Still more NHRA positives
Burk, I read Drag Racing Online every couple of days, and it is always informative and full of info that you can't get anywhere else. I am not always in favor of all of the NHRA bashing, but I can appreciate your unbiased opinion. The purpose of this email is to add to your list of things that the NHRA has done for the sport of drag racing.
As an old guy that has been around drag racing for a long time, I think the single best thing that they have done other than improve the safety is when they came up with "Qualifying Sessions". I can remember getting in line at a national event at 7 A.M. and spending all day there.
Qualifying would rotate through all of the lanes, and if they took ten cars from your lane, and you were fifteenth in line, you would be there another two hours before you got to run. It was not unusual to see pro teams changing pistons, heads, rear gears, whatever it took in the lanes.
Now you get up to the lanes at two PM and everybody runs. How simple is that?!
Keep up the good work.
Kim Welch
Cypress, California
M-m-m my Barona
Great fun reading your magazine, great photos and great opinions! JUST WONDERING though...any chance of coverage of the Barona 1/8 mile drags more often? There are some great local cars and racers (including bad-ass blown, turbo, and nitrous cars from PSCA), nostalgia eliminator races (NERA), and the CIFCA Funny Car guys just put on a great race there last weekend.
John Tucker
San Diego, California
John, we do what we can with a small staff stretched thin and can’t cover as many races in person as we would like to. We appreciate it when tracks or race groups send results with photos, so we can share with our readers.
Lesson learned: pay attention to track flyer information
Jeff, I was just looking at the new top end catch "net" NHRA has going up at Indy. Our "little" track in Sebring, FL, had a large block of ballistic foam at the very end, this block cost several hundred dollars, but if nothing else stopped you, you were to hit this.
We had told all our regulars about this with flyers at every race for about six meets, I wanted to put a target on it, but this never got dons.
One meet a beautiful tube chassis Monte Carlo had the brakes fail, and like most bracket cars, never had used his chute, so when he pulled the chute, it came out like a brick.
He saw that huge block at the end, and swerved to avoid it, (I guess he never read the flyers), He said he thought it was concrete. When he hit the chain-link fence next to it, he punched through enough to hit the concrete barriers on the other side of the fence, twisting that nice car to scrap. If he had hit the foam, he would have had some fiberglass damage ant that is about it. I don't know why more foam isn't used, I know NASCAR has it, and it is not cheap, but it works.
Richard Burbick
Sebring, Florida
An oldie but a goodie
I just seen Bob Bradley’s email and I like his idea but here’s one better I think.
Instead of the WCS, have the NHRA Heritage Series at all divisions as the WCS format like they had in the 60's.
Now that would be a show with all the nostalgia cars.
I don't think that will happen but it sure would draw in the fans.
What do you think?
Bob Plumer
York, Pennsylvania
Mr. Eliminator returns
Mr. Burkster; I just finished reading Mr. Leonard's latest about the possibility of local match racing shows coming back to fans. Why not try to revive the "old" top ten lists to help this revival. You would probably have to make the list regional (East, Midwest, and West) because of travel cost.
Think of it: a race between #1 and #8 pro (F/C, Mod T/F, T/AD, etc.) at your local track (ATCO, Rockford, or Medford for example) for a slot on the Mr. Eliminator list? Would the interest be there? All I can say is those old radio ads out the Gold Agency in the Midwest got my motor running. Just wondering.
James B. Brooke
Kansas City, Missouri