IT'S IMPORT-ANT
It's good to see drag racing online finally acknowledging import drag racing, but unfortunately it's of little value when the real facts are either missing or mis-reported.

First off, Tim Marshall must have forgot his meds when he claimed that Abel Ibarra was driving an Opel. Abel has usually been a Mazda man, and his present ride is a seven-second RX-7. Abel's previous car was a low 8-second RX-100. Marshall further blows his credibility by claiming that Mark Meadors puts on import drag racing events; in reality, Goodtimes Motorsports has been out of business for over a year and a half. Just go try to find their website if you have any questions about that.

Chris Martin fouled it up early on when he totally mis-spelled Adam Saruwatari. He then went on to foolishly try and compare an old e.t. of Adam's to various NHRA classes. Hel-lo Chris, this is apples and oranges, they don't mix, and there is little basis for comparison!

During his questionable article on the history of import drag racing, Martin alluded to the disappearance of the NHRA Modified Eliminator class. What he failed report on is why the class disappeared, how it was changing, and how the NHRA altered certain rules to eliminate the VW platform from competition because it was kicking so much V-8 booty.

Martin went on to claim that later "the only imports in drag racing were motorcycles" which is a full-on falsehood. During the '80's Volkswagens dominated the import drag racing scene at places like Orange County Raceway,where the crowds numbered in the tens of thousands for every event. Unlikethe V-8 guys, there was no factory support for this racing effort from Volkswagen.

You can find further info on the history of VW drag racing at my website, which has a streaming audio interview with Mark Schley. The Schley Brothers raced in every one of the lower 48 states and all of Canada during their relatively short career, a feat that most modern-day import and V-8 drag racers can only marvel at.

One thing in the d.r.o. import drag racing articles that was funny was the Tim Marshall claim that "Team Top Fuel featured a 10-second Volkswagen".

Guess what, Tim, the Pro Racing Association has an all-motor, heads-up Pro Stock class where the record is a 9.71@137 mph. We are talking about VW Beetles with full tube chassis, restricted to 9 pounds per cubic inch, running only race gas and manual transmissions, no fuel injection or computers allowed.

The last comment to be made here is in regards to the Chris Martin claim that Cory Mac was the first VW-powered dragster to run in the sevens. This may be a questionable claim, but there is no question that the fastest and quickest import dragsters in the world are flat-four based. The current king of the hill is Kris Lauffer, who holds the HotVW's record of 7.04@188 mph. His 60-foot times are .95., 96., .97, etc.

Kris set that record at a blown alcohol V-8 race in Whitman, AZ, (Speedworld), on 10/99. He had to race alone, because none of the V-8 dragsters had the sack to run against him. The main thing that caused them to back off was his 6.94 pass, which he unfortunately couldn't back up. That pass was the first and only time an import racer has run in the sixes; why hasn't d.r.o. reported this phenomenal accomplishment?

Tim Marshall made a pretty big deal of the top-fuel Sakura rotary running a 7.86; why did he fail to mention the Quarterflash II dragster of Hilo, Hawaii, when it ran a 7.16(and 7.17) on 5/30/99? Was it because it was "only" an alcohol-powered flat-four? Well then, what about the Volkswagen VR-6 powered dragster that the Esserini's run? Their W/C HotVW's record is a 7.83@166 mph, set in Sacramento on 3/99. Beyond that are literally dozens of flat-four dragster passes in the 7-second range, made by several different racers.

I hope this helps clear up some of the d.r.o. confusion over import drag racing. If any of you have any questions, please contact me or check out my website for numerous video clips on the subject.

thank you,

Dan Euritt
http://www.oceanstreetvideo.com

Geez Dan,
It appears that Tim wasn't the only guy who missed his meds. What a rant! Anyway all we were trying to do here was give the import racers a call. Both Chris and myself readily admit to being ignorant about import racing but we thought it was importnat enough to give it some space. Sorry that our effort evidently pissed you off severely.

We will run your letter in the letters column and try to do better in the future if we have any positive response to our covering import racing. If we do, do you have any interest in being our import columnist?

