DRO: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE ANSWER FOR SAVING OUR SPORT?

DGP: Everything is trickle down from a television show that thrusts fuel into the lap of the viewer. Grab him by the throat and don’t let go.

NHRA President, Tom Compton, said he had two very talented production companies to do the television package. Well, you can get 100 production companies, but until someone wipes the slate clean and presents a whole new, refreshing look, you are destined to get more of the same. These companies are not "of" the sport. Drag racing is just another show they shoot—and it shows. There’s something totally different about the Digs. It stands in a class by itself. It’s a lot more than just two cars going down the track.

IHRA has a good deal with TNN in that it gives them literally months to put their races on television. In essence, they are making a video. So much could be put in this to make it entertaining! But when I learned that Alcohol Funny Cars and Pro Stock would be part of the TV show, well, that equates with "kiss of death" ratings. I hope when the time comes, they’ll realize that viewers just won’t watch those cars. Just as the stands empty at a live race when the fuel rounds are over, so too the television viewer exits to the fridge for a cold one or just clicks away as well all do when boring stuff comes on the tube. The national pastime is the clicker.

Dean calls this shot, first executed by him in 1981, "the most often copied" in drag racing.

Look, it’s not as if they don’t try. These people work very hard. I know how hard it really is. The public sees a final product that took a lot to produce. But, it’s hard for the current production companies because they stick with a formula, plus they don’t prepare properly. From convenient camera placement to unwritten interview questions off the cuff and virtually no special features. They’re under so much pressure just to put out a product. Remember those live shows with oil-downs? Shelley (Anderson) and (Dave) McClelland talked themselves to death and lost the audience early on. Why weren’t there any prepared segments on so many of the stories you find in the pits? I’d have a dozen prepared 3-minute pieces in the can ready to run. Hey, how about we show pit fire-ups? They’re more exciting than a race.

It boils down to unknowledgeable drag racing directors out there. What you have is competent technicians and people who turn out a slickly produced program that looks like any other race. They don’t get it—and if they don’t get it, the public won’t either.

And, the public wants nitro! Period. Ironically, by doing just a nitro show, it takes a helluva lot of the pressure off ‘cause you just focus on that. In fairness to the TV guys, the decision to throw boring cars into the mix on television comes from a business suit, not a director.

Abandon every notion of how the television show has looked in the past. A new look would include keeping a breakneck pace; fire the next pair with continuity that leaves the viewer breathless. Show pits warm-ups; integral top end interviews (picture in picture) as the next pair burns out; spectator interviews to identify with the home viewer as we go to break; hidden cameras in the pit camps for that fly-on-the-wall voyeurism. Hey, there’s more, but I can’t reveal everything.

The gist of it is that you capture the heart and mind of the viewer at home, pique his interest, and hold it till the end. You can’t do that with anything but nitro. Then, watch your ratings shoot through the roof. If there was a director who could do this, it would have been done already. Nitro is the key they have yet to turn.

"The biggest misconception of me is that I am ‘wild’ because I run around fuel cars. In truth, it is all scripted out with drivers, crews, starters and anyone in the vicinity of where I’m shooting."

DRO: LET’S TURN TO YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE RACERS. DO THEY HAVE ANY CHANCE, AS THEY ARE CURRENTLY ORGANIZED, TO BRING BIG, POSITIVE CHANGES TO THE SPORT?

DGP: I came into this sport 20 years ago as an objective observer who saw an exhilarating subject for the camera, not as a fan. Nitro is pure, raw entertainment. I love those cars, but decided I wasn’t going to get involved in the egos and personal peccadilloes of any racer. It was easy to spot the cool guys as well as the ego heads. As racers, they were all tops and equal in my eyes. As people, I found the unsponsored guys had lots of soul. Richard Holcomb, Clayton Harris, John Carey, Hank Endres, Don Garlits, Shirley, Darrell Gwynn, Earl Whiting…man, these were human beings.

But, a serious flaw in any character is being out for only yourself, not acting as a unified force. And this is detrimental to the group as a whole. These are guys who risk death each time they race, yet they are still at the mercy of the all-powerful NHRA and cow-tow to every bit of legislation heaved on them, like it or not, with nary a say.

The irony here is that PRO (Professional Racers Organization) has this supreme untapped power to control their destiny. There is a basic truth here: Without them, there IS no drag racing; without them, there IS no NHRA.

This is astounding to me. Just think, if they all banded together…check that… if three-fourths of them banded together (‘cause everyone knows who the NHRA shills are)…if they banded together with the power to utilize walkouts, just imagine what they could achieve for themselves — starting with their declared independence.

A strike is the only weapon labor has against management. Like it or not, PRO is a union. NHRA is a profit driven, self-serving corporation. Their history shows a general failure to promote their fuel guys, aid them in getting sponsors, or make money for them. This is in direct contrast with NASCAR’s policy of making money for their pro teams.

If any one racer speaks out against the injustices of NHRA, they know it means being permanently ostracized. These guys just want to race, so they tolerate it and always have.

Unchecked tyrannical power. PRO needs a leader who can stand up for them and for the sport. They need to be in control of their destinies. They need to be involved in the legislation of their own sport. Most say that will never happen. A defeatist attitude prevails, but a leader could change all that. And the essence of leadership is taking something that is difficult and making it possible.

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