Part of what hurt drag racing

Brock · 09-19-2014, 05:29 PM

The bottom line is money...even if you were to start with the most basic of basic operations...

Good used truck....10000
Open trailer....1500
Nice foot break car...10000
Spares...3500

If you wanted to start small I mean your average saturday night bracket buster combo your gonna spend at least 20/25K to get the ball rolling

All of the kids I grew up with junior racing the majority of us did a stint in a big car as we get older things like new homes, babies, careers, and most of all a lack of funding has caused a lot of us to walk away from the sport we love so much

Another Friendly Racer · 09-19-2014, 05:33 PM

Is it possible that drag racing is, for the most part, simply a uni-generational sport fueled by the muscle car era?

randy wilson · 09-19-2014, 07:04 PM

Yes!

randy wilson · 09-19-2014, 07:07 PM

Bracket racing killed crowd appeal for drag racing. No other sport from volleyball to ultimate fighting makes the better man lose. Sorry, but that killed the spectator part of it.

Billy Nees · 09-21-2014, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randy wilson

Bracket racing killed crowd appeal for drag racing. No other sport from volleyball to ultimate fighting makes the better man lose. Sorry, but that killed the spectator part of it.

Bull!

Billy Nees · 09-21-2014, 04:52 PM

At the risk of answering this under the influence of a bit too much Cuervo, the blind Zombies that are following Drag Racing are hurting Drag Racing.
Cut the number of National Events in half, increase the purses and build up a meaningful contingency program! Oh, and make Indy a 128 car field made up of Class Winners(no matter how many cars are in the Class or how fast they go) and filled with the fastest Qualifiers. See how many new cars get built overnight just to run Indy and see how interesting Racing can get again.

Mickey Whaley · 09-21-2014, 05:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

At the risk of answering this under the influence of a bit too much Cuervo, the blind Zombies that are following Drag Racing are hurting Drag Racing.
Cut the number of National Events in half, increase the purses and build up a meaningful contingency program! Oh, and make Indy a 128 car field made up of Class Winners(no matter how many cars are in the Class or how fast they go) and filled with the fastest Qualifiers. See how many new cars get built overnight just to run Indy and see how interesting Racing can get again.

True billy

randy wilson · 09-21-2014, 06:22 PM

I ain't slamming bracket racing. I'm just telling the truth. Go to your local bracket track, and count the spectators. Especially the ones not with cars. Then go to the local tractor pull, or roundy round race, and count the spectators. It is what it is. I remember Eddyville, and Bethany in the seventies. Class racing, standing room only. Eddyville went to bracket racing I believe in 1980, and have had rusty bleachers ever since. No one in the population understands it, or thinks you are actually trying to go faster then the other guy. Race whatever you want, but please have the decency to say it ain't spectator friendly.

Mark Yacavone · 09-21-2014, 06:57 PM

Randy ,
I don't think the local track operators went to bracket racing back in the 70's in order to run off the spectators, but rather to keep the car counts up.
Stock ,Super Stock and Modified was already becoming scienced out and semi- professional in nature.
Add to that more *HRA regional and national events, and that's were a lot of the local cars ended up going to.
I believe we wouldn't have about half of the national and divisional tracks today, if it wasn't for bracket racing.They couldn't have survived.
Be that as it may, here we are, a generation or two later. I don't know about you, but changing the past has never been my strong suit.

Now, I agree that et/ breakout style racing is not real exciting to the average Saturday night spectator, and it shows, in most cases.
A heads up , flat out format that is truly affordable might get some of those local spectators back.
By truly affordable I mean for the average young ,working family fan...or even the average single guy.
So far, I haven't seen it.

randy wilson · 09-21-2014, 07:09 PM

The car counts were less at most tracks with class racing. I agree. But for instance I was at Eddyville getting my butt handed to me in 77, and 78, and they had well over 150 cars each time I went there, but it was an exception. Getting beat did not discourage me then it just made me want to do what I'd seen others do. Bethany, on the other hand was lucky to have 50 cars a week, but still had between 500, and 1,500 spectators every night clear up to 2008. There truly is a way to make an affordable class, but the naysayers say it's impossible. From what I gather is they say people will cheat it out of existence. I think they are selling it short. We had rules I helped write, and most nights races were decided by .01 to .001 from 4lbs. per c.i.d. to 11.5 lbs. per cube with a .1 handicap for every 1\2 lb. per cube. Bracket racing gets cars, but local competition gets people interested. Also, Eddyville went to bracket racing because of tech responsibility, not car count.

