It's Up To Us1/5/04
recently received a link to an article in the
Toledo Blade once again comparing drag racing
to NASCAR. The opinion piece, penned by Blade
Staff writer Dennis Bova, commented on a recent
sports marketing study showing that NASCAR is
the eighth most-hated sport in America. I'd
seen that study, but this sentence by Bova caught
my eye. "But this study aside, the clouds are
forming over NASCAR while the sun is starting
to shine over another motor sport: drag racing."
Really? Does NASCAR have to loose for drag racing
to win? Do we really want drag racing to be
as mainstream as NASCAR?
While in this long off-season before the warm-up test and tunes at Vegas,
Phoenix, Houston and Tucson I was itching for something relevant about drag
racing and clicked to a couple of Internet chat sites with Nitro-this and
Nitro-that in their names. One thread I found interesting contained dozens
of postings of how NASCAR sucks and drag racing RULES! Just why is it that
we need to compare these apples and oranges; why not compare drag racing
with Formula 1? Michael Schumacher, six-time F1 Driving Champ was estimated
by Forbes magazine to be the highest paid athlete in the world. By
comparison, this F1 Schumacher must RULE and John Force must SUCK, well once
again, apples and pears.
Each of us has our favorite form of racing and by your choice of reading
material it just may be drag racing, you may even have a top-five racing
list. Each series has things that bring us back every time the show comes
near our town, drag racing has plenty for me, but that doesn't mean I hate
NASCAR. The past few years of the U.S. economy have created a particularly
tough environment for bringing new sponsors into racing of all kinds. As the
economy continues to improve, some familiar teams may not be in competition
next year in drag racing, Nextel Cup and others.
With more and more spectators hopefully coming through the turnstile in the
2004 season, it's up to us to spread the word on just how great drag racing
is, not just the responsibility of the Ivory Tower Sanctioning bodies. I've
seen an ad in the back of a street rodding magazine touting, "Bring a Kid to
a Car Show". How about us drag racers doing something like that? Bring a
kid or teenager to a drag race or bring back somebody whoís been away from
the sport for a while. I brought two clients and their kids to the Pomona
Finals in 2003; they had a great time and were exposed to the up-close
thunder of Nitro drag racing. They both want to come back and Iíll be proud
to show them around again.
Drag racing sure has changed over the years, but we have a highly
entertaining show, whether it's IHRA, PSCA, NHRA, NMCA, Pro Gas, Good-Guys
VRA or brackets, whatever your addiction. Next time you see a fellow drag
racing fan driving the freeway with his sanctioning body sticker proudly
proclaiming his love of the sport - give him a wave or thumbs-up. We've
already got the best show in Motorsport, just remember what Jungle Jim said,
"Drag racing is faaar out!" 
|
