Originally Posted by Ken Miele
With all do respect to RJ, this subject comes up every so often. Stock and Super Stock are doing just fine. Its not coming to the end, its just changing. Life is dynamic as is racing. The class has been changing ever since it was created. Currently there are more competition numbers in stock then ever before.
Granted there are things that need to be addressed, but for the most part racers still have fun and look forward to going racing. Just look at the entry's for Chicago and Norwalk, there are close to a 1000 cars entered.
As Michael listed there are new young racers in stock and super stock and it looks about right compared to when I was young. Back in the seventy’s when I got into racing, I did not know anyone that was interested in Class Racing. Everyone in the neighborhood had hot rods, mostly muscle cars. We went to the track every once in awhile, but most of our racing was on the street. Most of us could not afford a truck and trailer and a race car. You would need at least $10,000 to $15,000 to have a racing operation. Most of us only made $150-200 a week as a teenager or 20 something.
I think its more affordable today to have a class car. A 80’s 5.0 mustang, truck and trailer could be had for $20,000 to $25,000. Even cheaper if you work at it. Most things today cost 4 times as much as they did in 1975.
I grew up in Queens New York, there were lots of kids who didn’t care about cars or racing, just like today. I don’t see it being much different today. In the mid 80’s when I started class racing the fans would leave the stands after the pro’s ran and would filter through the pits to look at not only the pro’s, but sportsmen also, just like today. I also remember some of the older class racers saying, “there’s no way class racing will be around in the next 20 years, there is not enough young people interested and NHRA does not give a dam about us, we're are only filler”
Guys, Class Racing will be around as long as NHRA is around. The sky is not falling, yes its expensive to race, but it was expensive for a young person back in the seventy's. Heck most racers thought it would be the end of all racing in the seventy’s. Fuel was skyrocketing, very few performance cars were coming out of Detroit. Good jobs were hard to come by. The more things change, the more they stay the same someone once said.... Class racing is changing.... not ending.
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