Younger drag racing fans probably have no idea how good they have it.  No, this isn’t going to be one of those “Why I remember the good old days…” stories, nor is it going to be about how back in the day we had to walk eight miles to school – uphill both ways.  But having just witnessed yet another stellar NHRA POWERade Series opening round we can’t help but think of how things used to be for the fans.

In an age of wireless high speed Internet connections, same day television coverage, cell phones, Blackberrys, and iPods it’s sometimes difficult to remember how we got our drag racing news not that many years ago.  Before there was Drag News and National Dragster we lived and died with each monthly issue of Hot Rod Magazine.  Flipping right past the features on flathead-powered roadsters and bulbous-nosed Mercuries we eagerly sought out the months-old coverage of an obscure points meet at Shreveport Old Gator Dragway, or the story of Don Garlits’s exploits in a 64-car (yeah, that’s right, a 64-car) Top Fuel show in Bakersfield.

The coming of the two most prominent tabloids of their day, Drag News and Dragster, satisfied our need for vicarious speed until there was an explosion of monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly magazines devoted to drag racing.  By the mid-Sixties there were at least a dozen magazines devoted to the quarter-mile, including the three flagship enthusiast publications, Hot Rod, Car Craft and Popular Hot Rodding.  

Younger drag racing fans probably have no idea how good they have it.  No, this isn’t going to be one of those “Why I remember the good old days…” stories, nor is it going to be about how back in the day we had to walk eight miles to school – uphill both ways.  But having just witnessed yet another stellar NHRA POWERade Series opening round we can’t help but think of how things used to be for the fans.

In an age of wireless high speed Internet connections, same day television coverage, cell phones, Blackberrys, and iPods it’s sometimes difficult to remember how we got our drag racing news not that many years ago.  Before there was Drag News and National Dragster we lived and died with each monthly issue of Hot Rod Magazine.  Flipping right past the features on flathead-powered roadsters and bulbous-nosed Mercuries we eagerly sought out the months-old coverage of an obscure points meet at Shreveport Old Gator Dragway, or the story of Don Garlits’s exploits in a 64-car (yeah, that’s right, a 64-car) Top Fuel show in Bakersfield.

The coming of the two most prominent tabloids of their day, Drag News and Dragster, satisfied our need for vicarious speed until there was an explosion of monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly magazines devoted to drag racing.  By the mid-Sixties there were at least a dozen magazines devoted to the quarter-mile, including the three flagship enthusiast publications, Hot Rod, Car Craft and Popular Hot Rodding. 

NHRA’s National Dragster eventually buried the weekly opposition, but alas, as that transition was taking place the magazines we all depended on were undergoing a slow but inexorable change in editorial content, with drag racing coverage steadily shrinking and coverage of (ugh) vans, street machines and rods coming to dominate their content.

The Big Three had very limited color pages, maybe six or eight in each book, and no more.  Everything else was in black and white.  Fans unwilling, unable, or otherwise occupied with other things, who didn’t make it out to California for the Winternationals, kept an eager watch on their mailboxes, praying for the arrival of their May issues.  Hard to fathom, isn’t it?  But that’s how things were.  Magazine “lead time,” the days, weeks and months between the time a story was written and the time it made it to the printed page and into a reader’s hands was at least three months, and sometimes a bit more.

Flipping madly through those May issues, we’d eagerly peruse the color spread that the Winternationals often received.  It almost didn’t matter who won the race.  What counted was seeing all the new cars, for if nothing else, the Winternationals was the place for a debut.  In the years to come eastern racers would make the Gatornationals the site of their own new car debuts.

 

 

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Kids, there was no Internet! There was no same-day television coverage.  If you were lucky you’d get to see the Winternationals in syndication – sometimes as late as six months after the fact.  You had absolutely no chance of seeing the Pomona results in your local paper, no chance at all.  Drag racing was a fringe activity at best, and as viewed by the media (and many of our parents), it was peopled with greasy-haired “hoods” with packs of Luckies rolled up in their T-shirt sleeves who would happily run down little old ladies in illegal speed contests whenever possible.

