JUST THE OUTPUT FROM AN OVERHEATED MIND

Back in the old days, say when I was in my 20's and early 30's, a weekend spent at a national drag racing event usually served as a source of clarity for my mental state. You could get caught up on all the gossip, get the required dose of nitro cack and fumes, and get right with the world, so to speak. Maybe I'm just getting older, but it doesn't seem to work that way for me anymore.

Nowadays, I usually leave the scene with more questions banging around inside my head than I showed up with. Part of that is a by-product of writing this column, and trying to have something relevant to say about the "larger" issues of present-daydrag racing. And there are plenty of issues floating about these days. One of the hottest topics in play at the recently concluded St. Louis stop on the NHRA tour was the status of Pro Modified -- or more correctly, when / how / if would NHRA be including the PM set in their national events?

But the in / out scenario wasn't what I found to be interesting. Rather, it was the amount of communicating going on behind the scenes. It's all pretty sensitive stuff, and I don't believe anything has been resolved yet. But it was "illuminating" to see who was talking to whom, and the depth and breadth of the discussions taking place. Whatever ends up as the "final solution," I think it will be a well thought out and thoroughly discussed approach. Now, that doesn't mean anybody involved will be happy with it, but that won't be anything new, will it?

Something else that usually happens after I leave a drag race and start my trip home is, I ask myself why? As in, why do they do it that way? In this case, I'm asking why NHRA conducts Pro qualifying the way they do. Most often, Friday has a mid- afternoon session followed by a night session. Saturday it's two laps in the afternoon. Guess which session produces most of the numbers that make up the starting lineup on Sunday? If you answered anything but Friday night, well, you need to go to a national event, sit out in the Saturday heat with the rest of us, and witness firsthand an exercise in drag racing futility.

At the very least, NHRA should consider running both qualifying days in the same manner, at the same times of day. This issue came up with the Pro Stock camp at least two years ago, and now the nitro cars seem to be similarly affected. It would be one simple way to level the playing field a bit, and one that would not handicap anyone involved.

And isn't it about time someone looked into the possibility of lumping back together all the Federal Mogul Funny Car and Dragster entries into one entity. I know, Pro Comp already happened. It should happen again! And be sure to include the injected nitro Funny Cars too! Really, when the alternative may well be getting dropped from the lineup altogether, this approach begins to look pretty good. At least it does to me.

Something else popped loose from my memory banks as I was going east on I-70 after the event. I keep getting conflicting info on what NHRA is required to do in response to the so-called national Tobacco Settlement. I swear I've seen, in print, that compliance by corporations to the various stipulations of the agreement is VOLUNTARY. But I've also seen the exact opposite -- as in, cease and desist. If I could have one wish (at this second), it would be to receive a definitive truthful version of what the TA actually means. And in the next second, a note from NHRA on what it plans to do if it all goes bad. And no, "We're working on it" isn't what I have in mind.

Anyway, that's a few of the questions that I'm currently working on. Many more exist, and even more will reveal themselves in good time. Which should keep me busy, since I don't have any of the answers. At least not yet.

Later!!

racer4339@aol.com

photo by Jeff Burk