In what seems to be a bad habit on NHRA’s part, over the weekend another terrible decision on their part in dealing with a crowd entertaining burndown in Pro Stock.

For years I have taken NHRA to task on some of the stupid decisions they make, and yes, I do praise them when it is warranted, but this is not one of those times. Sunday morning rolls around in Topeka and if I were to tell you that we would have a double DQ in the first round of pro eliminations, you would have told me I am insane.

Well for those that haven’t heard by now, that is exactly what happened to the first pair of drivers that were set to run on Sunday. It was Bruno Massel set to face off against Mason MaGaha. After the two of them completed their appropriate burnouts is when the fun began. Neither driver was going to stage, and they both just sat there. At some point the starter demanded that they stage, and when both Bruno and Mason refused to budge, the starter disqualified both drivers for failure to follow the starters instructions. BULLSHIT

Apparently NHRA only gives a shit about making sure Nitro has TV time. And then I get on social media and read some of the idiotic comments about TV. This was not a live showing of the event. It is tape delayed and they could have easily trimmed the Burndown down for acceptable TV time if that was going to be their bullshit argument. Add to that the asinine announcer comment after Bruno’s interview about “just stage and race the car”. It’s apparent to me that even the guys that have been around the NHRA for years if not decades have forgotten what the hell drag racing is…IT’S ENTERTAINMENT!!

This is what Bruno had to say about the incident:

“Let’s put it this way, I don’t agree with the ruling,” Massel said. “We’re here to race, let us race. Everybody wants to see a burndown, they want to see the excitement and they want drama. It’s a shame. Mason wasn’t going to budge and neither was I.”

And this is what Mason’s response was:

“I wasn’t going to move from my plan. I wasn’t going to budge,” McGaha said

In my opinion Bruno was spot on, the racers are there to race and create excitement. This is the first time that we are really talking about Pro Stock since the change to EFI with the exception of Erica winning titles. Yet NHRA, and the starter, felt the need to eliminate all drama, excitement, and entertainment from the equation, and proceed to make an absolutely piss poor call by DQ’ing the drivers.

Being in racing as long as I have, I have witnessed numerous burndowns, and they are EXCITING. The fans love them, move racers love watching them, and they are memorable. I remember watching Haley James and her opponent get double DQ’ed and seeing the amount of really pissed off fans and drivers for that. I also remember watching Jay Cox and Lizzy Musi in an absolutely epic Pro Nitrous burndown one night at a PDRA event. As a fan I was laughing and cheering for it. Yet the people at NHRA think this was a good decision.

What I will say is that I am willing to bet that NHRA uses this as publicity and soaks it up. They will talk about it, show the video of it, and market the shit outta it, but then make decisions like this. NHRA needs to wake TF up and start actually learning what fans want. There is a reason that drivers want to go to Mid-West Drag Racing Series, PDRA, NMCA, No Prep, and just about anywhere else but NHRA. The same can be said for the fans also. They want a SHOW! Look at Norwalk or Martin a week ago for their night under fire and how ass packed the stands were.

I am convinced that NHRA either doesn’t get it, or doesn’t want to get it. Where it’s bullshit like this, or their media credentialing, or Pro Mod rules, these people are just out of touch with the 21st century. Again, you will have the suit and ties guys argue with me about this, and if any of them have the balls, they are welcome to come on an episode of Scorched. We all know that won’t happen though, as they don’t like to be called out.

NHRA needs a reality check moving forward and remember how they became great to begin with. Rivalries, entertainment value, and so many other things that have fallen by the wayside because they want to be NASCAR or F1. There are a lot of people that have moved on from NHRA, the stats, whether it be entries, TV viewership, etc. doesn’t lie.

DO BETTER NHRA!! DO BETTER!