Note to NHRA, ESPN2: Take These Ideas, Save Graham Light’s Life

International Hot Road Association President Aaron Polburn has always built into his schedule at least one visit to a National Hot Rod Association event to learn how to increase what he long has called “The Wow Factor” at his own races.
 
In an effort to — in his words — “customer-service ’em to death” — Polburn said, “try to become a spectator as much as possible. That’s how we make ourselves better.
 
“I’m looking more for the emotion,” he said. “Why did they buy this ticket? I look at what the spectator reacts to. What did they buy? How much did they pay for it? What’s the experience like?” he said back in 2007. “If you can create a better experience, you can create a better ‘Wow! Factor,’ and you can sell more tickets. And the front gate is key in this business.”

So he’s always watching what other forms of motorsports do.
 
Polburn said the ESPN2 crew and the NHRA administration and teams “did a magnificent job under incredible pressure” to carry out a live drag-racing telecast in Houston. (He didn’t belabor the point that the NHRA added “the wow moments” — another of his oft-used terms — to its own lexicon.)
 
And he offered some ideas of his own in his column “The Last Word” that appears in the May 17 issue of Drag Review Magazine.
 
“Here is what I would do,” he said. “Make the show 90 minutes instead of three hours, and start with the semifinal rounds live. Draw in the audience, then after the semis, get interviews and create story lines that make people want to pick a team to follow and stay with the show. Show the finals live and hone in on the emotion, not the racing. Over time the audience will grow.”
 
As much a fan of the sport as a sanctioning-body executive, Polburn said he tuned in to that Sunday telecast from Royal Purple Raceway at Baytown, Texas, near Houston, “to see how they adjusted on the fly and because of the historical nature of the broadcast. I certainly had a different adrenaline pump, knowing it was live.”

 
 Then, applying his quirky sense of humor after living for years in NHRA Vice-President Graham Light’s decision-making shoes, he wisecracked, “And I wanted to see Graham Light, V.P. of [Racing] Operations, do half-gainer with a twist off the top floor of the tower if things didn’t go as planned.”
 

Of course he was kidding. But he was being genuine when he said he noticed a flaw in the approach.
 
“The problem was it took so long to get there,” he said. “The first 90 minutes of the show was a recap. Once I realized that part was on tape delay, I set my watch to the approximate time the show was going live and switched my programming to a combination of Cleveland Indians baseball and ‘Duck Dynasty’ reruns. I have to believe the casual viewer did the same.
 
“I tuned into the show because it was going to be live, but it took 90 minutes to get me there. I loved the semifinals but then tuned out again when I tired of watching teams thrashing to make the 55-minute turnaround. It’s a good story, but going back to that so often got tedious.”
 
He praised the filler that ESPN2 dubbed “Top Five Wow Moments,” slyly wondering where they got such a name. He said, “The finals were well set up with great video and audio. The shot of the exhausted crewman [Travis Wirth] with clutch dust smeared on his face, backing up Tim Wilkerson’s Funny Car, was priceless. Bob Vandergriff running back up the track after his Top Fuel win made great TV. They were moments that made me care,” Polburn said. “They were moments that gave me an emotional connection.”
 
All in all, he said, “A tip of the IHRA hat to NHRA. Well done.”
 
But he did says that if the NHRA and ESPN2 happen to implement his suggestions for the next go at live TV, “you can take satisfaction that you saved Graham Light’s life.”