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| What a difference a millennium makes! · Or does it? ·
After that super-sacker and pillager, Alaric the Visigoth, did his thing in Rome in 410 AD ÷without benefit of the WWF, apparently÷advancement in western civilization was pretty much left by the wayside until the 14th Century, when the Italians started painting and carving seemingly everything in sight. Technology and social development actually regressed for much of the roughly 900 years the Dark Ages spanned, as many improvements introduced by the Roman Empire, such as fresh water supply systems, a network of roads, and efficient agriculture died under the dictates of the feudal system introduced by the conquerors of the Roman Empire. On our own continent, the Vikings were just about to set foot and, for better or worse, become the first link to its exploitation by Europeans that eventually led to the development of what American civilization is today. Okay, fast forward your Weekly Reader to the very end of the second millennium, and what do we find? Technologically, the world was on a binge that seemed to know no bounds, and socially, its citizens were attempting, often painfully, to integrate itself on a universal scale÷indeed, the very opposite of conditions that prevailed in most of the western world in 1000 AD. And drag racing wasnāt exactly standing still · I mean 330 mph at a tick under four and a half seconds aināt exactly sack cloth! Yet, it will be shown in history that drag racing at the end of 1999 was in fact facing conditions that might lead to its own dark ages. How so? In a period that covered roughly 50 years, the sport had become a victim of its own success: not enough horsepower had become too much horsepower; and the flow of the lifeblood of the business of drag racing÷money, as it was with any enterprise of the period÷was threatened with arterial strangulation when escalating costs and increasingly powerful engine ćbombing runsä began to scare off sponsors and other advertising efforts; and drivers and spectators had become exposed to harmās way to such an extent that the Overlords themselves were finally persuaded that something had to be done or see drag racing as we know it begin its own historical demise. Thus, as most of the world celebrated the beginning of the year and millennium, practitioners of the 1320 way of life looked to be facing a momentous winter of discontent · but, you know what? It just didnāt happen that way! The alarm went out late, but the drag racing community finally heard it, pulled itself up by its retaining straps, realized where it was heading and began making the necessary corrections to steer it in the right direction, hopefully, for the next thousand years. There has been as much activity in 1320-Land in the past ten weeks or so as in any recent period I can recall. Both NHRA and IHRA, after stumbling starts, came up with plans that, if not final solutions to the problems they addressed, at least could be understood and acted upon by the participants. In fact, after the predicted grumbling by just about everybody involved, thereās a new and positive air emanating from professional drag racers as they begin to recognize the real world for what it is: a place to work and play, but one that needs to be governed by rules that protect and procedures designed to promote the best interests of the community involved. The drivers and crews donāt have to say they like the new rules÷much as many mid-bosses elsewhere in the work force would rather be pilloried than admit OSHA is a good thing÷but only agree to work within their structure. And they have, accepting at least for now the new 90-percent and call-the-sweeper, lose-a-buck-and-points impositions formulated by both major organizations. And pre-season testing of the 90-percent rule has been so successful that weāve even seen public smiles on the faces of some crew chiefs, a feat heretofore thought summarily impossible! Other positive news came from NHRA, when Ray Alley was appointed lord-and-master of the fuel ranks, and Danny Gracia got what he wanted in the way of authority and agreed to stay on in the often thankless roll of technical director, his responsibilities now restated to include all classes other than the Professional fuel ranks. In ancillary realignments at NHRA, Graham Lightās duties will be shifted to overseeing the time clock of all national events, working to tailor racing hours to a schedule more suitable for NHRAās same-day TV coverage format; and Carl Olson, former Vice President, Technical Administration/International Relations will wear the new title of Vice President, Insurance and Risk Management. The appointment of Alley has been hailed almost universally as a brilliant move on NHRAās part. And thatās a point that will get no dispute here. In addition to being a fine technician with many yearsā experience and a gentleman of the old school when he needs to be in the stead of public relationās, Alley is a racerās racer. I donāt think that point canāt be stressed enough: When Steve Gibbs was moved to the NHRA museum a couple of years ago, his departure from an active role on the track severed the umbilical that racers had counted on as a conduit between themselves and NHRA management throughout his tenure, whether the racers themselves were conscious of it or not; however, after Gibbsā move, it became painfully clear how much they had lost whenever a driver or crew chief turned to seek a sympatheic ear and found none. Frustration often became the byword and lack of a solution the result; but now, with Alleyās appointment, all signs point to his serving as the suture that renews the umbilical and gives the racer a vastly improved communicationsā link. Over at IHRA, there is good news on the adaptation of new technical requirements as well: On opening day at Pomona, IHRAās no. 2 Top Fuel racer, Bruce Litton, invaded the enemy camp and came away no. 4 among the Top Fuel qualifiers with a 4.804, 288.33. He eventually dropped his ET to 4.758 and bumped his speed to 