Lack Of S/SS Magazine Coverage

[John Quinn]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

Yes Bill.....The average younger male has no interest in the older generations car culture. The majority prefer the s##t boxes with fart can mufflers or a 4 wheel drive pickup jacked up so far as to make your nose bleed. . Just about the only younger guys drag racing a stocker or super stock car these days is the off spring of an older car guy like us. I doubt you will ever see a "Magazine" car like the 413 Plymouth Ray Brock ran in 1962 for Hot Rod Magazine. Can you imagine Super Ford Magazine competing with a 2010 blown Mustang and they even have a good stocker racer on their staff. Never happen in todays world. It is what it is today. Thats why I subscribe to Corvette Fever and Rod and Custom mags today.

The younger generation have their own car culture and it is not imports. The import racing scene just about disappeared once they found out drag racing is expensive and requires hard work.

There are several sanctioning organizations that sponsor racing events comprised of several heads up classes of bodied cars along with handicap racing classes for those wanting that sort of thing. The heads up class rules reflect what the younger crowd wants and unfortunatly (or not) i is not nhra classes. They like power adders and modified suspensions and stock appearing bodies. If they ran some races nearer the middle of the country I would join them. I prefer running all motor but I can adapt unlike most of my fellow old farts. I have to admit it would be a lot easier building a car to their rules because it does not require innovative interpretation of the rules (cheating) to be competitive, Just to be clear, I do not think most of the class racers are cheating but I am sure some of them are, I know what to do the make a pair of "stock" cylinder heads cost thousands of dollars and go faster than most but I choose not to go there

I have seen some articles about the new class engines but they are not very in depth, probably because there is not a lot of interest in NHRA style racing among their readers.

Then there is Mustang racing. There is even a sanctioning body just for mustangs. You GM and Mopar guys don't wat to see this so you dont.

[Ken Miele]

Here is another spin on NHRA Sportsman Racing. Although sanctioning bodies like NMCA and NMRA a very cool and offer an alternative to NHRA, they do not bring as many cars at a typical national event. They may bring as many fans but with 12-15 classes to choose from at a NMCA or NMRA race they usually bring in about 200-250 cars. Most classes average 10 cars per class excluding the brackets, that will have 40 plus cars.

I have been to these races and there are cool, but the atmosphere is totally different, not a in a bad way, just different. NHRA will typically bring in about 300-350 cars with only 5-6 classes. Although some may think NHRA sportsman racing is doomed with all the new cars and strict rules, they still command a good part of the sportsman racing.

Chrysler and Ford getting involved NHRA sportsman racing shows me they feel there is a market for their products. They have access to all the demographics like any big corporation would have and they feel its worth getting involved in.

Magazines only offer one part of the exposure for racing and we many not get the coverage we should, but there are other places to get exposure. I think the internet has opened up more avenues and has giving sportsman's racing more coverage and helps keep sportsman racing alive and hopefully growing.

[blkjack]

Even if you do find a magazine with a sportsman class car in it there usually are no technical details about the car and engine combination. I really don't care to see another wheelstander either. So basically the article is worthless to me.I guess we are so secretive about our cars that we've become boring. That is the basic difference I see between mags of the glory years and those of today.

[mopar68]

Originally Posted by blkjack

I really don't care to see another wheelstander either.

Ha, I remember a time when pulling a wheelstand, especially a substantial one, really meant something. Nowadays even a lowly small block stocker can do so...yawnnnn.

M68