If anything, I’m guilty of going too easy on Goodguys in recent seasons, while watching your shows degenerate into disorganized marathons that repeatedly test the endurance and patience of racers, fans and media members. (DRO’s own Jeff Burk may never forgive me for persuading him to come 2000 miles to experience the seemingly-endless 2004 Fuel & Gas Finals — during which one sportsman racer repeatedly cruised the pits with crude lettering that read, “Goodguys are Badguys!”)
Gary, your enviable safety record since 1987 clearly demonstrates the ability to create and enforce rules. Had Goodguys not ridden to the rescue, nostalgia fuel racing might be nothing more than a memory by now. Some of my oldest friends are sitting behind thosewhale and rat motors, just like yours. Thank you for keeping them alive.
On the other hand, your organization’s consistent failure to punish blatant technical violators has become a bad joke in the fuel pits. “Cheat until you get caught, then cry until they cave!” is frequently heard. So is “Run what ya
brung — as long as ya brung a lawyer!”
Precedent was established way back when Jim Paul purchased those six bogus iron “Buick” castings from Dart — then was allowed to beat up on everyone running OEM Chevy and Chrysler cylinder heads. That opened the door to all types of iron heads, and to unprecedented leaps in performance for the “haves.” Your solution was to divide Junior Fuel into two divisions, rather than confront the well-heeled team that violated the spirit (if not the letter) of a rule whose intent has been in cement since the very conception of Junior Fuel, more than 40 years ago.
Similarly, Bobby McLennan’s blatant defiance of the no-billet-heads rule led directly to the skyrocketing cost — and diminishing car counts — that we’re seeing in Nostalgia Top Fuel.
Now, heavy pressure from a multicar team threatens to undermine your barely-dry Funny Car body specs, to the obvious detriment of all those teams that have been playing by the published rules (more or less). Predictably, many of these owners are vowing to buy swoopy new shapes to keep up. Here we go again. 
Gary, no one should blame you for striving to keep your hobby out of court, but that’s always been a risk for automobile racing. With all due respect for your undeniable success as a car-show promoter, and sympathy for your reluctance to spoil anyone’s fun, this is no way to run a sanctioning body, Sir. It saddens me to see my favorite form of drag racing making such mortal mistakes, just as it seemed to be achieving levels of legitimacy and popularity that we’ve been seeking since the Seventies.
Time will tell who was a fool, and whether such criticism is ultimately dismissed as “trash talk” or proven prophetic. Either way, if you can’t stand the heat, maybe it’s time to step out of the kitchen.
Respectfully yours,
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