Has professional drag racing lost it's audience?

It may be just me, but it seems like big time Drag Racing has lost most of it's magic and charm over the past couple of decades. (I know some may say it happened before that, but from my memories it went downhill after the mid 80s).

Sure, there's camera clown John Force, that foxy Angelle and strong contender Larry Dixon...but in my eyes, the sport has lost much of it's match-race magic!

I suppose it started when funny cars lost their names and just became loud, fast-moving corporate billboards. I remember rooting for the Chi-Town Hustler every week while my buddy pulled for the Blue Max. We knew the drivers' names...but we still refered to them by their car's identity. I was a Hawley fan and my friend was a Beadle groupie, but we taunted each other with quips like "The 'Hustler's gonna STOMP the Puke Max!" or "The Blue Max is gonna blow the Guzzler back to Chi-Town!".

We even went so far as to stage our own grudge matches...I bought a burgundy colored bike and my buddy had a blue one...we naturally squared off against each other dreaming that we were racing our favorite funny cars through my old neighborhood!

Nowadays...how much fun is it to root for the Castrol car, or any other sponsor-plastered shapeless lump? The cars don't even resemble what they're supposed to be anymore...and their individual identities are LONG gone!

In the Pro-Stock ranks, car names weren't needed so much because the focus was on driver vs driver and brand vs brand. The Camaros ran Chevy engines, and the Fords ran Fords. Rivalries sprung up within the brands, too....who would be the Top Gun in the Chevy ranks from week to week? I was a Frank Iaconnio fan, while friends pulled for Lee Shepherd. Others dug Glidden or Johnson, or cheered on the make they liked most.

The Top Fuel class was all about who was fastest. Muldowney, Amato, Hill and the rest slugged it out to topple records and set the bar higher on their way to each new event win!

There was also the age-old NHRA vs IHRA competition. I remember thinking IHRA was cool because they allowed the "Mountain Motors" with gargantuan 800+ cubic inches in doorslammers! This held my interest even though the big names ran NHRA events on TV for the most part.

Other weekly attractions were guys like Buddy Ingersol who took factory type cars such as turbo V6 Regals and transformed them into blistering 1/4 mile terrors just as the heroes of the 60s had done!

Maybe it's just natural to view a favorite sport with a nostalgic gleam as we get older, and to believe that it's less exciting in the present...but all I know is that I used to follow drag racing religiously and was eager to see the eliminations on TV or in person...whereas today I give it only a passing curious glance. I see today's generic race vehicles and forgettable personalities (minus a few obvious exceptions, of course!) and there just seems to be something missing.

Maybe it started to lose some lustre when Lee Shepherd died, and continued to drop off as sponsors replaced names and the whole sport just seemed to grow over commercialized and impersonal? Who knows, but the great rivalries that fueled fan excitment are gone, even though the media tries it's best to create them today. Who watches the races still? Anyone still follow it week-to-week...or has it lost much of it's fan base to the circus known as NASCAR and big time wrestling????

Anyone else feel this way??

 

Drag racing lost me when the Super Stock cars went away (and that was ten years before I was born, practically!). There's just no appeal to me in watching an unstreetable car drive down a closed course. That holds true for LSR and NASCAR too. If doorslammers came back in these events I'd actually regret not having cable to watch ESPN2.

 

I think NHRA is sytematically killing the sport.

Higher gate prices. My employer pays my way into a meet and I will not go. My wife goes with me and it still costs too much to see the race.

My wife has always helped me with our cars , so leaving her home ain't an option.


The entry fees have increased greatly.

Nwo they are talking about some kind of class rotation thing.

 

Id rather go Golfing with the Pope...

 

Go to any national event and watch the stands. Nitro cars run, stands full, no nitro no fans in stands. I sat at a recent Winternationals and felt bored. Same shit different day. I recently tried to race my 27T at a local track. I was turned away because I did not have a roll cage. NHRA stands for No Hot Rods Allowed.

 

Bracket racing has killed the sport. Who wants to watch a guy run 60 ft and then the stutterbox kicks in and the car basically dies for a second or two....

People want heads up racing and that leaves about 4 classes in NHRA.

 

That's why Winston Cup is thriving....heads up racing.
World of Outlaws...heads up racing.
Moto X - heads up racing.
Even the freakin monster trucks run heads up.

 

root... spot on...

 

I would personally rather go to a "street night" event, like they do on a weekly basis at most tracks to see what regular guys were able to squeeze out of their cars. I really don't care how fast John Force goes when Castrol spent $20 million dollars to get him there. Back in the old days, it seems that it was for the fun of it, "this is what I made and this is how I made it go fast." Now it is, "this is what my sponsors paid for and this is what my pit crew built, to exacting NHRA specs, and this is how I drive it.
Don't get me wrong, they've got balls just for getting in anything that fast. I just don't particularly care to watch or support their budgets.

