9/5/2008
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More NHRA positives
Jeff, after forty-six years of going to the drags from Pomona to Puerto Rico and more than a little time complaining about what (or who) is wrong in drag racing, may I add a couple of addendums to your list of the NHRA’s positive accomplishments?
NHRA:
- The Safety Safari, arguably the best crash teams in the history of motorsports.
- The Nostalgia Drag meets that perpetuate enthusiasm and history for the masses.
- The inception of the E.T. Series on a national level in the seventies, which gave the local weekend racers a reason to get involved for a bigger goal.
Tony Sheffler
Sugar Hill, Georgia
Keep on keepin’ on
"What are you doing here?!" That question says it all! Like the fable about the boy who exclaimed that the King has no clothes... he shocked the rest of the crowd, who saw the same thing, but were afraid to say it. You have been shouting the obvious, and the "establishment" have been unwilling to face the facts and say "look, we have some real issues here that must be addressed and fixed." Not to mention the fact that you represent hundreds of thousands people who love this sport and see it meandering into "cream of wheat" state of predictability.
Look, I am as conservative as you can get... and believe in setting a foundation on the tried and proven fundamentals of life. BUT, there comes a time when you look at something that is being presented to you in a good face... but like a veteran hockey player... you look at it, and see scars, bandaids, and when it smiles... its missing half its teeth! I don't know, but instinctively you KNOW something is amiss, and it's time for them to stop trying to tell us that everything is cool, and with a few tweaks all things will be as right as rain.
Jeff, philosophically we are probably at polar opposites... and many of your rants, and solutions for the problem drive me storming out of my computer room fuming. BUT, your love, passion and yearning for this sport to get off its duff, and fix some real problems are felt, and deeply appreciated by me and countless thousands others who share your feelings. You and I both witnessed those cold, damp nights at Lions when they pushed the final two cars up the track... hearing, feeling and seeing the spectacle of the engines coming to life, the lights reflecting off the chrome, and metal flake paint jobs, nitro flames piercing the night air, and hearing the echoing reverberations as the whacked the throttles in prep to stage. There was TRUE... not contrived... excitement and anticipation so thick that you could cut it with a knife.
Tell me, when's the last time you experienced that same excitement at NHRA race? I can count on one hand the times I have.
What other motor sport has an event where you take old vintage cars, push them up the track to start the engines... have them turn around and line up facing the crowd alongside the edge of the track... and just sit there with their engines running? And in the stands, everyone's on their feet cheering... smiling, pointing... a 60 year old wife is smiling seeing her out of shape, gray haired/balding husband crying like a baby... not only from the fumes, but from the utter love of the spectacle... and from the memories it conjures up.
Would a NASCAR, INDY CAR, FORMULA ONE car get the same reaction? I-DON'T-THINK-SO! So to try and emulate those other forms of motor sports is wrong headed, and senseless. We have a totally unique product, that needs to stand on its own merits, and try and allow what it does so well come to the forefront... create excitement, anticipation, and stay true to the basics... two men in fast cars, looking over... nodding to each other... look down track, tighten their seat belts, and at the flash of green, stomp on the petal and see who gets there first.
But, it's more than that. Wally Parks, to me was great not because he pioneered a sport to where it is today. No, it's because he LOVED the sport, the machinery and more importantly, the PEOPLE working on and driving those machines. Does ANYONE, out there get that same sense from the people running the sport now? Hhhumm? No? Well, is it any wonder, Jeff, that you get that "what are you doing here?" (???)
So, although we may disagree on some things, I will never stop championing your attempts to get through to these guys that they had better wake up and start looking seriously at what makes our sport so special. And that if they don't, it will slip into the junk pile along with a lot of sports that have obliviously walked into obscurity and lost their relevance.
Tell them you're there because SOMEBODY, has to tell the King, "Hey, the dude is naked." Thanks, Jeff.
Mark A. Wales
Scottsdale, Arizona