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 THEY
CAN CALL IT ANYTHING, BUT IT'S STILL 'THE NATIONALS'
It sucked the breath right out of me when I read that "The Nationals"
was succumbing to the name game. I guess I knew it was an eventuality,
but I hoped against hope that "The Nationals" would remain pure. I first
attended "The Nationals" in 1961 when I was 15 years old. It was an
unbelievable experience and I never missed for the next 35 years. I
don't remember when it became the "U.S. Nationals, but for me it will
always be simply "The Nationals", I don't care whose name they put in
front of it.
Tom Schiltz
North Canton, Ohio
LITTLE GUYS ARE 'STARS OF TOMORROW'
I know that if IHRA/SFX would expand their programs to include 16 funny
cars, that there would be a regeneration of that class. Pay the heavies,
sure, but also compensate the little guy also. Allot of the fans are
tired of the John Force benefit races at NHRA. AHRA's slogan ''We present
the cars and stars of tomorrow'' should be the motto of IHRA.
Jim Robbins
Houston Texas
QUESTIONS CRUZ'S BROADCASTING SKILLS
I'm wondering why Jeff Burk's evaluation of Cruz Pedregon's broadcasting
skills is 180 degrees from everyone I have ever spoken with. The general
consensus amongst us racers in that he is ill equipped to sit in the
boot. He is not well spoken and seems to think he knows everything about
everything!
Gregory Stanley
BURK'S REPLY
I have been Cruz's harshest critic as a driver, car owner and announcer
in the past but the fact is that he has improved dramatically in my
opinion. And I consider his qualifications to be a color commentator
equal to or better than anyone else they have used in the past. However,
you are entitled to your opinion and I assume that your remote comes
equipped with a mute button.
- Jeff Burk, Editor
ROUND TWO
Thanks for the response! Unfortunately, my opinion is identical to each
and every drag racer who has voiced theirs on this matter. Yes, he has
improved dramatically from the absolutely miserable Winternationals
show and I agree that he has sufficient knowledge of the fuel cars to
provide color commentary.
But his lack knowledge about Pro Stock, Pro Stock Truck, and Pro Stock
Bike negates that of the fuel cars and his ability to speak concisely
and logically leaves a lot to be desired.
I've grown to appreciate Marty Reid and the monumental improvements
he has made, but Cruz just doesn't seem to picking up the pace. Oh for
the days of Dave McClelland and Steve Evans!
One last thing.... as long as you've been in this game, you should
know it is impossible for a racer to mute any broadcast relating to
drag racing. LOL
Thanks again,
Greg
NO FAN OF FREDDY
As a long time drag racing fan and occasional drag racer, I am disgusted
by the article you " printed" about Freddy DiNome. I knew Fred and his
"friends." I have never said this about any human being before. Fred
was a useless piece of shit. I hope he is burning in hell as I write
this. I was never so happy to see a person die as I was to see Fred
die. Please don't make me wretch any more by printing articles about
low life scumbags who happen to have been able to buy drag racing vehicles.
Mark Colonomos
A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ON FREDDY
I just wanted to drop (Chris Martin) a line and say what an excellent
article on Freddy DeName. I had met him through my dad and would say
he was one of the most entertaining people on earth!!! After many east
coast match races we would stop for dinner at a local diner and Freddy
would moon the entire restaurant in front of a picture window. After
this we would then walk in and eat. He was apt to show other body parts
at any time also.
I also wanted to say I enjoy your work and these stories from the seventies
bring back great memories. If you run out of Ideas I can suggest a few
more.
Randy Lindamood
WE CALL 'EM AS WE SEE 'EM, MARK
The story I get about "The Fast Lane" is that there were a lot of people
involved in putting that book together, and that WP did not play as
big a role as you have cited. Yes, it's a darn shame that Garlits only
gets honorable mention in this book. Having known WP for the better
part of 30 years, I have never known him to be a mean spirited person.
At 88 years old, he is still an asset to this great sport, and should
be treated as such. You know a lot of people inside NHRA, go find out
the whole truth.
Mark Breznay
Miami, Florida
A VOTE TO KEEP PRO STOCK BIKES
While there may not be a lot of rice burners in the parking lots, to
hear the crowd roar after Matt Hines beat Angelle at Gainesville tells
me that the fans in the stands are paying attention. I was on the starting
line for that race as well as Atlanta when Matt lost in the final on
a holeshot to Antron Brown. The crowd went wild again. As a matter of
fact, that was the only race in the final as both Pro Stock Car and
Truck were decided by red lights on the line, while Capps went up in
smoke and Russell was unable to back up from his burnout. I want to
let you know that I am a Die Hard Top Fuel Fan, and just had to bring
this to your attention.
There was a rumor, circulating at Gainesville, that NHRA was going
to drop either Pro Stock Truck or Bike. Well I can tell you that it
would be hard to find a truck driver out there that can ride one of
those bikes down the strip at over 180 mph. Keep the bikes and dump
the trucks. What do you think?
Also the Pro Stock Harleys from Vance and Hines and Star Racing will
be out soon.
By the way, your mag is great and most appreciated. Thank you for your
open and honest reporting.
Jeff
HEADS-UP RACING NOT THE ANSWER
As an active racer somewhere between Jok's level 4 and level 5 I offer
the following thoughts.
- The price of gasoline will surely effect weekly racing everywhere.
Even in my situation where I can afford gas I think about making long
tows now as to whether it is really worth the expense.
