i agree with alot of what you wrote windy. although i have seen 300 ft atv racing on tv one time. some 3 wheeler thingy won.
on the nhra thing, even they are having trouble getting fans to show up. recently on yellow bullet there was a thread "if a funny car goes 324 mph And no one is there to see it, does it happen? Man, that was a horrible crowd at Pomona yesterday."
i completely agree with you on this: "you don't get a sense of "Rider Ability" it's more of a "Bike Ability" leaving many with the impression that wins are simply won by buying the most power or having the lightest bike/jockey. Light weight jockeys discourage fans from feeling like they personally could be part of the action".