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Originally Posted by Mike Jones

people in the stands....
Mike A114

I went to a National event in Seattle a year or two ago. It was the first time I had been substantially exposed to NHRA drag racing since losing my little Pro ET Mazda to a clutch explosion in 1990.

I noticed that the vast majority of the "fans" were always headed in the opposite direction that I was. When Stock Eliminator was running, I was in the stands, and the "fans" were in line for another overpriced urine-colored semi-fermented light "beer" at the concession stands. When Top Fuel was running, they were in the stands, fat and semi-drunk, wearing the fan T-shirts they'd purchased from the Top Fuel teams...and I went to go take a leak.

In between, I was appalled at the conversations I overheard. Lemmings, who praise the name of every top-ranked corporate Top Fuel driver, but have no idea what the stoichiometric ratio for nitromethane is.

Has NHRA drag racing devolved into modern-day NASCAR, where the "fans" are general-admission cattle, completely ignorant of the technical aspects of sanctioned drag racing, and are simply "consumers" that subsist on spoon-fed topical information peripheral to the actual racing?