GOOD WONDERING

"...Just Wondering...Wasn't bracket racing supposed to make drag racing affordable and hasn't that experiment failed miserably? Just Wondering... Why not allow automatic buybacks at big bucks bracket races based on entry fees? If you pay two times the original entry fee you get to come in for the second round, pay triple the entry fee and come in for the third, pay four entry fees and don't race until the fourth round. Then you get one shot to advance. . ."

Good observations (and "wonderings"?). The affordability of bracket racing is quickly draining away with the advent of widespread $100+ entry fees and b*ybacks (I find even the word b*yback too offensive to spell correctly). I just don't see the logic of bracket racing when the cost begins to approach that of heads up competition. And this is coming from a bracket racing participant of some 25+ years. Take care.

Tom Worthington

IS THERE A PLACE FOR SPORTS COMPACTS IN DRAG RACING?

Mr. Hawthorne: Your current column, more than any other I have seen that attempts to analyze this sport compact phenomenon, seems to come closest to hitting the bull's eye. Please indulge me in a few observations and comments.

Re: Your comment, "Sport Compact racing is not the complete future of drag racing, but it's going to be a part of it," coupled with your comments on their apparent short attention span: Perhaps you saw ex-NHRAer, now SCCA prexy Steve Johnson's comments in the latest issue of AutoWeek. Keeping in mind his position of being in (as the article author put it), "chamber-of-commerce mode" as head SCCA cheerleader, he stated that SCCA will "aggressively go after the sports-compact enthusiast because there's some indication they are getting tired of drag racing." Perceptive observation or wishful hype?

An ex-employee of E-town told me two years ago that he had already noticed a decline in interest in drag racing -- that is, racing for its own sake -- among this crowd. Unless part of one of the sanctioned series, they seemed to come once to get timed, but generally have

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little or no further interest in formalized racing. Why? Because it *is* more a social thing.

I am located in the greater Englishtown area, and as many times as I have told myself I need to get to the track to experience one of these happenings. I have yet to do so, always finding some reason not to go. But if I am honest with myself, I know the reason I don't is that (1) being 47, I would stick out like a sore thumb and would not likely be able to blend in sufficiently to be able to make objective observation and notes for my research (I am writing a book on the organizational history of hot rodding/drag racing: the legal and corporate underpinnings, politics, etc); (2) I fear for the safety of my Lincoln in a parking lot full of furin' makes. Earlier this summer I was heading home from a local oak furniture warehouse close the track. All roads to the track have been backed up for miles, clogged with a massive influx of a crowd predominantly from NYC and its immediate environs. They were already rowdy and dangerously close to be out of control. Not a savory scene.

Never having attended such an event, I did learn something from your comments. I was unaware that single runs due to breakage are the norm. Interesting. Of course, I should have realized that cars not designed for this kind of activity are doomed to failure on many levels. Billet parts across the board, you say! Eye-opening.

I also noticed in the enthusiast press that the real pros in this form of the game are middle-aged, salt-and-pepper haired white males that have little in common with the lifestyle. But this lifestyle aspect is critical to understanding this phenomenon. Most, if not all traditionalists, miss this critical point. I don't know if you follow the niche literature, but the editorial in the premier issue of Drag Sport magazine had the following comments: