DragRacingOnline.com - Drag Racing from a different perspective!

4/8/04

After a digression into the world of television coverage with our Special Delivery Mail, we now return to our regular letters. Now, what were we talking about before we were interrupted?

Letters are still arriving daily about coverage of drag racing on television. Here is the latest batch.
response@dragracingonline.com

A PIECE OF THE PIE

Reading about the nitro increase, and the tire increase years ago makes me think NHRA is making these guys pay a percentage for the right to monopolize these products.

Think about the fact NHRA keeps all the oil down money, while IHRA gives it to the driver with the least oil downs at the end of the year if I am not mistaken.

The souvenir stands and Tee shirts were an exclusive NHRA deal for many years, while IHRA has always let the racers sell their own stuff to help the racers finances. Now NHRA lets the racers sell some stuff, but I bet there is some kick back or license in the background somewhere.

Think about it!

Richard Burbick

GIMME SHELTER

Jeff, I'm so glad that someone else thinks it a good idea to have covered seating at tracks these days. Drag racing has come a long way, but stops short of that special touch...options for its customers. I would pay extra for a covered seat as well. It sure would go a long way in helping to prevent skin cancer, heat exhaustion and pure relief for the baby boomers. You have clout. Convince some of the track owners who understand business and customer satisfaction to do it. Go ahead.... I'll be waiting...under the umbrella.

Wanda Exum

TIRE-SOME

I just read your article about the Phoenix race concerning speeds for Top Fuel and Funny Cars. This first came to my attention last year when I watched Speed Vision and heard an interview with Don Prudomme. Don mentioned that rear tires were throwing rubber off. Shortly after that, I attended the World Finals in Pomona and noticed chunks of rubber missing from a set of tires ion John Force's pits, and in one Top Fuel cars pit. Based on the interview, and my observations, maybe Goodyear is having trouble keeping the rubber on the tires. Who knows?

Bill Sampson

INTELISANO CORRECTION

I truly enjoy your website, and visit it 2-3 times per week. I just wanted to point out a factual error in the Len Intelisano article. His car was not the first fwd conversion in SS to run a manual transmission. It is not the first Cavalier, or even the first late model Cavalier, to do so.

Thanks for listening, and keep up the good work.

Jim Grossi Jr.

MAKE IT SPECIAL

Subject: 50th US Nationals Just found your site and it is great. I wonder if you have any knowledge of the above event's schedule. I wrote to them last year suggesting they have a chance to do it right and differentiate on the track, i.e.: 32 car Top Fuel and Pro Stock; increased points and $$. They responded that these sounded interesting, but so far the only information I can find relates to the predictable and boring nostalgia/memorabilia/former champ type things.

I wonder if Mac Tools, who will be all over this as sponsor of the 50th Mac Tools US Nationals (wrong, it's the 50th alright, but your fourth or fifth) could be persuaded to pony up $$ to Eddie Hill, Shirley and others for a one-race comeback to increase the field.

Yours truly,

Lorne Brady,

North Bay, Ontario

Lorne, great minds think alike. I've editorialized about exactly the subject you mention in your letter on numerous occasions and voiced my opinion in person with the persons who make those decisions, to no avail. I'm convinced that NHRA's problem with increasing the fields is related strictly to finances. At this point with the extremely bad year they had in 2003 due to rainouts, etc., spending a lot of extra money to put on the Nationals isn't a realistic goal. I sure wish it were but as I've said many times here, "It's all about the Benjamins." -- Jeff Burk

SLICK CHICK

PLEASE keep the articles from Pammy Utterback coming.... they were f****ing hilarious. It was cool to see a different perspective on the drag racing scene.

Stephen Lamphier

MAYBE JOHN FORCE IN A THONG?

Susan Wade's attempt at getting any kind of press coverage reminds me of an incident that happened at my local track this past season. The track had been trying to get coverage of events in the local paper and so far had not received one line. An innocent bikini contest turned wild one night with tops flying off and bottoms being dropped. The manager turned off the mike and stopped the contest immediately. I ask later why and he said, "I was afraid I would be arrested." "Yeah," I replied "but you would have been front page on every paper and lead story on the 10:00 news. You can't buy that much publicity."

