May I please begin the New Year – and my new column – with this most-respectful observation:

You can’t be a good race fan without knowing about the Business of Racing.

Fortunately, for me, editor Bobby Bennett must agree. Thus, his kind invitation to join the nitro-powerful Attitude's Competition Plus.com team.

I don’t claim to be any more than a drop of Valvoline in the CP.com news machine. But, straight off the line, you’re entitled to an introduction – at least 1,320 feet of my 500-mile saga.

One does not need to have all their senses intact to enjoy an afternoon at the drags.

Sergeant Doug Evanston attended the 2009 NHRA Auto Club World Finals but couldn’t see the race due to blindness. Spend some time with him and you’ll find that his fan experience was not hindered by what some would consider a handicap. If anything, he says, it was enhanced.

Doug’s last visual experience at the drag races occurred on ‘Thunder Mountain’ in 1989, when he saw Joe Amato, Bruce Larson and Bob Glidden capture professional category victories at the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Morrison, Colo. One week later, he entered basic training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot in Parris Island, SC. The honorably discharged United States Marine and Purple Heart recipient from Madison, Wis., lost his vision after an Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) exploded 10 feet away from him during Operation Desert Storm in 1992.

Is it just me or is there an inherent flaw in holding a playoff during the regular season?

Twelve drivers vie for the Sprint Cup Series championship in a ten race run that just happens to include 31 other drivers at the same time. Likewise, 10 drivers vie for the NHRA Full Throttle Championship with six additional drivers in the mix.

It just doesn't seem to make much sense. Yes, the format generates excitement, but can you imagine the uproar from baseball, football, basketball and hockey fans if a similar format was instituted in their sports? It would be pandemonium.

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend several drag races this year and I have such a great time that I like to write about my experiences.  I’m definitely not enough of a motorhead to be able to report on the technical aspects of racing, but I do like sharing the interesting things I see and hear while hanging out with the teams.  I was very surprised to learn that many of the teams don’t know each other very well unless they’ve been racing together for years.  They recognize the other drivers’ names and their cars and they wave as they pass in the staging lanes, but often that’s as far as it goes.  After spending time with various teams, I understand how that happens.  There is a lot to focus on throughout the day to ensure that your car makes it down the track in the manner that you expect and walking next door to see if your neighbor likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain is not part of it.  So we’ve decided it’s time to devote a corner of the web to getting to know the teams!  And since the teams do such a great job of taking care of me, giving me water, and patting me on the head, my dad has started referring to me as the Pit Pet.

An old drag racing friend died Friday, October 16, 2009.

This friend didn’t die of natural causes, it was a slow and painful death; the result of poisoning caused by poor management and arrogance.

With the announcement that its professional show would adopt the equivalent of a Chicago Style format with a winner on each day of a two-day show, for all intents and purposes, the IHRA as a legitimate sanctioning body ceased to exist.

It should come as no surprise since the death knell for the sanctioning body started last year.

It appears the questions will never stop.

John Force, after spending a lifetime building his legend, has seen it tarnished by the actions of a single run down the drag strip.

Three races and five weeks after the questionable round against Robert Hight and the subsequent cat fight at the top end, Force, a 14-time champion, is unable to escape the questions surrounding the event.

Set to face Hight once again, this time in the Virginia NHRA Nationals, ESPN2 reporters raised the possibility that Force might throw another race. They went so far as to ask him directly, is this another Indy?

I’ve been fortunate enough to attend several drag races this year and I have such a great time that I like to write about my experiences.  I’m definitely not enough of a motorhead to be able to report on the technical aspects of racing, but I do like sharing the interesting things I see and hear while hanging out with the teams.  I was very surprised to learn that many of the teams don’t know each other very well unless they’ve been racing together for years.  They recognize the other drivers’ names and their cars and they wave as they pass in the staging lanes, but often that’s as far as it goes.  After spending time with various teams, I understand how that happens.  There is a lot to focus on throughout the day to ensure that your car makes it down the track in the manner that you expect and walking next door to see if your neighbor likes piña coladas and getting caught in the rain is not part of it.  So we’ve decided it’s time to devote a corner of the web to getting to know the teams!  And since the teams do such a great job of taking care of me, giving me water, and patting me on the head, my dad has started referring to me as the Pit Pet.

Indy is truly an event you must experience at least once in your life. 

My colleague at Competitionplus.com Jon Asher said it best, “If you come to one U.S. Nationals, you’ll be coming back year after year.”  And, after attending my first ‘Big Go’, this novice writer now realizes why thousands of die hard drag racing fans religiously make the annual Labor Day pilgrimage to Clermont, Ind.

As fellow Competitionplus.com reporter Tracy Renck and I arrived at the Indianapolis airport, we were greeted by Mitch Johnson, Tampa Bay, Fla., who was attending his 42nd ‘Big Go’. Johnson has experienced a mired of emotions during his tenure as an Indy fan. He laughed as Don Garlits shaved his beard in 1967 and shed a tear when Blaine Johnson and Elmer Trett lost their lives during the 1996 event.

A
powerful dose of drag racing can be ‘chicken soup for the soul’ for
those who are in need of a remedy. And, you don’t have to be at the
races for the medication to take effect.

While laying in the emergency room a few weeks ago, I crossed paths with a nurse
who opened my eyes with her own heartbreaking story. Much to my
surprise, her story led us both down a path of healing.

After checking into the emergency room at North Suburban Hospital in
Thornton, Colo., doctors found my body lost four-units of blood, due to
internal bleeding caused by a peptic ulcer.

According to the attending physician, years of ingesting aspirin and
ibuprofen for headaches and eating late night carne asada burrito’s
finally caught up with me.