311.05 on Saturday÷as this is being written÷and ending up as no. 11 qualifier. Of course, this is important to Litton, but it also bodes well for IHRA, because Litton ran his car equipped under the new IHRA technical dictates: 90-percent can and 25-percent huffer. So, it seems, IHRA Tech Director Mike Bakerās solicitation of those rules was well founded, at least in the early going. Thus, both major bodies have taken immediate, direct, measurable steps to forestall pitfalls in their near-futures. Still, at this point, we canāt pretend that all drag racingās problems have been solved÷or even posed. For instance, both organizations have new and vastly changed television packages; we wonāt know for some time how these programs will be accepted. And there are vast changes in the management staff at NHRA, some of which are noted above. How will these work out? It is reported that there is less elation among the rank and file at Glendora than might be suggested by the upbeat news released to the national media from those offices. New President Tom Compton must stand the examination of his peers over a period of time. In the past, there have been too many unfulfilled promises made to veteran employees for them to now spontaneously anoint him their savior. The mood expressed by many of them is, wait and see. Much of the rest of the community will also wait, hoping for the best, because a healthy and optimistic climate at NHRA, one that would address racersā, fansā and employeesā grievances directly, would seem to benefit all drag racing, no matter your organizational alignment. Many of the problems that IHRA encounters at present can be listed under the general blanket of growing pains. Up till now, IHRA owner Bill Bader has been phenomenally successful in getting his organization up to speed by relying on his own hand-picked crew of mostly super-dedicated overachievers. Bader has just 15(!) people listed on the entire IHRA full-time staff roster at his Norwalk, Ohio, headquarters, and to date they have done more than asked at every juncture. (By contrast NHRA has over 35 people on their weekly newspaper staff alone.) But the IHRA troops are going to need reinforcements very soon if they are to maintain the momentum that, among other notable accomplishments, led to Baderās being named Man of the Year at the 1999 annual Car Craft Magazine All-Star banquet, garnering the organization deserved plaudits from racing fans everywhere, and, many have opined, helping build a fire under the seats of the incumbents at NHRA. One of the specific areas IHRA must address is its publications. Having sat in at the organizationās bi-weekly tabloid magazine, Drag Review, for a couple of weeks last year as an interested observer, I can relate that there are no harder workers than their lean staff of four full-timers, plus stringer photographer Brian Epps. But even they are not enough to carry Baderās raiders to the next plateau in the printed media field. Efforts towards that end have begun with a new and sleeker look, starting with their first issue of this year, but the meat of the paper÷field reporting of IHRA events; stories about racers and their families, especially sportsmen competitors; a better variety of photographs and better reproduction of all graphics; and an increase in knowledgeable staff÷has to be accomplished soon if IHRAās ćfaceä is to be truly recognized as a major player in the field. And while weāre on the subject of improvements in the new year, Iād like to give a plug to a publication thatās really coming into its own, Inside Motorsports, published monthly in Wytheville, Virginia. IMS has been around for about eight years now, but until recently, it seemed to have tried covering every wheel sport ever conceived with mixed results. Recently, however, Editor Jon Paulette and friends took another look and decided that our sport was the place to be, full-time. And if recent issues are any measure of what theyāre into for the long haul, you owe yourself a look. In the January issue, among other excellent articles, the staff took a long, hard look at the troubled ćNitro Millennium Mania Autofest,ä held at Moroso Motorsports Park on December 30 ö January 2, ÷billed as the last drag race of the old millennium and the first of the new÷and regurgitated their observations with devastating force. Aināt no apple polishers here! A bit more attention should be given to dotting iās and crossing tās, but other than that IMS looks to be fit and properly aimed. Also of personal interest was contributor Fred Noerās piece on the ethics of drag racing journalism: While we may all be ga-ga over our sport, if truth is to prevail, somebody has to be minding the soul store. Thanks for reminding us, Fred. (Interested parties can contact IMSā editorial offices at P.O. Box 122, Wytheville VA 24382. The price is right and the reporting refreshingly unbiased.) Finally, to get back to the beginning and answer the question of whether or not things have really changed in the past 52,000 weeks: In my part of the world, drag racing, I will believe that they have if we as individuals and our organizations learn to solve problems as they arise and not let them again approach the point where they threaten to overcome us. That should, indeed, prove that we have learned the lessons of the past, lessons obviously ignored by many individuals and organizations in the past 1000 years. And thatās my state of the union address, folks. Totaling it up, I can see that Bill C.ās was longer · but not much, so, as usual:
John Raffa is currently freelancing in Huron, Ohio,
photo by Karen Raffa
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| Copyright 1999-2001, Drag Racing Online and Racing Net Source | ||||
If you care to look back about a 1000 years, checking out the olā history books will reveal that the people of the time, especially in what we now know as Europe, were still struggling to escape from the dreaded doldrums of the Dark Ages. (The politically correct term today is ćEarly Middle Ages,ä but they were dark, whatever you call Īem!)