Jeff Burk
Editor/Publisher

AHRA GUARANTEE CLARIFICATION
Chris Martin's continuing saga of AHRA is killer!

One clarification: Either the author misunderstood Don Garlits' explanation of AHRA's payments of guaranteed appearance money, or the procedure had changed by the time I went to work for the association in 1973 (unlikely). By definition, a guarantee was the MINIMUM amount of money to be paid to a pro race on "Tice's deal." If, as in Martin's example, Garlits' guarantee for a given Grand American event was $5000, he would be paid no less than $5000 - win, lose, or fail to qualify.

Typically, Garlits would go all the way to the final round and finish no worse than runner-up, thereby "covering" his guarantee. If he won that final round (as he usually did in those days), he would collect the entire posted winner's cash purse, plus contingencies. Had he gone out in Round One, which might've paid as little as $1000 (just guessing), Tice would've paid the full guaranteed amount of $5000, regardless-in which case the Old Man would've "failed to cover" his guarantee.

To the credit of repeat-world-champions Garlits and Don Prudhomme and Bill Jenkins, who commanded the largest Grand American guarantees in their respective categories, I don't recall a single instance of any of them giving anything less than 100 percent in qualifying or eliminations.

This was not true of some individuals on "The Deal," who might've eased into the bottom half of the field, shut off early in Round One to save parts, then gone on to the next NHRA national event with a healthy motor and a fat bank account. Of course, there's no way to PROVE they were guilty, but I witnessed some pretty dubious performances in 1973-74, by some of the biggest names in fuel racing.

The sandbaggers were easy to identify after dark, because their header flames had a curious habit of going dark well before the win light came on in either lane. Sometimes the offending driver would turn the steering wheel back and forth, feigning handling problems. Funny Car racers were the biggest offenders. Because they were also the biggest draws of the 1970s, they were given more slack than the fuelers.

Tice's guarantees might've resulted in questionable behavior on the other side of the pay window, as well. Spectators sometimes questioned the special considerations given to bought-in superstars (e.g., an extra qualifying run, or a suspicious rerun of a race in which a nonguaranteed leaker took out a guaranteed regular) - typically attributed to "timing problems" but never fully explained.

Again, I can offer no PROOF; suffice it to say that during my years in the tower as an employee of AHRA-sanctioned Lions Drag Strip (1968-69) and AHRA-operated Orange County International Raceway (1973-74), mysterious events occurred which would never have happened on the NHRA circuit, which was free from the influence of cash guarantees.

Dave Wallace
West Point, California

Evidently Mr. Wallace is changing from a Contributing Editor to a correspondent. Since he is so knowledgeable and writes so well, we'll take what we can get.

- Editor

Kenny Bonnell
Philo, Illinois

Thanks Kenny. It brought back a lot of memories for me, too. I used to cover Motion when I published Midwest Racer in central Illinois.

- Jeff Burk

$100,000 X 10 = $1 MILLION
I really like the concept of a Million Dollar to win bracket race. I have made it to three of the Alabama races just to spectate and maybe witness the pay off. After viewing the numbers and results from the Rockingham race, I don't know if it will ever happen.

This is not a criticism of the people involved with the events, be it promoter or racer. As a fan in the stands, I think to achieve the BIG pay day a different approach might work. Instead of trying to do it at one race on one day, there could be a week-long event with several BIG payouts over the week. Use these events to build interest and participation over time so there is a base of racers to draw the necessary entries.

A track location more to the middle of the country would help also, I think. After a long day of time trials, multiple entries, and buy-backs, where it comes down to two people racing for 10K, 50K or 250K, it is every bit as exciting as any association's final rounds. As long as I can, I will continue to go and watch the Million Dollar races and hope one day to see the goal achieved.

Tom Derry
Swansea, Illinois

MOVE OVER BERNSTEIN, LET FORCE GO TOP FUEL RACING
The only cure I see for the current Top Fuel situation is John Force, the most charismatic man in all of motor sports. He needs to take that last step up and do it FAST. He's the only one I know of that can bring the $$$ back to Top Fuel.

