If you act like children. . .
Signs up! If I have your undivided attention with that request, it must mean you have young boys in scouting or were a scout yourself. Can you tell that Thing One and Thing Two just got back from five days of Cub Scout camp? I had the honor of being the leader of Den Five, the mighty Condors! No vulture jokes please, we take this stuff seriously. I was only the leader for one day but it ranks right up there with a few other days in my life as being the longest and the most taxing. Imagine eight 9-year-olds each with their own agenda and yes, it was like one of my favorite metaphors, "herding cats." Believe me, there were times when I wanted to knock some heads together. It’s a good thing I didn’t because I only violated about a half dozen leader rules in one day and none that involved physical punishment. I pulled through and feel good about the fact that I didn’t send anyone to the emergency room or myself to the People’s Court. This was an amazing experience for my boys. As I’m sure it was for the others, aside from my day as leader of course. It helped build character, sportsmanship, respecting your relationship with your fellow Scouts, teamwork, personal achievement, good citizenship, spiritual growth, family understanding, having fun, and we shot BB guns! Oh yeah!
So, what would this have to do with nostalgia drag racing? In my twisted world, it means a lot. It brings up values that our children are held to but as adults we sometimes let fall by the wayside. In my opinion, we can learn quite a bit from our children, folks.
With the recent conduct of the Nostalgia Funny Car Association’s attacks on some of their members, I think they need to get the Board of Directors and the members to attend Cub Scout camp. Oh, can I please be there on BB gun day?
Riddle me this: You build a car. Spend maybe 150 large on your deal. The schedule for the year comes out. You like a few of the dates. Actually plan a family reunion around one. You have a member of your family attending. Because of his age and his health, he will only see your car run this one time. Plane tickets, motels, vacation time off from work, logistics of getting your bunch to the track. You know the drill. All is done. All is well.
Then, the group decides a month and a half before the event that the money is not right. While it is better than last year, it is not what the NFCA wants to run for. They pull the event from their schedule and points fund. Fine. The money’s not great but you built a car to run it and if you want to run it on your own terms, by all means you should be able to. Not withstanding the other plans you have made around this event.
They (the NFCA) want you to cancel. They say if you go, it will ruin it for the rest of the group for the next year and years after. Nasty emails fly, mostly from people who don’t even own cars. It’s been implied that cars that go to this event will not be booked in the future and will no longer be welcome in the group. That’s fine, too. I wish the group success and will secretly wish they would worry more about the appearance of the cars and enforce some body rules that have never been finalized. To me this makes more sense than caring about who runs where, for whom, and for what money with whose car.
Am I missing something here? Is this group getting a little too big for its britches a little too soon? When did we start this class? I was at one of the first races and it was in 2003 when the Goodguys gave us a place to race. That was only four years ago. Didn’t they just run for free at Fontana (that non-points test and tune that became a points race that same day)? How about the years with Goodguys that had racers paying entry fees and earning small purses? That was fine then. Arbitrary and inconsistent are two words that come to mind.
What is with them having races halfway around the world? Canada? What’s next, Mexico City? