SOME ANSWERS

Jeff, here are some educated guesses to your latest wonderings...

The "Brotherhood" of drag racing has been long thrown out the window at the sportsman level. True, there still are friends helping friends, but in much smaller and segmented numbers. The .90 racers have become the worst bunch of them all. They don't have to work on their stuff at the races so it has become nothing more than 90% high school socials (and the exclusive cliques that come along with that mentality) and 10% dial and dump. There's more of a community and common good feel in the fuel ranks thank I've ever seen in the sportsman pits.

Sportsman racers are angry at the alky racers because they don't understand why they can't park their monstrous rigs on hard surface. There's a pecking order in drag racing and it has nothing to do with how big your rig is or how many cars you have in the trailer. It's about what class you choose to run.

IHRA and NHRA don't want smart, aggressive, drag racing types (with the minor exemption of a few choice individuals) in their executive roles because it will show how inept the leadership really is. They have both become political bureaucracies where corporate Newspeak is more important than the big picture.

Jeff...you know as well as I do that the numbers come from every time an attendee passes through any gate, not by how many tickets are sold. It's not creative counting, it's fuzzy math!

Love from the NHRA brass for alky racers? They, and every other NHRA competitor, crew, and track operator needs some of that love. I'm not sure there is any to go around.

Super-tracks? Have you inspected some of those super-tracks that were built (or re-built) in the '80s lately? They have all turned into dumps. SMI's 3 tracks, Chicago, E-Town, Gateway, and NRP are the nicest of the nice. Notice how none of the NHRA-owned facilities would be considered high quality?

More like "hobby racer." For the money they spend they could easily run a pro-level heads-up class in a number of series. But, that would require work at and between events. Takes me back to the high school social atmosphere.

And the answer is: Sportsman racers. Not entirely their fault, though. The classes they are given to run are way too reliant on perfect and consistent track conditions.

I'll agree with you on the popularity of outlaw street type classes. Coolest thing going right now. Let's hope it lasts.

Can't answer the Toyota question. I'm at a loss, too.

Drag racing songs went the way of Lions, OCIR, and York US 30. Once the lore was lost and this whole mess became so commercialized, how can you write a song that will sell and not sound corny as hell? Rob Zombie seems to be the only one that can pull it off anymore.

Hmmm....Ray Alley's stink with A/FD racers and Ashley Force? No one named Bernstein races in that class.

Better answer: 1/8 mile racing.

Wouldn't it be a coup if Walt Austin were the only manufacturer to submit designs...and it was his outlawed Ford motor?

Best regards,

Wes Tarkington

AMEN, BROTHER

I see the brotherhood element as a core consideration. Maybe it will always be a part of the sport. The great aspect of the relationship is that the average fan is more a participant than other forms of racing. The racers should always have a big part of the relationship as well. After all, this whole organization was created for them and by them.
The question is whether we chose to nurture it or not. In my opinion, an intentional movement towards the greater good by leadership is necessary. Wally Parks embodied this approach. Tom Compton, well, doesn't. Part of the nurturing comes from the elders, while most is a result of treating each person with dignity and giving room for
occasional flare-ups and bad decisions.

In the end, it's comrades in arms, knowing we are in this together. And giving grace before a fist in the mouth (metaphorically speaking, of course.)

Brett Porter
Seattle, WA