Competition Plus Team
Since our inception, we have been passionately dedicated to delivering the most accurate, timely, and compelling content in the world of drag racing. Our readers depend on us for the latest news, in-depth features, expert analysis, and exclusive interviews that connect you to the sport’s pulse.
BOBBY BENNETT: THE REALITY NO ONE WANTED TO FACE AT POMONA
When Glenn Cromwell went on SpeedFreaks this week to address the storm-soaked ending of the NHRA Finals, he wasn’t offering excuses. He was offering the truth. And for those willing to listen, it was a truth backed by 28 years of experience, blunt weather data and the harsh physics of running 11,000-horsepower cars on a cold, saturated surface. His message boiled down to one point: no option existed that didn’t cost teams more money, more time, or more safety risk.
The easy thing would be to blame the sanctioning body. The harder thing is to acknowledge that some situations simply cannot be won. This was one of them. I’ve covered Pomona in sunshine, wind, heat, cold snaps, and just about every atmospheric mood Southern California can invent. What hit the Fairplex last week wasn’t weather — it was a siege.
Five inches of rain, falling on a concrete racing surface that never warmed and never dried, undermined the track from the inside out. Rubber lifted. Puddling seeped under the groove. Temperatures hovered in the low 50s. In Cromwell’s words, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” And neither had anyone else on the property.
Cromwell detailed the conversations fans never see: the PRO meeting Sunday morning with NHRA leadership, the team leaders from Elite and KB Titan, the motorcycle reps, the full cross-section of stakeholders who ultimately agreed, unanimously, that the track could not be made safe. These weren’t outsiders with opinions. These were the people who had to strap into the cars.
He described peeling rubber from 600–700 feet of concrete, re-laying it, drying it, and hoping the sun — if it ever showed up — could bring the surface to something resembling raceable temperature. “We try to shoot for about 70 degrees track temp,” Cromwell said. But the math didn’t lie. With 52–54 degrees in the air, the track wasn’t getting there. Not Sunday, not Monday, not Tuesday.
Fans suggested holding the race next weekend. That would have been a nice idea if the Fairplex didn’t already have two events booked, or if Friday and Saturday weren’t projected at 95% rain. Fans suggested moving it to another facility. Except Las Vegas had its own major event this weekend, and Phoenix was staring at a 75% rain forecast on Saturday. These weren’t solutions. They were theories with no feasibility behind them.
And then there’s the cost. Tow your rig to Phoenix? Book hotels for 20 crew members? Risk stranding people over Thanksgiving weekend? All for a race where three of the four championships were effectively settled on points? Anyone who thinks teams would eat that bill in the name of optics has never paid a travel invoice.
We also need to be honest: this was not “just rain.” What happened to Pomona was a structural rainout. Continuous water soaked through the rubber, lifting sheets of it off the concrete. As Cromwell explained, “So much water got underneath the rubber… we realized we had to scrape that.” There’s no magic wand for that. There’s only time, heat, equipment and luck. NHRA had none of those.
Safety Safari was ready. The staff was ready. The fans were more than ready. But readiness can’t defeat engineering reality. And there is no comparison between this and a stick-and-ball postponement. Baseball doesn’t have 11,000 horsepower. Football doesn’t rely on compound adhesion measured in micro-texture. Basketball doesn’t have a shutdown area the length of a small town.
Fans may not like the outcome, but they also deserve the truth about the constraints. Every option came with major problems: venue conflicts, weather conflicts, TV conflicts, safety conflicts, and financial conflicts. The only option that didn’t was the option NHRA ultimately took.
Yet transparency remains the lesson. NHRA owed the fanbase more clarity, earlier. Fewer rumors, fewer myths, fewer assumptions. Cromwell admitted that himself, and I credit him for doing so on a national platform. That level of accountability is rare in modern sports leadership.
But here is the question I’ll leave for our readers — because this commentary isn’t a lecture. It’s an invitation.
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Competition Plus Team
Since our inception, we have been passionately dedicated to delivering the most accurate, timely, and compelling content in the world of drag racing. Our readers depend on us for the latest news, in-depth features, expert analysis, and exclusive interviews that connect you to the sport’s pulse.
