Motor Racing / Shav Glick : These Days, the Big Numbers Mean Little in Drag Racing

Ever increasing speeds, Big Daddy Don Garlits has always said, have been the lifeblood of stimulating public interest in drag racing.

So it came as a surprise this year when the National Hot Rod Assn. eliminated top speed as a points factor in determining the Winston World champion in top-fuel and funny car competition, and sought to downplay speed in favor of records for elapsed time in getting a nitro-burning dragster down the quarter-mile strip.

“People just love to hear those big numbers,” Garlits, drag racing’s leading legend, said from his drag racing museum in Ocala, Fla. “Cars have speedometers on them, not elapsed time gauges. When people look up at the scoreboard, what they’re looking for is that big speed. Most of them don’t know what E.T. means.

“I know I’ve received more recognition for being the first driver to go 200 and the first to go 250 than I ever did for winning championships or match races. That’s what the crowd picks up on.”

Until this year, 50 points were given to the driver with the top speed and 50 points to the driver with the quickest elapsed time for each event. An additional 200 points were given anytime a driver bettered the NHRA record for either top speed or elapsed time.

Only elapsed time will be considered for bonus points when the 1989 season opens this weekend with the rain-delayed Chief Auto Parts Winternationals at the Pomona Fairgrounds. Last week’s rain caused qualifying to be postponed to Friday. Final eliminations are scheduled for Sunday at 11 a.m.

Joe Amato, the reigning top-fuel champion who was the first driver to exceed 260 and 280 m.p.h., and Eddie Hill, who holds the single-run record of 288.73 m.p.h., agree with Garlits, who has been semi-retired since an accident in mid-1987.

Said Amato: “People relate to speed, to miles per hour. Five seconds, or five minutes, the average guy doesn’t have any idea what you’re talking about when you mention E.T. They’ve taken away some of the glamour of the sport.”

Hill added: “I’m not too crazy about the idea. Speed is impressive. That’s why I’ve always strived for it. I understand the NHRA’a reasoning. They don’t want us to keep the power on any longer than we have to. They want us to shut down for safety reasons. But I don’t think it makes much difference if you’re going 250 or 290 if your chute and your brakes fail. You’re going to hit something. And if they work, you’re safe at just about any speed.”

Hill is the first driver to have broken through the 5-second elapsed time barrier with a run of 4.99 seconds in an International Motor Racing Assn. national event at Ennis, Tex., on April 9, 1988.

Steve Gibbs, NHRA vice president in charge of competition, said that the rule change was made to blunt the emphasis on speed at the end of the run, particularly as the 3,000-horsepower cars approach 300 m.p.h.

“The insurance brokers are not anxious to have 300-m.p.h. cars out there,” Gibbs said. “They would like us to put a little less stress on setting national miles-per-hour records. We’ll still keep the records and recognize drivers who set national speed records, but there will be no rewards in the way of points. It’s just one way of de-emphasizing all-out speed.”

The NHRA, also the interest of safety, shortened the speed trap, in which top speeds are measured, from 132 to 66 feet. Eliminated was a 66-foot extension beyond the finish line.

“For every foot of acceleration, a car needs several feet of deceleration,” Gibbs said. “Shortening the traps by 66 feet effectively lengthens the shutdown area by about 200 feet. And now it makes the finish line the finish line, instead of giving the drivers an added distance to keep the power on.”

Don (Snake) Prudhomme, a funny car pioneer who was the first over 250 m.p.h. in his class, agreed that more room is needed for runoff areas but he doesn’t like not getting points for top speed.

“If I had my way, we’d get more points for going fast instead of none at all,” he said. “I think the sound of 300 (m.p.h.) scares the insurance people, but I can remember when they were saying that 200 was too fast. And 250. I’m looking forward to the day we’re running 300. I don’t think, with the modern technology, that it will be too fast.

“We are running out of real estate, though. There are some tracks on the national circuit that are so short that they’re scary. For that reason, I can see why they shortened the measuring area, but they shouldn’t quit giving us points for going fast. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Kenny Bernstein, whose fourth funny car title last year tied him with Prudhomme for championships, doesn’t think the public will be misled by the lack of rewards for high speeds.

“The numbers will be announced and I don’t see any loss of interest,” Bernstein said. “Look at last week when Connie (Kalitta) ran close to 287 (286.25) and everyone was talking about how it was the fastest run ever at Pomona. He might not get 50 points but it got a lot of attention.”

Kalitta, who won the Winternationals 22 years ago, doesn’t like the new rule, either.

“If it’s not going to count, why bother even clocking us,” he said. “Ever since racing started, the guys who went fastest got paid the most. Now they’re trying to downplay what we’ve fought to attain.

“What they should be doing is getting track owners to extend their tracks. The problem is that race tracks haven’t stayed up with growing speeds. Vehicles are getting faster and faster and it’s making the tracks shorter and shorter. The sanctioning body ought to solve that problem before they try to slow us down.”

That, said Garlits, is a physical impossibility at some locations.

“It’s easy to say a promoter should buy some more land and stretch out his strip, but many times there is no land available, at least not at a reasonable price. We have to make do with what we have in many places and the NHRA is trying desperately to keep the fans and the drivers happy, and at the same time keep the insurance guys happy. It’s a tough job.

“I think maybe they don’t ever want to see a 300-m.p.h. run. That would be the last great threshold of drag racing--300. Wouldn’t that be something to be the first to get that record? I’m building a car now that might do it.”

Who will be the driver?

“Well, I might just drive it myself.”

Big Daddy is 57. He was 32 when he broke through 200 with a 201.34 at Great Meadows, N.J., in 1964, and he was 43 when he hit 250.69 at Ontario Motor Speedway in 1975.

Don’t bet against the old man.

MOTOCROSS--El Cajon’s Rick Johnson, three for three in Supercross competition this year, will get a chance to show his talents before hometown fans Saturday night when Round 4 of the Camel Supercross Series is held at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Johnson is a three-time winner of the San Diego event.

Jeff Ward and Damon Bradshaw, who were both injured two weeks ago at Anaheim and missed last week’s two races at Seattle, are doubtful for San Diego. Ward, runner-up last year to Johnson, has torn ligaments in his foot and ankle and Bradshaw, the teen-age phenom who upset Johnson last fall in Japan, has an injured spine.

The United States District Court has dismissed all claims filed against the American Motorcyclist Assn. by Mike Goodwin and Supercross, Inc., and has ruled in favor of the AMA on its countersuit. The ruling ended a 13-month legal battle in which Goodwin sought to regain control of Supercross events at Anaheim and other stadiums. The court order awarded costs and legal fees to both AMA and its president, Ed Youngblood, who had been sued for libel by Goodwin.

Amateur competition in the Golden State Nationals will continue Sunday at Sunrise Cycle Park in Adelanto. Professional competition ended last week with Mike Fisher, 250cc; Michael Ray Craig, 125cc; and Scott Brown, 500cc, winning championships.