To the editor:

I enjoyed Chris Martin’s article on event titles and names. We at Maple Grove Raceway have been fighting for years the Keystone moniker, seems not very many people are aware that Pennsylvania is the Keystone State, most think that it is Joe Amato’s Keystone Automotive company sponsoring the event. In the early years of the Keystone Nationals not many were cognizant of the Keystone Automotive Joe Amato connection. Today the Keystone name is hurting us as many potential title sponsors think we have a sponsor.

Thanks!

George Alan Case
Vice President/ General Manager
Maple Grove Raceway

To the editor:

Let me start out by saying "Hi" to Chris Martin, John Raffa and Dave Densmore and also applauding your new internet magazine, Drag Racing Online. The sport of drag racing will now have an online voice spoken by a group of truly great professionals. However, we need to do a little "homework" before putting our thoughts to the net, Jeff.

I would like to reply to Jeff’s article regarding the 50lb weight rule change in IHRA Pro Mod. Let me start out by explaining why the change didn’t occur until the middle of the season. At the Cordova race, in June, there was a new sheriff in town.....ME! Now just who I am and what qualifies me to make such a statement? My name is Len Imbrogno and I am the new "sheriff" (read Vice President) of IHRA competition. As for qualifications, 30 years of building, tuning, and racing blown motors (street and strip) should answer Jeff’s paragraph in his article.

After watching the Pro Mod cars run at Cordova, it was clear to me that the blown cars easily out-horsepowered the nitrous cars. After the race we did look at the qualifying sheets for 1999 through Cordova and this is what we found:

Blown cars qualified 1st at four out of five events
Blown cars qualified 1st and 2nd at three of the five events
Blown cars qualified 1st, 2nd and 3rd at two of the five events
The average qualifying ET for blown cars was faster at 4 of the 5 events
If the blown cars were handicapped 1/10 of a second at all 5 events, 14 of 17 would still have made the field!!!

After looking at the above information and reviewing it with Jim Oddy (yes, Jim Oddy, we do talk to our racers) and several other blown car teams, we all agreed that adding 50lbs to the blown cars would be an acceptable solution to the problem. The nitrous guys however, wanted us to take overdrive away from the blown cars. I refused to handicap one group by taking horsepower away. I suggested the nitrous guys do some homework.

The blown cars still have a power advantage, but the 50lbs helped load the clutch a little more and has made the tune-up a little trickier. The end result however has helped the parity at the last two events. Incidentally Jeff, the nitrous cars run a three disc clutch not a four disc.

Regarding Jeff’s comment about the "aim to run the supercharged racers out of the class", the answer is simple ... If the blown cars go away, the class will be eliminated! There is no easy way to maintain true parity with regards to horsepower in Pro Mod. One combination will always have an advantage over the other. It’s the IHRA’s job to police this colorful class and keep it as fair as possible for the racers and as exciting as possible for the fans. Regarding any bias, if it existed in any past IHRA rules changes, it will no longer exist … you can quote the new sheriff on that.

Keep in Touch,

Len Imbrogno

To the editor:

Re: Chris Martin’s piece on Funny vs Fueler racing at Irwindale. Here’s something a bit earlier:

In Northern California, in the mid Sixties, a strip promoter came up with running the Melrose Missile, the area’s killer SS, against a fuel dragster, evening things up by giving the Missile a flying start from far back in the staging lanes. The idea was that the digger would take off just as the sedan reached the starting line. There was some experimenting with run-up distances and speeds and it was done at at least two meet. Believe the dragster generally won.

— A.B. Shuman

To the editor:

Great Site!

Wow, Agent 1320, that bit on Brainerd, about time!!!! Swore last year never to set foot there again. The 20 dollar parking fee seems a bit much, but if they do half the improvements it would be great!

Chris Martin, #16, Big Mac, God bless him but enough, let someone else have the mike (not Eli).

Lenny, a, KCIR, remember the first time for me … seemed the ambulance made more runs than anyone (1967 or 68). Who was it that came out with the reverser for their fuel digger? Remember the guy making a burnout and this BIG guy running out to help pull him back. As the guy grabbed the back of trhe roll cage to pull, he realized he was the only one out there, when the driver popped it into rev. Man, he had the funniest look on his face, like oh shit! My memories of KCIR. Keep up the good work!!!

— Gary Blaschke

To the editor:

This is a great start to a new magazine…. I hope to see a lot moreof this in the future. ONE THING! My daughter is the one that told me about this magazine. She was in the shop online with my computer and told me I had an email telling me about this magazine. I told her to go to it, read it and tell me if it was any good or not. (She is making her FIRST run this weekend in her "84" Z-28 and I have had her at the shop for the past 3 or 4 weeks trying to get her ready for this pass.) WELL she told me that she thought that it should be X-RATED! At that time she had my attention. Thanks to you guys I did NOT get the gears back in the car today for I had to sit and read the entire magazine …. I loved each and every bit of it. There is a little bit of the language that can be cleaned up only because of the ladies and children that will be reading this fine magazine …. One last thing …. A little Nostalgia, Stock and Street Stock class coverage in each edition would be nice. Keep up the good work and thanks for this online magazine!

— R. Lee Garrett (1Wheeler)

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