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Post by SKR on Sept 8, 2009 13:21:12 GMT -7
Anybody that hasn't seen this yet, take a look. Sure to be the topic of NHRA Drag Racing through out the countdown. Team driving? Legit wheel spin and R/T or is Tony Pedregon and Schumacher out of line?
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Post by johnbalich on Sept 8, 2009 13:48:45 GMT -7
Suspect what you will........we'll never really know. You can't call thias one because there are so many variables in racing. John's .2 reaction time is definitle ugly, and Robert Hights .1 reaction time against Ashley is ugly as well.
Ashley has had the fastest car week in and week out tho.
As long as a Team can field more than one entry, this will always be a problem. Let's say for instance that Robt. did lay down so Ashley could record a first. Is it cheating or being a team player. Nascar has the same problems.
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Post by SKR on Sept 8, 2009 15:02:24 GMT -7
I don't think lane choice was an issue seeing how Ashley took the right lane also. Gotta like this quote from John to Tony "My kid kicked your a$$" Too funny! This should make for a little excitement when the Pedregons face any of the Force cars for years to come.
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Post by johnbalich on Sept 8, 2009 16:00:40 GMT -7
Controversy isnt necessarily as bad thing. It does appear that the Cruz's could have headed this whole thing off. Cruz LOST to John Force fair and square. Tony LOST to Ashley, fair and square.
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Post by Demon340 on Sept 8, 2009 18:31:19 GMT -7
Controversy isnt necessarily as bad thing. It does appear that the Cruz's could have headed this whole thing off. Cruz LOST to John Force fair and square. Tony LOST to Ashley, fair and square. We alway's have Controversy when we race at Phil's track there's someone wanting to push someone down the stair's. Then there's the deal about who's got gas and I'am not talking about NOS. The smack talk is hot and heavy and there's been some finger pointing most of the time It's been telling someone they are NO.1. Well when the smoke clear's from all the BS we all had a good time any how. Hey JOHN Bring Tony over to Phil's Love to see you push him down the stair's ;D That photo of Rapid Richard Dancing with the mop got him First place in Dancing With a Mop. ;D DEMON |
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Post by 440gtx on Sept 9, 2009 1:01:04 GMT -7
I watched the race and I can honestly say it looked like John made a right turn out of the grove and went up in smoke. Do I think he took a dive? Absolutely!!!
440
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Post by da big ragu on Sept 9, 2009 6:42:03 GMT -7
 thats the force for ya.
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Post by SKR on Sept 9, 2009 9:02:57 GMT -7
I think he threw the race as well. Bad choice? I don't think so. He now has all his cars in the countdown and that should keep his sponsors happy. I've been a Force fan before he switched to Mustang and now have become a fan of all his team cars. Comes down to this. This race didn't solely take Cruz out of the Countdown. He just didn't have all that great of a year. The two best Funny Cars of the US Nat's weekend went head to head in the final. Maybe NHRA will take a look at putting a maximum limit on how many Team cars a guy can have. Kind of one of the reasons we only allow 2 cars per person at the NTRA events so we don't get a stacked field buy one guy. This only validates Rick's claim. Our own John B and the NTRA committee, should be writing the rules for the big cars ;D
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Post by allstarhr on Sept 9, 2009 13:35:50 GMT -7
Hey, we can grind this up a notch here too! How about when Dale #3 Earnhardt killed himself blocking for his team cars including Dale Jr. ? All three cars finishing 1, 2 and 3 till the crash! At least he died with a grin on his face. (Gonna get emails, I'm sure.)
John screwed up by not being as good an actor on the track as he is in interviews. Robert screwed up by being too slow reacting and making John have to wait for a .209 r/t. Had both had somewhat normal r/t's John could have still gotten out of the groove, gotten sideways, smoked the tires and all would have been well with the world. Except... NHRA has been flat this year. Losing spectators, ESPN's shows have been so bad I've quit watching. (I've read and watched all I could find since 1964 so that says a lot!) I dropped my NHRA membership over a year ago and yes before the economic turndown. This Pedregon/Force soap opera is worth way more than anything else to all three. JF Racing, Pedregon Racing and NHRA. WWF meet the NHRA! And I thought Field Entertainment would take IHRA to WWF first!
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Post by gonegonzo on Sept 9, 2009 17:45:53 GMT -7
All Star,
Your rite in that it made good TV and entertainment. It was hard for me to tell for sure if he threw the run.
Also, I found the Ernhart remark in bad taste since we're talking about someones life. I think the dead should rest in peace.
Gonzo
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Post by allstarhr on Sept 9, 2009 19:51:35 GMT -7
Oh I think Force threw the run. Good business decision as long as his or the Pedregon bros. remarks don't take away any sponsor money from his or any other team. Right thing to do for pure racing? Nope.
But the lousy countdown is why I put my money where my mouth was a two years ago and we funded the dragracingonline.com "Real World Champs" award to the full season NHRA winners. By the way, the Funny Car "Real World Champs" was... Robert Hight. Very nice guy. He ran away with the full season points battle and would have won the World Championship any previous year in NHRA history, but lost just barely to the Countdown System.
The only reason we and DRO haven't continued to sponsor the awards is because they would not be representative of a true world champion anymore with the "testing nature" of the "little summer races" now that it's only important to be sure your in the top ten at the end of the season. Now those races are for selling T-shirts and turkey legs (Gainesville food court). Last year Hot Rod Fuller's Cat car won the "cool weather races" and they shelved the car in the rafters of the trailer during the hot months so it could come back out for the countdown races. Didn't work, but it was still a good idea. Force/Pedregon war good for the sport of NHRA drag racing? Probably will put more money in the coffers like the Cam Wars we talk about so fondly here did for the Gasser Class racing in the 60's. But... that doesn't answer the question honestly does it. The question is has this become WWF or is it still pure competition. I'm hoping it's at least somewhere in the middle as I don't like WWF at all.
Regarding the Earnhardt remark. I knew it would get a reaction and while I saw that race on TV and felt that was what happened at the time, I also kept my mouth shut for many years before I made this comment. It's kind of like the Darwin Awards, some laugh and some are totally befuddled at how people can screw up and kill themselves. With Earnhardt, it was just like he had been racing for years. He was the tough guy who would put people into the walls ten years earlier when NASCAR still allowed it. NASCAR saw the need to turn the sport into a gentile sport to draw bigger crowds and therefore turn it into the monster business it is today. While my comment is in bad taste to you and I apologize for offending you, but it is what happened. We've all made mistakes and some of them hurt us a lot more than others. There are a few things that have happened to me in my life that I try not to think about as just a few inches one way or a few seconds slower or faster and I wouldn't be here either. In the end none of us will be here. Earnhardt had a fantastic life and I'm sure he'd like to have that last lap to run over again, but at the same time I'm hoping he's in a much better place. Again, I apologize for any offense.
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