You know the drill today.  Walk to the computer, punch in the right web address, and lo and behold, before your very eyes are the results of each and every qualifying session.  And not just the numbers, either.  Copious notes explain exactly why Kenny Bernstein struggled through three rounds of qualifying, or exactly what Cory McClenathan’s new Fram ride looks like.  Click to this site, and there’s McClenathan’s car in all its orange-hued glory mere minutes after it ran down the track.  Stay on the same site and read insightful notes gathered by hard-working reporters who have visited almost every pro racer’s pit area along with dozens of Sportsman competitors.  Navigate through the various departments to read detailed stories on virtually every aspect of the event.

Want more visuals?  Tune to espn2 on Saturday evening for a comprehensive qualifying program and then tune in again Sunday for wall-to-wall coverage of eliminations.  Then come back to the Internet a day or so later to read a follow-up report on the weekend’s activities – days before the arrival in the mailbox of that still-valuable coverage provided by National Dragster.

We live in an era of instant gratification, and nothing epitomizes how this works in the world of drag racing better than the Internet and television.  Putting it somewhat simplistically, web sites like this one are today’s version of the likes of Super Stock & Drag Illustrated Magazine or those other long-gone titles like Drag Racing and Drag Strip or Hi-Performance Cars, Speed & Supercar and many other titles.  And in many respects, the coverage provided today is more comprehensive and more professionally produced than were those hallowed monthlies.

It’s amusing to see emails complaining about too much TV coverage of, for example, Ashley Force’s Pomona debut.  Sorry, people, but Ms. Force was the story of the Winternationals, like it or not.  Try, for just a moment, to divorce yourself from your super fandom and consider how important it is for the sport’s growth to attract new fans and therefore, more team sponsors.  Stories like Ashley’s help make those prospects a reality.  Okay, so what if TV didn’t show you enough of Morgan Lucas?  His time will come.  Just give the TV producers the benefit of the doubt and keep tuning in.  And in the meantime, content yourself with knowing that we’re going to do our best to give you that Morgan Lucas story – and dozens of others – in a very timely manner.

Nobody wins when it rains – or even threatens to, and such was the case with the CARQUEST Auto Parts Winternationals.  It was evident as early as Thursday and as late as Sunday that the overcast skies, cold temperatures and heavily reported about-to-dump-on-So Cal storm kept all but the truly hard core fans sitting at home, decrying the difficulties of dealing with temperatures in the 50s.  For the racers and fans that’d traveled from the Rockies and eastward, the weather was just short of balmy.  When the snow outside your door is up to your (pick a body part) and temperature at noon isn’t topping 15 degrees, 50s and 60s are a welcome respite.

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Besides, there are other lures to the Winternationals and not just a need for speed – although that remains at the top of the list.  Over the years we’ve had dozens of racers and fans tell us their first stop in Los Angeles is at In-‘N-Out Burger, easily the nation’s finest hamburger emporium.  Fans of Mexican food eschew chain restaurants and flock instead to the Formica table-topped establishments that are within minutes of the track.  El Merendero is literally right outside the gate, while a few blocks away is Los Jarritos, another legendary eatery.  No fooling, one fan told us “I’ve got three burritos packed in my suitcase,” as he headed for the airport and a return to Indiana. 

But regardless of what one’s dream Winternationals might include, the centerpiece remains the event itself.  Still the place to debut a new ride, in recent years fresh Funny Car bodies have been in short supply early in the year, and this was again the case with GM-bodied machines as only Tommy Johnson, Jr. was able to hit the track with a new 2007 Chevy Impala.  For many, new colors on last year’s shell was more than enough.  Jack Beckman’s freshly liveried Dodge looked very sharp, but far too many others looked exactly like they did at the Auto Club Finals a few months ago.  Hopefully, that will change as the Gatornationals approaches in mid-March.

