ANDERSON DON'T KNOW PRO
STOCK
In the current interview with Greg Anderson
article he says "It's (Pro Stock) never been
as popular as Top Fuel or Funny Car and I
think one of the reasons is the speed we run."
I don't agree. If Pro Stock ran 250mph it
wouldn't be any more interesting than it is
now. And right now Pro Stock is pretty boring.
Way back when Top Fuelers ran 8.50 sec. and
Super Stocks ran 11.50 sec. The Super Stocks
were just as interesting as the Top Fuelers.
It was because the early 1960's Super Stocks
(the pre-cursor to Pro Stock) were actual
cars you could buy or build yourself. There
were differences to root for such as make/model
or hemi/wedge or auto/stick or a combination.
They were identifiable. They were slow, but
very exciting.
Even the beginning of Pro Stock was exciting
because it still had a relatively close relationship
to a production car. Remember the 4 door Pro
Stocker? That was interesting. That was ingenuity!
I think Pro Stock should run cars that are
required to be as close to stock as possible
but still offer some potential for ingenuity.
The car should run an engine/trans layout
the same as stock (i.e.; front wheel drive
if that is the stock arrangement, or rear
wheel drive if that is the stock arrangement).
Stock bodies should be used. Let the choice
of car make and engine layout be an identifiable
feature to root for. Just base the class on
pounds per cubic inch limits and let ingenuity
take over.
The Import Series has shown everyone that
a front wheel drive race car can really haul.
When I'm crammed into the grandstands near
the starting line or half track I really can't
sense whether the car goes through the traps
at 250 mph, 200 mph, or even 150 mph. But
I can immediately sense ingenuity in motion!
Alan Lewis
ENGLAND SHOW CORRECTION
Re: "Rats Invade England" (Agent 1320, 7.16.2004).
This was more than a "couple of exhibition
burnouts" by Rat Trap. This was the Goodwood
Festival of Speed, the annual motorsport jamboree
that is the biggest event of its kind in the
world. Each June, for a weekend, the park
surrounding the Earl of March's Goodwood House,
in Sussex, England, is transformed into auto
paradise for 150,000 fans who crowd in to
see every kind of high-powered vehicle you
can imagine, from the 19th Century to the
21st, some on static display but most in action
hurtling up Goodwood's long driveway.
This year's contingent ranged from a Peugeot
that had contested the 1894 Paris-Rouen Trial
to an array of current F1 cars, with hundreds
more machines, on two wheels and four, in
between, handled by the likes of Emerson Fittipaldi,
Stirling Moss, Jacques Villeneuve, Gil de
Ferran, Giacomo Agostini, Bobby Allison, and
dozens more. And amongst all these were the
Rat Trap, Pure Heaven, Pure Hell, Nanook and
the Bradford Special, and their drivers, Ron
Hope, Leon Fitzgerald, Rich Guasco, Rick Hough
and Randy Bradford. Pure living history, man!
Fuel Altereds rule!
Previous Festivals have included a handful
of European drag race entries, plus Dick Landy
and one of his Dodges, and Bob Riggle and
the Hemi-Under-Glass, which so astonished
people who had never encountered a wheelstander
before that it was invited back again last
year. The mainstream motorsport community
over here likes to pretend that drag racing
doesn't exist, so Lord March and his Goodwood
pals are to be commended for showing them
that it does. It was wonderful to hear the
cackle & bark of nitro resounding for the
first time round the Sussex hills. I can't
wait till they invite Garlits or Force to
join the show.
Robin Jackson
Wellingborough, England
