Thread: Things That Ruined Drag Racing!

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money money money, huge sponsership are a must, and large cost to be competitive have ruined it for me. i wanted to follow in my dads footsteps and run a fuel funny car. at an average cost of 7000.00 per single 1/4 mile run it is just not affordable anymore for a simple man to do. and it is a nessacary evil because the world had to see what these cars could run and that is what it took to get there. i ran a super comp dragster for a couple years and that was expensive enough. about 200.00 for the day if nothing broke. and the pay off for a win was not something to shoot for either, it was just good exciting entertainment. man i loved that car, but hey on the off weekends it was a top draw at the car shows and with the hooters gals. and the whole family could just hang out there all day and have a good time doing it. man those hooters girl make ya want some wings dont they?

I guess Mr Severson and I will have to agree to disagree on the negetive impact liberals have on racetracks here in california.

To the original topic I understand what you mean about missing the wild and wooly days of drag racing. Gear bangin, sky high wheelie series are still out there but dont get as much press but are still around for those who seek them out. The 10.5 outlaw classes are a prime example. To the comment about super classes being boring I couldnt agree more. Just go to a divisional race and watch car after car try to run the same number then the next class does the same thing only a second slower. Now dont get me wrong, if thats your gig then more power to ya but its not fun to watch. As far as the modern drag cars i love to watch the landlocked missles do their thing and along with nostalgia races to go to I thing drag racing has never been better! As the bug-o-rama guy pointed out there is also niche racing for them and import/tuner stuff so everyone is covered. That doesnt mean someone has to like it all but there is something for everyone.

To the circle track stuff being ruined, I say not. Its actually CHEAPER in many short track series to compete than it was twenty years ago. Back at 99 speedway in the day a baldwin chassis would set you back around fifteen to twenty grand and a fisher racing small block chevy would be over twenty grand. Some could build their own stuff but most had to buy what they could afford and this was their performance limiting factor. Now a days its easier than ever to buy chassis kits and used cars and with spec/sealed motors its cheaper to be competitive. Example, I know of a few speedway engineering type kit cars with sealed small blocks and narrower tires than turn considerably faster lap times than cars of twice the price ran back in the day. All this on a narrower tire. Note these sealed small blocks put out 400hp and sell complete for five grand and usually get freshened ONCE a season maybe twice. How is that bad. Short track cars handle so much better because more people understand how to make then work and chassis design has come a long ways since back in the day.

Another thing thats undeniable, its CHEAPER to build reliable horsepower today than its ever been.

Sure times change, sure I miss the old days but I think todays racing scene is alive and well in general.
Mike

Originally Posted by mooneye777

man those hooters girl make ya want some wings dont they?

Not exactly the part of the chicken that comes to mind first........no.

Typically, I am a fan of safety upgrades in motor sports; but, they have come with an unfortunate price (not worth someone's life mind you, but still a cost all the same) in the category of excitement.

Fire burnouts, for example, are no longer allowed and I don't see as big of a push to go faster each week so much anymore as I see a push to win events/championships to keep the sponsors happy.

I still remember watching Eddie Hill in his Super Shops T/F Dragster break the 4 second quarter mile in '88. To me that was a land mark moment in drag racing, and at the time I remember thinking that the 4 second barrier had finally been broken and somebody, someday, might actually run in the 3's. It made me really wonder at the time how fast somebody could actually cover the 1320' between the light and the line? Who would be the first to clock a 3.XX and when?

We're now creeping up on 20 years since Eddie's 4 second run, and over the past few years we don't seem to be getting much closer to the 3's. After all, Schumacher set the current record of 4.428 this past November. Most of the T/F dragsters run in the mid 4's and the T/F Funny Cars are even in the 4's but, nowadays teams are looking to shave time in increments of 0.001 or even 0.0001 of a second rather than 0.01 or 0.1.

Fuel content was limited to 90% nitro-meth in 2000 and then to 85% following the death of Darrell Russell in 2004. Final drive ratios are limited to no less than 3.2:1 to limit top speed for the sake of safety. Granted they (thankfully) save lives; but, rules like that really limit the capability to shave too much time off the E.T.'s, and unfortunately, as a side effect, simply produce the same races and E.T.'s week after week. Maybe mid 4's are as fast as it can be done safely and that is the answer to my question, but I still hold out hope that someday I'll see a 3.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to see anybody get hurt, quite the contrary, I just wish that we were trying to push the envelope more like they used to.

All that being said, I don't really think that the changes I mentioned killed it for me; I still go every chance I get, but, they sure did remove quite a bit of the excitement.