 

Drag racing died for me on June 18th 1964 at an airport in Sanford Maine.I was heading for boot camp in 2 days and had purposely stuck around to see a best 2 out of 3 featuring Don Garlits and Art Malone.
The first run Don ran an 8.1 185 and Malone hit a marker cone in the traps and bent a front wheel.As luck would have it one of the other racers(Sidebotham Engineering I think)had the same front end setup and offered to loan Art a wheel.
The second run Don ran an 8 flat and Malone cleaned out the timing lights and bent his front axle.
It seemed as though the show was over and the natives were getting restless.Then still another racer(a relative unknown from Georgia named Pete Robinson)offered to run Big Daddy with his blown 352 in SBC gas dragster.Talk about a David and Goliath setup!
Only thing was Sneaky Pete had his infamous"jack"car.He'd stage(only had a flagman then;one Tom "Tuna"Steed who would eventually campaign his own fuel car and I believe still is)and then they'd rock the car back onto this cam device which lifted the rear wheels off the ground.Just before the flag dropped he'd engage thw clutch and the rear wheels would spin furiously sometimes even smoking a bit if they grazed the asphalt.
The flag dropped and he kicked the lever forward and pulled a GIGANTIC holeshot on Garlits.He turned an 8 flat 177 and Don just caught him in the traps turning a 7.8 195 MPH.
If I remember correctly Don refused to run him again.I think he was afraid Robinson would get him the next time.
The next race I attended was many years later and it was a lot of psuedo-Funny cars and little else.I never went back.
By the way without a doubt the GREATEST car I ever saw(and heard)run was the Lyle Fisher/Red Greth Speed-Sport roadster from Arizona.There was painted across the rear just above the EIGHT exhaust pipes coming out under the turtle deck,"Ol'Noisy II" and if you never heard that car run you missed something BIG.

 

I think you guys are lookin at the wrong end of the sport.If it werent for bracket racing NONE of us would have a chance at the racetrack.It would stricktly be a whos got the most money game.Root what you were saying isnt really bracket its INDEX RACING. They run on a 10.90-9.90-8.90 Index.That means they get as close to 10-9 or 8.90 time as they can without going faster-I AGREE BORING!!! In the brackets you see what your car runs then dial it in and race against your dial. If it were heads up NOBODY that owns a car slower than 8 or 9 seconds would have a chance.So they would get one run and go home.With bracket racing Everyone has a chance.There was a guy here locally that raced a pinto wagon that ran in the mid 20s.The one guy owned the car and drove and his fat buddy would ride along.These guys would show up and smoke stink bud all day and race the pinto. Shit it was like Bill and Teds exellent drag race adventure and I saw them win TWICE!My point being heads up racin is cool for those that can afford it.But for Me ill take bracket racing-----FEDER

 

Here at the local drag strip they have run what ya brung on most friday and saturday nights. Just get past tech and have a ball. To me that is what real drag racing is all about not how big your budget or transpoter is.

 

I'd love to go superstock raing with a legal stock 413 in my plymouth. I could do it, and I'd run maybe 11.50s with a decent motor in my budget. Problem is, I'd need to be in the low 10s to be anywhere near winning any events. Going that fast means sticking $30,000+ into a motor and $10,000+ into a tranny. The biggest payout for S/S is, I think, $10,000 at the nationals. So even winning a few events I couldn't even break even.

I guess i'll have to go build my own strip, with blackjack, and hookers... Dave

 

If it aint the HAMBdrags it aint shit!!!


Day of the Drags would fall into the HAMBdrags cat.

 

NO. ONE WORD TIME BOMB.

 

Hack, I would have to agree with you, I always looked at drag racing as the ultimate sport for me, it had fast cars,great smells and good looking girls too,it dont get no better than that.But I guess in order to stay as big nhra,you gotta keep the mooola rolling in.I almost puke everytime I here a nhra or nascar driver,get out of thier car and ramble on for two minutes about the bla bla bla bla so-n-so car,before they can ever comment on anything that happened,geeeez! give us a break!Anyway I hardly pay any attention to nhra or nascar and thats sad cause I consider myself a car nut and Im sure there has to be some good points to whats happening there.On the plus side I have been going to a lot of small tracks and races and I am here to tell ya ,drag racings not dead.Theres a lot of lo-buck guys still out at the local tracks having fun almost weekly.And I think I am getting ready to be one of them.Ive got plans to build some kinda car that I can race whenever I want,at the local tracks and also go to some events,like the HAMB drags.Im, not making a job of it,just want to have fun and meet some cool folks.

 

They are so clueless they look to NASCAR for inspiration. Remember Pro Stock truck? And they reserved a certain # of spaces for each of the big 3 manufacturers with the remainder to be fought over by the little guys. And the big $ classes run so scared if someone wins one week with a Waterman pump and Mooneyham blower, they all have it the next week. The ingenuity of one off combos will never be seen again. I guess they just can't appreciate them from the corporate suites. Speaking of which, I made the last Nats in Atlanta and after waiting for the track to dry for 4 hours while the dryer truck sat idle, the races finally started and they employed an army of security to keep the 1/4 full stands out of the premium seats. When one fan said call the cops, I'll sit where I want, the flood gates opened. But this disregard for the fan will keep me away from all but test and tune night.

