In a recent commentary written by Whit Bazemore, and published by CompetititionPlus.com, many suggestions for improving the current drag racing presentation were presented. One of those presentations included a suggestion that drag racing’s qualifying format could be changed from a best pass format to an average run format.

“This is so simple and it would have a huge impact on the excitement of qualifying,” Bazemore suggested. “No more shutoff runs. And, most likely a few of today’s fuel car drivers would crash during the course of the year. But this would certainly add a lot of excitement and drama, and definitely showcase real talent.”

The former nitro racer certainly made a point with his suggestions, one of which could be easily implemented.

Averaging qualifying runs is a doable process in terms of adjusting the current timing system, according to Bob Brockmeyer, founder of Compulink, the official timing system of the NHRA.

“We could make it work with some modifications to our current system,” said Brockmeyer. “With the new system we are working on, it would be no problem at all.”

Brockmeyer isn’t an advocate of change and readily admits that while he hasn’t thought about qualifying averages he isn’t opposed to the idea.

“You need new concepts and things in racing or it has a tendency to stagnate,” Brockmeyer said. “If it could help racing, I am all for it.”

Most likely, under the new system, a reasonable idea could be to present the bump spot on the board, which flashes a driver’s average elapsed time. Following a run, the driver’s elapsed time could flash on the board, immediately followed by their average for qualifying.

Graham Light, VP of Operations with NHRA, said the concept of averaging qualifying times has been considered and with it there are plusses and minuses, with most of the negativity focused on the lower financed teams.  

“I think one of the minuses is that it hurts the smaller funded teams,” said Light. “It’s now forcing them to make runs that maybe they otherwise wouldn’t have and I think we need to be conscious of that. The low funded teams and small teams are just as important as the big teams and we need them all here. I would hate to do anything that would put them at a disadvantage or cause them to have to make a run that was very unnecessary and the expense associated with that.”

Light has heard the talk that suggests teams are testing in qualifying and said he doesn’t necessarily subscribe to this line of thinking.

“They’re out here trying to win a championship,” Light said. “Our sport … you are on the edge of smoking or running very good on every run. On a record-setting run the cars are just a fraction away from smoking the tires and they’re out there to see what the absolute quickest they can run with the weather conditions and track conditions that they have. I don’t think they’re out there intentionally just playing around. They’re out there seriously trying to win the race, trying to earn points. I don’t know if [averaging] will make it any more exciting.”

Bob Vandergriff Jr. said if qualifying was based on averages, it would definitely change the way many teams approach qualifying. The most consistent car would be rewarded over the quickest car.

“It would definitely change your mindset in terms of going down the drag strip every run,” said Vandergriff. “I’m not sure what the fans come out to the race track to see. They want to see the record run, or that exciting pass. I think when you go to qualifying averages, your mentality would change. Instead of seeing someone go for a 3.70-flat, you’d likely see a team aim for consecutive 3.80-flat runs.

“On one hand it could be good, the more cars you see go down the track the better, but I really don’t think this could be the correct way to do it.”

The act of cutting and pasting articles from this publication to a message board is a clear copyright violation as is pulling photos to post on social media sites. All articles and photography published in CompetitionPlus.com are protected by United States of America and International copyright laws unless mentioned otherwise. The content on this website is intended for the private use of the reader and may not be published or reposted in any form without the prior written consent of CompetitionPlus.com.