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ROLLIN', ROLLIN' Just got back a little while ago from one of my infrequent road trips. This one was to Cordova, Illinois, site of the annual World Series of Drag Racing. It is a trip that has become a "must do" for Old Lenny every year. Oh, most of the "in crowd" probably regards the CDWSODR as the proverbial Gnats-ass on the gnat, as it relates to big-time drag racing. That is, if they know of it at all. But to me, it's an event that all true 1320 fan owe it to themselves to see at least once, if not on an annual basis. The atmosphere at the World Series is laid back, but the action is hot and heavy. The fans, many of whom have been attending the event for decades, pack the place and spend their hard-earned dollars supporting the pros who put on the show. And not a dog-and-pony show on the grounds! If you don't get what I mean by that, take a look around next time you take in a "major" drag race. Take special note of the NON racing attractions taking up space. Dog-and-pony!! Hey, maybe THAT'S why they got rid of the trucks. They needed more room! But I digress. The now-annual Lap To Cordova also serves to remind me of all the road trips I have made since I started doing this back in 1980. The road trips actually commenced in 1978, when my friend Danny McElwain and I became frequent irritants to the old AHRA Grand American Series crew. Owning cameras, but no experience, we conned our way down by the guardrails at such glamorous destinations as Springfield, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri, and Tulsa, Oklahoma -- International Raceways every one of 'em. Once there we proceeded to shoot role upon role of mostly unusable drag racing photos, having the time of our lives in the process. They never did get wise to us - or maybe Georgia Miller and friends found us too amusing to set straight. As fun as the camera work was, something memorable would always happen enroute to the race track. On one trek to Springfield, we were rollin' along, when we happened to look out the side window. Our gawkin' was prompted by a loud, persistent roar from an Army Air Force transport plane flying along at crop cutting height! We looked at them as they were looking at us, dodging tree tops and bends in the road in an impromptu dance. It was over pretty quickly, but it doesn't seem like thirty-one years ago as I recount it. Not every road trip has been memorable for fun times, though. On a trip to Houston in the early 1990s, Old Lenny had a hard time to say the least. After a weekend of race reporting and hustling around and through the Houston night life with DRO's own ace photog Ron Lewis (AKA "the Grinder"), it was time to go home. Did I mention it was very cold in Houston? So cold it iced out Sunday's elims? Well, it was, and it got colder the further North I went. By the time got to Dallas, it was blizzard time! Even by icebox Midwest standards, this was a biggun! Against my better judgment, or whatever kind I was using at the time, I soldiered on to Sherman, Texas, which is just south of the Texas-Oklahoma border. I wintered the night in Sherman, spending most of my remaining money for the privilege. Funny, I thought I left home with plenty of cash -- but then there was that clip joint with the non-English speaking women, and I forget where all the Grinder and I went that night. But again, I digress. Anyway, 48 hours and 189 truck wrecks later, I made it home alive, much to the continuing dismay of my better half and the drag racing public at large. Blizzards, low-flying objects, larcenous she-devils, odd turns in the road -- all are part of what make road trips the path less taken, but more enjoyed by Old Lenny and a few old farts of like mind. No kidding around, if you are a drag fan who has not yet taken a "real" road trip, you owe it to yourself to do so. Find an event, even if it has to be a "major," and start making plans to make tracks. It's best if said event is the better part of a day's drive from the homestead, the better to experience the flavors of the open road. Take the wife and kids, don't take the dogs or cats, and keep a sharp, eye peeled for whatever lurks around the next bend. Take the chance, and chances are you will run into some things - and people - who will mean much more to you than who won what and how fast they did it! At least it work's that way for me! Back to current events for a minute. Message to Cha-Cha and Big; Welcome back, glad you qualified, and those were a couple of nice 4.70's. But it takes 4.50's to cut it for real. Anyway, glad you could make it. And you truck guys. They ain't letting you back in! Quit embarrassing yourselves! Bump your heads together and come up with a real viable alternative. Ya gotta ask yourselves, "Are we in this to attend NHRA national events, or are we racers with a product that will entertain people?" Take stock of the people who do support your style of drag racing, and put together a different deal. Think World of Outlaws, and other venues, and other electronic outlets, and the Internet, and, and, and ... GET A GRIP!! And welcome to NHRA, Pro Modders. How did ya like tech at Indy?? Hey, the guys in SS/QA don't seem to mind, why should you? Many years from now, a few anyway, ya'll will probably be asking yourselves why ya wanted in in the first place. But that's just rank speculation on my part. Pay it no mind. And where's this big Title Rights backer for 2002 at anyway? I'm not one to panic, but my own recent dealings with Corporate America leaves me with a sense of unease, as it were. Strangely enough, the Top Fuel package I shopped around wasn't greeted with total derision by C.A. They seemed to like the premise enough, though not to the extent to merit a deal, or a meeting, for that matter. As they expressed it, between the sour economy and NHRA's perceived unsettled situation, they just weren't biting. But feel free to check back later, of course. How much later should we be expecting to wait, Powers That Be? The
clock is ticking.
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