There is nothing wrong with bad publicity when you're getting none now!

Joe Keightley

THE GOOD OLD DAYS STILL CAN BE FOUND

Dale, as a 51-year-old, I can relate to a lot of what you said in your article. Sadly, all motorsports seems to have a built in death wish that is fueled by money. Even super successful NASCAR is not immune. There are no little guys left. Does a NASCAR Taurus resemble any Taurus you ever saw? Factories are seriously deranged if they think anyone buys a Cavalier because they saw a Pro Stock Cavalier, let alone a Funny Car.

Sport Compact racing hit the same slippery slope. When it first hit the scene, there were individuals in somewhat home built cars doing some amazing things with some unusual cars. When I first saw a picture of a Cavalier, backed by GM, with Summit on the side and John Lingenfelter (God rest his soul) running things, I smelled doom for the regular guy.

I bracket raced successfully for over 25 years. I won a lot with home-brewed machines with a minimal investment. They were consistent cars, I could cut a decent light and had a good understanding of the sport. That was enough. Now it takes a purpose-built multi-dollar car with thousands of dollars of electronics to stand a chance. Most of the guys I used to race with, who still continue, have motor homes, enclosed trailers with motorized pit vehicles. Age and money left me behind even in bracket racing.

On my March vacation I got away from the Canadian winter for a week and visited a friend who lives in Florida (a native Floridian). We took his street Z28 to Orlando Speed World on a Wednesday night. There must have been 300 street cars there making runs. I had a blast. I got to make some 13-second runs and even challenge a Mustang. Everyone seemed to be having a good time. No one whined about sandbagging, dial ins, bye runs or any of that crap. Most people were smiling and having a good time. Sure, most of them were in their twenties but they seemed to be pretty friendly to the old Canadian guy.

Sadly, the closest track to me is 2.5 hours away and they are stuck the Super Pro or you are dirt mind set so I won't likely get a chance to do it again for a while. I guess age and money have, indeed, left me behind.

Don Seamans

KEEP HIM LAUGHING!

Personally, I like ground-pounding, 8000-horsepower, 325-mph Funny Cars to look outlandish and hellacious. Isn't that why they are called Funny Cars?

If I want to see ordinary-looking cars, I'll lean over my front gate and watch the traffic go by.

Robin Jackson

Wellingborough, England

WHERE'S THE NITRO?

Thumbs up on your review of the 2004 NHRA Summit Sport Compact Series opener at California Dragway in Fontana.

I've only attended one of these series races, and you are correct -- it's more about lifestyle than racing -- which is in line with other type of sports like skateboarding and surfing. As I see it, this is a nice shot in the arm for drag racing in general. But until NHRA comes in with a Sport Compact class that burns nitro, I think the lifestyle thing will win out over sitting in the stands.

I'd like to see a class that runs a blown, straight six cylinder on nitro -- front or rear wheel drive.

Mark Beauchamp

Fullerton, CA

P.S. I'm still waiting for the NHRA to make Top Fuel a blown ten cylinder on nitro.

RACERS' APPRECIATION

Re: Dixie Pro Stockers at Phenix City

I just wanted to say thanks for the coverage. It really makes us feel good to see others appreciate what we do. Hope you will continue following us this year. Thanks again.

Rex Kelley and sons

INJECTED QUESTIONS NOBODY ASKED

Kudos to the IHRA for allowing non-supercharged cars in Top Fuel. One of the big attractions of drag racing is that not all the classes are cookie-cutter formulas. However, it's hard to believe they really thought it through with only a 225 pound weight break, a little over 10%. Is that enough? No way! A look at the history of supercharged vs. non-supercharged factors reveals that the performance level changes anywhere from 25% to 40%, depending on the type of fuel.

