Friday, November 07, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JEFF WOLF: Rumors fly fast, furious at trade show

Rumors abound in the racing world this time of year, and the National Hot Rod Association was the hot topic around this week's Specialty Equipment Market Association trade show at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

One of those rumors could enhance next fall's NHRA national event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: The Budweiser Shootout might be moving from Pomona, Calif., to Las Vegas next year.

The Shootout will be Saturday during the NHRA World Finals, the last event of the season. The Shootout features the top eight Top Fuel qualifiers from the season and runs concurrently with Saturday's qualifying sessions. The finalists make a championship pass to end that day, with the winner getting a $100,000 bonus.

Sources close to the NHRA would neither confirm nor deny the rumor, and there's no point calling anyone at the speedway because they usually don't comment on potential events.

Bud is a major sponsor at the speedway, and chances are better than 50-50 that the Shootout will move to Las Vegas in October. It could add excitement to the third and fourth rounds of qualifying; the Saturday crowd at Las Vegas was good but appeared to be the weakest of a superb three-day weekend.

And speaking of the NHRA, the SEMA show was the perfect venue for the drag racing series to host a "champions breakfast" Wednesday.

About 500 showed up to hear legendary drag racing announcer Dave McClelland emcee a panel discussion with John Force, Warren Johnson, Don Prudhomme and Darrell Gwynn.

The always entertaining Force attended with both hands heavily bandaged. He sustained severe cuts that required 40 stitches last week after a crystal trophy broke in his hands.

The yuks were bountiful, many at the expense of Force's injury. Some Force directed at himself.

But Prudhomme dropped jaws when he suggested merging Top Fuel and Nitro Funny Car into one category with 32-car fields at NHRA national events so drag racing could crown one professional champion. His message was that the NHRA lacks national attention because it crowns four professional champions each year.

After that comment nearly caused Force to fall off the stage, Prudhomme relented.

But he is on the right track.

NHRA should merge its two premier classes to create a pro category that stands above the others.

Pro Stock might have parity like no other form of racing, but these 200-mph stock cars should not be considered the equal of 7,000-horsepower racing machines.

The Pro Stock Bike class falls even lower on drag racing's food chain.

But mixing the nitro cars can work.

Give the funny cars a head start against the dragsters in 32-car fields of single eliminations. Base the handicap start for the mixed pairs on each track's elapsed-time records for those classes.

Keep points for each category and create a third and ultimate winner: the Top Eliminator.

The concept of funny car vs. dragster was tried in 2000 and 2001 at Bristol Motor Speedway in a two-year special event sponsored by Winston that paid each year's winner $200,000.

The last year a Top Fueler won, and the year before it was Force claiming the crown for funny cars.

Actually, it might have been that trophy that cut his hands last week.

So don't expect Force to embrace this concept.

Jeff Wolf's motorsports column is published Friday. He can be reached at 383-0247 or jwolf@reviewjournal.com.