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Unfortunately, I don’t know much about html markup or webpage layouts but luckily I have a great helper (TAB) that does. Hey, I only recently learned what an FR Ping and Ping List was, ugg. I appreciate in advance all help in keeping the NHRA Event Threads going by all you “ground-pounder” racing fanatics. While I have an extensive NHRA and motor sports racing background (my ex-wife said I had a lot of class…. it was just all low), I’m not familiar with this particular NHRA event or Virginia Motorsports Park. I look forward to posts from people that are knowledgeable. In addition to info about this weekends event, I/we put together other related and underlying reference posts, of possible interest, to kick-off this thread.
With NASCAR running at legendary Talladega Superspeedway this Sunday, it may over shadow this NHRA event. But the television coverage doesn't overlap, so Sunday is a great "armchair drivers" day for motor sports adrenaline junkies. I usually attend Daytona and Talladega NASCAR races (mostly the early season races), but had too much on my business plate to try and attend this weekend’s UAW-500, and the weather looks dicey.
=== NASCAR ===
UAW-Ford 500
Talladega Superspeedway
Sunday, October 7, 2007
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ABC Television Schedule (Times ET)
Pre-Race: Noon-1:00 pm
Race: 1:00-5:00 pm (Live)
=== NHRA ===
Torco Racing Fuels Nationals
Virginia Motorsports Park
Sunday, October 7, 2007
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ESPN2 Television Coverage (Times ET)
NHRA Race Day 11:00 - 11:30 am
Final Eliminations 7:00 - 10:00 pm (Delayed)
FlAttorney says >> ESPN's NHRA television race coverage is greatly superior to ABC's NASCAR coverage. ESPN-NHRA's television announcers Paul Page and veteran Top Fuel and Top Funny Car driver Mike Dunn, as color commentator, do an outstanding job in the booth. They have an in-depth knowledge of the sport and neither yap your ears off like most hyper talking bozo sports announcers. Further, the quality and fairness of NHRA drag racing is far superior to NASCAR. Unfortunately, NASCAR racing gets worse every year with its overhyped, overprocessed, overmarketed degradation of the sport along with inconsistent NASCAR officiating and rigged races. Luckily there is enough of the old-guard super legends still active in NHRA racing to maintain the integrity and quality of the sport.
On the subject, many of these active NHRA legends do not like the NHRA’s new POWERade “Countdown to the Championship” format. Frankly, I don’t like it either and it’s just mass marketing hype, imo. But like many, I am withholding final judgment until after the end of the season. I also don't like NASCAR's Nextel Cup "Chase for the Championship" format. I don't think that a playoff-style format fits motor racing, but maybe I'm showing my age. The only reason for the new NASCAR Championship format was in the hope of increasing television ratings late in the season. But ratings are worse since Nextel became NASCAR’s sponsor in 2004. I don’t think NHRA’s Championship format will help their television ratings either. Basically, all I care about is fair and competitive heads-up racing and to hell with all the hype and bull. I think most veteran race fans and racers share this view.
This weekend, the door leading to the professional NHRA POWERade championships will be closing much tighter. When racing ends at the Torco Race Fuels Nationals at Virginia Motorsports Park on Sunday (final eliminations, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2) in Richmond, Va., the field of title contenders in Top Fuel, Funny Car and Pro Stock will be whittled down from eight to four in each category. For some of the sport's most respected and race-ready teams, the door will be shutting altogether.
Of course, this was the motivating factor behind the NHRA's decision to restructure its points system this season. Gradually diminishing the number of drivers eligible to gather in their respective class championships as the 23-race schedule powered its way to a decisive conclusion would undoubtedly mean that past performances or hard-earned reputations wouldn't guarantee overall success. Take a look at the racers on the verge of missing or who have already been ousted from the Countdown to One, which commences at the ACDelco Nationals in Las Vegas in two weeks, and you'll get the picture.
Last season's rookie sensation, J.R. Todd, is now 92 points out of the fourth and final slot in the Top Fuel Countdown standings. Driving for team owner Dexter Tuttle, Todd survived the shakeup at the beginning of the year that saw his veteran crew chief, Jimmy Walsh, move to Kenny Bernstein's new Funny Car effort one race after Todd opened the season with a victory at the Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. Another victory followed in Houston, but heading into Richmond, Todd will need a miraculous comeback to sneak into the top four.
A perennial championship threat, Doug Kalitta has had a dismal 2007. His absence from the Countdown to One is the result of a troubled campaign which has seen him go not only winless this year, but fail to advance to a single final round. A total of nine round wins in the first 20 races of the season is all one needs to know to recognize the degree to which Kalitta has struggled.
Ditto Melanie Troxel, who missed the Countdown to Four after last year's tremendous start to the season which placed her in contention throughout 2006's first half. She might have been the last driver (and the first female) to win the Top Fuel championship under the old points system but a tough stretch down the '06 season's second half ended her potentially historic bid.
Although in the fourth spot in the points, Brandon Bernstein needs to watch his back. Only 21 points behind him is Bob Vandergriff Jr., who is heading for Richmond after a runner-up finish in Dallas last week. Both drivers know what is riding on their Richmond performances and with essentially one round of difference between them, anything can happen.
In Funny Car, the big story is John Force. Although his team announced this past Tuesday that the 14-time POWERade champion would miss the remainder of the season after his frightening crash with Bernstein on Sept. 23, Force was quoted Thursday as saying he intends to return to action before the end of 2007. Force is currently fourth in the points, but unless he stages a miraculous recovery in the next four days from his broken ankle, lacerated knee, broken fingers and dislocated wrist, he'll most likely be dropped from the Countdown to One. All the three drivers directly behind him in the standings -- Ron Capps, Gary Scelzi and Mike Ashley -- have to do is make a qualifying attempt in Richmond, which is worth 10 points, and Force will be bumped out of the Final Four. It would mark the first time since Force's first of 14 championships in 1990 that the all-time NHRA victory leader would be out of the title hunt with three races to go.
Pro Stock's all-time win leader Warren Johnson is on the precipitous edge of missing the CtO. The six-time POWERade champion is 86 points out of fourth place and his son, Kurt Johnson, is also teetering on the brink of Countdown elimination, 29 points behind fourth-place Jeg Coughlin Jr. But perhaps the Pro Stock driver most surprisingly short of CtO eligibility is defending POWERade champion Jason Line, who needs to make up the 18-point difference between Coughlin and himself to remain in place to defend his '06 championship. And he'll have one last shot at that in Richmond.
In Pro Stock Motorcycle, the list of racers who have been cut from the Countdown would make any roster of the category's most formidable and dominating riders in recent history. Last week's action in Dallas determined the 2007 Countdown to One PSM field and some of the names missing from that field are three-time POWERade champion Angelle Sampey; her teammate, 16-time national event winner Antron Brown; two-time national event winner in '07 Karen Stoffer; 2007 Mac Tools U.S. Nationals winner Craig Treble; and 2003 POWERade champion Geno Scali. [NOTE: Two weeks ago Angelle and Antron both lost their US Army sponsorship for next season – FlA]
And so the stage is set for Richmond. Those drag racers who end eliminations in one of the coveted top four spots within their own category standings will head to Las Vegas and perhaps eventually to a POWERade championship. Those who don't will be added to an ever-increasing roster of hopefuls whose hope will have run out.
http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/news/story?series=8&id=3045366
NHRA Bump.. Looking good and Good luck with the thread.
Thank you. I love drag racing. God bless John Force.
Thanks and please add me to the NHRA ping list if you have one.