What could be done at minimal cost is to allow 550" of displacement for the injected cars. This is still marginal, but may be enough to make them competitive with the looser tracks at IHRA events.

Is this best for the long run for IHRA? Why not develop their own versions of TF and FC using mountain motors, as with their other featured classes? Instead of the expensive, parts eating blown nitro combination in Top Fuel and Funny Car, have mountain motored blown alky and injected nitro cars at something close to NHRA weights. It would be really cool to see a 700" blown alky motor with an unrestricted screw blower going against a similar sized injected nitro unit.

The injected combo may need the percentage of nitro restricted to 70-80% to keep things even. This could be an ongoing controversy as in the "supercharged vs. nitrous" wars in Pro Mod, may even sell a few tickets. Uncharted territory, but certainly entertaining and far less expensive than the blown nitro combo. As a kicker, the injected cars could run NHRA with 90-95% in the tank and a set configuration, say 650 CID at 2100 pounds. That would require actual cooperation between the two sanctioning bodies, unlikely with the present state of affairs.

What's to become of the current NHRA TAD and TAFC classes in the unlikely event of such a scenario? Would the present competitors accept slightly slower versions of their classes that would be less costly to maintain in light of the relatively small purses? If performance were scaled back by using standard helix roots blowers and an 80% mix for the injected cars, maybe some of those sitting on the sidelines will come out to more national events, where fields have been slim in recent years. And by all means let's have the injected nitro combo in TAFC.

The bottom line with the above scenario is that in concert with NHRA's TF and FC, there would be three distinct levels of performance for competitors to choose from with commensurate operating costs. It would help if the IHRA expanded its schedule to hold events nationwide instead of just the East and South. Some of the West Coast tracks could probably support a national event of each sanctioning body.

While this is all fantasy stuff, it does represent a coordinated approach to accommodating competitors and spectators that may be marketable. Is that market big enough for two distinctive products to have a national tour? It just may be if the NHRA and IHRA can find some common ground and give that old saying an honest try: "A rising tide lifts all boats." I would not like to see them end up like the CART/IRL fiasco, and I don't think that will happen if there is no more poaching of classes as in Pro Mod.

Dennis Harrold

LONGING FOR THE STATUS QUO? After reading the announcement that eight new member tracks were brought into the NHRA fold, I got to thinking. . . . I'm glad to see there are some new (to NHRA) facilities that will now provide a safe place for racers operating under the umbrella of NHRA. But this would be even happier news for the sportsman racers if not for the fact that NHRA's Director of Sportsman Racing, Len Imbrogno, is also the Director of Member tracks. With this news and the article in the most recent National Dragster it appears that NHRA is more concerned with cultivating relationships with their existing and new member tracks than they are in maintaining their relationship with the thousands of racers that support them regularly. Especially when viewed in the light of decisions they have made with regards to the racers themselves over the last few years.

Isn't it obvious that NHRA takes the sportsman racers (or racers in general unless you run nitro) for granted? They know we'll show up and spend our money. So they have to find alternative ways to generate additional funds. And welcoming new member tracks into the fold is one way of doing that.

Look at the agreements they've made recently naming "official products of the NHRA." These are blatant money grabs. And to what end? They certainly don't benefit the racers... not even the nitro classes when considering the "official fuel" deal! Why is it necessary for NHRA to pursue alternative sources of additional funding? Is there more to these stories than NHRA's "desire for the sport to grow"?

I long for the days when NHRA was merely "dedicated to safety." Instead of being merely another sports entertainment promoter!

Alright, I've had my rant for the day. Keep up the good work at DRO!

Greg Stanley

DRO -- THE TIE THAT BINDS

Just read the letter from John in Holland [Special Delivery Mail, batch 3], who happens to be my Dad! I want to say that he is a proud drag racing supporter and drives me insane with it - oh the stories of the "good ol' days."

Good on ya, Dad, and keep it up and maybe it will rub off on me one day...

Melissa Polansky (nee Geltink-Marshall)

Australia

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