- Don't get carried away with thoughts of heads up racing. I have
been racing since they started the drags with a flag man. All races
at that time were heads up. The sport almost died at the grass roots
level for the following reasons all of which are alive and well in
import and "street car " racing today.
a. Cubic dollar bills were required to be competitive early on
in most every class. I personally knew people who bought 200 pistons,
valves, rods etc and picked the lightest ones to run the "stock"
classes.
b. In order to be competitive in any heads up class one had abuse
his equipment to the point of financial suicide. How many runs
do you think the competitive stock racer gets before rebuilds?
I run my 7.60's, 175 mph dragster at least 450 passes every year
with nothing more during the season than oil changes, one set
of valve springs and one set of rear tires.
c. The fans in the seats, which at first look good to the track
operators at heads up races, rapidly disappear as the car count
dwindle to nothing due to high operating costs.
d. Because the rules for heads up racing are impossible to visually
enforce many, many teardowns result. I almost quit racing altogether
because every time I won a heads up race I spent till the wee
hours of the morning tearing down my winning engine. As an engineer
it really galled me to take apart a perfectly working motor. I
sometimes thought that was the real reason for the teardown, hoping
I would screw it up when I put it back together.
I think that track operators would be wise to spend whatever time and
effort it takes to educate their spectating customers about handicap
racing. With only heads up racing there will be little or no drag racing
at the local level no matter what the rules are.
Ron Burke
NOW HE'S WONDERING, TOO
I was wondering, didn't NHRA make Goodyear the only official tire several
years ago? Was it the fact that Michelin decided to compete heads up
that Goodyear greased some palms for the only kid in on the block. Are
they scared?
And I was wondering, the NHRA just made a rule that there would be
no new engines in fuel racing. Did Mopar grease palms, or is there an
engine ready to be run that would dominate? I know the NHRA doesn't
care how much the racers spend, or else there would be many other changes.
How much did the developer invest in this new engine only to be whacked
for his efforts? Remember the Eagle, and the McGee? There was no squawk
then. The Eagle died silently, and it looked like it had real potential.
The McGee didn't work for Dale Armstrong, so I doubt if it could ever
work well. But the Hemi as it stands is a refined 35 or 40 year old
design. Surely an overhead cam, desmedromic valve, easy to work on piece
is just waiting for the smart folks to do, and the sanctioning bodies
to allow to run.
Just some thoughts.
Richard Burbick
IMS RIP. NHRA: INFC PDQ
We've lost our best independent monthly newspaper, IMS. That's Inside
Motorsports for all you non-readers. What a great paper that always
printed accurate and honest editorial, never compromised, and always
truthful, even if it hurt. We did not support it numbers and now it's
gone. Please support these efforts, they help the sport.
NHRA, Get 'Injected Nitro Funny Car' going! Scott Weiss showed the
IHRA that it was affordable, or more so than alcohol F/C. The noise,
smoke, fire, and excitement along with mid-fives @250 is a reality,
and affordable. You could run this deal cheaper than pro-stock truck
and nobody will leave the stands. Corporate sponsors that can't swing
the blown nitro deal could jump on this billboard. I'll bet the stands
stay full for 16 of these. The racers could buy good-used off of the
blown cars and save money. Jeg Coughlin, Jack Dimars, Fred Mandoline,
Bob Gottschalk, Ron Correnti, Al Fontannini, All ran this injected deal
and will long be remembered for their nitro filled antics. The injected
nitro dragsters are great, lets see it in funny-Car form, the blown
deal is just too expensive and eventually will die.
Paul Cervenka
Orland Park, Ill.
MORE AMARILLO MEMORIES
Sheriff Martin, Thanks for the great story on the Texas-California Challenge
series at Amarillo Dragway. I attended the 1971 and 1972 versions of
the race, and they remain among my fondest memories of many, many days
at the dragway.
Thought you might be interested in some of the results from 1971 since
they were not posted. Texas did win the challenge that year.
In Funny Car, Gene Snow's Rambunctious Dodge, Richard Tharp in Harry
Schmidt's Blue Max, and Big Mike Burkhart defeated Jess Tyree's Firebird,
Dave Condit in the Beaver Brothers' L.A. Hooker Maverick, and future
NHRA World Champion Larry Fullerton in the Doheney & Fullerton Trojan
Horse.
The only car I remember in Top Fuel was Rick Ramsey driving the Keeling
& Clayton California Charger. Ramsey set the track record with a 6.80
second pass and was undefeated against the Texas cars. To this day I
don't believe there was ever a more beautiful dragster than that one.
All the Top Fuel cars were slingshots, and they were all push-started
from the top end to the starting line. The fire-up road (which is still
there) was built later in 1971 as part of the upgrades needed for Amarillo
Dragway to host the 1971-73 NHRA World Finals. The dragsters had no
reversers, so the cars were pushed back to the line after their burnouts.
Dave Densmore was probably there at that race, so maybe he has better
recall than I do about the rest of the Top Fuel field. Seems like it
was Steve Stephens from Houston, Raymond Beadle in the Buck's Engines
car of Prentiss Cunningham out of Lubbock, and Mike Tarter or Lash LaDue.
Anyway, it was a great day at the races, and I appreciate you covering
the story in DragRacingOnline.
Keep up the great work!
David Rattan
North Richland Hills, TX
'BACK DOOR' DRAG TRUCKS WERE FROM IRWINDALE
Yes I do remember this, but it's not Palmdale it's Irwindale Raceway.
They raced trucks there from 1970 to about 1973. We used to have to
wait until they were done for weekly grudge racing. I don't know the
exact year of this photo but the hood on the Kenworth is a wide nosed1969
or later. I was just browsing the drag racing online for the first time
and really enjoyed it. Have any photos of ADRA nostalgia cars?
Keep up the good work.
Kim
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