Why this series needs to include Xtreme Bikini Shows and Lifestyle Expos is difficult for me to understand. It seems that sport compact drag racing is not as important as its lifestyle, but this venue appears to be a drag racing series. When the bikini contest began, many spectators left the stands to enjoy the other lifestyle shows and then left for the parking lot, long before the drag racing competition was finished. If all the activities were staged adjacent to the drag strip, the grandstands would become the focus of the show, whether it be drag racing, bikinis or music.

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At this race I overheard that participation in sport compact racing may be sparse since today's youth has been raised in a politically correct, non-aggressive world where nobody loses and everyone gets a trophy in traditional youth sports. Drag racing creates a loser in every race and there are some potential contestants who just don't want to play.

NHRA VP of Marketing Gary Darcy said, "Across the board we are seeing growth, whether it's from the spectator count, or television programming and certainly the sponsorship, the midway, car counts. I think across the board we are seeing growth." Here at Fontana, seven Pro RWD cars, four Pro FWD cars and four Modified cars showed. In the 10-race 2003 season the average car counts for the top three championship eliminators were: Pro Rear Wheel Drive, 8.9 cars, Pro Front Wheel Drive, 5.9 cars, Modified, 5.5 cars. The ratings for the Sport Compact TV show are consistently low even with re-runs, and based upon my viewing of last year's shows, the crowds were consistent with this race.

Breakage was significant last season and the season before that there were a lot of single passes. There might have been 3,500 spectators over both days of this event, but I've got to question why this unique, innovative collection of high-tech vehicles needs its own show. Four or five generations of drag racers have somehow found a home in the NHRA Big Show, so it is still difficult for me to understand why making some official rule changes such as allowing four valve heads couldn't accommodate today's Generation-X or Y for a combined drag series.

North Carolina's Mike Crawford, in his Dodge SRT-4 Hot Rod entry, qualified second taking home the Wally uncontested when Marty Ladwig failed to show for the final.