Go all-out whatever the distance

About NHRA's new qualifying point system.

Now that's what I want to see! Motivation! Make ‘em go as quick and fast as they can on every pass.

Hey man! That's what drag racing is all about, has always been what it's all about. 660 feet, 1000 feet, 1,320 feet, don't matter to me as long as the tune up is right on the edge.

Keep on trucking, Burk.

Bry Schmidt
Fresno, California

Here’s another answer to the first letter

The NHRA has finally screwed the pooch. Just attended my last US Nationals event. Friday evening/night was a joke. Besides the expense to get in, paid for parking (again $5.00 is just too darn much). The qualifying was boring, too many oil downs, too many aborted runs, too many single passes. Qualifying for TAD and TAFC was cancelled. I paid to see the scheduled qualifying.

With the current economic climate NHRA needs to reevaluate how they run their program. My business is slow so I have to cut back and guess what? NHRA events are now OUT. Just my $.02

Steve Carter
Memphis, Indiana

A whole bunch of Goodguys

Sure appreciate the coverage of the Goodguys in Norwalk. Instead of noting the smaller funny car field and a truncated swath of geezer gassers in attendance, I'd like to point out (and I wish photographically) a few cars new to the Blue Suede Cruise and nostalgia drags. Happily, DRO captured the wheelstanding '56 "Haulin' Ass" Chevy. It had company with outstanding wheelies by David Opie's "Opie Gone Bad" Ford Econovan (?), the FOMOCO version of the hybrid van/pick up Dodge campaigned by Bill "Maverick" Golden's "Little Red Wagon", seasoned drag enthusiasts remember. A "rat racer", a '40, maybe '41 Willys coupe called "Rebel Reaper" that the driver set back on the bumper bar every launch. Good lord, you could count the bolts on the oil pan.... Very nice. 
 
Some guys from Cleveland turned me on to a new tequila chaser; a slice of orange with cinnamon sprinkled on, and it wasn't like the tequila was bad anyhow, but, I've got to say this new finish was perfectly dangerous. So, I couldn't remember the name of the guy that had the inline six 300 CI Ford engine dragster that had 60% in the tank, but it was a first for me. I had never seen a six cylinder on nitro until this event and this guy. Yessir....

Vic Raupe's Lindamood "Color Me Gone" '64 Dodge Super Stock repro (I think it was a repro) of the car Lindamood won the U.S. Nationals with, was stunning. And quick. Great addition to the underplayed and under-appreciated Nostalgia Super Stock contingent.

Peter Gallen and the Poverty Stricken Vega crew were remarkable the entire weekend, but no matter what they did, how about those Mill Road Boys and Steve Nichols? Anytime you mark uncharted water (asphalt) you deserve big props.

Lastly, the fuel altered folks are just way too underplayed. Rich Guasco and the "Pure Hell" gang are one aspect of this living drag racing legacy, but I've got to say something for the Hough family. Dave Hough and the Nanook racing bunch are, in my opinion, living drag racing treasures. To see them operate amid personal setback and difficulties over the years and carry the torch for fuel altered racing is inspiring. Long live Nanook and Pure Hell Racing.

Thanks for what you gave us at Norwalk.

Richard Gebhart
Marine City, Michigan