Eddie Hill, Dunn & Gwynn, Bob Vandergriff Jr., et al. are unsponsored and Hill and Dunn have not raced at all this year. We all know how successful Force has been in the floppers, but he's never going to be the King until he drives the King, and he needs (for the good of the sport) to be the King!!

For the love of drag racing.
Mark Breznay
Miami, Florida

THANKS BERT, BUT WATCH THAT DARN LANGUAGE, WILL YA?
I just read (Jok's) fantastic article regarding Stock eliminator/bracket racers. Fantastic words you have put on your page; I am very impressed.

I run a stocker in NHRA Division 5. I have never had a "rocket" by any means, but I truly like the thrill of competition. I have always been more concerned with my driving than the car's performance. Yes, the car usually runs about .500 under, it's quite reliable, but I see the driving (start and finish line) the greater challenge.

Having been fortunate enough to win a couple of NHRA division races (Douglas '93, Denver '94), I must say that winning a race is a thrill that cannot be equaled by qualifying #1 (or even close to the top) - my humble opinion only, of course.

I have no desire to qualify #1 at an event or set an NHRA record…but, gosh darnit, ya gotta admit winning a race is pretty darn special (an' it's fun too).

Anyway, sorry for frothing at the mouth (or in this case, fingers) but I just wanted to commend you on your fine article and thank you for your point of view.

Regards from Canada.
Bert Reich (5002 J/SA)

RAMBLE ON ABOUT PRO MOD!
I loved (Jeff's) editorial! He is 100% correct in all (his) ramblings on this subject.

I love this class and hate seeing it ripped apart year after year. I love the body styles, the personalities, the paint schemes, and the engine combos, but if they keep penalizing the supercharged cars, it will detract from the only real class IHRA has.

Robin Judd ran a 6.179 e.t. as well this June, at the rain-delayed ANDRA Konica Winter Nationals. The winternats had to be postponed till, get this, October!

Hahn vs. Judd - I'd pay to see it.

Thanks,
Rob Kozak

NICE TO HAVE YA BACK AT LEAST FOR A WHILE, NILES
Well, perhaps I was too hasty in declaring the end with the onset of the new rules. Looks like it's going a way I never would have thought: lack of interest. If NHRA can't find 16 TF cars for their shows, The End can not be far.

Niles Smith

STOCK ELIM. RACERS 'R' BRACKET RACERS
Excellent comparison. That is what I have said all along; they dial their cars just like a bracket car, but to hear them explain it, they are much more esteemed than a lowly bracket racer! Like you said, put some of these footbrakers in their cars and they would shame most of those class racers. S and S/S racers, not all, but I would say a majority, need to do some weekly bracket racing, because if you look in National Dragster at their results like R/T, most suck. I think that their monster egos will not allow them to stoop to a level so low as to race in a bracket race, but, duh huh, that's what they're doing anyway; they just don't comprehend that.

Mike Buchwald

You are right. I used to think that way, so I started watching and reading more on the guys that win all the time (Biondo, Richardson, Edmonds). I started racing my stocker at any footbrake race, like B&M. Practice will make you better. I just think that everyone thinks that stockers are better because of class racing. I don't know.

My car is a '72 Mustang stick shift that is as good as any automatic. Fun to drive. I won my first FMDRS race at Reynolds this year, thanks to weekend racing. I'll tell ya B&M is a lot of fun and the money is about the same as far as prize money (no contingency money). So, I agree with you. Footbrake or stock eliminator, it doesn't matter to me.

Scott Bailey
Stock2262

GRASSROOTS DRAGSTRIPS
Hey, I've been drag racing for the last six years. Everything from a '69 bug to a Dodge Dakota to now an '88 Camaro with an ATI blown L98. Me and all of my friends love to race. Every weekend we see at least 600 or so race cars, no lie!

My question is: Don't you think it's time to open a local track? With Moffett Field looking like an abandoned conservation camp. Can't we turn that into a strip? How do we get something like this on a ballot? Why did they close old Fremont?

Thanks for listening to this frustrated lead foot.

DonRe Darden

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