RETURN TO THE OLD DAYS
Jeff, I just read your July article on marketing
drag racing and agree with you on several
points. I too believe that there is far too
little exciting drag racing today compared
to days of the past. I would like to see the
days return when 30 or 40 or even 50 cars
turned up to attempt to qualify for 16- or
32-car fields.
I firmly believe that if one change agent
in a position to make a difference were to
see the vision and firmly believe that we
could return to those numbers, that it would
indeed happen. And the key is affordability.
Not 4-second passes. But long loud passes
over and over again. With emphases on driving
ability, reliability and variety in vehicles.
You mentioned Pro Mod as a good example. I
agree. I think T/F and F/C could follow suit
if they were to run those cars with a fraction
of the power available today (and just as
much noise!). It isn't about getting from
start to finish in 4 seconds, it's about getting
from start to finish over and over with exciting
cars and drivers with stories.
I'm sure there are plenty of folks out there
that remember that it was once that way. The
ingredients can be prepared again. It could
happen.
Ed Golden
WELCOME TO CONVERSATION
First of all I've been reading your articles
for only two weeks and I can say that I actually
enjoy reading them. I must agree on some of
your standpoints in this article. One of the
best drag races I've ever seen was Bristol
this year when Cruz Pedregon and Phil Burkart
squared off and had their cars pointed in
every direction but straight. I don't even
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remember
how many times the lead of that race changed.
For me one of the coolest things to understand
is tune up. Spoiler angles, clutch timing,
Ignition timing changes throughout a pass,
tire pressures, nitro content - I could go
on but you know what I'm talking about. Many
spectators don't understand what it takes
to get one of these cars down the track. And
maybe they don't care. I don't know. At heart
I don't want to see the cars slow down. But
I do see your point.
This e-mail was probably choppy and random
but I basically wanted to say I like your
work, keep it up. You're writing about important
things.
Mike Schoenmeyer
Cleveland, Ohio
THE SPICE OF LIFE
You are dead on. I don't know how many times
I have turned on my TV to watch a race and
got women's basketball or skateboarding or
some other off the chart event. The TV coverage
of Drag Racing is terrible. Slow the cars
down? All you have to do is take away the
computers. Make the funny cars fit profile
of the car they are supposed to be. OR you
get one engine.
My favorite is Pro Mod. VARIETY.
Bill Sterling
NOSTALGIA PICKING UP SPEED
I read the article about Larry Gould switching
from nostalgia AA/FD to nostalgia Funny Car.
Boy, talk about history repeating itself!
This is exactly what happened around 1970,
when many of the Top Fuel drivers switched
to F/C (I think mostly because there was better
money in F/C at the time). I think it's cool
that the old flops are coming back, but I
wonder how long before they get out of hand,
like the current AA/FD. In the "old daze",
front motored fuelers never ran 5's at almost
260......more like 6.40's and 235. I've already
seen Dan Horan go 6-teens at what, 230 something?
So, how long before a nostalgia flopper runs
a 5 at 240? Should be interesting....
Cliff Morgan
Phoenix, AZ
