Drag Racing Online- "Dead-On" Vol. II No. 1

Will the Madness Ever End?

I sat back in my old recliner today and asked myself the question I have as the title of my first column for Drag Racing Online. Before I begin I feel I should "qualify" myself for this column. I have been drag racing since 1970. I have owned and raced Modified Production cars, Super Stock cars, Stock Eliminator cars, several bracket cars. I Ieased and managed Eddyville Dragway in Iowa for five years. I promoted a circle track in Iowa for one season and then bought Cedar Falls Raceway in Iowa and managed that dragstrip from 1984 through 1996. Like a lot of you readers I have seen the change from local class racing to bracket racing up close and personal. I am sitting here today and reflecting back on just what I absorbed out of the changes and how it might affect the future of the sport we all enjoy.

Bracket racing really started to take over the local racing scene around here in the late 1970s. Before bracket racing there was "class racing" it was easy to win…simply buy more expensive parts and run further under your National Record than anyone else and you could win. Driving skill and equal competition was only a dream for the majority of racers who showed up. The only guys with a legitimate shot at winning were the "Big Bucks Teams". Then bracket racing came into play because tracks needed more cars to pay entry fees in order to pay the bills. This opened up the competition to anyone who could cut a light and run their dial-in. The tracks loved it because now they were making a profit off the pit gate fees. Spectators were expensive to attract due to high costs of radio, TV, etc. If the tracks could attract 250 cars and not advertise, the track owners thought they had gone to heaven.

Everything was going great but by the mid-1990's I began to see a distinct change. I was traveling to as many big bucks bracket races as I could. We went to Oklahoma, Texas, Kentucky and the Winter Series in Florida every year for about seven or eight years. At first, almost every car was competitive and the great drivers developed. Racers such as Folks, Harris, Rampy, Cmar, Hamma, Rupert and dozens of others were dominating with similar equipment because they showed us they could just "flat-out drive both ends of the track better than most of us". As delay boxes and related timers became more in vogue the cars also got better. Data recorders began to show the cars were inconsistent and how to fix the problem. Replay tachs gave everyone access to better information and throttle stops let everyone hook up even on slippery tracks. The end result of what I call "the electronic/technology era" was that the rear engine dragster became the tool of choice and the stronger the engine the more consistent power it put out. One bonus to the high seven-second dragster is that if you are the fastest at the track you cannot be the first to red light. As close as every race is, any small advantage is significant.

During the "electronic/technology era" the track operators noticed some changes. Car counts were climbing steadily in the ’80s and into the ’90s. By improving the racing surface with better start lines, better timing equipment and more traction compound, the tracks became as consistent as the race cars. This led to races that were consistently being won and lost by thousandths of a second. It appeared as if anyone could win at first. Then a few years later the car counts at weekly events began to drop and track operators searched for the reasons.

There were several reasons but number one was the cost to field a car that would be competitive week after week. Peripheral costs like enclosed trailers, etc. all contributed to many racers just running low on extra funds. Competition from NHRA's Super Categories contributed heavily to the near demise of several dragstrips. Not that the idea was bad but the equipment it took to travel and be competitive drained the weekly racer's resources to the point that most had to decide between racing locally every week or racing every two or three weeks at Points Meets or Big Bucks bracket races.

In some parts of the country bracket racing is still growing and filling the pit areas. In other parts of the country you will see only 75 to 100 cars where there used to be 200 to 300 cars every week. WHAT HAPPENED?? There is no definitive answer but I have a few ideas and this brings me to the part of this column that is the hardest to write. I have hundreds of friends in drag racing in every possible category but I relate to S/Pro best because that is where I race most often. Right now it is the N0-Electronic racers that seem to be reaching the peak of their glory days as their car counts are increasing and new racers are getting involved in their brackets. I took a look around the pits at the last big bucks race I attended and, while it didn't surprise me, it did disappoint me.

The three day race had a reported 400 entries. If there were actually 150 cars there I would have trouble being convinced of that. You could buy up to four entries for each race day for each car, which most teams did, which is fine if that is what you want to do. Several good race teams brought two, three and sometimes four cars. That is a possible sixteen entry fees at $200.00 each or $3200.00 in entry fees. It's their money and who am I to say how they spend it, right? True, I don't care what they do with their money. But does it give the guys with more money a better chance? Oh yeah! Give a good racer four chances in one race and they will be the ones making it to the money rounds. WHERE has this come from? Self-inflicted by track owners. I should know, I was one. I used buybacks, double entries and any other thing I could think of to make sure I could make money during the event. With fewer cars entering this was a necessity. I didn't look into WHY there were less cars only a "band-aid" to fix the problem.

Everyone always tells me, don't worry about the money, racing should be fun! Yeah, O.K. if you say so. If you race to be competitive and have the desire to win, it is discouraging to realize that a "good" bracket car will set you back thirty to forty thousand bucks. If you have $200,000 in your operation, maybe you need to be congratulated on your personal success. Too bad I feel it has been the demise of a form of racing that used to be affordable to more people who enjoyed it. Now it has become a personal club and casino where guys get to bring their race car.

The desire to be competitive and win the big money events has launched some "creative thinking" by some racers and some hot tempers and baby-like actions by others. The most embarrassing of these actions took place in November at Moroso's Five-Day event. Details will show up in every publication and there will be as many versions of the truth as there were people there. When a racer has to fear for his family and his own safety at an event because a bunch of racers act as a "mob" it is TIME FOR THE MADNESS TO STOP.

Nobody really knows the whole story but if a track is going to give someone a lifetime ban they should sure as hell know if the car had illegal parts in it! Not to mention the word "Security." It was a dark day for drag racing and if you were a part of it on either side I hope you take up stock car racing. I can sum it up in one way: "The sport got EXACTLY what it has been asking for." High dollar teams, super expensive cars, $15,000 engines, 50' tow rigs, high dollar entry fees, lots of pressure to win and so on. What makes us think somebody wouldn't try to come up with a "better mousetrap" to win with.

I won't accuse anyone of cheating, but to think it doesn't go on is being foolish. Cheating isn't limited to S/Pro racers. Hiding a pre-set delay in a two-step box or trans-brake solenoid isn't a hard thing to do or getting a trans-brake switch that has a slow, adjustable release is basically legal. Why wouldn't a racer do it? National events pay up to $20,000 to win if you play the contingency game and National Event Tech will not even buy a timer that could check the release of the trans-brake switch to the release of the trans-brake solenoid. Why not?? I guess you'll have to ask them. They can tell you if you are a 1/2 CC off on your cylinder head but can't tell you for sure if that racer who just went .507 three rounds in a row has a delay device in his car. Go figure….

What can tracks do to stop the use of on-rack e.t. controllers or GPS positioning systems? Basically nothing if the owner of that equipment is smarter than the underpaid and overworked tech inspectors. Talk to your track tech people, support their work and if you have any great ideas I'm sure they will be willing to listen.

Gotta go, that old bracket car with the cast iron engine is calling me. Gotta polish up the "bells and whistles" on my delay box and get all the Gizmos ready for this season.