{"id":90641,"date":"2023-12-14T17:18:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T17:18:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/op-ed-why-the-biggest-announcement-in-nhra-history-should-be-seen-as-a-positive-for-the-sport\/"},"modified":"2024-01-20T23:50:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T23:50:53","slug":"op-ed-why-the-biggest-announcement-in-nhra-history-should-be-seen-as-a-positive-for-the-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/drag-racing\/uncategorized\/op-ed-why-the-biggest-announcement-in-nhra-history-should-be-seen-as-a-positive-for-the-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-Ed: Why the \u2018Biggest Announcement in NHRA History\u2019 Should Be Seen as a Positive for the Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a drag racing fan \u2013 and if you\u2019re reading this, I\u2019m assuming you are \u2013 I\u2019m sure you heard about one of the \u201cbiggest announcements in NHRA history\u201d last week at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like many others, I was excited to see what the hype was about. I made my way to the NHRA stage with <\/span>Drag Illustrated<\/span> Editor-in-Chief Nate Van Wagnen Thursday morning for the 9 a.m. live announcement, joining an already large crowd.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

However, anticipation quickly turned to disappointment once the announcement was made \u2013 Tony Stewart would be replacing his wife, Leah Pruett, as driver of the Tony Stewart Racing Top Fuel Dragster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t help but think, \u201cThat was it?\u201d after listening to Stewart and Pruett\u2019s interview with Brian Lohnes. While certainly big news, it didn\u2019t seem to live up to the hype it had been given. It was a driver change \u2013 there were similar announcements throughout the weekend (Ida Zetterstr\u00f6m, Buddy Hull, etc.), but with far less fanfare. Judging by the immediate reaction on social media, I wasn\u2019t alone in my thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

But then something interesting happened. About an hour after returning to our booth, I pulled up ESPN on my phone \u2013 and right there on the main page was a story about Stewart joining the Top Fuel ranks. I couldn\u2019t recall the last time I\u2019d seen an NHRA story on the front of ESPN. It was most likely after Scott Kalitta\u2019s fatal accident in 2008. Let that sink in. Unless there is a tragedy, major sports media outlets hardly acknowledge the NHRA exists.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet here was the \u201cworldwide leader in sports,\u201d sharing positive news about drag racing! And it wasn\u2019t just ESPN, either. According to NHRA announcer Jason Galvin, the announcement was reported on a multitude of major outlets, including TMZ, Sports Illustrated, The Athletic, USA Today, and CBS Sports.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It occurred to me then that drag racing fans \u2013 myself included \u2013 have two issues that are potentially hindering the growth of the sport we love. The first is that we tend to live in a bubble. The announcement that morning wasn\u2019t a big deal to <\/span>me<\/span>, so therefore it must not be a big deal at all. But the fact is, NHRA doesn\u2019t need to sell me on anything \u2013 I\u2019m going to follow the 2024 season whether there\u2019s a huge announcement, an average announcement, or no announcement at all. What NHRA \u2013 and drag racing as a whole \u2013 needs to do is sell their product to individuals that aren\u2019t fans at all yet. The only way to grow is to attract new spectators.<\/span><\/p>\n

Consider this\u2026NHRA has 1.7 million followers on Facebook. ESPN alone has 22 million followers. USA Today has 10 million, and TMZ has 7.8 million. And that doesn\u2019t factor in the millions of followers from all the other outlets that shared the story. In the span of a few hours, drag racing\u2019s outreach increased by over 50 million people. Despite what us diehards believe, that is a BIG deal.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The second issue \u2013 and once again, I\u2019m guilty too \u2013 is that we tend to complain about everything, rather than see the good. We lament the fact that nitro cars only run 1,000 ft. instead of the quarter-mile, rather than applaud the crew chiefs that have figured out how to go just as fast as they did before, but with 320 less feet to work with. Instead of enjoying some of the closest, most competitive racing Pro Stock has ever seen, we complain that they\u2019re nearly all Camaros. We go on social media tirades every time a track closes, but we fail to praise the new ones being built with the same fervor. And rather than get excited about one of the biggest names in all of motorsports joining NHRA\u2019s premier class, we get upset because it\u2019s not the news <\/span>we<\/span> were hoping for.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not trying to convince anyone to be a fan of Tony Stewart. That is irrelevant. But there\u2019s no denying the cachet his name brings to the sport. NHRA knew this and built the news up to be a big deal. In return, a plethora of major media outlets also saw it as a big deal and ran with it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I can\u2019t help but hope that this massive increase in exposure will lead to an influx of new people watching NHRA on television, or better yet, buying tickets to an event. Better ratings can lead to better TV coverage. More ticket sales can lead to increased payouts. A growing fanbase could perhaps even trickle down to the lower ranks, sparking attendance and participation at local tracks, hopefully leading to fewer closures. Isn\u2019t that what we all want?<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe all that is a pipe dream. Maybe none of it will happen. Maybe it was simply an overhyped announcement. But I\u2019m making the choice to see past my own initial disappointment; to look at the big picture, and remain positive about the future of the sport I love. I hope you all will too.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The post Op-Ed: Why the \u2018Biggest Announcement in NHRA History\u2019 Should Be Seen as a Positive for the Sport<\/a> first appeared on Drag Illustrated | Drag Racing News, Opinion, Interviews, Photos, Videos and More<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re a drag racing fan \u2013 and if you\u2019re reading this, I\u2019m assuming you are \u2013 I\u2019m sure you heard about one of the \u201cbiggest announcements in NHRA history\u201d last week at the Performance Racing Industry (PRI) show in Indianapolis.\u00a0 Like many others, I was excited to see what the hype was about. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,78117,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drag-racing","category-race-pages","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90641"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91151,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90641\/revisions\/91151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racepages.com\/Videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}