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 58 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com Issue 148