Thread: I miss real drag racing
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05-02-2010 05:50 AM #1
I miss real drag racing
Call me old fasioned. I guess, I am!!
At 71 years of age I no longer enjoy NHRA drag racing.
I used to attend 6-8 events every year, I loved the competitive spirit, the engenuity, the outright competitiveness of it all.
Now we have a bunch of slot cars with a driver.
Take the body panelling off any top fueler, or lift the body off ant funny car and what have you got??
Identical engines in identical chassis with a little spot to plug in a driver.
I went to my first drag race when I was 13. Sanford, ME on an old airport runway and it was exciting.
Door cars struggled to go 100 MPH, but it was fun. I remember the year an MIT professor announced that it was a physical impossability for a wheel driven car to exceed 150 MPH in a standing start 1/4 mile.
Two months later a weird (by todays standards) looking car called the "Bustle Bomb" went 151.
I remember when BB Chevys, Cammer Fords and Hemis all ran in top fuel competitively.
I remember Mickey Thompsons Hemi heads for Pontiacs.
I remember cars that you could buy at any dealership competing in Pro/Stock.
Is it just me, or has drag racing become to "homogenized"?
I know times change, but I'd really like to see an engine other than a hemi run competitively in the fuel classes.
And how about Pro/Stocks with production V-6's and fuel injection?
17 years ago I went out on a limb and produced an aftermarket block for Pontiacs (it's still being sold see www.allpontiac.com) and we proved you could make HP (2806HP) with a Pontiac.
Think what drag racing excitement could be produced with a serious effort on some of the "non standard" engines.
Or, maybe I'm just "old fashioned"Buying parts I don't need, with money I don't have, to impress people I don't like
Sorry for your loss of friend Mike McGee, Shine. Great trans men are few and far between, it seems. Sadly, Mike Frade was only 66 and had been talking about retirement for ten years that I know...
We Lost a Good One