Drag Illustrated Issue 148, September 2019 | Page 58
D.I. COLUMNIST
Tuned Up
with Will Hanna
MAYBE IT’S TIME FOR ‘SUPER REGIONALS’
I
n 2012, NHRA introduced
the “regional” system, which
fundamentally changed the Top
Alcohol classes. Until that point, the
Top Alcohol cars were contested at
nearly all of the NHRA divisional
races. With the regional system, the
seven geographical divisions were
split into four regions. Instead of
having five to six races to choose
from in each division, NHRA now
has five to six races to choose from
in each region. The events are still
a part of the same divisional events,
but now called regionals when alco-
hol cars compete.
For some there wasn’t much
change at all. Divisions 1 (North-
east) and 3 (North Central) had
their schedules virtually remain in-
tact with very little change. Division
2 was hit hard as it was rolled into
the East Region, only having one
race from their division on the East
Region schedule. Divisions 4 and 5
were combined to make the Central
Region and Divisions 6 and 7 were
combined to make the West Region.
Chasing points in the Central and
West regions requires quite a bit of
travel compared to the divisional
schedules of previous years.
In addition to creating the re-
gional system, the national points
structure was changed to heavily
favor national events. In the divi-
sional system, national points were
a combination of your best five out
of eight national events and your
best five out of eight divisionals.
Under the new regional system,
national points were increased to
your best seven out of 10 national
events, while regional points were
reduced to your best three out of six.
In the previous system, a racer
had to have success on the divisional
level to win a championship or fin-
ish in the top ten. If you raced a full
allotment of 10 races, half of your
points came from divisional races.
Now under the new system, only
three will count.
I was not a fan of the format when
it was rolled out, and unfortunately
many of my concerns have come to
pass. The big geographical spread
of the Central and West Regions
made it very difficult for lower bud-
get teams to run the full regional
schedule. The heavy emphasis on
national events in national points
led to teams focusing more on those
events. With the current system, a
team has a much better shot at the
top ten by simply making sure to at-
tend enough national events. I have
talked to many racers who will only
start attending regional races if they
think they have a shot at a strong
national points finish.
The result has pinched regional
car counts from both sides. Many
racers who traditionally chased divi-
sional points quit chasing points due
to the increased travel. Racers who
preferred national events focused
their schedules there.
To make matters worse, often-
times there are schedule conflicts
with national and regional events
that force racers to choose one or the
other. This year has shown numer-
ous examples. Last month the Tulsa
regional was a prime example. It
was the same weekend as the Seattle
national event. With the emphasis
on national event points, if you are
based out of the western part of the
country, it’s hard not to go to Seattle.
If the Tulsa race had not been on
top of that national event, Tulsa is
a race a western team may consider.
While Seattle and Tulsa did not af-
fect each other very much in terms
of the other sportsman classes, it
did force some teams to choose the
national. With the reduced number
of events, there’s only so many races
to attend.
One potential solution is for
tracks to start having standalone
regional events that are separate
from the divisional events. This al-
lows for better scheduling. It also
allows the tracks to focus on using
the Top Alcohol categories to put
on a show. At a current regional/
divisional event, a track has a lot of
paying sportsman cars they have
to get down the track. It is difficult
to optimize a schedule to put on a
show and get the sportsman cars
completed.
I have a much more in-depth arti-
cle posted at InsideTopAlcohol.com
on how this concept fits into the
picture moving forward. I strongly
feel if this concept is developed, it
would be a more desirable option
for tracks versus trying to have Top
Alcohol cars “headline” a divisional
event with several hundred sports-
man cars.
DI DI DI
DI DI DI DI
DI DI DI
Will Hanna is a tuner/consultant-
for-hire offering services from run
evaluation to trackside consulting.
He can be reached via email at
will.hanna@insidetopalcohol.com.
TRACKSIDE CONSULTING • REMOTE TUNING • RUN EVALUATION / “Monday Morning Crew Chief Service” Available
will.hanna@insidetopalcohol.com • 979.415.4959
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