Off season maintenance

[Bill Harris]

A little off subject but Joe brings up an interesting point about fast "street" and bracket cars and their maintenance and safety. In another post someone brought up Pinks All Out as an example of how to run a race and bring in the crowds. I just ran the All Out in Montgomery a couple weekends ago and I have never, ever, seen so many hobbled together heaps attempt to go down a racetrack in my life. Broken axles everywhere, entire rear ends coming out of cars, middle of the track oil-downs end-to-end, exploding engines, busted trans cases. You name it and it happened within a few hours on that one Saturday. The roll-backs had more track time than the racers. By mid-afternoon I was just hoping my ET range wasn't chosen and I could get the heck outta there (it wasn't, and I did).
If there is one thing that separates NHRA/IHRA regular racers from the bracket crowd it is professionalism when it comes to their cars and equipment. They know their cars and take pride in its construction, preparation and maintenance. You rarely, if ever, see a car in the lanes that makes you shake your head and wonder if it is going to make it down the track. I have never been too concerned about the guy in the other lane doing something stupid or having his heap scatter parts all over the track next to me when I run an NHRA or IHRA event. But it sure crossed my mind when I pulled into the lanes at the Pinks event. I wasn't exactly scared, but maybe I should have been.
Christensen has a hit on his hands for sure, the crowds were huge. But if they don't start doing some sort of technical/safety inspection of the cars that enter, something seriously bad is going to happen at one of those shows. It's just a matter of time.