I mean, we've got cars (Top Fuel dragsters and funny cars) with 10,000 horsepower, but I don't know how you get that across on TV.'īroadcast issues aside, Cromwell says the series remains in a strong position relative to its motor sports competition. 'Our production company does a great job, but we're always going to have the same kinds of challenges that hockey does in getting the speed portion over on TV,' Cromwell said.Īdded Schumacher: 'Speed is what we have. motor sports series, NASCAR and the Verizon Ind圜ar series (which returns to Houston this June for the Grand Prix of Houston), don't have to deal with tape-delayed broadcasts, they do share one thing in common: the difficult task of relating the speed and thrills of racing to the TV screen. But the format, which will be used at three events this year (excluding Baytown), required the turnaround time between races to be shortened from 75 minutes to 55 minutes, and opinions from the race teams were mixed. The NHRA has experimented with showing at least a portion of its races on live TV, including last year during the Baytown event when it presented some of Saturday's qualifying action and Sunday's semifinal and final-round races live. 'What I said was we have the (best) sport out there, but why don't people know about it? I don't watch the races because they're not on when they're supposed to be on, and that's true for a lot of our fans.' 'I was a little misquoted on that,' Schumacher said. The TV issue came to a head earlier this year when seven-time Top Fuel champion Tony Schumacher was quoted as saying he doesn't watch the broadcasts because they're boring, a charge he denies. But he says they would probably be even better if the races aired at their advertised time. But ESPN will tell you that we're one of the highest-rated shows on ESPN2 on Sundays.'Ĭromwell says NHRA broadcasts average about a 1.4 to 1.5 overnight rating, and given the fact the outcome of the races is known before they air, those numbers are pretty strong. We spend hours talking to ESPN to try and resolve that. 'That causes the NHRA to get pushed into undesirable time slots, and the fans get frustrated. 'ESPN and ESPN2 have picked up a lot of college football, and college football rules,' said Glen Cromwell, the NHRA's vice president of national event marketing. When/where: Friday-Sunday Royal Purple Raceway, Baytown.

Nhra drag racing on tv this weekend