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I would like to see some nonprofessional drag racers get
some air time. Real tech happens in the sportsman ranks, and
real people do the racing. Some of them are interesting people,
every bit as interesting as listening to Warren Johnson or
Whit Bazemore or anybody else we've been listening to all
these years. Seriously, If NHRA does go live, and uses the
expanded programming commitment to broaden the horizons of
the drag racing viewer, that would be a great thing. If they
instead choose to do more Gary Scelzi Cartwheel How-TOS, or
go on and on about those "...valuable Powerade points,"
live TV won't help anyone in the sport. And at the end of
MY day, that's the only reason to go live -- to improve the
ENTIRE sport. What say you?
IHRA GOES SUPERSIZE
OK, it's only a rumor at this point. When did that ever stop
us here at DRO? If IHRA goes to sixteen car Top Fuel fields,
and adds a like number of nitro funny cars to their national
event mix, it could be the most significant development in
drag racing in decades. I'm not even going to get into who
owns and operates the nitro teams.
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That's
a subject for another time and place. It's been a long time
since anyone has been in a realistic position to challenge
NHRA as the leader in drag racing. Not since the pinnacle
of the Old AHRA Grand American tour, back in the late 1970s,
has there been a serious threat to NHRA's supremacy. And make
no mistake about it, AHRA was a real threat to NHRA at that
time. If not for the breakaway of Larry Carrier (and most
of AHRA's southeastern tracks), and a later year when AHRA
lost seven of ten national events to rainouts, the current-day
drag racing landscape might look considerably different. Hey,
maybe it would be only fitting if IHRA did rise to a preeminent
spot above NHRA, since it's formation had a good bit to do
(in my opinion), with the demise of AHRA.
As it now stands, NHRA still has a strangle hold on what the
general public perceives as major league drag racing. For
any business, the economic professors will tell you a monopoly
isn't a good situation. I'll just say this. Competition is
a healthy thing. If a racer has more options, that can only
be a positive development.
ALL BRUTON, ALL THE DAY LONG
Say what ya want, this Bruton Smith guy is a moveable feast
of a story. Even when there's nothing going on, there's something
going on. He has tracks, what's he gonna do with them? What
will he buy and what will he do if he does? I swear, it's
better than vaudeville! Hey, if he does start up his own sanctioning
body, more power to him. He could hardly do worse than some
(most) of the people passing themselves as promoters these
days. As the saying goes, come on in Bruton, the water's fine!!
Barring further Acts of God or other undefined divine intervention,
Lenny's Line will return soon with another dose of drag racing
insight, or lunacy, or disreputable journalism, whichever
the masses would prefer. Later!! 
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