Although they would never publicly admit it, the NHRA is concerned that the ADRL is siphoning off money, racers, and fans from the NHRA programs. Yet the NHRA, who owns the drag strip at Columbus, have signed a contract for the ADRL to put on a race at that venue. A fact that proves that in the racing business pride is one thing but in the end MONEY trumps ego most of the time. Wally Parks must be spinning in his grave.

But it’s not just the ADRL’s emergence as a power player in drag racing that demonstrates how drag racing changes and adapts to change.

Who among you would have forecast that those in charge of the NHRA would try to sell off parts of it and fail? Or would shorten the track length for Top Fuel and Funny Car as a safety measure to 1,000 feet? A move that so infuriates a few fans that they claim to have lost interest in NHRA drag racing, yet, almost to a man, the racers who assume the risk, the owners that pay the bills, and a majority of fans have not only accepted shortening the track length but support it.

Who would have ever thought that drag racing would have a doorslammer-based series with cars that regularly exceed 200 mph in the eighth mile?

Then there is the change in the way most of us follow drag racing. Who would have thought that print magazines and newspapers especially ones dedicated to drag racing would cease to be our main source for info. Until about 10 years ago National Dragster, Drag News, Super Stock & Drag Illustrated or Hot Rod Magazine had been the sources for hardcore fans like myself to get drag racing results. We had to wait from two weeks to three months to read the “news.”

Now the Internet lets us follow a race or a racer nearly in “real time.” It is simply amazing how much info you can get about a race or racer on the Internet today.

At one time I was strictly a supercharged, nitro-burning racecar snob/ junkie. If it had a supercharger and/or burned nitro, I was there. I knew the very fastest racecars were on the NHRA trail. The AHRA and IHRA were next in line. Those sanctioning bodies would have “outlaw” nitro cars and drivers you wouldn’t see at an NHRA “Big Show.”

I literally couldn’t wait each year for the U.S. Nationals to roll around again, if for no other reason to see the blown, nitro-burning bikes that made their annual appearance at Indy every year.

Now, most of the things I loved and slobbered over at NHRA, IHRA and AHRA races are history. The AHRA is dead and gone, the IHRA is in the critical care ward, and the NHRA reminds me somewhat of a survivor of some hideous disease. We consider ourselves lucky of the NHRA races have full 16-car fields, The supercharged nitro bikes are just a treasured memory of Indy. The IHRA has just one nitro class, and there are talks about resurrecting the AHRA as a bracket series! YIKES!!

But, as I said at the top, drag racing is about change, and being a real drag racing fan is embracing that change rather than fighting it tooth and nail. Change is inexorable; you either embrace it or it runs you over and grinds you up like a track re-surfacer.

Today, despite the sturm und drang we hear from so-called drag racing traditionalists, there is great drag racing happening.

So, I’m not a supercharged nitro junkie/snob anymore. For those of you who know me well, this is a stunning admission for the Burkster, but I gotta tell you that today’s nitrous oxide racing is, for me, as good as nitro racing.

I just love header flames and noise and today’s nitrous cars belch flame out of the headers, and let me tell you, an 800-inch V-8 at 6,000 rpm makes some serious noise.

I still can’t believe I’m writing this but I’ve got to tell you. These days I prefer watching a nitrous Pro Mod show at night to a supercharged Pro Mod show. And, frankly, I’d rather watch 30 ADRL nitrous cars trying be one of 16 qualifiers any day than eight or 16 nitro cars or supercharged alky Pro Mods just making laps, knowing they are going to qualify no matter what. It’s not that supercharged Pro Mods aren’t cool, it’s just that they are just about the same as they were when I saw the first ones in 1987.

I gladly pay to go to the All Harley drags and watch three classes of nitro burners including a Top Fuel class. I will go to a nostalgia AA/FC show and watch racers I’ve never heard of with 98 percent in the tank run their hot rods as hard as they can, and I don’t give a damn if the low ET is a 5.70 or the Top Speed is 250. It’s nitro dammit and it’s run on quarter-mile tracks.

Drag racing and life constantly evolves and nothing stays the same…thank God!

This weekend (Aug. 14-16) I’ll be at the Nightfire Nationals at Boise, ID. It is a track and race I’ve never been to. That’s a change I can get behind. I’ll be the guy sitting at the 1,000-foot mark with the adult beverage in his hand and a big grin on his face. I don’t know about the rest of you, but as I get older I really appreciate life, changes of scenery and the changing world of drag racing more each day.