FIFTEEN MINUTES OF FAME

Jeff, you are so right about a lot of Sportsman racers. The reason most of them say screw the Alky classes is they (alky cars) get TV time and the Sportsman guys/gals don't! If NHRA in, say, '07-'08 eliminated SC/SG/SS/St from national events, I for one wouldn't care. Less downtime. People come to see the fast cars plain and simple!

Joe Sherwood

MONEY TRUMPS BROTHERHOOD

Being a small time sportsman racer (S/C) and crewing on a low budget alcohol funny car I'd like to offer the following opinions on your column

The brotherhood of drag racing still exists, but it's hard to find at a national event where money and the display of wealth are primary motives not the love of the sport, but if you get out in the sticks there are still a lot of people out there who care about the guy in the other lane.

Many so-called sportsman racers feel they are treated as second class citizens at the divisional level and they are, but the great equalizer is the national events where all of the sportsmen racers including the TAD & TAFC are also treated like second class.

The NHRA stopped being about the racing and went corporate a long time ago (where you been?). They're interested in the growth of the corporation and improving their market share and they don't need a bunch of racers to screw up their business. (Even if the business is racing?)

Ticket sales? Ya gotta ask the corporate guys. (Figures don't lie and liars don't figure.)

Why should the NHRA concern itself about TAD & TAFC if they can get a Pro Mod show for free? Love? What's that got to do with money?

Alky entry fee, depends where you placed in the division last year and or when you register for the race.

New track? Yes, sooner or later, but first they need to increase their market share.

It's easy to call yourself a sportsman racer when you see the payout for theses classes. Besides just because you can afford to race on a higher level doesn't mean you want to work that hard at it! Sportsman racers probably do bitch about the track conditions more, but most of the pros run on well-prepped tracks.

I think drag racing could sell more TAD & TAFC if they promoted it, also drag racing fans need more heads up classes and less handicap racing; the fans don't understand it and don't like it. And we definitely need to get rid of throttle stops! (They really hate them!)

Limited street class? I haven't seen much of it, most 10" tire cars look scary to me 1000 HP and 10" of tire? Hey, but at least heads up!

I absolutely hate "Smoke Fests" they are a waste of time and damn dangerous.

TOYOTA simply wants to sell cars and there nobody at the import drags to see their products.

The Pro Stock truck fiasco? Hey, the lawyers, like the house at Vegas, never lose.

Drag racing songs probably aren't politically correct, but I'd welcome some new ones!

The injected nitro racers dominated the class and there's no way to give them a separate class so Ray decided to give the blown alcohol guy a turn on top.

Cutting the cost of Nitro racing? Huh? How about raising the pay out instead? The guys that make the nitro parts gotta eat; there will be plenty of stuff out there.

Well that's my 2 cents worth. Thanks for listening.

Billy

Please don't publish my full name or number -- I still want to race and don't want to be pitted in the swamp or worse!