Completing the circle
What with the economy and all that, I wonder if it is time for drag racing to come "full circle". There is a 32-car Funny Car show that will be held this month at Firebird Int'l Raceway in Phoenix. It'll have 16 nostalgia nitro floppers and 16 CIFCA cars, not to mention A/FD (nostalgia, front motor cars). I was thinking how much this reminds me of Lions and other tracks I used to go to in So. Calif. years ago. This race will be a great show for the spectators and the beauty of it is that it won't cost an arm and a leg for the track or the racers.
There is not a track in the country today that could put on a 16-car F/C show with modern day Funny Cars. Maybe this is the time that drag racing needs to go back to "the way it was" and feature the nostalgia T/F and F/C cars as the main "draw". The fans get the noise and flames of a nitro car, get a good show, and it's a lot less expensive. Who will follow Firebird's lead?
I'm also thinking that as sponsorships dwindle away, why not split the country in half and have a Western States Series and an Eastern States Series? Maybe 10 races in each, which would cut costs a bunch. Also, maybe go back to the old Divisional series, where fuel cars ran. Think of a Divisional with eight-car fields for F/C and T/F.
Anyhoo, just some thoughts, none that haven't been voiced before, but maybe it's time to start thinking in another direction.
Cliff Morgan
Phoenix, Arizona
TV or not TV?
While I'll be the first one to admit that Sportsman racing all over the country is indeed flourishing, as long as NHRA and IHRA are the ONLY series that get weekly TV time, you can bet they will continue to get 80% of the exposure, and until Kenny Nowling can pony up with television, that will continue to be the case.
Joe Sherwood
Albuquerque, New Mexico
He’s not gonna watch eighth-mile racing
I shouldn't have to say that drag racing is an inherently dangerous sport. Lives, tragically from time to time, are going to be lost. It can happen while SCUBA diving, catching one in the head while playing a round of golf, or crossing the street as my brother did. The fact that no [American] astronauts were lost en route to the moon over fifty years ago was an incredible nose-thumbing at the odds.
Limit non-acceptable raceways, not speed or duration of the run... Contrary to all the safe-nick rhetoric regarding how little effect the 1000 ft. length lane change would have on the common Joe's interest or enjoyment of the sport: well, I've not personally attended a live event since the change in lane length. I appreciate that seems a harsh response, but it's a visceral response and echoed by so many I know and have sat shoulder to shoulder with on previous race events.
I personally don't go to the races to see someone get hurt, or worse, but tradition is not to be taken lightly. The 4.00-second quarter mile is something that may never be achieved but strive for it we must. In virtually all aspects of life there are people in positions of power, seemingly with our best intentions in mind, who seek to make for us a safer world. I can't help feeling that through these efforts something is stolen from my world so as to suit their utopian existence. The quarter-mile run is a birthright! F*ck those with the temerity to pull it from beneath our feet. And yes... I have loved ones that turn times.
Ted Duffy
‘1320’ is holy; ‘1000’ is not
I completely disagree with the move to 1000 feet. The tracks that are not long enough should be removed or constrained to running a shorter distance. But the ones that are not having a problem nor will they because they are willing to spend the money to be as safe as possible should not be penalized.
Yes, put me in the '1320 is holy ground' group - and sorry but if the moms, wives, family, etc., don't understand that EVERY shot down the strip could be the last one, then that driver failed to communicate the risks involved, not the track!
Charles Rutherford
Montpelier, Virginia
Lower speeds, don’t shorten track
It really is sad that racers are dying in bunches now after a relatively long period of safety. But it points to lack of leadership on the part of the NHRA. And it points to the lack of money in this sport. Track owners, I'm sure, try to get by on the least amount capital (except for maybe the Baders). Track improvements never seem to be made in time or on time. Like so much in this country, nothing is done until someone gets hurt badly or dies.
But I'm also amazed at how fixated everyone seems to be on 1,000-foot racing. Personally, to me that's not the answer. Because after a honeymoon period, things will start blowing up and wrecks will be happening and people will get hurt. Then they'll cut in back to eighth-mile racing. By 2020, we could be racing on reaction timers alone! It makes no sense.
There are many good and easy ways mechanically to slow down these cars and let them run quarter mile without danger of blowing up. But everyone runs away from it because it might hurt a manufacturers business? Makes no sense. Nostalgia racing has shown that you don't have to go 300+ mph on the edge of Armageddon in order to draw fans.
Drag racing needs to take a step back, take some lessons from other sports, revise the business model. Everything now is cookie cutter (all funny cars look the same; the only true category is Pro Mod). What's wrong with going 280 and low 5's? That would certainly slow down the parts attrition and parts failure.
Time for common sense. Not knee-jerk reactions.
Lee Hunsaker
Dover, New Hampshire