09-19-2014, 05:29 PM	#1
Brock Junior Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 9 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing The bottom line is money...even if you were to start with the most basic of basic operations... Good used truck....10000 Open trailer....1500 Nice foot break car...10000 Spares...3500 If you wanted to start small I mean your average saturday night bracket buster combo your gonna spend at least 20/25K to get the ball rolling All of the kids I grew up with junior racing the majority of us did a stint in a big car as we get older things like new homes, babies, careers, and most of all a lack of funding has caused a lot of us to walk away from the sport we love so much

09-19-2014, 05:33 PM	#2
Another Friendly Racer Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 153 Likes: 0 Liked 21 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing Is it possible that drag racing is, for the most part, simply a uni-generational sport fueled by the muscle car era?

09-19-2014, 07:04 PM	#3
randy wilson Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: N/A Posts: 882 Likes: 0 Liked 22 Times in 22 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing Yes! __________________ don,t have one

09-19-2014, 07:07 PM	#4
randy wilson Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: N/A Posts: 882 Likes: 0 Liked 22 Times in 22 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing Bracket racing killed crowd appeal for drag racing. No other sport from volleyball to ultimate fighting makes the better man lose. Sorry, but that killed the spectator part of it. __________________ don,t have one

09-21-2014, 04:52 PM	#6
Billy Nees VIP Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: On a hilltop in Pa. Posts: 4,510 Likes: 3,621 Liked 7,891 Times in 1,753 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing At the risk of answering this under the influence of a bit too much Cuervo, the blind Zombies that are following Drag Racing are hurting Drag Racing. Cut the number of National Events in half, increase the purses and build up a meaningful contingency program! Oh, and make Indy a 128 car field made up of Class Winners(no matter how many cars are in the Class or how fast they go) and filled with the fastest Qualifiers. See how many new cars get built overnight just to run Indy and see how interesting Racing can get again. __________________ Billy Nees 1188 STK, SS I'm not spending 100K to win 2K

09-21-2014, 06:22 PM	#8
randy wilson Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: N/A Posts: 882 Likes: 0 Liked 22 Times in 22 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing I ain't slamming bracket racing. I'm just telling the truth. Go to your local bracket track, and count the spectators. Especially the ones not with cars. Then go to the local tractor pull, or roundy round race, and count the spectators. It is what it is. I remember Eddyville, and Bethany in the seventies. Class racing, standing room only. Eddyville went to bracket racing I believe in 1980, and have had rusty bleachers ever since. No one in the population understands it, or thinks you are actually trying to go faster then the other guy. Race whatever you want, but please have the decency to say it ain't spectator friendly. __________________ don,t have one

09-21-2014, 06:57 PM	#9
Mark Yacavone Veteran Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Miles From Nowhere Posts: 7,840 Likes: 2,934 Liked 5,152 Times in 1,966 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing Randy , I don't think the local track operators went to bracket racing back in the 70's in order to run off the spectators, but rather to keep the car counts up. Stock ,Super Stock and Modified was already becoming scienced out and semi- professional in nature. Add to that more *HRA regional and national events, and that's were a lot of the local cars ended up going to. I believe we wouldn't have about half of the national and divisional tracks today, if it wasn't for bracket racing.They couldn't have survived. Be that as it may, here we are, a generation or two later. I don't know about you, but changing the past has never been my strong suit. Now, I agree that et/ breakout style racing is not real exciting to the average Saturday night spectator, and it shows, in most cases. A heads up , flat out format that is truly affordable might get some of those local spectators back. By truly affordable I mean for the average young ,working family fan...or even the average single guy. So far, I haven't seen it. __________________ "We are lucky we don't get as much Government as we pay for." Will Rogers

09-21-2014, 07:09 PM	#10
randy wilson Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: N/A Posts: 882 Likes: 0 Liked 22 Times in 22 Posts	Re: Part of what hurt drag racing The car counts were less at most tracks with class racing. I agree. But for instance I was at Eddyville getting my butt handed to me in 77, and 78, and they had well over 150 cars each time I went there, but it was an exception. Getting beat did not discourage me then it just made me want to do what I'd seen others do. Bethany, on the other hand was lucky to have 50 cars a week, but still had between 500, and 1,500 spectators every night clear up to 2008. There truly is a way to make an affordable class, but the naysayers say it's impossible. From what I gather is they say people will cheat it out of existence. I think they are selling it short. We had rules I helped write, and most nights races were decided by .01 to .001 from 4lbs. per c.i.d. to 11.5 lbs. per cube with a .1 handicap for every 1\2 lb. per cube. Bracket racing gets cars, but local competition gets people interested. Also, Eddyville went to bracket racing because of tech responsibility, not car count. __________________ don,t have one Last edited by randy wilson; 09-21-2014 at 07:15 PM.