TICE RETURNS SPOKANE TO AHRA ROOTS
Hats off to Jim Tice jr. for pulling off The Summer Nitro Extravaganza at Spokane Raceway Park. At Spokane I found what's been missing in drag racing over the last 20 years and that's affordable yet spectacular drag racing excitement. Most of the fuel cars at Spokane were not big names but that didn't matter as they all put on one hell of a show. In fact, local Top Fuel driver, Gary Omlin, stunned everyone by being the first to break into the four-second zone in Spokane. The nitro cars ran under the lights each night and during Saturday night's qualifying there wasn't an empty seat in the house.
At this race everybody came out a winner. For the fans, they got a spectacular show with lots of unpredictable performances by over twenty nitro cars. There was even an impressive showing by several nostalgia fuel funny cars. For the independent alcohol racers there was an opportunity to finally bring home some decent money and not have to spend cubic dollars doing it.
Jim Tice demonstrated how much we lost when the AHRA folded. The AHRA kept a lot of racing teams in business during the 1970's, and I think we need an association like that now if the independent racer is ever going to survive. The AHRA was great for the fans and the racers and it's a shame it now only exists in Spokane.
Rich Bailey
Salem, OR
BURK’S WEEKEND OFF
Now that is an awesome article. Summed up the love/hate affair many of us have with drag racing, and how good it is to just get away! If you are going to go...go big (tequila).
Mel Smith
Houston, TX
HE’S NOT ALONE
I kinda did the same thing only a week earlier (cabin in the Michigan
boonies) and with a bottle of Padron -- strike that, two bottles and a gallon of kick-ass Bloody Mary mix (Margaritas are for sissies). And who were we talking about, my old buddy Dave Settles, and we were wondering why someone hasn't tapped that twisted mind for a crew chief job, could be he's a little caustic? Couldn't be happier for all concerned. Settles and Zizzo, hope they get some bucks ‘cause that Arizona/Texas transplant knows race cars. There are more old guys out there besides Dave that are all a lot better and a lot smarter than 90% of the tuners in both sanctioning bodies.
Mike Dakin
Dayton, OH
AM I BLUE?
Burkster, your Lost Weekend sounds great. I may have to do that.
One question, How about a www.MaxFord.com mag for us die-hard Blue Oval fans?
Wild Child owner/driver: ProPony (‘72 Pinto Pro Street)
William L. Sparks
Taylor, MI
ANOTHER JAZZ FAN
Jeff: glad to see you got away from the routine: does a body good. I'm going to do the same this weekend. Besides, any drag racing column that mentions the great Clark Terry shows me there is still hope.
Jim Marchyshyn
WHADDA THEY KNOW?
Who wrote this month's Whaddaya Know? The IHBA Nitro Nationals is not run in Sacramento, California and this year was not the 31st, as stated on the IHBA Schedule. The 30th annual IHBA Nitro Nationals was run in Red Bluff, California. Red Bluff is nowhere near Sacramento. Red Bluff is 2 1/2 hours north of Sacramento on Interstate 5.
Thank you,
Grant Lopus
The quiz writer replies: Foolish me, to trust the "experts" at IHBA. On the plus side, the complainant dealt only with peripheral issues, not the quiz questions themselves. Sorry, and a pox on the IHBA website!
