation has come up, a subject that has yet to be addressed by either the NHRA or the zMAX staff. It doesn‘t appear as if outrageous demands will be forthcoming, but the competitors would like to be rewarded for participation in an exhibition that has the potential of generating nationwide publicity. One prominent tuner, also requesting anonymity said, “What concerns me is people out there misunderstanding this and expecting to see it everywhere. Obviously, that’s not going to happen – unless Bruton puts in the other two lanes in Las Vegas that he planned on from the beginning.”
Bernstein also believes some sort of compensation has to be worked out, but also believes the concept has the potential for generating a significant amount of publicity. He is not out of line in suggesting that photos of four-wide dragsters or Funny Cars could appear in publications that rarely, if ever, cover drag racing. But, he also adds that, “Since the cars that do this are going to include the first round losers, I’ll be plenty unhappy if our car is one of them! I haven’t said anything about whether or not our car would run in this deal. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
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