Christmas in the Toy Department 12/9/03
2003 was a tough year for many people. The economy was an
issue for a lot of us and for the drag racing community at large
with rainouts, rescheduled races and extra travel stretching already
tight budgets. But much of the business world and the government
are positive and optimistic about the coming year and that will
hopefully translate into more sponsorship dollars for drag racing.
2003 marked my fourth year associated with Drag Racing Online
and certainly for me the most fulfilling, covering more drag races
in more venues and finally coming out of the closet. Ok, I'm not
talking about anything sexual here. In my other life in the
advertising world, the one in which I make a living and pay the
mortgage, I was always reluctant to mention my addiction to drag
racing except to a very few close friends who would understand
my passion. When discussing advertising strategies and
filmmaking techniques with marketing executives in a corporate
conference room, occasionally my mind might wander to that
incredible driving job so and so did while keeping his Funny Car off
the wall. How could these stuffed-shirt types ever understand that
I would still sleep in the back of a pick-up truck if there were no
room available to crash, so I could get to the drag strip early on
Sunday morning?
I know that when I did mention drag racing I'd be grouped
together with every stereotypical image from Rebel Without a
Cause or the local illegal street racer who was arrested over the
weekend after hitting 12 parked cars and killing his innocent,
pregnant girlfriend...basically a dirtbag.
So this year I embraced drag racing and made it an even bigger
part of my life. A good move? We'll see. I've had a lot more fun
getting to know the people, drivers, weirdo's, owners and the other
media types. I've also gotten to know a few of the people who
work for the NHRA, but I'm still baffled that the NHRA treats so
much of the media they need to get their story out, like children
needing to be supervised. We in the drag racing media may not
always be on the same side of the fence as the NHRA, but we sure
are helping to spread the word with regard to the sport about which
we all feel so passionately. We aren't adversaries and we aren't
children. We, in our own way, promote drag racing and in my case
being on the Left Coast usually it involves the NHRA brand. We
are all looking for stories, for gossip, for rumors, for great
photographs, for the things that will bring you the reader back here
for drag racing from a different perspective.
NHRA, loosen up, stop micro managing everything, you have a
growing brand, one that much of Corporate America and Spectator
America is embracing, but stop trying to control and manipulate.
Drag racing is a living, breathing thing made of speed, people,
innovation and situations that are incredible to cover. Because
some of us write for a magazine that doesn't rely upon traditional
pulp and ink to get our message out to the fans does not make us
second-class journalists or renegades.
Drag Racing Online is a magazine, not an Internet chat room.
DRO is just like National Dragster, with comparable circulation
per issue. We have plenty of eyeballs on the page, more than
many competitors and nobody must wait for the Post Office to
deliver it. We are an independent voice covering all of drag racing
without the corporate homogenization of old school magazines like
Hot Rod, Popular Hot Rodding, Car Craft and the like, all of whom
must now cover each other's project cars and have eliminated most
of their race coverage. I still subscribe to all of those, but DRO is a
magazine, plain and simple, covering a form of entertainment.
After all, this is the toy department, but I love it!
Have a great Christmas everyone! 
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