It’s a cinch nowadays to go online and find the closest events, learn more about your favorite professional racers, view photos from every era, find technical advice, or seek opinions on everything from the state of sportsman racing to what the sanctioning bodies should do next. And there’s no question the event coverage that publications like Drag Racing Online provides is beneficial not only to racers, racetracks and sanctioning bodies as much-needed publicity, but also to fans that otherwise would have no accurate, timely access to race results. However, I’ve been wondering lately if that same easy access to information might sometimes be hurting the live gate.
Time was, if a person wanted to know who won the big match race, local Quick-8, or holiday special-event race, they had to drive to the track, plunk down their 20 bucks or so and sit their seat in the stands. Either that or they’d wait weeks or months at a time to read the results in a traditional print outlet. Now, with many tracks, drag racing news outlets, and even fans posting nearly real-time results to official sites and message boards, a seat in front of the computer monitor will do just fine, thank-you. And the armchair-bound audience never has to leave the comfort of air-conditioned splendor with a six-pack of their beverage of choice chilling just a few feet down the hall.
I’m not saying that type of race coverage is inherently bad (after all we here at DRO occasionally provide such a service), but I can’t help but feel attendance might improve somewhat if those hardcore fans (and I think you do have to be pretty hardcore to follow a
drag race only through numbers on a screen) could only get their straightline fix by hearing the sounds, smelling the smells, and seeing the sights in person. Of course I could be wrong and these people aren’t as hardcore as they’d like to believe. It takes a certain amount of dedication and desire to put forth the effort as a live attendee and maybe these guys just don’t have it.
We all know drag racing is the ultimate visceral sport. Being there is the only way to go, just ask any one of those people I’ve seen wilting in their seats from 100-degree heat, or the ones sitting out a rain delay huddled under tents made of plastic garbage bags, or those bundled up in blankets to fight biting wind between rounds—they define the word “fanatic” and every racer, track worker, promoter, and yes, journalist, should thank their lucky stars there are people that interested in what they do to come out and watch.
I’m not trying to be some sort of 21st Century Luddite here; I certainly don’t advocate turning the computer off whenever you’re not able to be trackside. Heck, I use it all the time to check out who qualified first, who raced whom, and who won the final round. But that’s usually because I’m at a different track that weekend, doing my part to get the racers’ stories out and supporting the sport in my role as an observer.
Similarly, I believe more fans need to make the effort to push away from the keyboard and get trackside to see the races for themselves. It’s much more personally satisfying and infinitely better for the sport than bitching and moaning on some message board that the results aren’t being posted quick enough. 
Race safe,
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