Thread: Things That Ruined Drag Racing!

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I was a child of the '60s, and was lucky enough to... "Be there!...Be there!...Be there!"... for the "Golden Age". If that wasn't lucky enough, I lived near Indy, and went to the Nats from the very early '60s 'til the mid seventies.

During this era, there were a few things that took the fun out of it for the spectator. Here are my "main pain" complaints:

THE AUTOMATIC TRANS: Remember when Super Stock, Pro Stock, and Gas classes were "guardrail to guardrail, wheels up in all gears, and blow the driveshaft out" racing?

THE SLIDER CLUTCH: They took away those beautiful trademark roostertails of smoke, and Top Fuel lost some of it's excitement. :-(

DROPPING TOP GAS AS AN ELIMINATOR BRACKET: Top Gas Eliminator was as big of a spectacle as top fuel, with all of those beautful twins, like the "train", Gopher State Timing Association, and the mismatched motors of Frakes and Funk. They went 200 MPH with about 4 lbs of air in the slicks!.... and that wonderful sound of blown twin motors was like a giant V-16!!!

ALLOWING FUNNYCARS TO RUN ANY MAKE OF ENGINE: There was a time when the Ford-General Motors-Chrysler-American Motors rivalry was a "raging war" in Funny Car. If it looked like a Chevy, it had to have Chevy power....and so on. Remember Orange County's "Manufacturer's Funny Car Championships"?

SUCCESS OF THE REAR ENGINE DRAGSTER: The long, sleek, dart-like "slingshot dragster" was once the symbol of drag racing! It looked like no other kind of race car. When Garlits brought out his new RED car, another racer said "I hope this thing doesn't work, because it sure is ugly!" Today's car look more like a deformed Indy car. God, I miss the full bodied FEDs!

Today I only have Pro Mod to be thankful for! At this point you can feel free to add any changes that made drag racing less exciting for you.