There’s a generation gap of sorts in drag racing.  It’s not among the teams out there racing, but the gap is evident in the spectator seats here at the 50^th Anniversary Winternationals – and it’s not a problem.  Sometimes with generation gaps we’re talking about one generation’s inability to politely converse and interact with another.  Put another way, it’s like when you turned 13 and realized your old man didn’t know anything, and certainly had nothing whatsoever to tell you about life, your friends, your music or the electronic wizardry that packed your bedroom.  By the time you were 18 or 19 it was amazing how much the old guy had learned in those five or six years.

In this instance, however, we’re talking about how some younger drag racing fans don’t have much appreciation for the sport’s early cars and even some of its stars. That was evident this afternoon when a half dozen nostalgia Funny Cars came up to make demonstration runs.  A lot of younger fans bailed out of the grandstands, while the more mature among the crowd stuck around to be once again thrilled by cars like the Candies & Hughes ‘Cuda, Twig Ziegler’s Satellite, the Pisano & Matsubara Vega and the topless Beach City Corvette.

 

There’s a generation gap of sorts in drag racing.  It’s not among the teams out there racing, but the gap is evident in the spectator seats here at the 50^th

Anniversary Winternationals – and it’s not a problem.  Sometimes with generation gaps we’re talking about one generation’s inability to politely converse and interact with another.  Put another way, it’s like when you turned 13 and realized your old man didn’t know anything, and certainly had nothing whatsoever to tell you about life, your friends, your music or the electronic wizardry that packed your bedroom.  By the time you were 18 or 19 it was amazing how much the old guy had learned in those five or six years.

In this instance, however, we’re talking about how some younger drag racing fans don’t have much appreciation for the sport’s early cars and even some of its stars. That was evident this afternoon when a half dozen nostalgia Funny Cars came up to make demonstration runs.  A lot of younger fans bailed out of the grandstands, while the more mature among the crowd stuck around to be once again thrilled by cars like the Candies & Hughes ‘Cuda, Twig Ziegler’s Satellite, the Pisano & Matsubara Vega and the topless Beach City Corvette.

The Golden Corral in the pits, where former NHRA competition director Steve Gibbs had gathered together a ton of great machinery from the past, was also crowded with older fans, but among them were a number of younger kids being given drag racing history lessons by their folks. It was fascinating to hear those tales, almost all of which began with words like, “Wow!  Look at that!  I saw that car run at OCIR in the 70s.”  Once in a while there’d be a reply like, “What’s OCIR, daddy?”

A massive autograph session that included far too many big names from the past for us to list completely attracted a very large crowd, and with good reason.  It’s not every day you can meet the likes of “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Butch “California Flash” Leal, Bruce Larsen, Roland Leong, Joe Amato, Larry “Kingfish” Reyes, Clare Sanders and so very many more.  We watched two women crying with emotion as they approached Ms. Muldowney for an autograph.  It was that kind of morning.

But hey, we’re here to talk about the modern day, state-of-the-art cars that make this era’s NHRA Full Throttle Series so darn exciting.  The late Wally Parks used to preach the credo that the cars were the stars and the drivers were of secondary importance, but thankfully, he came around to the realization that without superstar drivers there wasn’t much of a sport to talk about because underneath their skins the cars were pretty much alike.  Is Tony Schumacher a better driver than was his father, Don?  Is Ashley Force-Hood better than her father, John?  Who’s to say for certain.  All we know for sure is that, in the case of Schumacher at least, the senior member of the family scored his quarter mile successes back in the 70s.  Drag racing was a very different endeavor back then, so any generational comparison is of little value. 

Ya know, if we’re going to mention a generation gap, where the heck do you position 82-year-old Top Fuel driver Chris Karamesines?  The guy old enough to be every other driver’s grandfather is in the show with a 4.035 – while two of those “kids” – Andy Carter and Mike Strasburg – will be sitting on the sidelines as “The Greek” goes into eliminations.  Strange days indeed.

