This question has nothing to do with short track racing, but I think those of you who are reading this are a good group to ask....

I'll follow up later with the reason for the question, but need to get a least 10 (hopefully more) responses from you folks first...

Before you read on, to not skew the results, please understand that I am not looking for a discussion at this point... just your ranking of the 6 names provided below.

Here's the question:

Without using Google/other, please rank the following names in order of your recognition of each, most recognized first... least recognized last:  

Justin Ashley    Big Chief     Matt Hagan    Ryan Martin    Dallas Glenn    JJ DaBoss

1. ___________________
2. ___________________
3. ___________________
4. ___________________
5. ___________________
6. ___________________

Thanks in advance for taking the time to answer by providing only your ranking of the 6 names at this time.

"Without using Google"I have no clue who they are. .

1 Matt Hagan 2 Justin Ashley 3 Dallas Glen 4 JJ DaBoss 5 Ryan Martin 6 Big Chief

 I too have no clue as to who these folks are.

I was hesitant to respond because of looking like a fool not knowing but apparently I am not alone !!!

I do not recognize any of these names .

Big chief .Matt Hagen ,Jj da Boss ,Ryan Martin Justin Ashley,Dallas Glenn theres my order Joe

Matt Hagen

Big Chief

JJ da Boss

Ryan Martin

Justin Ashley

Dallas Glenn

1.   Matt Hagan

6.   All the rest

no eyed deer

1. Matt Hagan.

I do not know the rest.

No idea

Without Google?  Not a clue.

I've never heard of any of these people.

John - To make it easier for what I'm working on, and since you have heard of all equally, rank them based on who you think has more name recognition (most to least) to those in your circles, or who you think would most likely get noticed if walking through your local Walmart (most to least.)

1. Chief 2. Ryan Martin 3. Matt Hagan 4. JJ 5. Justin Ashley 6. Dallas Glenn

1 Big Chief 

2 Jj the boss 

3Matt Hagen 

4 Ryan Martin 

Never heard of Justin Ashley or Dallas Glenn

1 Matt Hagan 2 Justin Ashley......the rest I have no clue. 

no clue

matt hagan

justin ashley

ryan martin

dallas glenn

jj daboss

big chief

Ashley, Hagan, Glenn, Big C,Martin and JJ. Know them all. Follow the first 3.

Justin Ashley   - just recall name somehow

rest no idea

no idea who they are

Put my reponse in the "no idea" column.  Scott Ely

1 Matt Hagan
2 Justin Ashley
3 Dallas Glenn
4 JJ DaBoss
5 Big Chief
6

I have no idea who any of those fellas are.

1.) Matt Hagan

2.) Justin Ashley

3.) Dallas Glenn

4.) Ryan Martin

5.) J J DaBoss

6.) Big Chief

1 Matt Hagen, 2 Big Chief....the rest nothing

1) Matt Hagan

2) Justin Ashley

3) Dallas Glenn

4) Big Chief

5) Ryan Martin

6) JJ DaBoss

1- Matt Hagen, 2- Justin Ashley, 3- Dallas Glenn, 4-Ryan Martin, 5-JJ, 6-Big Chief.

I'm no help on any of them, so please tell us who they are.

1.) Matt Hagan

2.) Ryan Martin

3.) J J DaBoss

4.) Big Chief

5.) Justin Ashley

6.) Dallas Glenn

Thank you to all who responded.

I'm not sure if the results really proved anything, but to me, they are kind of interesting...

All of the names provided are drag racers, 3 professional, and 3 are drag racers from a Discovery Channel series. 

Three names provided are the current points leaders in the 2023 NHRA Drag Racing Standings. 

• Justin Ashley:  Top Fuel
• Matt Hagen:  Funny Car
• Dallas Glenn:  Pro Stock

Three names provided are from the Discovery Channel "racing" series that began as "Street Outlaws" about 10 years ago, but has grown into Street Outlaws OKC, Street Outlaws Memphis, Street Outlaws No Prep Kings, Street Outlaws America's List, Street Outlaws Cash Days, Street Outlaws Farmtruck & AZN, and a few more.  I think they also now have video games, etc.,.

