7/31/07
Tuner Lee Beard has very rich history in the area of NHRA nitro racing. His experiences go back to working with hall of famer Jerry Ruth and include stints with the late Gary Ormsby, the Walt Austin family, Kenny Bernstein, Don Schumacher and currently the David Powers drivers Rod Fuller and Whit Bazemore. Cars and teams that he supervised have won too many world championships to count, and currently Rod Fuller of the David Powers team is leading the NHRA POWERade points chase to make the “Elite Eight” that will race for the NHRA Championship when the points are re-racked after completion of the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis.
A while back Beard let us know that he had some things on his mind regarding the NHRA and the current 85% rule and asked if we would like to sit down and do an interview. DRO Editor, Jeff Burk, who has known Lee Beard for 25 years, booked the next flight to Indy and sat down with Beard for this conversation.
Okay, Lee, what do you want to talk about?
Lee Beard: Let's talk about the future of the sport and how and what has to be done to take NHRA drag racing to the “next level.”
Well, I keep hearing that term from the NHRA and the HDP people, but with no examples. So what do you think needs to addressed to take NHRA drag racing to the “next level”?
LB: The first thing is I think, the quality of our race-day show. The “show “ is one of the foundations that gives the media and the television broadcasts of it the opportunity to take this sport to another level.
So you believe that a better show on raceday is a key to taking drag racing to the “next level”?
LB: Yeah, the reason I think that's important is, in my mind at the end of the day, when the spectator’s driving home, I think it’s important that they say “Wow, that was the best drag race I've ever been to.” The questions are how do we accomplish that? How do we justify the high ticket price? How we justify it is by giving the spectators the best show that we possibly can and that will happen if they (NHRA/tracks) make changes in several different areas.
What are those areas?
LB: Well, one area is how the (pro class) rules are structured, Another is the facilities themselves, and a third issue is what the sanctioning body does well while at the facility.
