Where are bracket racing and drag racing headed?

I feel this question is asked among racers pretty often and probably far too often in the racing media. The reality is, though, where is this sport going? Is going to grow, hold its own, or begin to shrink and become a much smaller entity?

I have a few opinions on this and some ideas that I feel might help us keep the sport of amateur drag racing headed in the right direction. I couldn’t care less about the professional end of drag racing because I can't even call it a "sport" anymore. It is just a few rich guys spending money like it's water while trying to keep sponsors happy so they can keep doing it.

Let's look at the sportsman end of drag racing and break it down into about four basic categories.

1. Sportsman racing such as the Super classes, Super Stock and Stock. By the looks at divisional-event turnouts and national-event sportsman entries, this is a group that is shrinking fast.
2. Bracket racing. This competition was the foundation of the sport and the basis of why local tracks have survived. Not so true today.
3. Specialty events such as the NMCA, Super Chevy, regional Stock/Super Stock groups, match race events, etc. These "special races" are growing fast.
4. The "Test & Tune" crowd that very seldom actually race each other but show up in huge numbers just to have fun and run their car or cycle down the track. For many if not most local tracks, and national event tracks as well, the "Test & Tune" nights are literally paying the bills and allowing the tracks to survive and in some cases prosper.

Sportsman Racing

I have done some of this style of racing and I can tell you I enjoyed the events, the great group of racers I met, and other than the events being drawn out over so many days to get one race in, I like them.

Problem one is COST. Far too expensive to enter for the payouts you can receive. A competitive Stocker or Super Stocker can easily cost $30K to build and if you want a new Cobra Jet I think the Stockers are about $80K! Even the Super classes are getting stupid; 600" to 708" engines to run 9.90? Of course those guys want to "come from behind" at over 170 mph to make driving the finish line easier but when a national-event-winning combination could easily cost $75K for an S/Gas Corvette or over $50K for a fast S/Comp dragster it has gotten a bit out of hand.

Not that the cars aren't worth it, but the issue is they have driven the budget-oriented racers back to their garages and the number of entries at divisional and national events have fallen off dramatically.

The "easy fix" to the excessive cost, mostly driven by 1100-1250 HP engines, is to limit the speed of the Super classes. Sounds easy, right? I think NHRA and IHRA are afraid to try it. Shouldn't be long, though, before they try something when car counts are dropping like a rock.

Bracket Racing

This is the part of drag racing that I have been active in for about 35+ years. Dial your own ET, cut the best light you can and go racing. Simple, highly competitive, and fun. Recently this part of drag racing has been seeing fewer and fewer cars drive through the pit gates.