MIDWAY IS CONVENIENT
I have been around drag racing since the early 1960's and
attend as many national events here in California as I can
possibly get to. I really appreciate the manufacturers efforts
and check out (sometimes drool over) their products. One
of the sales problems may be the parking at the Nationals.
I sometimes crew with an alcohol funny car and really know
the difference it makes having a place to store your stuff
at the track as opposed to the hassle of walking a half
a mile to your car, then wondering if it is really safe
to leave your new-bought parts
unattended. And for the racers, sometimes you break something
that you can't get from the guy in the next pit and then
it's really nice to know that you might be able to find
a replacement at the midway.
Anyhow, I really hope that midway doesn't go away. I for
one really enjoy it at each and every race I attend.
Bry Schmidt
Hanford, CA
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SHRINKING MIDWAY
Your article on the demise of the Manufacturer Midway is
dead on. I
attended the US Nats this year and could not believe how
"small" it was. It seemed about half the size
of the ones I used to see. I went to the Northstar Nats
in Brainerd for years, then moved out to Toronto and only
caught the odd IHRA race at Cayuga. My point being, from
1995 to 2003 I did not attend a National event and was hit
in the face by the difference in the size of the Midway,
and that was at Indy!
Sounds like NHRA and drag racing is following NASCAR and
the rest of racing and becoming a non-automotive area of
sport, if that makes any sense. I'm not convinced the Midway
will disappear, simply because of the number of racers at
any National or Divisional or even local race guarantee
the part hockers any fair size potential customer base.
Sales may not be what they were, but there is still money
to be made.
One reason for the shift away from Midway sales must be
the mail-order places becoming online-order places and the
fact that the Internet now tells us what parts are the latest/greatest
-- no need to spend time and money to know that now.
A bigger concern for me is if the NHRA, IHRA and others
are looking
elsewhere for sponsorship money. Put the beer companies
aside and Powerade, and few others (which are big scores
for drag racing), and I see only gearhead sponsors in the
sport. My limited info shows me that every Nat event has
a gearhead title sponsor or none at all. If, indeed, the
game is changing and everyday, average, non-gearhead fans
are now filling the seats, we had better get the appropriate
sponsors to help pay the bills.
Thanks for your time.
Mike Gayowski
WHY DO YOU THINK THEY CALL IT
THE 'BOOB' TUBE?
I agree with (Hawthorne's) column and how much better NOPI
does their show. It's the babe factor for me, if I'm going
to watch a show about import drag racing on the tube. Hot
stuff, more Jello wrestling, hubba hubba!
Thomas Conifer
Denver, CO