Sign up for our newsletters and email list.
BOBBY BENNETT: THE REALITY NO ONE WANTED TO FACE AT POMONA
When Glenn Cromwell went on SpeedFreaks this week to address the storm-soaked ending of the NHRA Finals, he wasn’t offering excuses. He was offering the truth. And for those willing to listen, it was a truth backed by 28 years of experience, blunt weather data and the harsh physics of running 11,000-horsepower cars on a cold, saturated surface. His message boiled down to one point: no option existed that didn’t cost teams more money, more time, or more safety risk.
The easy thing would be to blame the sanctioning body. The harder thing is to acknowledge that some situations simply cannot be won. This was one of them. I’ve covered Pomona in sunshine, wind, heat, cold snaps, and just about every atmospheric mood Southern California can invent. What hit the Fairplex last week wasn’t weather — it was a siege.
Five inches of rain, falling on a concrete racing surface that never warmed and never dried, undermined the track from the inside out. Rubber lifted. Puddling seeped under the groove. Temperatures hovered in the low 50s. In Cromwell’s words, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” And neither had anyone else on the property.
Cromwell detailed the conversations fans never see: the PRO meeting Sunday morning with NHRA leadership, the team leaders from Elite and KB Titan, the motorcycle reps, the full cross-section of stakeholders who ultimately agreed, unanimously, that the track could not be made safe. These weren’t outsiders with opinions. These were the people who had to strap into the cars.
He described peeling rubber from 600–700 feet of concrete, re-laying it, drying it, and hoping the sun — if it ever showed up — could bring the surface to something resembling raceable temperature. “We try to shoot for about 70 degrees track temp,” Cromwell said. But the math didn’t lie. With 52–54 degrees in the air, the track wasn’t getting there. Not Sunday, not Monday, not Tuesday.
Fans suggested holding the race next weekend. That would have been a nice idea if the Fairplex didn’t already have two events booked, or if Friday and Saturday weren’t projected at 95% rain. Fans suggested moving it to another facility. Except Las Vegas had its own major event this weekend, and Phoenix was staring at a 75% rain forecast on Saturday. These weren’t solutions. They were theories with no feasibility behind them.
And then there’s the cost. Tow your rig to Phoenix? Book hotels for 20 crew members? Risk stranding people over Thanksgiving weekend? All for a race where three of the four championships were effectively settled on points? Anyone who thinks teams would eat that bill in the name of optics has never paid a travel invoice.
We also need to be honest: this was not “just rain.” What happened to Pomona was a structural rainout. Continuous water soaked through the rubber, lifting sheets of it off the concrete. As Cromwell explained, “So much water got underneath the rubber… we realized we had to scrape that.” There’s no magic wand for that. There’s only time, heat, equipment and luck. NHRA had none of those.
Safety Safari was ready. The staff was ready. The fans were more than ready. But readiness can’t defeat engineering reality. And there is no comparison between this and a stick-and-ball postponement. Baseball doesn’t have 11,000 horsepower. Football doesn’t rely on compound adhesion measured in micro-texture. Basketball doesn’t have a shutdown area the length of a small town.
Fans may not like the outcome, but they also deserve the truth about the constraints. Every option came with major problems: venue conflicts, weather conflicts, TV conflicts, safety conflicts, and financial conflicts. The only option that didn’t was the option NHRA ultimately took.
Yet transparency remains the lesson. NHRA owed the fanbase more clarity, earlier. Fewer rumors, fewer myths, fewer assumptions. Cromwell admitted that himself, and I credit him for doing so on a national platform. That level of accountability is rare in modern sports leadership.
But here is the question I’ll leave for our readers — because this commentary isn’t a lecture. It’s an invitation.
John Doe
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BOBBY BENNETT: THE REALITY NO ONE WANTED TO FACE AT POMONA
When Glenn Cromwell went on SpeedFreaks this week to address the storm-soaked ending of the NHRA Finals, he wasn’t offering excuses. He was offering the