Did he or didn’t he?

Did John Force throw a race? I'm NOT a John Force fan, but I don't think there's sufficient evidence to say without a reasonable doubt that he did. 0.132 light? Slow for him for sure, but every driver has a bad RT from time to time.

Then, his car headed for the wall, but it did so in at least one Qualifying round that I remember. Same lane, out of the groove, headed for the wall in about the same spot.

So, John not being a favorite of mine, I felt the need to come to his defense in this case. Oh, and congratulations to Terry McMillan on his first Wally.

Steve Graham

Greensboro, NC

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Some creative thinking

Has anybody else noticed how much less drag racing you are getting for your entertainment dollar nowadays? Part of the entertainment of drag racing is seeing all the behind the scenes action you get to see between rounds. You don't have time to cruise the pits anymore between rounds because of the "TV mandated" super quick turnaround times.

I don't buy it. I think it’s all an effort to get a shorter workday for the same pay for the pro teams. There was one round of Pro Mod between the two pro qualifying sessions at Las Vegas...no sport anywhere gives less of a shit about TV exposure for the sport as NHRA but NASCAR? It wasn't boring enough to watch a crowd of overpaid blockheads turn left for 3 hours, they added intermissions...why couldn't NHRA and FAUX sports fill in a normal turnaround time with as much interesting information (sic) as NASCAR does during the beer breaks? That might take some creative thinking...sorry.

Tim Rinkerman

Connecticut

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So many points to make and so little time

Burkster:

Maybe another view around your point of how the AHRA and IHRA have dried up and blown away like wheat chaff over the last few decades of nitro-burning drag race options and outlets could be, who would have thought that the NHRA would stand alone?

Moreover, who would have guessed the NHRA would be a lap dog for "Super Teams; that only three such teams could be competitive enough to win a championship?  (Prove me wrong, Torrence!) That the only chance to be competitive and win is by combining resources and wallets (corporate involvement and a tune you must dance to)?

Who could have had the foresight to know that a single racer - the only paladin to unimaginably and effectively pull it off - to weave alchemy over a Ford Mustang body and have it metamorphose into a Chevrolet Camaro, as the head of the sanctioning body applauded in wide-eyed wonder? Still standing as the greatest carbon fiber miracle of the 21st Century. 3-D printing must wait in line for great accomplishments.

You and I are aging. In recognizing this, I can only speak for myself, but what I can be assured of is that you, given your time and dedication and love of drag racing will certainly attest to is this:  At no time, in no class, at any sanctioning body, was the menacing ubiquity of the Camaro what it is today, and I submit that this is serious issue for spectator interest.   If not much more.

You were there in the late sixties and early seventies, and dramatically unlike what you saw at Bakersfield last weekend, a Camaro funny car was untypical. Yes, dare I say rare? So not only is this spirit of nostalgia corrupt and untrue and venal, it is really hard to accept. And tiring beyond a Marathon. Somebody, somewhere, somehow, with some ingenuity, must think beyond a Camaro body. I believe the sport's future depends on it. We are obese and dying of Camaro-ism. Know when I'll believe in God? When someone rolls out a '68 Mercury Cougar body AA/FC like Nicholson or Schartmann -- I'll believe then.

As an old cat I will tell you something I do believe in, something or someone you called out in your last blast: Donald Long. In Long I Trust. You wrote, wondering why Long promotes little beyond social media for his two staple events, "Racers and sponsors would get the attention they deserve". Burkster, my man, did you check the grandstands? I don't know a lot about Donald Long; what I know you could put in your eye and not even blink, but I think he is a maverick, and I know he won't drop to his knees in front of any Fortune 500 mogul, and I've seen he will sell out his races with the baddest and best of what small tire racing can bring to America, and for that I am grateful and enthralled.

And for my last bucket list race - anywhere on the planet! -  I want to attend Long's Lights Out or No Mercy, that is what I want.

I know I ain't getting that '68 Cougar flopper....

R. Dick Gebhart

Marine City, MI