Live from the Pennsylvania Dutch Classic

[tstickff]

Originally Posted by jmcarter

In the Larry Sullivan (RIP) and Summit collaboration days we were spoiled and current reporting (or lack there of) continues to create frustration for all of us hooked on the almost instantaneous results feed. Live timing can sometimes fill the gap but like all of NHRA’s digital services it’s cumbersome at best. I took Dan Bennett’s original post as he intended (and not as a slight to Jared) in that a company(s) that would step up to better fund DRC and streaming live services would gain a lot of good will in the racing community. If we fail to patronize and support them then then it’s more or less the same as the old adage “voters most often get the government they deserve”. To that I would mention that I was hot footing it home from New York and had the opportunity for stop by for Friday morning’s action at the Dutch. Wish I had time to visit and spectate longer but had to be home on Saturday. Wow, what a track in an unbelievably picturesque setting. Hope to race there next year.

More the reason to support outlets such as “Driver Interviews with Bobby Fazio” he spends his own time and energy traveling to events or reporting from events he is attending! We should be supporting the people who support us! I would imagine that even a small donation would go leaps and bounds for this kind of outlet.

Tim Stickles

[Bobby Fazio]

Thanks Tim, much appreciated. I am trying to get out to Pomona to cover the race, and hopefully get enough interviews to get us all through the winter.

As far as DRC, Rick travels solo to National Events and works his *** off in the tower to post results as quickly as he can. He clearly can not travel to divisionals and national opens so they do not get that type of coverage. He gets those results later on and then posts them.

[jmcarter]

Bobby I think you’ll have opportunities to interview more racers at Vegas next weekend, we may determine the champs there as well. Cheaper flights and then there is Vegas after all. If Pomona make sure you visit Wally’s museum if you’ve never been, very worthwhile. Look forward to upcoming videos from you.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

Thanks Tim, much appreciated. I am trying to get out to Pomona to cover the race, and hopefully get enough interviews to get us all through the winter.

As far as DRC, Rick travels solo to National Events and works his *** off in the tower to post results as quickly as he can. He clearly can not travel to divisionals and national opens so they do not get that type of coverage. He gets those results later on and then posts them.

In the beginning, the reports (and Larry's software) came from the Racing forum on Compuserve under the RIS banner. It's been so long I don't remember exactly what the acronym was, but it seems like it was Racing Information Systems (Service?) - and covered all forms of auto racing and not just drag racing. It was a real struggle at first to even get tower access so we could view a monitor of the timing system.

The coverage was entirely volunteer. A lot of races weren't covered back then. But Ed Dykes (with a lot of behind the scenes help) managed to get Summit to back the efforts. At first, it was a National Event-only service unless someone wanted/was able to do the volunteer thing.

Summit must have liked what they saw, since a few years later they increased their support and DRC committed to covering Divisional races also. IMHO, this was the golden age and we all got spoiled.

I want to make it clear I have never seen the books nor even heard any sort of estimate how much money was involved. But I DO know that no one involved was getting rich. Rick was able to quit his day job, and about that time Larry retired. The rest of us got our expenses covered if we covered a race.


As I understand it, there was a change in management at Summit. Soon after, they severely cut back and there was just no way to continue as before. None of the people involved in DRC had the personal finances to take up the slack, though I'm pretty sure a lot of reporters would have continued if they had the mad money to pay their own way.

So this, like too many of my posts, is pretty long. I just wanted to point out that DRC didn't always cover divisionals or specials. That I probably enjoyed doing them more than a national just because of the different tracks and racers I got to experience. And that in a perfect world, I wish one of these new conglomerate drag racing companies could see the value, sales, and customer goodwill they could gain by making an agreement with people like Rick and Bobby.


But it's 2022, and the financial guys don't like "giving money away" as they see it - since they can instead throw it on their bottom line.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by 442OLDS

As long as we are discussing DRC on this post,who writes the comments?
It gets tough to follow.

Bye run.
He will race Land and Mangus will get the bye next round.

Who is Land and how can a guy that lost get a bye next round?

This is from Las Vegas.


Timing data courtesy of CompuLink

If you look at the top of the page, there is a byline for who's doing the report.

And what you saw is something that just happens. Trust me, the reporter is not kicked back in his chair with his feet up. There is a lot of pressure, believe it or not, to keep up. And with thousands of passes to cover in a weekend, every once in a while even the best gets a disconnection between their brain and their typing fingers.


One thing you probably don't know is that the DRC person is always one of the last to leave the track. It's usually a minimum of 3 hours, and quite often longer after the last pair hits the finish line.

Racers are out in the pits barbecuing, swapping war stories, and taking a much needed break from their busy day. The reporter is still in the tower double checking sheets, making sure the server didn't burp and fail to post or hose the formatting. He has other reports to file which go other places.

I've enjoyed watching you and your wife race at a whole bunch of tracks, and always admired your dedication for doing it differently than the crowd. This is not an attack towards you, just trying to explain that the number 1 thing hammered into any new DRC reporter is GET IT RIGHT! All I've worked with take that to heart, but mistakes have (and since we're depending on humans) and will continue to crop up from time to time.

[442OLDS]

Originally Posted by Dan Bennett

I've enjoyed watching you and your wife race at a whole bunch of tracks, and always admired your dedication for doing it differently than the crowd. This is not an attack towards you, just trying to explain that the number 1 thing hammered into any new DRC reporter is GET IT RIGHT! All I've worked with take that to heart, but mistakes have (and since we're depending on humans) and will continue to crop up from time to time.

No problem.

And I don't know if she will race anymore,but if she does,it is not my wife.
My MOM.

[Doug Walker]

Originally Posted by duster1256

Anybody know who was driving/ owns the white I/SA Dodge Mirada that was for sale? Thank you

Did you find the racer with the white Dodge Mirada? I found a photo on my memory card, if this helps.