4/13/04

I remembered drag racing was "fun" last weekend.

just wanted to start this column by saying THANK YOU to all the readers who responded to Darr Hawthorne's article and my own article on the TV coverage of NHRA events. It was just about unanimous that there is room for MAJOR IMPROVEMENT. The only people who disagreed mainly asked what would I do differently. Well, I have a few ideas that would at least mix it up a little and show what few viewers are left that there are racers out there that don't use Nitro or have a Cavalier or Stratus Pro-Stocker.

Why not do some sportsman interviews? There are surgeons, lawyers, car wash owners, motorcycle shop owners, farmers, mechanics, policeman, owners of oil wells and pipelines out there in the sportsman pits. They have cars and rigs that are nicer than a lot of the pro racers. Their stories would be interesting if blended with the car ... that's the SECRET. The CARS are the STARS and that is how it should be presented. Hemi-Cudas, wheelstanding '03 Camaro Stockers and Super Stockers, the wild assortment of Comp cars--the class doesn't need to be explained, just let the "gear-heads" that tune in for drag racing WATCH SOME RACING.

The pits have about 500 to 600 other cars in the pit area and NHRA does not even acknowledge their existence to the TV audience. At the 0.2 Nielsen rating, maybe they should consider something different than the "same old - same-old" 60-something year-old car owners in the pro classes. How about showing the finals of each sportsman class, or a couple of interviews with a sportsman winner who has raced for 15 years and just won his or her FIRST national event? Now there would be some REAL EMOTION!!

I know what you're thinking, after reading my title: "Why have I been racing if it wasn't fun?" I didn't say I wasn't having fun, but this weekend pretty much re-energized my batteries toward having more fun at each event. I entered the JEG'S Super Quick Series at Gateway Int'l Raceway in St. Louis. We just finished the engine and upgrading on the "Project 4-Link" to start competing in Top Dragster, Quick 8 style races and more bracket races. Details on those changes can be seen in the "Project 4-Link" column in this month's DRO.

I also owe Jeff an apology for being late with this column but two jobs, getting the car, trailer, motorhome and "stuff" ready about wore me out. I also need to say to JEG'S, the company that sponsors this column, WOW! I had a blast at your event. It has been a long time since I have been thinking of ways to pick up 0.01 or 0.02 in E.T. so I could qualify for any event.

At this event they took the fastest 64 vehicles in qualifying on Saturday and they would race Sunday in the JEG'S Super Quick Series. I thought that I would have no problem getting in with the new engine and all. Well, I am glad they had 64 spots open and that we kept working on the car for each qualifying round. We did qualify, 57th, at 4.846 @ 142.4. The bump was 4.87 I think. All I know is we kept listening for the bump spot and every round it got closer to our E.T. We raised the chip, tried more air in the tires, advanced the timing a couple of degrees and we went from a first run of 4.88 to the 4.846. It was exciting and a little nerve racking at the same time. Our editor, Jeff Burk, was there and he really enjoyed this different atmosphere as well. (Yeah, I know Jeff, we need to "put the 'bottle to her!!")

It really reminded me that racing doesn't have to revolve around weather stations, timer settings and hitting a pre-set index. Just let it run and hope it runs fast enough. Well, I qualified but made a stupid error driving on Sunday. I had a .516 light to the opponents .523. I took .04 finish line and that isn't good when I had about six feet to work with. Although I rubbed the brakes, I am sure the front tires had already reached the finish line. I broke out by .004 and that is "one that got away". No excuse for it, I just got caught not paying enough attention to the stripe. Everyone can practice enough to get the start line setup pretty close with the delay box, but the finish line is where races are won or lost. I'll learn a little something here and hope to get better next race.

The wild array of cars trying to qualify for that show should make it a great spectator attraction wherever it goes. '63 Corvette Pro-Mod style cars with Lencos, dragsters with Fogger NOS systems, 708 cubic inch door cars and 406" dragsters with a 10-71 blowers on them. Man, you can see it all at these races. The fastest you can run is 4.50 seconds (has something to do with track insurance policies) and if they would have qualified the normal 32-car field it would have been a 4.60 bump!!! That's 32 cars, dragsters, altereds, door-cars of every type all within .10 of a second.

I hope to make it to more of these types of races but I don't know if "Project 4-Link" can go a 4.60 without the "juice". We are going to try to get to all the Quick 16 races around Iowa and have some FUN! I hope you put the FUN back into your racing as well. I had a blast running the "Back-2-Basics" no-box Vega last season and I will be running it when Andy is entering the dragster in the Top Dragster events. I'll sneak into the dragster once in a while for a real kick in the butt like I did in St. Louis.

Until next month I hope your racing goes well and most important of all ... BE SAFE my friends! (Of course, check out all the great stories in DRO this month.)

nicholson@dragracingonline.com