So let's talk a little more about scheduling.
LB: Again, what I'm talking about here is the quality of the show. You have all these different things that add up to give the spectator the best show and in my mind the schedule is paramount. When you advertise that the pro cars are going to qualify at 5 and 7:30, when that 5 o'clock whistle blows, those two pro cars should be started and running. Now it's sometimes unpredictable on how long the session is going to go because of parts breakage and oil-downs, but there should be no excuse for not starting on time.
When I worked for Kenny Bernstein and we were racing at the U.S. Nationals the Busch family (Budweiser owner August Busch IV) told Kenny they were going to drive over to Indy and watch that Friday’s night run that we made. The session was scheduled for 8 o'clock. There were a lot of delays in the sportsman category and rather than stop the sportsman and start the pros, they delayed the pros. It was after 10:00 p.m. when Kenny's car got on the track and in the meantime Mr. Busch and his family had left and drove back to St. Louis and didn't get to see their car run. You can't tell me that the schedule isn't important when you have incidents like that and there's no excuse. Any other sporting events that you go to when they say they are starting at 1, they start at 1. And why we continue to not start on time is I think an insult to the spectators themselves.
You said you wanted to talk about the qualifying problem on Friday night at the Sonoma race?
LB: Here we are a decade later and the same things are still happening as far as the qualifying schedule goes. At Sonoma we had another deal like Indy. It was a disaster for our team, just another example of the show not running on time and the consequences that come of that. I’ve already expressed my opinion about getting the show to run on time,
but the deal at Sonoma was terrible, at least in my opinion. We started the qualifying 28 minutes late after having all day to figure out how to start that session on time. The president of Matco Tools (our major sponsor) and his wife were at that event and we were going to qualify against Tony Schumacher’s car with a good chance, I thought, to get the number one qualifying spot. We didn’t get the opportunity. I even heard that Graham Light (NHRA Sr. VP of Racing Operations) left the track early Friday night for dinner. I just don’t understand this. The fact that NHRA had to shut qualifying down early was really bad for the show. The crowd, which was nearly a full house, actually booed the announcement. I don’t know how that was a good show.
So why then do you advocate night qualifying and eliminations for the pro teams?
LB: I try to look at NHRA drag racing from a spectator’s point. I pay to go to other sporting events and I critique them on their show, so I try to look at drag racing the same way and I'm telling you that night racing has always been a spectacular show. As a young guy in Southern California (going to races) at Orange County and seeing the shows they put on at night time, I feel that type of show is what built drag racing and gave drag racing its path to where it is today. I don't know that I could enjoy sitting out there in 90-degree weather, with a 130-degree race track and not see cars race side by side because there is so much tire smoke. Is that what we're all about or is it better to look at it like, hey, it's Saturday night, it's in the 70's, the racetrack is under 100 degrees, we're probably going to see some 4.40's and 3.30's, we're going to see great side by side racing, or the potential for it. What makes sense to you?
Would have a problem of racing on two days, qualifying one day and racing the next or do you feel that you need four qualifying laps to put on a good race?
LB: Obviously it's nice to have four qualifying runs because the more race data you get, the better you'll be on race day. The other thing is that if you only have two qualifying runs and you have any mishaps, you're going to be on the outside (not qualified) and your sponsor is not going to be happy about that. The sanctioning body has to give the teams a fair chance to qualify and when (a team misses on Friday) and is down to just two runs in the heat, like St. Louis, it's real easy to miss the show. Three runs are acceptable, four runs would be better.
