In the creative, spontaneous problem-solving process known as brainstorming, one key principle is not to judge or criticize any ideas until the rapid-fire round of input concludes. The reasoning is that any suggestion, even a seemingly outlandish one, could trigger a useful discussion.

That’s the practice in genuinely inventive, imaginative businesses. The National Hot Rod Association is another matter. Take, for example, a recent Autoweek article from correspondent Rob Geiger that simply addressed obvious problems and offered possible fixes. The sanctioning body responded with ire rather than interest.

Tony Schumacher, Morgan Lucas, and Jeg Coughlin – excellent drag-racing ambassadors with a combined 13 championships and 137 event victories – spoke about the declining ESPN2 viewership of NHRA broadcasts that stem in large part from the random time placements and the programming format that twists buzz into boredom, erodes electrifying into ennui.

Geiger quoted Schumacher as saying, “Even on DVR, it’s just boring. ‘Oh wow, there goes two cars.’ Then the guys get out and hug each other.  . . . Something big has to change, or we’re in trouble. Here’s what kills me: [In person], we are the most bad-ass motorsport in the world. I’ve never brought someone new to the track and they aren’t just totally blown away. But on TV, well, it’s not there … at all.”

The nature of the sport prevents television from properly conveying the sights, sounds, smells, and sensations a live experience brings. That’s not NHRA’s fault or ESPN’s, but it’s a problem nonetheless.

Maybe the ESPN2 decision-makers should junk the traditional format and go for a personality-driven reality-show-style format: a nitromethane-laced Duck Dynasty-Survivor mash, a 330-mph frenzy – only nobody’s singing, cooking, or stalking the Kardashians.

All the elements are there. The NHRA has a dad racing his daughter, a father racing his two sons, a Middle Eastern sheikh, millionaires living in the NHRA trailerhood every weekend, a former underwear model in a Pro Stock car, fistfights in the pits (sometimes among teammates), a Lear Jet pilot and airline owner, a Virginia cattle farmer, college kids and 60- and 80-year-old men, and a female racer who posed nude for a magazine. If that doesn’t scream reality series, nothing does.

The sport has burnouts, burndowns, oildowns, red lights, deep-staging, holeshots, plenty of E.T.s, and even a Christmas tree — and diapers aren’t what you think they are.  NASCAR went from moonshine-running to Madison Avenue seemingly overnight by promoting their personalities. The NHRA has wilder characters than that. And former Funny Car fan favorite Dean Skuza said, “We’re not like NASCAR. We don’t conserve fuel. We don’t conserve tires. We don’t conserve nothin’! What’s more American than that?!”

On another matter, Coughlin told Geiger the NHRA might want to lift its ban of imports in Pro Stock, the one pro class where the average fan can relate to the vehicle on the track. “I don’t see how anything bad would come out of it,” Coughlin said. But that takes an NHRA official recognizing, as Geiger pointed out, that “the new generation seems far less concerned about American-made cars and trucks, especially since so many imports are now made or assembled partially or fully in the U.S.”

Said Coughlin, “I think we need to switch to fuel injection. We could eliminate those big hood scoops, and I know those advanced electronics would open up the competition big time. I see it with my brother Troy in Pro Mod. The cars would look much more like the cars on the street, which would attract much more manufacturer interest. Problem is, they’ve been discussing this since I’ve been a pro, and that’s 17-18 years.”

Sigh.

The postwar California car culture (that’s post-World War II) begat the NHRA, but it’s 63 years old today, and kids today grew up on joysticks not shifters and surfing the web rather than tinkering with their souped-up hot rods. Even so, plenty of younger folks come out to their local racetracks. “Ask any track owner,” Coughlin told Autoweek, “and they’ll tell you their weekly Friday night ‘Grudge Races’ attract 500 cars. And that’s with no payout. But we’re missing the transition of getting those folks to NHRA national events or to have them watch on TV.”

He sees the stands emptying when the Pro Stock cars start their eliminations.

The Autoweek article covered a variety of topics, such as the need to reach out to younger fans. That’s a notion Top Fuel drivers Larry Dixon and the late Darrell Russell discussed in the early 2000s. They had a plan for reaching out to high-schoolers and sharing that excitement that hooked them on the sport when they grew up in California and Texas.

But a radically altered schedule, a major change in the lineup of classes and the show in general, and increased purses could reduce costs and attract some attention.

Top Fuel team owner Bob Vandergriff said last year that the addition of the Epping, N.H., event – while wildly popular with the New England market – simply means, for him and his already weary crew, one more race, another long haul with the trailer and equipment, for no appreciable benefit for his sponsors.

