- NHRA’s Virginia Motorsports Park event in June will help answer question of whether two-day events makes dollars and sense.
- ‘It’s the way to go,’ five-time Pro Stock champion and 103-time winner Greg Anderson says, and many agree with him.
- Seattle track operator Jason Fiorito contends it probably wouldn’t work in every market, and small-team owner-driver Terry Haddock not a fan.
To its credit, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series is budging from its “We’ve always done it that way” posture, agreeing to pare its traditional three-day event to two days for a single race.
For the first time in the sport’s history, drivers in Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle will make three qualifying passes in a single day as part of a two-day event this June 22-23 at Virginia Motorsports Park (VMP).
Qualifying will go Saturday, with eliminations Sunday at Dinwiddie, Va., south of Richmond.
With teams seeking ways to trim expenses and with encouragement from the increasingly vocal Professional Racing Owners Organization (PRO), who successfully used the abbreviated format at its preseason Superstar Shootout, the NHRA isn’t making wholesale changes to its 70-year-old program. But Jeffrey Young, the NHRA’s vice president of marketing and communications, said, “We’re trying something new. Having three qualifying sessions in one day is going to make for an incredible experience for our fans. This is a trial run for us. It’s something new and different, and we’ll revisit the decision following the event.”
Paul Lee, an active PRO member and team owner/Funny Car racer, said, “We did it at Bradenton, and it was very successful. NHRA asked us about it, how it went, and we told ’em it went great. Fans never left the stands. We got action all day long. It was great. Fans loved it. At least the fans I’ve talked to, they loved it.”
Lee said that was one of PRO’s goals with the Superstar Shootout.
“That was one of the things we wanted to try, because we think this doesn’t make sense to make one run on Friday and two on Saturday,” Lee said. “And then also, we have too long of a turnaround time between runs. Fans don’t want to wait three, four hours for the next run. We said, let’s do it. Quick turnaround and it worked out.”
That rushed servicing, he said, was “no different than an NHRA race day where there’s quick turnarounds. We just did it at a qualifying session. It was awesome, and I’m glad NHRA has taken the initiative to try it out, because I think the fans are going to love it.”
Five-time Pro Stock champion Greg Anderson certainly did.
Anderson said, “I love it. I love that deal. I wish we do that more often. That’s definitely what most of us racers would rather do. Instead of stretching it out for three days, we’d much rather do it that way. So that’s great. And I hope it open opens a lot of people’s eyes that it can be done and it’s a better way to do it. It’s the right move.
“They’re scared to do it, but I’m telling you, I really believe it’s the way to go. They’ll be surprised that you can make money at it this way.”
Fellow driver Buddy Hull, Funny Car’s resident philosopher, said, “I think it’s a good experiment. I think it’s a trial-and-error thing. Our sport is powered by fans, so we want to get as many fans as possible coming to our events. The more fans, the more opportunity it creates for all of us as drivers and owners. The NHRA is doing a good job at trying to discover what fans want the most.”
Hull said. “Overall, I come from a school of thought of ‘If you’re not trying new things and you’re not attempting to make something better, then why are you doing what you’re doing?’”
Young said the NHRA is doing it at the Virginia race by consensus: “When discussing these things, we all work together as a team and look for new ways to approach an event. When we spoke to our stakeholders—the race teams, the racetracks, and our partners—we all thought Richmond was a great opportunity to try a two-day event that included three qualifiers in one day.”
But not everyone is as supportive of the initiative.
The promotor at Pacific Raceways near Seattle is not sure shortening the race weekend to just two days would work everywhere.
Pacific Raceways president Jason Fiorito, whose facility hosts the Northwest Nationals in July, said, “I just don’t know if that would play in our market as well as it’s playing in other markets. Every market is different, and one point is the length of travel that it takes to get to Seattle.
“We’re a very, very long pull. Our market is an important one. But it’s also much different in geographic location and maybe in population base and demographics, as well. I would never second-guess anybody in their market.
“A big deal for PRO was adding back in that fourth qualifying session [at Seattle] because of the needs of their sponsors, their hospitality, and kind of a guaranteed minimum purse to justify the drive. So I understand why other markets would be looking at it differently if [racers] had a shorter drive. Getting rid of Friday does mitigate some of the expenses, certainly both in prize money and staffing, but in our case, I think we’re going a little bit the opposite direction.
“We’re adding a qualifying session back in, adding lights to put on what we hope will be a phenomenal show at night. We’re making the decision to increase our expenses and put on a longer and what we hope will be a better show to attract more spectators. We have to do all we can to put on the best show for the fans to make it worthwhile for PRO and their sponsors and create an experience both for in-person and on TV that we hope will really play well. So we’re just taking some risk here, for sure. The NHRA and Pacific Raceways are sharing that risk, but we feel like adding to the show is a better play in our market, and we’re probably the best to judge what will and won’t play in our market,” Fiorito said.
“We haven’t specifically sat down with PRO or NHRA to contemplate a two-day event. I think my knee jerk, if that conversation were to happen would be to hesitate in our market,” he said. “I think knowing what I know about PRO and its desire to have four qualifying sessions up here, my guess is that they would hesitate to support a move like that. I don’t know that that conversation would gain a lot of traction in our market, but we’re always willing to entertain any ideas that keeps the sport healthy and profitable.”
Perhaps surprisingly, small-budgeted team owner Terry Haddock said he’s not a fan of the shortened race weekend.
“I don’t particularly care for it. When you abbreviate something, you usually take something out. At the end of the day, the guy that’s selling beer at the concessions, he gets one less day of selling beer. The fans get one less day of racing. I don’t know, but I don’t know what the decision-making process is,” he said.
“Some say it’s to save money, but buying plane tickets on Fridays is more expensive than Thursdays and Wednesdays. So I don’t know that that’s going to help anybody. It does probably save one night at hotels. I don’t know that it’s any good for us,” Haddock said. “Our team has improved so much that can we do three [qualifiers] in a day? Yes, we can. But we’re trying to get better at doing this, and when you rush, you make mistakes.”
Hull concluded that whatever happens, “hopefully someone understands that they need to track what’s going on. They need to poll the fans, find out what they like, count the heads, count the dollar bills. It’s got to make dollars.”
Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.
Read the full article here