Correcting the IHRA Top Sportsman report

Hey Agent, thanks for the heads up on IHRA making the call to establish world records on Top Sportsman and Top Dragster classes, but I'm crying, "foul!" Last year, the IHRA reduced the Top Sportsman field to 32 cars, something Skooter Peaco finds a source of pride in, then gets quoted in your piece saying, "These classes showed more solid car counts last year than any other classes we have". Oh, yeah, where?

San Antonio is gone and troubled in spite of their thirteen-car Top Sportsman field, and the inaugural Mardi Gras National in Baton Rouge had a whopping twenty-car field. But Skooter says, "solid growth?" I believe it best to be honest, so I am a Southeast Michigander that has bit my tongue so far about the loss of the IHRA's Motor City Nationals at storied Milan Dragway. That one stings, Agent. And maybe what Skooter Peaco attested to being strong fields were those like Milan Dragway that are now gone. Fifty-car fields were not uncommon through 2007.

Dear Agent, there are, in my belief, two areas of the nation that robustly support drag racing: the left coast and the upper Midwest/Great Lakes region. Withdrawing from Milan is going to take a toll on racers in this part of the country where turnout is strong and influence great. With all due respects to our friends in Louisiana and most of Texas, a simple fact of life: you're not sportsman drag racing country. 

Skooter Peaco is standing over the cauldron stirring and spinning a potion to feed the faithful that by setting records for these cars, their welfare is sound. I'm not spooning up a bowl. IHRA, for whatever their business reasons, has abandoned a stronghold of Top Sportsman’s racers up north and let the waterbox run dry.

Richard Gebhart
Marine City, Michigan

Looking for Earle’s car parts

I know this is a long shot, at one time Richard Earle ran a ‘58 Plymouth Fury. I'm look for a fiberglass or steel back end for a show called Pagent of the Masters in Laguna Beach below is a link if you want to check us out.

foapom.com/site/overview_pom.asp

If you know where we could find molds or part it would be a great help.
Thanks for your time.

Michael Troke
Irvine, California