All was no perfect on this glorious Southern California Saturday.  There was far too much oil on the track instead of inside engines, and that resulted in some lengthy delays.  What should have been a final qualifying session in pretty much full sunlight took place under the lights instead, but oh man, those header fires!

Cory McClenathan is a very lucky man to have Phil Shuler and Todd Okuhara tuning his car, because they absolutely delivered the goods.  Cory opened this morning with a stout 3.838/319.98 that was just a tick behind his earlier 3.809, but this evening he cranked out a very impressive 3.787 to take away the Number 1 spot from Larry Dixon, who couldn’t better his previous 3.788.

We’re not going to go through the complete list and tell you how everyone did because you can see that on the charts.  But, what we will talk about are our impressions of what we’ve seen thus far, and what might lie ahead.  First of all, Doug Kalitta is back in the top half of the qualifiers list where he belongs, and the team worked very cohesively and calmly to get there.  David Grubnic also ran hard in the other Kalitta Motorsports entry, so they could be players this season. 

Even though there were sufficient entries here at Pomona, our information is that of the 18 entries only 11 cars plan on making the full tour.  The same situation exists in Funny Car.  There were 19 cars here, but Melanie Troxel, for one, has but a six-race deal with sponsor In-‘N-Out.  There are two or three other teams who simply don’t have the financial wherewithal to make the full tour, and others who have no intention of even trying.  We are not intentionally picking on Terry Haddock, but after massive fires and explosions on successive days it’s possible that he’ll receive a little visit from competition director Graham Light, who could suggest he stay away for a while.  Haddock’s engine failure today resulted in a very lengthy delay as the oil and debris were cleared away.

The Funny Car bump was a very respectable 4.300 seconds (Cruz Pedregon), with Robert Hight up front in 4.059 seconds.  We are expecting a knock-down, drag-out battle tomorrow, with someone named Force playing a major role in the event’s outcome.  John Force is as energized as we’ve seen him in years, and his mechanic/tuner shuffling is already paying off.  Mike Neff is doing an excellent job of being Austin Coil’s eyes and ears around the car, and that might be all the difference Mr. Force needs to return to the winner’s circle.

Earlier in the weekend we wrote about new cars and fresh livery in Pro Stock, and while that’s certainly true, it’s also true that some operations are teetering on the edge of disaster.  No less a superstar than Warren Johnson has indicated he’ll race at Phoenix and Gainesville, but unless his sponsorship situation improves, that could be it.  His son Kurt also seems to be without sufficient backing, and making matters worse was his father’s DNQ this afternoon.

We’re sick of talking about Mike Edwards!  Okay, we lied about that, but really, it’s just the same old story of domination.  In all four sessions Edwards was the quickest, and that kind of thing just demoralizes the competition.  Edwards will probably never dominate in the manner Bob Glidden, Darrell Alderman and one or two others have in years gone by, but right now, right here, Edwards is crushing the competition.

Larry Morgan’s good looking new Mustang will compete tomorrow, but Morgan engine rental customer John Nobile will not.  Morgan’s Ford will be the only one in the field, and he’ll have to be very lucky to make it to the finale, but as we all know, anything can happen in drag racing.  Just remember the Vegas race last fall, when Larry strapped a killer double-oh-four light on Mike Edwards in the semis and then went on to win the race.  On paper Edwards was the sure winner, but they don’t race paper.

The guy we haven’t said much about is Jeg Coughlin, Jr.  He’s been steady and quick throughout qualifying, setting up the kind of scenario he loves – being ignored until he trips the win light.  A 6.591 put him behind Edwards and just in front of Ron Krisher (an Edwards engine rental customer).  You can never sell the Jeg’s Mail Order Chevrolet short.  To do so is to invite disaster

We have no clue who will win tomorrow.  We can only guess.  But one thing we know for sure.  If you’re within a hundred miles of Pomona and you’re not here tomorrow you’re going to miss not only what we believe will be an exceptional show, you’ll also miss the chance to see some of the sport’s most famous drivers and unforgettable cars.