• Big Chief
• JJ Da Boss
• Ryan Martin

The reason for my question is that I hold NHRA in pretty high regard, and while I don't consider myself a diehard NHRA fan, I have followed it for many years, (still enjoy watching today) and have always thought (still do) that the championship winning drivers/teams should be considered at the highest level of that form of racing.  And I also thought that those top NHRA drivers would always have the edge when it came to name recognition/popularity with racing folks, and maybe even the public in general, right?

Inside the #'s:  10 that responded didn't recognize any of the 6 names provided.  (I realize that this is a mostly a round track/short track crowd around here, but I was kind of surprised by that, but honestly, if the question was about F1, I bet I couldn't recognize more than 2 current F1 driver's names, so we all have our silosso I appreciate the honesty!) 

Of the remaining 21 that responded, taking only the first 3 names provided in each of those responses, it looks like this:

1. Matt Hagan: 15 mentions (received 8 #1 "votes")
2. Justin Ashley: 9 mentions (received one #1 "votes")
3. Big Chief:  4  mentions (all 4 were #1 "votes")
4. Dallas Glenn: 5 mentions
5. JJ DaBoss: 4  mentions
6. Ryan Martin: 3 mentions

So... based on the results, I have to say that the NHRA offering is still more popular/recognizable with the crew that posts on 3 Wide's Message Vault, so that's a good thing for the NHRA (quite a few folks know Matt Hagan which is a positive for The NHRA for sure, but from there it gets a little murky.)

What's the conclusion?  What makes something the "highest level", and does today's watching/participating public care?   Does the incumbent (in this case NHRA) need to look at the popularity that the Street Outlaw series has enjoyed and consider making changes to their once tried and true format?  Can the lessons learned here be carried over to other forms of racing, meaning, just because something has always been done a certain way, at what point is that no longer a good enough reason to to keep doing it?

NHRA events are shown on Fox Sports 1, and sometimes Fox's main network, and has pretty much followed the same format for years, with rounds of qualifying setting up the ladders for each of the classes, followed by eliminations until a winner for each catagory is determined. New for 2023, they added the #2Fast2Tasty "Match Races" that has added more interest/importance to the qualifying runs, and has added some drama since the match races involve the participating drivers calling each other out which is a little Street Outlaw'ish, (although I know way back in the day they used to have mid week match races that probably had the same feel.)  More info: https://www.nhra.com/news/2023/mission-%232fast2tasty-nhra-challenge-debut-during-2023-regular-season ),

Just this weekend, I saw a press release that there is now going to be something called the PRO Superstar Shootout Invitational (Drag Racing) in February in Bradenton FL (not a huge venue), that will be offering a very big payout featuring top "Top Fuel", "Funny Car" and "Pro Stock" NHRA drivers but I don't think has any direct tie in to the NHRA.  From what I understand, their will still be qualifying, but then a chip draw will be used to see who squares off against each other (like No Prep Kings for those who follow both Street Outlaws and NHRA.)  More info:  https://www.floracing.com/articles/11170533-13-million-top-fuel-funny-car-pro-stock-drag-race-coming-to-floracing

Nothing scientific here about the question I posed, or about the results received, but it makes me wonder what amount of change is the right amount when it comes to racing in general... Drag Racing.... Cup Racing....  Indycar Racing....  Short Track Racing.....  And have we gotten passed the point where something is, and will always be #1, because that's just how it's always been?

To bring it back to the question asked, is it possible for a less "professional", less "traditional" offering of a form of racing to displace a more traditional offering?  Is NHRA still more popular than "Street Outlaws?"....  How do you measure popularity, and is popularity the same as success?  Are the folks at NHRA and/or those involved at drag racing's highest level looking/learning anything from what the Street Outlaws series is offering/accomplishing, and making changes to their offering? 

