Who Determines The Morals?

In response to your questions of " do they need a cause to promote"
section of your article, the implication was the average fan just wants
to be entertained and not reminded of any responsibility they may have
towards others around them. I disagree with that notion. Sure, drag
racing does have an entertainment value, but that is not the only thing
about the sport that compels the fan to be a fan. I think there is an
underlying theme of community ethos (although it goes largely un-named)
that, at some level, speaks to our need to belong to something larger
than ourself. Within that, there is a responsibility to call the others
to areas beyond the comfortable and allow for any number of responses.
I could be all washed up on this, but the popularity of this web site
is an indicator that my notion has some merit. - cruxseattle@mac.com

The NHRA's poor decision to run off a proprietor of a brothel trying to help Bob Gilbertson’s Funny Car operation is wrong in the aspect of using morals as the deciding factor. Did the NHRA leave their so-called morals at the door the day they decided that the sport compact series is a so-called lifestyle with the partying and the half-dressed women our TVs during a so-called race series that NHRA has their name so boldly displayed. They only looked at the $ you know and we all know it. How could an eight-inch wording of Bella’s Hacienda Ranch be offensive? Come on. No half-dressed woman soliciting anyone in the pits or streets. The NHRA turned its back on Mr. Gilbertson’s team. If she would have approached the NHRA with a few millions to sponsor an event or series, what would the outcome have been? The NHRA has chosen to turn its back on the real people who pay the bills at the races. Check out entry fees for the sportsman racers and the payouts. Pretty sad isn’t it? These are the people paying to go race with their paychecks because they love it, the racing that is.

Let’s drop the moral issue. If that was the case, the NHRA would give airtime to the S/C/SG/SST/STK/S/STK/COMP and leave off the swimsuits or the swimsuit competitions. It’s called drag racing for a reason. Let’s race. The NHRA should help promote every racer to promote their operation if this sport is to keep growing. I have never seen NASCAR have a swimsuit at their events and look at their payouts. Thanks for your time. - Daveboise@aol.com

As a Libertarian (apparently a dying breed), I abhor censorship of any
kind. As you touched on in your editiorial, who gets to decide, and why
should his or her political/religious beliefs enter into the debate? I
guess the NHRA, as a privately held company, has the right to make these
decisions, but they seem to be applied haphazardly. I don't like it, and I
find myself in a quandary. Do I ignore the treatment of Howard Stern by
the IHRA's owner, Clear Channel Entertainment? Do I ignore this new info
from your column and continue my support of the NHRA? I think my main beef is that no one of any authority, regardless of his/her beliefs, seems
willing to say, "Hey, this is wrong and we won't be a party to it".
Instead, they all line up behind the dollar signs. Just one more
indication that drag racing will never be the same. Thanks for letting me
rant and rave. - Jim Deorio

Route 66, Say it Ain't so

I have heard the rumors about having one national NHRA event at Route 66 Raceway after the 2005 season.

What a shame this may happen because there are a ton of drag racing fans in the Chicago land area. There are many reasons why the stands are not filled to capacity and the track management at RT 66 need to look in the mirror for most of the reasons.

Granted the weather has not been kind during the major NHRA events at Route 66. There have been many rainouts especially on Friday nights. I have not seen a full Friday night session in three years and the weather can be a bit cold during the fall race. The weather for hard cores like myself will never stop me from going to the races.

The main problem for Route 66 is that it is the most expensive venue of all of the tracks visited by the NHRA.

Go on Sunday and reserved seats will cost you $65.00 for adults, $15.00 for kids and $10.00 to park. Throw in $6.00 beers, $5.00 hamburgers, concessions and souvenirs, for a family of four this could easily come out to over $250.00 to watch a drag race.

What happens is that many fans go out to the parking lot to tailgate and have a good time while most of the non nitro classes are running. I believe this track can hold over 25,000 fans. I think there is an illusion of empty seats because most of the fans are either tailgating or in the pits. Put the same amount of fans in a smaller venue like Reading and the place will look packed to the rafters.

Route 66 management, it is time to wake up. There is a lot of competition for entertainment dollars in the Chicagoland area. I refuse to pay your outrageous prices for a day at the races. The money that you could be getting from me is not going to you but to my local liquor and grocery store. Route 66 is the crown jewel of all NHRA sanctioned tracks. World records being set each year with 26 top fuel and 23 funny car fields that rivals even the Indy event. Many fans agree with me that it is too expensive to watch a drag race at Route 66.

And what the fans need to do is bring family or a friend to a Route 66 NHRA national event. I brought my son to his first drag race ever during the Route 66 fall event. You could consider my son the anti Christ of auto racing for he has absolutely has no interest in any type of auto racing whatsoever. He absolutely loved the race and now is hooked. He cannot wait to go to next year’s event !

There is hope for the world ! - Bruce Lewis

Coke, it's the real thing

A big thanks to Steve Reasbeck, for the coke cavalcade story. very accurate. - David Ray

Thanks for exposing your readers to the Coca Cola Funny Car Cavalcade of Stars. The positive article brought back many neat times. Ira Lichey hired me to announce the series from 1969-71. What the "Cavalcade" did was this.

It allowed funny car racers, lacking the funds to compete with well-moneyed teams, an opportunity to tour and race - hard! It also brought competitive, side-by-side fuel funny car racing to many tracks -- and before many fans -- who otherwise would not have seen such action. And they appeared many more times in one season than the major associations' scheduled events.

The cars looked great, the racers were first class people and the fans got their money's worth. Track owners made money -- if the weather was right -- and thus booked the "Cavalcade" back year after year. Pretty much everybody won. A rare occurrence in drag racing. - Jon Lundberg, VODR (Ret.)

Another Kudo for Steve

Guys,

Just a compliment on the article about Hydrazine by Steve Reasbeck. Good Job!

Thanks Again,

Dave Atchley
Livermore, CA

No More Boredom

I was getting bored with Drag racing and was looking for a new interest.

You web site has made drag racing interesting again for me. - jon@schmidtmotorworks.com

Your wish is our command

Would like to see recap of Project - Muscle ( parts list and ecomendations ) - Regwally2@aol.com

That is addressed in our latest issue. You can read this article at: http://www.competitionplus.com/2004_10_21/muscle.html - Editor

Thanks

I want to thank everybody at Competition Plus for their efforts and outstanding coverage of Dragstock. Because of Bryan Darr's fire, I was unable to keep up with the race due to responsibilities I had in coordinating his hospital stay and communication with family members in Alabama and in getting the rig back home.

I am happy to report that Bryan is home and the burns to his forehead and eyelids are healing well. I am still in awe at the outpouring of love, compassion, and concern that was shown to us after Bryan’s fire. I have always said that Drag Racers are a special group of people who will do anything to help someone in need, and we just happened to be on the receiving end this time.

What a blessing to know that people are willing to go out of their way to help a bunch of country boys from North Alabama. Wayne Dyall needs a commendation from the Governor of South Carolina for heroism and bravery! Thanks to Jeff and Angel for your concern and help. You have a beautiful facility that is well run and we applaud you. Thanks to Kenny Knowling for a tremendous event! Thanks to Scotty Cannon, Mike Ashley, Mitchell and Jason Scruggs for your most gracious generosity.

Finally, to all the editors, writers, webmasters, and photographers for the great coverage of the event, for without your efforts I would have “missed” the event. - Steve McLemore

Letters submitted to CompetitionPlus.com do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the staff of CompetitionPlus.com, its advertisers or management. Send any feedback letter you may have to comppluseditor@aol.com.   

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