ShareThisOK, be honest -- do you really enjoy NASCAR qualifying?
Does watching a lone car on a track take two laps around asphalt provide the ultimate thrill?
Of course not. I think most of us simply accept it because, well, that's just the way they do things in stock car circles -- you qualify, you practice, you race, you go home.
Rinse and repeat.
However, a reader informed me recently that there's a much better way to set the grid for a race, explaining that Formula One qualifying is, "... in my mind the best 60-plus minutes in racing."
I had to plead ignorance on the subject, which is quite easy for me to do. Since F1 races are often held in the middle of the night (at least the middle of the night where I live), I don't watch many of them. And I had no idea what their qualifying format was like.
Now I know and as the reader suggested, it's terrific.
In Formula One qualifying consists of three phases.
In the first all the F1 cars (there are 20) hit the track for a 20-minute session. The drivers can make as many circuits as they like and only the fastest lap is counted.
At the end of the qualifying round the five slowest machines are knocked out, and relegated to positions 16-20.
In the second phase the 15 cars remaining get back on the track for 15 minutes, and when the session is over the slowest five make up spots 11 through 15.
That sets the stage for what F1 calls the "Poll Position Shootout."
The top 10 remaining cars are placed on the track based on their fastest times, and here's the hook -- they have to start this 10-minute mini-race with whatever fuel is left over from their earlier qualifying sessions.
If a machine runs out of gas, it simply falls to the wayside.
By the end of the day fans will have witnessed much more than cars riding around in circles, they'll have witnessed what amounts to a bonus race.
I wish I'd known about this format before because I'd have been screaming for NASCAR to adopt it. Obviously there are a lot more cars attempting to qualify for a Cup event, but I'm sure the brain trust at the organization could figure out a way to modify it to include 43-plus cars.
Ever since NASCAR overtook IndyCar racing as the top spectator motorsport in the United States, it was easy to forget that there are other exciting brands out there. And the F1 qualifying format certainly takes the boredom factor out of time trials.
"Happy Hour" is all well and good, but if it had something tangible like starting positions on the line, it'd be a whole lot better.
NASCAR has slipped in popularity over the last few years for a variety of reasons. And with the economy in the tank, officials would be smart to try several innovative concepts to bring fans back.
The most innovative might just be the "Pole Position Shootout" model.
It's certainly something NASCAR CEO Brian France and company should consider.
(Scott Adamson writes for the Anderson Independent-Mail in Anderson, S.C.)
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