Is there something to be learned here when it comes to other forms of racing?  What changes are needed, and how much/how soon?

It's nothing to lose sleep over.... but for those who like thinking about stuff like this, it's kinda of like bubblegum for the mind I guess...  I rarely accomplish anything from it, but I do like thinking about stuff like this, and then seeing how it plays out.....

Thank you again to those who took the time to respond and to read the reason why I asked the question!

I love Street Outlaws. Maybe sometimes there's scripted drama. But, the racing is real. 
I just slowly stopped watching NHRA. For me the hay day was back when TNN was still around. I do record pro mods and pro stock's when I get a chance. 

At one time I considered myself a casual fan of NHRA. I wouldn't plan a day around the telecast but if I stumbled upon it I would watch for 10, 15 or 60 minutes. But I pretty much quit cold turkey when they went to 1000' My wife will watch a few minutes here and there if we're looking for something to watch on a Sunday, but it just stopped being interesting to me. I find it surprising that I never heard of the top NHRA guys but it has been a while since I walked away. I wouldn't stop for even a moment to watch a reality show about street racing. No offense intended. Deadliest Catch was a good reality show for a couple seasons but it became too much "show" and not enough "reality ". FWIW, I would've nailed all the F1 drivers names. LOL.

Very interesting Joe. This formula could apply to almost all professional vs. amature sports, especially short track racing.  Grass roots sports is really pecking into main stream sports due to streaming. Even little league streams their games for parents and grand parents to watch.

Do you watch Street Outlaws?

Well I can say I heard of Hagan but that was it. NHRA pr department is as bad as the rest . Never new when the 4 wide nationals were here, never saw any thing , I stumbled on it flipping channels. Never watched the street drags. Didnt like the idea of racing on the street , I have taken too many dead kids from street racing crashes. I did see that it looks like they are racing on some strips now but never got into it. Drags are a a lot of fun and had a great time when I had Spray 9 on Bruce Larsons funny car for two years , Bruce is and was a class guy.

Good question, and the best answer is that I used to, and then I kind of forgot about it a little over the last year or so.  (Same thing happened to me with "Dealiest Catch" too!)

I first heard about the show about 8 or 9 years ago from my kid and told him how stupid I thought the concept was, and if they were really racing on the street, not only was it dangerous, but how long do you think it would take before the cops figured it out and put an end to it?  I called "BS."

At some point I tuned in and they weren't really racing in the street as I had interpreted the name of the show to imply.  The area that they were racing in an area where it looked like they had permission to do so.  Not real safe, but it definitely wasn't "public street racing" with other motorists sharing the same asphalt at the same time.  The cars were cool and I could relate them...  A 71 Monte, an S10 Pickup, a '68 Nova,  a 70's GTO, a '67 Dodge Dart, etc.,.

I got into it more and more with the different characters (Big Chief, Murder Nova, Daddy Dave) and followed the branches of the series when they came out with Memphis Outlaws (JJ and his crew), and then No Prep Kings, etc.  Saw the whole deal where JJ and his wife crashed in California.  I know people think a lot of the show is scripted, but if they actually watched the show, as was stated above, the racing is real and the guys working on their cars is real, and that's pretty cool.

I tuned out right about the time they decided to go back to real street cars, and Ryan Martin did so by buying a restored premo 1969 Chevelle (probably a $80K car?) and cut it up to make it a "street legal" drag car.  (I would have rather seen him taken one that needed work, but hey... it's his $'s so it's his fun.)

So, yes I watch it and going back to my question, I'll bet some of the drivers on the show are probably more well known (and sell more T-Shirts!) than the top NHRA guys of today.  What that means for drag racing... and other forms of racing.... I'm not sure.  But I am sure that the old rules don't apply...  Something can become popular because it captures folks attention, and makes them want to return to it... and not just because somebody "thinks" it deserves to be.