“Either reduce our costs or increase the revenue that’s generated,” Vandergriff said.

Racers and fans also have come up with dozens of basic ideas that have merit, but one sure way to reduce costs is to trim the schedule. NHRA muckety-mucks get indignant about such a proposal. However, as Vandergriff said, “Our audience isn’t big enough to justify the amount of money we need to run these cars.” They’d spend less to race if they had to go to fewer venues.

Yes, that would be a tough call about which markets to drop. But what if the NHRA were to cut the schedule from 24 races to 17 or 18? It could visit Charlotte and Las Vegas only once instead of twice each year. It could race at Seattle every other year – that would give the Pacific Raceways owners time to make those improvements they’ve been promising for more than a decade. And it could rotate, alternate, several pairs of markets: Epping and Englishtown, N.J.; Chicago and St. Louis; Topeka and Brainerd, Minn.; and Bristol and Atlanta. It even could end the season at Las Vegas instead of at Pomona, Calif., where the season always begins, as well.

No, it isn’t an ideal solution. But a cutback might be more respectful of the decreased disposable income Americans have these days. Every region of the U.S. still would be represented. And while beautiful Bruton Smith-owned and operated facilities such as Bristol Dragway, zMAX Dragway at Charlotte, and The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway are arguably the finest on the tour in every respect, something has to give.

If the NHRA insists on using all of its current venues, perhaps the racers can split up into teams that race east or west of the Mississippi then the best performers meet at one Super Bowl-like event at the end of the year. Then the next year the teams can switch racing regions. They’d have fewer events, but travel might pose problems. No solution is perfect.

Houston-area writer Randy Cunningham, a Baytown Sun contributor, came up with a clever, fan-friendly system that, while slightly complicated, is worth a look.  He calls it Tag Team Racing.

I propose a race in which [drivers] are paired into teams, then compete against other teams in an elimination-style format that will determine a team winner followed by an individual winner, all while making a maximum of four passes,” he said.

“Friday and Saturday remain the same. Cars will attempt to qualify for the top 16 spots, and though the No. 1 qualifier would gain extra points toward the Countdown, It’s most important simply to be in the Top 16,” he said. “On Sunday morning, the names of all qualifiers are put into a hat. Then two numbers are drawn at a time, and those become teammates for Sunday. After teams are chosen, team names are again put into a hat and drawn to determine which teams face each other in the first round.”

Said Cunningham, “In this round, each team runs once against a member of the other team. The matchups would be decided between the competing teams. The team with the lowest combined E.T.s move on to the next round.”

Rounds 2 and 3 take place with the same format. Round 3 determines the team champion.

In Round 4, Cunningham said, “it’s a combined effort based on elapsed times. Both racers count. Sometimes the ‘little guy’ will cause the team to move on to the next round. Other times, the mega-teams could be the downfall of a pairing. Right now, fans are getting bored, because it’s basically Force vs. Schumacher with the occasional Pedregon in the winner’s circle. In this format, anyone can win on any Sunday. It does get boring when the same guys win week after week.”

He wondered, “What if teams could share resources/parts/tuners? A nice little mix and match which could lead to underdogs beating super heavyweights. You might have some interesting alliances that change each week. This opens racing up to possibilities, those combinations of teams/drivers that don’t normally take place. It would be fun to watch races, knowing that they’re depending on each other to advance.”

With fewer events – and an all-pro show that includes Pro Modifieds – purses could increase. Right now, they’re embarrassingly low. Martin Truex, the last-place finisher in the 2014 Daytona 500, received $292,311 for his trouble. He came in 43^rd – 43^rd. That payout is $42,311 more than the Pro Stock champion earns (and he/she spends at least $3 million to chase the title). The biggest payout in the NHRA is $500,000 each to the Top Fuel and Funny Car champions. The top six racers at Daytona raked in more than that – in just one day.

The winners at each NHRA race earn $50,000, $50,000, $25,000, and $10,000 for, respectively, Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle. Add those prizes together, and it totals $135,000. That’s the NHRA pro winners’ payouts combined at each race. At NASCAR’s first race of the season alone, the No. 43 finisher by himself took home more than twice that amount.

So it might be a comparison of apples and oranges. Just the same, it’s obscene. And the apples and oranges are both a bit rotten.

In Geiger’s article, Lucas said, “The NHRA has a platform that is unique and has a ton of potential for businesses and marketers, but, to be honest, I don’t know what direction the leadership is taking us in. I know they are working hard, but at times there can be a disconnect between the ideas of team owners and the NHRA.”

That always will be the case until the NHRA recognizes that in brainstorming, no idea should be considered wrong or bad.