6/27/08
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LETTER OF THE MONTH
BETTER RACING IS NOT NECESSARILY FASTER
Fatalities have been a part of our sport since the first hand was wrapped around a steering wheel. Due to the diligent dedication of our sanctioning bodies, driven mostly by adverse publicity and insurance concerns, racing today for the most part is moderately safe.
It’s when we go for a long time without a death that we forget how just how dangerous this sport is. It’s like we’re lulled into thinking, or actually not even thinking at all, that this is all about competitiveness and running faster. Shoot, anybody can drive these things and seldom does anybody get hurt.
Then we lose racers like Eric Medlen and Scott Kalitta in just over a year and John Force has a serious crash that could have retired him as a driver, and the ruthless reality stabs us in the heart, and we are reminded that it is not only very dangerous but blatantly insane to think you can safely accelerate from standing still to 320 miles per hour in the length of a Super Wal-Mart. There is not a vehicle on earth that can assure your safety in a 2,500-plus-pound vehicle at those speeds.
I am convinced the fans, at least the North Carolina drag racing fans, want to hear the noise when 6,000 to 8,000 horsepower burst out, smell the nitro methane, and witness cars each melting three feet of racing slicks on a burnout. They can’t distinguish 250 mph from 330 mph or a 4.40-second elapsed time from a 5.00 elapsed time. They couldn’t care less about the soaring speeds or the minimal E.T.s. Give them side-by-side burnouts, side-by-side 250-mph racing, and everybody stays entertained.
So, why the terminal deadly speeds? Hell, I don’t know. Maybe we have let the crew chiefs drive the bus, and we haven’t found how to harness their creativity and their steady objective to outrun the guy in the other lane. They start going 280, pick up a mph here, a couple more there; next thing you know, the speeds have outgrown rationale. It’s time we, track owners and sanctioning bodies, slowed these folks down and say “enough”.
Let’s reduce the speeds, reduce the cost, and, as a result, reduce the prospect of losing more talented racers and Champions like Eric Medlen and Scott Kalitta.
Steve Earwood
Owner/Operator
Rockingham Dragway
AN EIGHTH-MILE CONVERT
Jeff, I usually agree with your conclusions and various rants. I disagreed with your earlier suggestion that racing be conducted on 1/8th mile tracks.
But, now it's time. The 1,000-ft solution is just another bandaid.
It's time to make the change before another life is lost. The sport will adjust and survive, and if marketed correctly, could grow and flourish, but not if it keeps losing its stars and journeymen in senseless and preventable crashes.
Terry Spencer
Covina, California