Oh yeah, one more thing…
Scott, you forgot the MOST IMPORTANT thing. Get rid of Paul Page.
Henry Charest
Disagrees with Nicholson about eighth-mile racing
If they changed bracket racing to 1/8 mile, I would quit. Give me a break with this "We should all be racing a 1/8 mile" stuff. I agree that the fuel classes need to be changed, but anything under 280 to 300 is still safe on almost every track.
Earl Helm
NHRA review of Don Schumacher fine is like the fox guarding the hen house
Impartial my aching butt! The No Happy Racers Allowed has to make an example of DS to protect its price fixing scheme with VP. These idiots will continue to trample willy-nilly over the racers until they ALL, pardon my French, grow enough balls to sit the races out until these issues are resolved.
I know, I know, the thing with the IHRA Pro Stock racers started a big stink, but come on people, there has to be an end to this monarchy and this appearance of criminal activity in the NHRA hierarchy!
K. Lewis
Carlsbad, New Mexico
Let’s not forget safety in the pits
NHRA misses another opportunity to ensure safety. The recent announcements of regulations regarding pit vehicles stopped well short of any safety regs. We've already seen several people injured in the pits aboard mainly small motorcycles. NHRA didn't require the most effective safety equipment for any bike rider - helmets. A person's head hitting pit road pavement can kill or severely injure someone as surely as that same head hitting a city street. So many changes to make 300-mph racing safer but failure to make a simple change to make the trip back to the pits safe.
Steve Graham
Raleigh, North Carolina
It’s just no fun anymore
You know Jeff, I guess I could be called one of your "quarter mile or die" folks. I have no problem admitting it. But I've simply given up caring about it. I was, that's WAS, a diehard drag racing fan, participant, crew man, fact geek, everything... Over the last year (hell, more than that actually), I've seen the pro show become more and more homogenized, I've seen the sportsman classes, including bracket racing, become playgrounds for the "pros", I've seen the once burgeoning nostalgia classes do everything in their power to sabotage themselves, I've seen short fields at every level, incessant whining and sniping over EVERYTHING possible, and just generally developed an overall "blah" towards drag racing.
Now, they have further neutered what were once the baddest vehicular motherf***ers (pardon the language) on the planet. I just don't care anymore. I recently bought a Jeep, an old beater CJ7, and have been taking my family on some weekend jaunts around the desert and mountains in our area and loving it. I've watched maybe an hour or two of the drag racing over the last couple of months, and I still check the results online, but by and large, drag racing just doesn't hold the cachet it used to, and while shortening the distance didn't do it alone, it certainly was a factor.
Charlie Nichols
Imperial, California
Yeah, like NHRA takes advice from Burk!
Jeff, you seem to be a leading proponent of this 1000-foot top fueler "solution" and I disagree with this idea. Drag racing should remain a quarter-mile race. It's like making a baseball game only eight innings, or football 3-1/2 quarters.
Pete La Barbera
Ocala, Florida
The voice of authority
We all know that it will go back to 1320 ft next year so quit trying to promote the 1000 ft racing.
Randy Vowels
Kentucky
A voice crying in the wilderness?
Jeffie, leave it a quarter mile and slow the cars, that's the only way to get more participation, not shorten the tracks. Someone needs to listen to Dale Armstrong.
Mike Dakin
Tipp City, Ohio
Geez, does this guy even read our magazine?
Birk (sic): I am a die hard quarter mile fan. With that said please consider this. Properly slow the cars down and create a safe environment for racers, and live with the fact that no more records will be set. Now this may not set well with many people as there are different reasons what people want for their dollar.
Now in the entertainment business, people are usually sold a bill of goods for their dollar until the business has their money then it's up to the people to decide to spend their money again. The sanctioning bodies are selling nothing but entertainment, not racing and your little magazine, and I mean little, is in the same boat. No surprise out of you, everything is the way it should be. You are showing you are one of the people that can't stand up for anything, no balls.
Wouldn't it be nice if all the cars could run the same speed and the driver and crew chief were the only ones that could stand out. 290 MPH would not be any different after some time just like 1000 foot. But if a driver could cut a better light 90% for the time wouldn't that put a damper on the big money teams like John Force, Ashley does not cut a light hardly ever and many times down the track the car is not under control.
I mentioned in an earlier letter that NHRA was going to screw things up this year, and they have. Now there is still going to be more things that get screwed up by NHRA and even more deaths. I mean really, why don't we have the cars drive through a few piles of tires at the end of the track just to make sure the tracks can still make their money. How about this, a safety net that a car can not clear with poles fifteen feet from the side of the track and B-52 bomber brakes attached to each side so they start braking as the car is captured in the net? Who cares about the car condition, it's down to the well funded teams left anyway. Maybe your opinion would be to shorten the turnaround time more and raise nitro prices more.
Mike Larsen
St. Paul, Minnesota, USA