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Mon, Aug. 11th 2008
Bring back the quarter-mile.
This isn’t aimed at the NHRA or anyone in particular. This is just a personal reaction to what I’ve seen in the past four national events. The track is too short. It needs to be 1320 feet. Not 1000.
One of the greatest accomplishments in the history of sports, in the opinion of many, was Abner Doubleday’s decision to make the distance between the bases in baseball 90 feet. Perfect. Think about it. A runner who hits a ground ball to just about any spot in the infield and has reasonable speed is within a step or two of beating the throw to first if the infielder plays it cleanly. Sometimes, just a brief bobble by the defensive player making the play is enough of a delay to allow the runner to beat the throw to first base.
Runners attempting to steal a base will either be out or safe by the slimmest of margins on most attempts. Why? Because 90 feet is the ideal distance to give both the runner and the catcher an equal chance of getting their respective job done. Runners are sometimes cut down by a good throw; the base is sometimes stolen successfully by the runner and the play results in one of the closest calls an umpire will be called upon to make in the course of a ballgame.
Hits to the outfield that drop in near an outfielder will usually result in a single. But if the ball is hit into a gap and the runner gets a good jump out of the batter’s box, he can sometimes stretch a single into a double, which is another exciting play, providing added evidence that the 90-foot distance between the bases is absolutely genius.
A quarter-mile is drag racing’s equivalent to baseball’s 90 feet. It’s the perfect length for a drag race. Theories vary on why the sport was originally based on the quarter-mile. One theory has it that airport runways back in the 1940’s and ‘50’s were a quarter-mile and that’s where early drag racers held their events. Horses had always been raced on a quarter-mile, hence the term “quarter horses” so it made sense for hot rods to race that distance as well. Whatever the reason, the quarter-mile was a keeper and the every rock & roll song written in the past 50 years has always celebrated the quarter-mile if drag racing could be found somewhere in the lyrics.
Hey, I’m no dummy. I know there are some real safety issues that need addressing and I’m not about to place history or tradition above the well-being of the drivers in the NHRA—many of whom I consider good friends. But I say slow the cars down—and it can be done without excessive delay or expense—and let’s go back to the quarter-mile next year. I’ve given the 1000-feet a try and I can’t get used to it. Sorry.
Let’s face it: One of the major arguments that non-drag racing fans point to when asked why they don’t get into watching the sport is, “The races are over too soon! By the time I can focus on those two cars getting down the track, they’re across the finish line. It’s a four-second race!”
Now those races are just over three seconds. It just isn’t enough time to digest what just happened.
Bring back the quarter-mile. Please.
In Brainerd, the length of the track wasn’t the big problem for Morgan or J.R. It was the second round.
I think we can safely say that J.R. is going to miss the Countdown to 1 after losing in Round 2 to Doug Kalitta, while Morgan came to Brainerd 9 points behind Doug for 10th place. J.R. could have done Morgan a huge favor by beating Doug in the second round but couldn’t, so Doug advanced to the semi’s and picked up some ground on Morgan. Meanwhile, Morgan was upended by Steve Torrence in Round 2.
So, follow me here. Doug ran into Tony Schumacher in the semi’s and that ended his day but he did overtake his teammate Dave Grubnic in the standings. Doug is now 9th, Dave is now 10th, and the upshot is Morgan fell further back from the top ten. He’s now 13-points out of the money.
Morgan was actually pretty upbeat after all was said and done. Having Jimmy Walsh onboard tuning his car has given him some newfound confidence and he did make some pretty impressive passes this weekend. Morgan was interviewed by ESPN during Saturday’s qualifying coverage and he looked and sounded as jazzed as I’ve seen him all year. Another round win or two on Sunday would have sent him into paroxysms of ecstasy. No dice.
Reading next week. No time for second-guessing. It’s all about forward motion.