Let's Fix Local
Drag Racing - Again!

6/9/03

rom time to time, various people in drag racing like to offer their opinions on how to revitalize the weekly show at the local level. You know, the old "Saturday Night! Saturday Night, under the lights" type of show. I have been known to shoot off an opinion or two on the subject myself. The ideas suggested usually run towards the booked-in whatever train of thought. I have been known to think that way myself. Usually, no one has any idea how to pay for the show or advertise it so someone will know to come to the track and pay to get in, so the idea stage is where all these ideas end.

Really, what is the big problem with local level racing, at least from a spectator viewpoint? And the answer is: it's boring! Maybe it's the name of the eliminator brackets. Super Pro, Bracket 1, Heavy - the average guy asks, "What the hell is that?" Throw in buy-backs and breakouts and you have more confusion than most casual fans can stomach.

Now, I am not calling for the downfall of bracket racing. It's an excellent way for newcomers to get into the sport and find an initial comfort level. Once in, most racers gravitate to one of the Super classes or, if they have the bucks, Competition Eliminator. Maybe it's time for local tracks to bring the Super Classes and Comp Elim back to the local drag racing scene. When I started going to good old Kansas City International Raceway back in the late 1960s, there was a Comp Eliminator show every week. And more often than not, a Super Stock Eliminator as well. While I don't have exact numbers at my disposal, I believe there are more Super Class and Comp Elim cars running now than there were class-style race cars back in the '60s. And I think most Super racers and Comp guys would rather race in their usual mode than dial in against whomever at the local track. It makes much more sense for a racer chasing a divisional or national title to be able to hone his program by practicing his approach to race day every time it's race day.

Obviously, every track couldn't run every eliminator every week. There are a lot of race cars out there, but not that many. So what would be wrong with using all the sportsman eliminators on a rotating basis, one or two per week?

Here is how I would set up a rotation, if I were implementing such a program. Week 1: Super Comp; Week 2: Super Gas; Week 3: Super Street; Week 4: Comp Eliminator.

Now, how do you get the cars to show up? That's easy -- you pay them as much or more than they can win at the national event level. Local races lack prestige, so you have to give them something else. In most circles, money talks. I suspect it would work in this scenario too. Okay, where's the money going to come from, you ask? That's not as easy, but I think the industry itself would support this kind of program. Given that local racing would look more like what happens on the divisional and national scenes, the hard parts suppliers would be more likely to invest in local racing when it showcases the Super classes and Comp Eliminator. Would it be through direct cash contributions or contingency programs? That's a question I can't answer, but either way it would be support that isn't there on the local level now.

The unasked question in this is would anyone show up and pay to watch? It would take some time, but I would say yes. It would be no different from what happens at the local circle track. Fans go there because they know there is a feature race every week. Some go to see the Late Models, some go for the Modifieds, some go because their kid started out in the Mini Stock class this year. Hey, there's a concept: local fans watching their family members, friends, a guy from up the street or somebody they work with in action at the local drag strip. Throw in the fact that the show actually looks like something they have seen on TV during ESPN2's NHRA broadcasts and you might have something that could achieve a degree of commercial success. And that's always a good thing.

AND NOW, ON ANOTHER SUBJECT

I should stop there, but I can't. I watched the telecast of the NHRA Joliet race and saw something that just irritated the hell out of me! Many of the Pro cars sported decals publicizing the new movie, "2Fast & 2Furious." I hope they got paid, and paid well, considering most of the drag racing world gets highly exercised every time anyone in the mainstream press calls street racing "drag racing."

All such complaints should forever cease from this point on, since NHRA and a good number of Pro racers apparently see no harm in helping to popularize illegal street racing. Let's call a spade a spade, why don't we? If you are willing to take the money, you can't very well turn around and act insulted when the uninformed see no difference between "our" sport and what some idiot does out on the street. As much as you want to, you just can't have it both ways!

Later!

racer4339@aol.com

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