You want fries with that?

You know, Paul Page may have found his calling in doing the hot dog eating contest at Coney Island. There was very little he could screw up and he couldn't call all the contestants his "friends".

How about bringing back Mary Reid to team with Dunn? He is knowledgeable and will add to the show. ESPN should think about that. 

Thanks.

Glenn Mortensen
Charlotte, North Carolina

Take it or leave it

Don't you and your readers have anything better to do than bash professional nitro drag racing? Yeah, the sport’s got some problems, but if you don't like it turn it off. And find something you enjoy. Life's too short.

Charlie Undershirt
Reading, Pennsylvania

That’s just the problem, Charlie, the TV viewers are watching something else. The viewership is sliding downward. We’re just trying to get some changes made before no one is watching.

Shill or realistic businessman?

Wow! Lee Beard has, in accordance with this interview, in my eyes proven to be a corporate shill with little guidance. Tuner he may be, but damn, Lee, where you goin'?  On more than one occasion he heralds the lack of corporations in drag racing today. Bemoaning the shortage he says he'd do "whatever it takes to get as many corporations as possible". He's referring, by the way, to both top fuel and funny car.

Very next paragraph, he's the antithesis, saying, "Well, it may not be a bad program to have one fuel class..." Really, Lee? You mean only if there aren't enough corporations period, or for one class or the other? 

If Lee's interview on one damn page didn't come out so confused, I'd rather hope that one of those independent teams he noted, you know, Jeff, those of the ilk of "dirty blue jeans or shorts, and mismatched shirts, and the car has just a plain white paint job", I'd kind of like to see them kick the ass of one of Lee's sleek, slick corporate runners.

Richard Gebhart
Marine City, Michigan

Make sure the chute is working

Uh.... operational chutes are not an option, Dean.

Don’t you think Scott Kalitta would be alive if he’d had working chutes? Both you and Lee are clearly missing the point. Rigorous safety analysis assumes failure scenarios in order to establish the proper mitigation steps. Just assuming everything is going to work just fine as Lee has done in this case is called wishful thinking.
 
Dean Adams
Fountain Valley, California