Dave Koehler wrote:Alan,
I think what you are saying is what that rumor on DRO thinks is likely to happen.See AlsoTHE DAY KURT JOHNSON SOLIDIFIED HIS PLACE IN DRAG RACING HISTORYWarren Johnson, Kurt Johnson Season ReviewRoaring tribute to Warren Johnson's Cutlass honors a Pro Stock legend - Hagerty MediaWARREN JOHNSON WORKS THROUGH HIS OWN RESTRUCTURINGIt is unclear to me on the TV. Is FOX going to pay NHRA or is the old deal where NHRA pays for TV time? IF it's the old deal then nothing will change.
What DRO thinks will happen may be the worst possible thing for Pro Stock. According to the "Agent 1320" deal they think they're going to be able to force every team in Pro stock to abandon their current engine program AND replace all of their cars. Even over a 3 year period where they "phase in" their changes, it isn't feasible for more than maybe 4 teams to even attempt to stay in Pro Stock. It is entirely different than what I suggested, which was something of a compromise, that would not immediately kill off every low budget team in Pro Stock.
Remember, even the championship teams have trouble getting enough funding to run an entire season, Cagnazzi sat out some races last year because they were broke. Warren Johnson, the winningest driver in Pro Stock, cannot get funding. Dave Connolly, even driving for Cagnazzi, being the best driver out there, and a great crew chief, cannot secure funding, he went Top Fuel racing with Vandergriff. If those guys, with a functional engine program and relatively current cars cannot afford to compete, how does NHRA expect to get 16 to 20+ teams to build new cars and an entire new engine program up to a level to compete at 23 or more National Events? It simply is not fiscally feasible.
If DRO and Agent 1320 are correct, NHRA believes that they're going to attract a massive number of new Pro Stock teams and keep many they already have, as well as convince Mopar to jump in deeper, GM to stay (while giving up their current success) and Ford to come back, thereby drawing massive crowds. It will not happen. They think they will do this by bringing in the new factory race car engines, some normally aspirated, some supercharged, so 2 valve cam in the block, some 4 valve cam in the head, mixing them all up in the same class, and putting them in Pro Stock versions of the new factory race cars. A recipe for disaster. How soon they forget that the weight break format of the seventies was completely unsustainable then, and will only be worse now if the factories are allowed to game the system with money. I don't think even Ken Black can afford to deal with that. Cars and combinations will become obsolete with the stroke of a pen, or the introduction of a new combination. Who can afford to either take a beating every weekend, or build another different new combination every six to twelve months? That's why they went to 500 cubic inches and 2350 pounds for everyone all the time around 35 years ago. Because what they propose now was killing the class.
What they're talking about doing to pro Stock is what they did do to Stock Eliminator and Super Stock 7 years ago. They told us that bringing in the new factory race cars would "save", revive, and improve Stock Eliminator and Super Stock, by bringing in a bunch of "new blood". Turns out very few new people bought and raced those cars, and few stayed more than a couple of years. The rest were bought by current older racers with a lot of money. A lot of other racers parked their cars after taking a severe beating from the new cars. They draw a crowd now, to an extent, at the new Factory Stock Shootout. Now, some 7 years after NHRA dumped the new cars on us, they're in their own classes, where they belong. But a lot of damage was done, a lot of people quit, a lot of cars got parked and may not ever be back. In this economy, most people are not going to spend the money it takes to compete, while not being able to compete with the new cars. We parked all of our stuff. We may be back. But I have a big development program ahead of me to get back in the game, and my friend/partner may not have the money to help. I may field a "new' (actually old) car some time next year, if my financial situation continues to stay decent. My partner may be done for a couple of years, or forever.
As far as the new TV deal goes, lot of the new TV deal is posted in various places on the web. Fox has signed a contract with NHRA to show 16 National Events live, including 12 on Fox Sports 1, and 4 on Fox itself. Fox will also be broadcasting multiple replays of the events across Fox Sports 1 and Fox sports 2, as well as over their Internet services and apps. Further, Fox has agreed to a large promotional program, as well as live broadcasts over the various Fox Internet services and apps. Also, Fox Sports 1 will also be broadcasting select Lucas Oil Divisional Sportsman races.
This is most certainly NOT the old deal. I have long been harshly critical of NHRA under the Compton administration, especially the horrific deal with ESPN, that was repeatedly renewed, where NHRA paid ESPN for the privilege of being broadcast at 2AM and pre-empted by every po dunk no name obscure stick and ball sport ESPN could find. NHRA was like an abused wife, and ESPN was the wife beater.