Fresh from the ground up was, of course, Kenny Bernstein’s Monster Dodge, a study in frustration if ever there was one.  Thursday’s almost-13 second elapsed time was followed by an even slower tire smoker on Friday, prompting some tracksiders to begin offering wagers as to who would end up with the quicker E.T., Bernstein or alcohol Funny Car standout Frank Manzo.  Until Saturday’s last ditch effort the Lucas Oil sportsman competitor had the edge, but then Bernstein’s team of tuner Ray Alley and assistant Johnny West got their acts together and blasted out a 4.847 – a time good enough to make the field until one noted Mike Ashley’s 4.778 in the other lane.  Bernstein made it and got bumped on the same pass.  But despite not making the show Bernstein had to be heartened by the very warm reception he received from the fans as his rig slowly made its way down the return road.

Gary Scelzi owned Funny Car from start to finish with his Mopar/Oakley Dodge.  Tuner Mike “Zippy” Neff continues to be one of the most under-publicized crew chiefs in the business – but a second championship for Scelzi could boost his recognition factor significantly.  Don’t bet against it.

New colors and new deals highlighted Top Fuel, from Melanie Troxel’s veteran-honoring machine to Whit Bazemore’s Matco Tools entry.  Bazemore was the picture of concentration as he tried to master a new skill set.  After 15 seasons in a Funny Car, the transition to Top Fuel was proving more difficult than he’d pictured.  He won a tire smoker against Cory Mac in the first round and then lost a squeaker against teammate Hot Rod Fuller in the second.  With Lee Beard making the calls, Bazemore will be a factor in this year’s title hunt.

It was no surprise that Alan Johnson and driver Tony Schumacher dominated Top Fuel qualifying, but what was surprising was their first round exit against unheralded Joe Hartley.  But if history proves out, that loss means nothing, as this team has started slowly in the past, only to come on so strong in the second half of the season that the first half dozen races become easily forgettable.

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When all was said and done, J.R. Todd emerged with the trophy, thanks in no small measure to the 4.40s tune-up of Jimmy Walsh.  That this team has arrived is as obvious as the nose on your face and thankfully, with each passing race we’re hearing fewer and fewer media references to Todd’s ethnicity.  In the world of drag racing nobody cares, it’s as simple as that.  Only those with the reddest of necks consider it a matter of importance.  For the vast majority of us, Todd is nothing more or less than an incredibly talented young man driving a very fast race car, and that’s the way it should be.

There were more new rides and colors in Pro Stock than any other pro category, from Larry Morgan’s freshly liveried Lucas Oil-backed Dodge to Kenny Koretsky’s Cobalt, Roger Brogdon’s all silver Dodge and the new Dwayne Rice-driven entry.  Erica Enders began the weekend sans sponsorship on the flanks of her red Dodge, but appeared with Race Girl livery as the weekend wore on.  The popular and talented young woman had the crowd behind her, but not enough horsepower in front of her, missing the cut by a slim hundredth of a second.

The early hitter was Allen Johnson, but when push came to shove, the Summit Pontiacs flexed their muscles, with Greg Anderson pushing his way to the top of the list and ultimately into the winners circle past that “other” Greg, this one named Stanfield.  Stanfield created quite a stir in the Pro Stock pits with the circulation of a thoughtfully written letter calling for a tightening of the rules in an effort to hold down costs, and he has a point.  Is Pro Stock drag racing enhanced by the addition of $25,000 shock absorbers?  That’s $25,000 each plus spares!  Pro Stock lives and dies with close competition, not one or two teams running away with everything.

Yeah, it wasn’t the kind of Southern California winter weekend that easterners have become so used to seeing during the Rose Bowl, the kind that’s tempted so many locked in the gray skies and sub-freezing temperatures of Indiana and Pennsylvania to pack up the kids and furniture and head west.  But it was the kind of weekend during which we all got a glimpse of what we can expect in the next 22 POWERade Series races.  The Countdown to the Championship?  We’ve got months to deal with that.  Right now it’s a simple equation for the likes of Todd, Scelzi and Anderson, just as it is for the likes of Kalitta, Force and Coughlin – win enough races and you’ll be there at the end.  And so will we.

 

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