Thinking about this in depth.......

[Tony Janes]

Jeremy:I do not think any bracket racer gave your combo any horsepower, NHRA did.

[Jeff Lee]

First there was the car....so what's the point here?

[randy wilson]

hellooooo, stock racing today is still a bracket race. that is why no one comes. i dont bring people to the track and we race ss because i am embarrased to explain how someone went too fast, crossed the finish line first and lost. no one understands. i dont dislike bracket racers, just dont try and convince anyone its exciting.

[Wade Mahaffey]

Savoyracer, You make very good points and I believe them to be true! Randy, makes good points as well. Racing all out with class rules is real racing. The first guy with a green light that gets to the stripe wins. Thats the way it is in almost all sports (track and field, the Olympics, etc). If I'm sitting in the bleachers, (which I do) I want to see a heads-up run all out! If I am a participant, (which I am) I need the bracket format, or I can't play. Well, I could play but it would require the help of others or (team effort), (engine program) and alot more money!
I take pride in building my own cars, and then driving my own cars. I like my racing the old fashion way (Individual effort). Don't get me wrong, I played all the ball sports and am a Retired Career/Professional Firefighter, now I do get the team concept. I just could'nt boast about my car being fast, if I did'nt build the car or the engine (my opinion only racers....please don't get nervous)! I build my cars (and I mean build it, not buy it from a chassis shop...see my photo album) and I can tell you that recieving a "best engineered award" is a big deal for me. I did buy a used (cheap as super/stock engines go) engine for my new car just to get me going in the Super/Stock arena. Anyway, to race in Randy's world is not possible for me. But to race in Savoy's world can and will happen! I can race Savoy style (brackets) against Randy style (fastest) in Super/Stock Eliminator, and they better have a good bracket game! Some would say that bracket racing killed class drag racing. I would say without bracket racing, you would'nt have a legal place to race. Bracket racers could move up to Stock or Super/Stock with some equitment upgrades. There is something else preventing them from moving up.....COST! The average guy can't do it. But he can take his street car down to the local track, pay his money and help to keep that track alive. Thus allowing the possiblility of a new racer to come in and maybe get the Stock, Super/Stock bug.
It would be really cool (just dreaming) to be fast, and to have done it all by myself! LOL
The bottom line is that we are all competitive. Lay down the rules, and I'm going to try my best to beat your azz....! Looking foward to being friends as well as a good competitor with you all! Wade Mahaffey

[Randall Klein]

A reason why the stands are empty, no track promotion, owners evidently satisfied with the racer's gate. Another is the demographic, the '50's thru the early '70's muscle car era has morphed into econo boxes, stereos, graphics, drifting.

The "Sunday-Sunday-Sunday" radio ads are no more. When we raced the last D4 divisional in Noble, Ok, the local paper had "things-to-do-this weekend" from Pumpkin parades to art festivals in and around Norman and Noble, but nary a mention of "the drags"....wouldn't take much to call the paper

Evidently Pat @ No Problem has it figured out with fans standing along the fence 3 & 4 deep at times

One bracket-to-class difference, in my opinion, is generally class cars are a Car Show in Motion, while brackets contain a fair amount of "cosmetically challenged" and "performance suspect poppers".....hey, and that's OK for the brackets and not dissin' them for racing what you have....but it is a difference

[randy wilson]

i am not even that competetive, we run ss/cs and michael manns can kick our ***! you know why? he is faster than us, but i dont hold that against him. i would rather be beat by a fast car than a slow one.

[Wade Mahaffey]

I think that part of the problem with filling the stands like in the old days, is that these are not the old days anymore. In the old days when we were kids, we physically did things like playing cops and robbers, army, baseball, football etc. We were running wide open, being in the house was like being in jail, and our parents were saying "will you sit down". And we were riding our bikes....RACING our bikes! Today, I live in a large neighborhood in Southern Maryland and there are no bikes "0" running the streets. In todays world the young (and old people) do all of this on the TV screen. How can you expect a new generation to put his/her hand on a tool, when they have only held a joy stick before? Kids don't even know of this thing called drag racing. They never see the cars because they're in a closed up box. In the old days it was really cool to see a race car on a open trailer. It made you want to see it run, thus the seed was planted and there is your fan base growing. We as racers need to promote the sport that we love. Put that car in the public eye every now and then. Get involved in the community with that car. Do your part to push the sport, or be a part of letting it die! Wade Mahaffey

THIS IS WHERE IT STARTS TO BUILD A STRONG FAN BASE

THIS IS GETTING INVOLVED IN THE COMMUNITY TO BUILD MORE FAN BASE

[randy wilson]

good point wade! new way to look at it. that is how i got hooked. seeing cars on open trailers. that is very true.

[art leong]

If the breakout wasn't in force stock and superstock would be gone.
I liked the go fast racing that NHRA instituted back in the mid 70's. So did John Hershlow, and Bernie Agaman. (they ran Etown on a regular basis). But back then the deep pocket only got you so far. Junkyard parts were available at reasonable prices. We worked hard on the car and were upper second string. As far as winning went. We went a few rounds and occasionally won.
That was before all the "HIGH DOLLAR" enhancements. Almost everyone had an open trailer etc. Given the same go fast racing today. You would have 10 or 12 cars show up at a national event. Only the megabuck guys could compete.
For all of you that hate the shoe polish. Please leave and go Comp racing, or if you don't like the 1000' stuff. Build a prostocker I'm sure your knowlege and expertice will put you right up there with WJ.
But for Gods sake leave us lowly shoe polish racers alone.
Don't fix what ain't broke.

[Everett Vassar]

Seems to be a popular debate around here.We have a Malibu wagon my kid won Div 4 N/E in. He,along with his brother and myself would like nothing better than to run it in stk.
But I dont think the vortec head little 355 and glide combo will be legal.
So it go,s back to MONEY. I have been told the 305 combo is pretty friendly.
So about 5-7K for a decent legal motor not a killer. You know what kind of SBC bracket motor we can buy for this?? Actually a pretty nice one.
Then theres the correct carb thing.Then theres the metric trans thing about 2500.00? I really dont know.Then theres the expense of actually racing the car at the div and natl level.So lets just say we did pull it off O.K. we got ONE motor and ONE trans and converter.You think we would risk running the car in 2 classes at the brackets on other weekends. Just cant do it right now--- maybe someday