Do a few “very good racers” hurt a local track?

2/8/05

hen I owned and managed a track this was a question I asked myself quite often when I scheduled a Big Bucks event. There are probably as many opinions on this as there are ways to win or lose a bracket race but here are my thoughts. Let me clarify what a “very good racer” is, for the sake of this article. In this instance I am talking about racers who seem to go to all the Big Bucks events, have new equipment and have an attitude that they are planning on winning every race they enter. They usually have the reputation of having won a lot of big bucks races, divisional or national events and probably have several track championships as part of their “very good racer” history. In other words, their reputation for winning is common knowledge among other racers.

Now that I have described one type of racer here are some other types that I have come to know during my 30 years of racing and 15 years of managing and owning drag strips. I won’t go into the “pure hobbyist” type racer, as they are the largest and most diverse group out there. I am more familiar with the racers who come to the track to race for money and their preparation and equipment attest to that line of thinking.

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First, I agree that there are racers who never have won an event that think they probably never will. When they see the “good racers” pull in for a race they feel they are already beaten (which pretty much means they are). They go some rounds but never win a final. It could be preparation, selection of parts in their racecar combination or bad luck. Personally, I think it is "attitude." They don’t expect to win and they usually don’t. You can almost pick them out when they come through the gate.

Second, there are the racers that work hard to make their cars and their driving skills better all the time. They see the “very good racers” as a challenge and work to beat them. You will see these guys in late rounds on a regular basis but they seem to struggle to get to the final. In a lot of cases like this I have seen it is very often a problem with the car that bites them in late rounds; dead battery, couldn’t get it cooled down consistently, old drag slicks, etc, etc. They have the right “attitude” but lack either the time to prepare the car or the finances to do it the right way.

Third, we have the racer who feels he could beat the “very good racers” if he or she had the latest and greatest equipment. I have seen this type of racer go out and buy a new tube chassis car or a new dragster with all the “toys” and still end up in the second or third round week after week. The other thing I have seen happen over and over to this type of racers is they just disappear in a few years. They thought if they spent gobs of money they could win. When that didn’t pan out they just went fishing or something, as they were no longer at the drag strip. Too bad as they made the financial commitment but never got things straightened out “under the helmet”, where the real winning begins.

Fourth, this is the “very good racer” that has committed himself to winning and has probably been winning drag races since they started racing their streetcar. These are the guys who command respect from other racers who are learning to win by observing them. They watch them at the races preparing for time runs and during eliminations. These “very good racers” seem to approach the event differently. They come to win and to that end have spent several evenings during the week preparing the engine, the chassis, the trailer and tow vehicle so it will be as trouble-free as possible and not distract them from the task at hand…WINNING THE RACE.