SNOHOMISH, Wash. — New to NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series this season will be the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge bonus program.
And while it’s a genuine blessing for the racers to have the world’s leading brand for tortillas and wraps taking a deeper involvement in the sport and no one is ungrateful, this program might, eventually, need some of wrinkles ironed out.
Beginning with the March 24-26 Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park, the Challenge will reintroduce competitive racing to the Saturday schedule during regular-season events, pitting semifinalists from the previous race against each other in a rematch across all professional categories. The first round will take place during the first Saturday qualifying session, with the two winners squaring off in the final qualifying session.
At stake are cash rewards — and bonus points that will be awarded at the start of the Countdown. Each Challenge winner will earn three bonus points that will be added to their point total to begin the playoffs. Each runner-up will get two points, and the quicker of the two losing semifinalists will receive one point.
Three-time Funny Car champion and 61-time winner Robert Hight looked at the format with a cocked eyebrow.
“I guess it could create some excitement on Saturdays. I think that’s what they’re trying to do,” Hight said. “I don’t know — it could work a lot of ways. You could be really good on Saturdays and suck on Sundays and it’d help you out on points, in the championship. So I’m not sure about all of this.”
Naturally, Hight would be hesitant to embrace any new wrinkle in the already manipulated-enough points system that could bite him the way last year’s complex and problematic one did. He was the clear Funny Car leader throughout much of the season. He led the standings after all but seven events of the 22-race season, including 12 straight through the Countdown leading into the final weekend.
But he fell three points short of his fourth championship.
“The guy or gal that can do the best job in all the different conditions at all different race tracks, that should be your champ,” Hight said.
He’d get no argument from Top Fuel owner-racer Josh Hart, who’s no fan of the Countdown.
Hart called the six-race playoff format “no bueno,” saying, “I don’t like participation awards. I’ve got so much that I want to say, but … I chose NHRA because there are no participation awards. My kids won’t know what a participation award is — not that guy.”
As for the #2Fast2Tasty opportunity, Hart would like it much more if it involved simply cash awards without championship-chase-counting points. As it stands now, he views it as “a phony attempt to drum up drama. Money, not points, is drama enough.” And he urged the NHRA to stick to the KISS formula that originated with political campaign strategy: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
“The money end of it makes sense, because it will lure more people to participate,” Hart said. “There’s a lot of people in our class who sit out certain qualifiers who shouldn’t. I’m all about that, to help lower-end teams be able to participate and have fun more. I’m pro-that.”
The glitch with that theory is that more often than not, the lower-budgeted teams don’t reach the semifinals. So they more often than not wouldn’t be included in the bonus-chance conversation. Occasionally, a small, part-time team — an underdog — has a breakout weekend and advances to that third round or even to the fourth and final round. The real winners in this program stand to be the haves instead of the have-nots.
The latter group might benefit more from a format that focuses on the bottom four qualifiers from the previous race rather than the semifinalists from the previous race.
Erica Enders, the five-time Pro Stock champion, said, “I’m thankful for NHRA trying to find unique ways to give back to the people that spend a lot of money having an extra few grand a weekend that’s up for grabs. That’s definitely pretty cool.”
But it was clear the points that come with the #2Fast2Tasty promotion throughout the season are the tricky factor. Points, she said, “are the most crucial thing. The bonus points that we are able to accumulate during qualifying … are pretty substantial. While it’s going to be fun and exciting, you really have to get down to business and make it count. At the end of the year, those baby points could be the difference between winning and losing the championship.”
Enders was referring to the fact the current points system includes qualifying bonuses. In each qualifying session, the three drivers in each pro class with the quickest elapsed times are awarded bonus points: 3, 2, 1 (in descending order). And she’s correct that these can have a huge impact on the ultimate totals.
At the U.S. Nationals and the Finals, the points-and-a-half system skews the outcomes, as well, and triggers all kinds of strategies.
“It’s kind of interesting, isn’t it?” Funny Car veteran owner-driver-tuner Tim Wilkerson said. “I’m not a two-race-weekend kind of guy. We need to be doing this one weekend at a time. It doesn’t bother me at all. I like the four-wide (format), and that’s kind of a weird scenario, right? I’m kind of excited to see how this thing goes. Saturday’s always my test day. I’ll try a different blower, clutch disc, clutch lever, flow or something. But if I get to race somebody else for some bucks, I’m cool with that. We can use the money.”
Using the second day of qualifying is fine for a driver who’s safely in the field. However, if a driver isn’t in the field or may be in danger of being bumped — and many elite drivers have found themselves in that situation more than once — having to divide attention to a specialty race might feel more like a burden than an opportunity.
Juan Gonzalez, CEO of Mission Foods, said he wants his company’s sponsorship to help racers and give the fans a chance to interact with them. And Brad Gerber, NHRA vice-president/chief development officer, said Mission “is a company that is passionate about motorsports and drag racing” and “puts the racers first.”
That’s all true and all appreciated. A more inclusive format, though, might be in order.
This story appeared in the March 15, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
