I've thought a lot about safety recently, and on a local level about 90%+ of the crashes I've seen in 15 years of racing were due to two things: 1) fluid under the tires, 2) bad driving decisions. I remember being in the tower at LVD watching some guy in a 4-speed Mustang get closer and closer to the wall with every shift, the driver keeping his foot in it. Into the wall, across the track, into the wall, onto the wall, into the trailer, into the scrap-yard. Oops. The guy probably blamed it on the racetrack.

I cannot believe that diapers are not mandatory in more sportsman classes. They are light, cheap, easy to deal with, and very effective. I would make them mandatory in Comp and Super Comp, Brackets 8.99 and under. I think all cars 10 seconds and faster should have them. Many cars each year would be saved. There was a bad crash at LVD (one) weekend due to just that; one of my favorite race cars was destroyed and driver was rung like the Liberty Bell.

Oh well, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

William Horton

ADD PARAGOULD TO SOUTHERN TOUR

Hi guys. I read Mr. Wilsons' article on Southern Outlaw dragstrips. I was kind of surprised to see no mention of George Ray's WildCat Hot Rod dragstrip, located in Paragould, Arkansas. Mr. Ray built the track and opened it for racing in November of 1961. He's still running it today, and it's still a headsup dragstrip. The track and George have been featured over the years on ESPN2's INSIDE DRAG RACING (which at the time, 1998, was

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their most widely watched episode), Hot Rod magazine did a story on the track and Brian Kohlmann a couple of years ago and just last summer, Joe Elmore did a whole episode of Horsepower TV devoted to the Paragould dragstrip.

July 8th George Ray turned 79 years young. He still runs the old track, mows the fields where spectators and some race cars park, and does all the daily work that is necessary in the running of any motorsports area. He may very well be the oldest track operator left in the world, he's certainly the last heads-up track operator. We race each and every Sunday from the last Sunday in March till late October, weather permitting.

There is no entry fee to race, which I think is almost unheard of in the world of drag racing. I've never run across another place that does this practice. Seven dollars gets you in and you race for free. Either in a trophy class (there are approximately 55 classes possible) or in a money/index class. There are also some unusual 'rules' at this place. Both contestants can lose in a money race. By running under the index/redlighting, crossing the centerline. Any infraction in a race and the 'infractor' is out, if it happens with both cars, both cars are out.

I've had the pleasure of racing and working with Mr. Ray for the last 30 years. He is a unique individual. His track isn't a palace, just representative of the way drag racing was when he began. Caught in time, the only difference is the Xmas tree, which we added in 83 (I was the starter till mid-2000) and the cars, which have become more modern with the times. Nothing else has changed, especially Mr. Ray. Prior to the addition of the tree, we were still flagging in all classes. The money classes have changed over the years, with the loss last year of our Unlimited class, we now only run money indexes. 5.50 cars run 5.50 cars, as 9.00 cars run 9.00 and at every half-second interval between those numbers.