Did DRIFTING Kill IMPORT DRAG RACING?

[Bebop]

I think there should be more collaboration events with time attack, drift, and etc. Like hyperfest and GTlive.

I want a excuse to show up early, leave late, bbq, etc.

So Cal hasn't had something like that since SuperGT came in 04.

[Slapshotnerd]

Time attack has no fans because it's visually boring. It's like a dyno session on the track.... literally a game of numbers.

I want to watch a competition and visually be able to distinguish a winner. I can watch the top 5 fastest time attack cars make a lap at Buttonwillow (widely considered to be one of the pinnacle time-attack courses in the entire US), and have no idea who actually won because the 1 or 2 full second difference between the top and bottom performers is visually indistinguishable. At least with NASCAR, I can visually see who's in the lead. With Drifting, I can visually see who's closer to the wall or clipping point. With Drag Racing, I can visually see who crossed the finish line first (or if I can't, I'm really excited that it's a side-by-side photo finish!). Until Time Attack can solve that situation, they will NEVER see any viable success.

[Bebop]

1 or 2 full second difference between the top and bottom performers is visually indistinguishable

I'm by no means a time attack fan, but 1 or 2 second finish is quite a big deal and IMO is not " indistinguishable" by trained or not so trained eye. The only way I see that as boring is if the cars are slow to begin with.

I wouldn't mind seeing 1 on 1 "grip" battles, battle of the touge style. That would be pretty cool.

I'm gonna go out on a limb as say I'm probably one of the few road race fans in here?

[Slapshotnerd]

on a course that runs 1:47 to 1:50 for the top guys, you won't be able to see the 1 to 2 tenths per corner that are different. I've watched superlap a few times, including watching the top division from the spotters tower, and you can't tell whether someone is going to run a 1:46 and break the record or a 1:49 and place 5th unless you look at the scoring.

[MonkeySlide]

I think what Burgenholtz was reffering to was when NHRA absorbed what was left of import drag racing (except IDRC) and then pretty much dissloved it after making a bunch of class rule changes that watered down the competition.

To NHRA Import Drag racing was just a new toy that they thought they could use to attract new kids but it didn't work out that way for them so it kind of just phased out.

Blaze you aren't the only road race fan. I've been watching road racing ever since middle school when I'd go to the Long Beach Grand Prix.

The problem with Time Attack is there aren't enough cars participating and as Slapshot suggested, that is boring to watch.

There is also the fact that the tracks that Time Attacks go to aren't exactly spectator friendly. For some reason some of the best tracks in the world aren't exactly the best when it comes to accomodating spectators. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca is a good example.

I agree that they need to team up with Drifting and Drag Racing to create mega events like GT Live. The only reason GT Live didn't go so well is because Super GT felt that they were being placed as second banana to drifting and they didn't like that one bit.

If Time Attack isn't going to team up with anyone then they need come up with a spectator friendly package.

Any F1 fans know how exciting qualifying can be ..I think if they aren't doing it already Time Attack needs to adopt F1 style "knock-out" sessions. Open the track to all the cars in a certain class at the same time and who ever can lay down the fastest lap within a session wins.

Now it would be hard for one announcer to keep all that information about whats going on in a situation like that to fans but its not impossible.

Also Time Attack needs to take a page out of Formula D's playbook and live stream all their events. Multiple cameras, graphics, the whole nine. It needs to be produced the same way most live road racing broadcasts are but streamed online which should reduce the costs.

With faster internet speeds on the horizon and nearly every laptop and desktop having HD screens, watching online would be great for anyone who wants to watch.

It would also be a good way for Time Attack to rack up VIEWERS which can translate into sponsorships.

[Charlie@JustDrift]

I think there should be more collaboration events with time attack, drift, and etc. Like hyperfest and GTlive.

I want a excuse to show up early, leave late, bbq, etc.

So Cal hasn't had something like that since SuperGT came in 04.

we tried, asbx and redline on same weekend at willow. fireworks, drifting, time attack and who knows whatelse happened that weekend. lol...

[GoukiS14]

With the idea of time attack. I think Ken block's gymkhana invitational event is kinda solving the "boring" part of time attack, with the side-by-side action of having the course be a mirror of it's self for competitors

[INFO]

Bump .

[Cavi Mike]

Who cares - I'm just glad it's dead.

[fast-datsun]

NHRA killed it?

With GM's help to much money

[SSmith]

Fast and Furious killed it. The first movie created animosity between the domestic and import guys. The domestic guys would call out "ricers" when they see a civic with a big wing and the import guys started believing that a non turbo DOHC civic can kick butt. Truth of a matter is unless you install big turbos on a small displacement 4 cylinder engine, you don't stand a chance against a V8. When drifting comes around, it becomes a level playing field (well at lease initially). The big V8 American muscle is terrible around the corner but fast at straight away and a little AE86 is excellent around the corner and would catch up and pass the V8. I think the import guys started to realize that the strength of import is not going straight on a 1/4 mile but sliding the cars around the corner. Remember when it was either DMac's or Ueo's AE86 that took out Sam's Charger?

[vvtisupra]

we tried, asbx and redline on same weekend at willow. fireworks, drifting, time attack and who knows whatelse happened that weekend. lol...

and 1/8th mile drag racing

[vvtisupra]

i think the whole cracking down on import modifications kind of killed it. Most of the drag racing scene albiet not a good thing, was driven by street racers. Street racing is still alive but its far less of a scene than it use to be. As far as im concered grass roots and drifting are the only thing keeping the sport compact craze alive.

[INFO]

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[Piner]

The scene was pretty divided with 3 completely different national sanctioning bodies and series. This split up the drivers who ran at a national level to pick and choose which one they were to run.

I also think part of it was nopi's bad business practices. When they bankrupted themselves it left the teams that were involved scrambling to run a different series and completely wrecked their calender. This im sure pissed many sponsors off as they no doubt felt they weren't getting their money's worth of exposure. Other events and venues were having issues with payouts and many teams I think looked at drifting as a more stable sport with alot more room for growth.