 

I used to loved to hate Warren J. I was pleased when somebody beat his grumpy, cranky ass but at the same time kinda let down.

And as long as were on the subject of racers...Shirley Muldowney will NEVER be anyone to me. She was a bitch to my mother when my mom said she also raced at a local track and looked up to her! Barb Hamilton was the first woman to be licensed to run a supercharged car not Cha Cha da Bitch Of course Miss Ego Muldowney doesn't want you to know that! My mom quit racing in 1965 and is my personal favorite and Barb runs a close second!

 

Fat Hack,
I did an article (Photo Flashback) in Rev Magazine's last issue, that is almost a mirror image of what you have written. I still love to see the fuel cars run, but your right, their all corporate billboards!

Shoe

 

It definatly lost alot when they did away with push starts.I guess it was too hard to get the t.v. commercials in.Around '74-'75 a friend had Ronny Potter's first Golden Nugget car(jr.fuel,192 wheel base,sml. block).I remember pushing it off with a '65 Chevy wagon.Had to get it up to 55-60mph,Danny let out the clutch and covered the windshield with raw fuel till it caught.The next year was plug in electric starts.Just didn't give you the same show.

 

3 words- test and tune. Cost like 10 bucks to run,5 bucks to spectate and you get as many runs as you can fit in. If you got a good strip they will try to hook up grudge matches. Some even do a tropphy run at the end of the evening. Haven't been to the strip for anything else in a couple years.

 

Electronics have ruined drag racing! The super catagories suck! Boring to watch and most of the fans don't really understand why the cars "die" 60 feet past the starting line. I like to watch stock, super stock and comp eliminator. A good chance to see some cool wheels up shit and cars with 3 pedals. And don't even get me started on ET snowmobiles!

 

I hate spec racing! It is boring because all the cars are the same, and when the rules are to tight, thats what it becomes. You can only recognize a car by its color scheme, and the TV personality that gets out of the driver seat to rattle off the names of his sponsors.
That goes for Drag racing, Nascar, and Indy car, etc.

 

I wrote this a few years ago, it still holds.
http://www.srv.net/~jxc/Feb00.html

If you have a local track, support them by showing up on the test & tune nights or the High School drags. You'll have a great time...

 

I preach this a lot but if they would go back to cubic inch per pound, everyone could run heads up. Sure people would lie but that's what teardown money is for.

 

I grew up at the drags. Literally.. My father and my uncle had a top fuel dragster, and an altered (remember those?)
I still keep up with the what is going on today, and of course enjoy the sounds and smells. Who here could not get excited seeing a top fuel rocket do a burnout?
But I will be the first to say that I HATE bracket racing. I love heads up because it is you against me. Car against car. Yes, money will sometimes (ok, a lot of the time) make for the fastest car, but heads up is what makes the titles of "fastest car in town".
I see the 10.5" tire class in NHRA as one of the most exciting. I say make them all shift sticks, no tubs, and no computer aids. That is a real car, in my opinion of course.
The cars in todays drag racing have gotten so competitive and close that it does get boring after a while.
All that said, I would sell my mother for a four second pass in a fueler though!

 

fun post ...

this weekend i was at gotellis speed shop in south san francisco.. we got to talking about the changes in drag racing... they showed me pics of gotelli sr.'s roadster in 1957/58, and told me about his dad getting the speed bug BAD, which resulted in him stripping the roadster the weekend after to go faster (flatty powered)... i believe in 1960 he built a SBC powered rail, its featured in Rodders Journal while running at half moon bay dragstrip, (forget what issue).. and was one of the first to run triple springs, (they claim being the first to develope and run triple springs) to avoid valve float with a flat tappet. they went on to explain that isky, who was their sponsor marketed the spring shortly after... they talked about garlitts coming out and schooling everyone... it was fun talking about the stuff

modern drag racing (1990's) is only exhibition foder for me, always has been... drag racing events i attended as a kid were goodguys nostalgia drags... stuff i could afford in my lifetime, old cars with normal people driving them.

agreed rikaguilera, heads up should be the way... its like preaching to the choir here though, everybody here is overly nostalgic (i mean that in a good way)...

 

Hey Curley...I agree, Shirley Muldowney has always seemed kind of snotty. Don't forget Shirley "Drag On Lady" Shahan though...super nice lady. My husband has raced with her son before...very cool people.

 

speaking of muldowney
at the last big race in joliet this year it was damn funny,, on her trailer was a ordinary cheap ass hardware store for sale sign that just said

entire top fuel operation for sale enquire within

duct taped to the back lift door of her trailer

i got a pic somewhere it just seemed funny as shit at the time

 

From WDIFL