Now on to something else that gets to me a little, you can tell I have been working too many hours on a car that will be racing for about $400 to win, can't you? I hear racers saying they want more money all the time. From time to time that has been my opinion too. As I see the car turnouts shrink a little more every time I go somewhere, I begin to wonder where all the cars have gone. Are they broken and too expensive to fix? Are the owners tired of getting beat every week and the fun is gone? Is it too expensive to tow to the track, pay the pit passes for the family and just buy parts in general?

I am not sure of the answers but Team Nicholson is trying something different this season that seems to be working out pretty well. We plan it a little more like a picnic and invite friends to meet us at the track. I have even tried to get a reduced price on tickets for these "guests" and it has worked to some degree. It has changed our racing attitude and I think we were due for a change. We were trying too hard and it wasn't much fun. This season we are having a blast. We are more relaxed and have more wins than we have ever had and things just are going easier.

So, I ask my racing friends to do what we have done: chill out, lighten up, and have some fun already. It can't possibly be the money we are racing for that has you so worked up. If it is your job you hate, don't bring it to the track with you. We would all appreciate it.

One more thing I can't let go by without hitting on: NHRA national event tracks. Man, are they running on some junk racetracks! Did you see the Columbus nightmare and the Seattle deal? They make sure all their VIP tents have good ground under them and the tower A/C is working, but they are letting some of the track owners (of which NHRA is one) get by with unsafe conditions on the race surface. The Pro racers have backed off a little from the TV comments (fines tend to cause that silence) and their silence is deafening.

ADVERTISEMENT

Come on NHRA, if it's $100 a ticket to attend a national event at least make the tracks safe and competitive so everyone gets a $100 SHOW! I will agree that most of their tracks are great, but there is no excuse for teams losing complete race operations because the track didn't have $50,000 worth of paving done when it needed it three years ago.

Well, I have just about ranted long enough. We are going to take a vacation (I hear you saying, "Man he needs one.") and after some fishing we'll make a run at a Wally in Super Comp at the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals in Brainerd, MN. I have come to the conclusion that all it takes is a solid 8.87 car and the 'nads to drive the stripe like a mad man and mix in a big horseshoe for some luck and anyone can get one of those elusive Wallys. Hope it's me next week.

Until then, race safe and support your local track so it will stay open for our kids to race at, okay?

See ya August 22-23 at the 50th Annual World Series of Drag Racing at Cordova, IL.

jok@racingnetsource.com