National pulling needs a overhaul

Published July 16, 2012 03:56AM, by Dick MorganViewed: 2390 times

---

Is it just me, am I really just becoming a cranky old man?I’m already bored with some of the classes that are being run on the national circuits right now. It seems that in most if not all of the national classes there only have 3 or 4 pullers with a legitimate chance of winning the NTPA championship.

Have we set the bar so low that when 5 or 6 vehicles show up for a GN event we think that’s OK? Have we set the bar so low that 5 or 7 pre-committed is OK? Don’t the fans deserve a good show; don’t the promoters need to know that the greatest number of potential customers will see their products?

If we are to be honest, the truth is that once a puller-vehicle misses one hook because of breakage they are for all intents and purpose out of the point’s race. Where is the incentive to drive half way across the country and back again to make every event when you know that you are out of the point’s race? I guess the only hope is to pray that the pullers in front of you in the point’s race will have breakage and also miss one, if not more events. Hardly seems like a way to run a motorsports show.

I know I’ve gone down this road before, however I believe that the current situation makes my point even more valid. The pullers need to be able to drop a hook or more hooks from their points totals. So I have a couple suggestions that I believe will help the problem.

1; Allow pullers to drop one hook per season, this drop can be used either because of breakage or a poor finish. By allowing all pullers in the class to make one drop per season the pullers that have missed a hook because of breakage will have a greater incentive to follow the entire circuit and the pullers that have has not missed an event all season will be able to drop one hook because of a poor finish and still be rewarded for following the entire circuit.

2; Limit the number of hooks for each class to no more than 15 per season.

3; Try and convince the promoters to bring in at least one new class every year for their events.

4; This next one is the hardest sell of all, however I believe that the numbers in these respective classes will prove the necessity to try this approach. In the LSS, Open-Unlimited SS and PS and Mod class PPL and NTPA need to divide the pullers. PPL should run the 650 Alcohol SS class along with the PS and Mods while the NTPA should run the LSS, Lt Unlimited Mods and LT. PS and 4.1 PS class. There are just not enough of these vehicles to split them between two major organizations.

5; I would love to see the NTPA combine their LSS and DSS, with the low number right now in both classes it would be an exciting and interesting class. The DSS could run at 7K and the LSS in the 6500-6700 lbs. range.

These ideas could help break a pattern that’s unsustainable, because at some point the fans will decide that the value of the show they’re getting isn’t what it once was. Going from 20 in a class to 5 or 6, fans notice. Fans quit coming, promoters notice. Promoters look for greener pastures, organizations notice.

However the one nice thing about these ideas is I’ll be able to write them again next year knowing fully well that nothing will change until the sport totally implodes.

---

Dick Morgan

www.PULLOFF.com
Independent Pulling News



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2012 03:09AM by Jake Morgan.

---