Part of what hurt drag racing

[Shaun Quill]

I don't know if Drag Racing is hurting or not,but i sure do miss seeing cars on open trailers. If I see one it makes me want to go follow the guy to the Drags. I also miss using the return road that comes up past the tower.That is where you get to feel like a hero if you've just won. Also if you/re in the stands by the tower you can hear cars idle while they are in line at the tower getting time slips.
None of this really has anything to do with the health of our sport,it's just little parts of it that i always thought were cool that I miss that's all.

P.S.-Oh. and dry hops

[HandOverFist]

I've been toying with the idea of breaking out the tow hubs for one event next year. How cool would it be to pull thru the gates next year in Bowling Green for the Hot Rod Reunion with our car in flat tow?

[FireSale]

Originally Posted by HandOverFist

I've been toying with the idea of breaking out the tow hubs for one event next year. How cool would it be to pull thru the gates next year in Bowling Green for the Hot Rod Reunion with our car in flat tow?

I'll go you one better. I dumped my trailer budget under the hood of my 68 Mustang coupe for GT/JA and have it licensed, insured and street legal so I can drive it to the track. Lucky I live within 40 miles of two tracks so I can make it on a tank of gas I'll let you know how that all works out it I get it on the street before the Fall rains set in.

Dale

[Frank B.]

I know that you can not go backwards. But I remember as late as the mid 70's that at divisionals and national events every racecar had to leave the property every night. Indy 1973 there was top fuelers and funny cars at every motel working on there cars. Large parking lots were like a car show. Race cars starting up and excitement in every town. Could not be done nowdays but to me that was the good old days.

[Superfan1]

Originally Posted by Stephen & Horace Johnson

Hey ken count me as a youngster. . I let my dad take the class winner pic instead of myself. He has never had his pic in the national dragster and I thought he deserved too..

On another note the young people are not interested in spending the amount of money we spend to race a class car. . They can run an outlaw car far cheaper , alot quicker and faster and run races every weekend at a cheaper entry fee and if they win get paid a good amount...

I saw the Class Winner pictures; that was a real classy to let Horace take the picture.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Stephen & Horace Johnson

Hey ken count me as a youngster. . I let my dad take the class winner pic instead of myself. He has never had his pic in the national dragster and I thought he deserved too..

On another note the young people are not interested in spending the amount of money we spend to race a class car. . They can run an outlaw car far cheaper , alot quicker and faster and run races every weekend at a cheaper entry fee and if they win get paid a good amount...

^^^^^^ This.

In the shop, when you have a young racer looking around, they're stunned at the work involved, not to mention the expense. They do not want to work that hard, spend that much, or learn that much, never mind stay within a tight set of rules. It's just not giving the instant gratification they seem to need.

Further, as a society, we're rapidly drifting farther away from rugged individualism, and from an enthusiastic automotive society in particular.

We have maybe 20%, at best, of the youth population to draw from, as opposed to 60%, and of those 20%, maybe 5% of them, probably a lot less, are interested in the sort of racing we do, or older cars, most that are, are children or relatives of current participants.

[Eric Merryfield]

Originally Posted by Jeff Goss

My 18 year old Son has no interest in driving my Super Stocker.

However, he is about to get a Subaru WRX, and likes the idea of hopping it up and running it down the quarter mile.

The customer base is changing.

That is true, my kids had zero interest in driving junior dragsters, but were at the track day one with their drivers licences and parent wavers..........my 17 year old after proving she could drive a gremlin(tougher than you think) drove my dragpak...then raced it a couple of times this year....after a bracket truck.....the 16 year old son after experiencing that "red button thing" on the gremlin, thinks everthing should have a linelock, and has zero interest in racing a street car....He wants a linelock in the one ton farm truck he drives to school, and would like it to have headers and a freeflow exhaust just like many kids or all ages....Of course they have been exposed to this since 06 or so, so they likely have more interest in it than others.

Their friends at school may have the pimped out turbo this, and turbo that. But there is only one iconic "farm truck"

My daughter and I will never forget our trip to Indy to pick up the dragpak and tow it to Bristol on the featherlite open trailer for its first event for us. Many asked at gas stations, etc, it was very fun. Its much nicer to look in your review and grin, than look at the front of your enclosed. It went to epping, and lebanon this year for the divisionals and the national event that same way.

Eric

[Dave Turner]

As much as we long for those nostalgic days of our youth, the stark, quaint simplicity of an open trailer and pick 'em up truck has been sacrificed for the security and anonymity of a "box". There was a time when we would welcome a chat with the crowd of curious folks surrounding the race car at a roadside restaurant or rest stop. Now, that scenario comes with fears that it may have been vandalized, stolen, or marked for future collection as we take a break from the highway. Also hard to argue that our aging group is less likely to be happy with a few relaxing hours in the cab of a half ton while the heavens dump their anger in our lap. I don't know where the milestone in the evolution of race haulers occurred, but someone saw the opportunity to move up and thought, "Why not?".....blame him.

Not sure if others have noticed, but I see quite a few youngsters trailering their entry level cars to events in my neighborhood and they use stuff that looks very much like my first rig. Lots of them destined for competition other than drag racing btw.

[ss wannabee]

These are all very good answers and certainly right on target especially the costs
involved, the economy, and how the new generation enthusiast wants to enjoy his
automotive experience.

Randy, I DO know what you're referring to though...that the "WOW" factor is miss-
ing when you haul a race car in an enclosed trailer instead of an open trailer or
ramp truck...back in the day, we used to check out race cars when they pulled into
a gas station or restaurant...or out on the road too.

Remember when "TV Tommy Ivo" had that truck rig with the windows so you
could see the race car? Think a Corvette rode on top too...he'd use that to run into
town possibly to get parts and stuff...Certainly a bit of "showmanship"...perhaps
some of that is lacking today? Maybe the open truck/trailer could provide a little..

Today we live in an ever-changing, complicated world, with so many forms of
entertainment to take up our spare time...many of the younger generation are
used to the "push-button....quick, easy, and cheap." Future drag-racers???
Probably not....

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by Steve Cozakos

Younger people have little to no interest in cars. There's your problem.

Not interested in American cars anyway. Jim

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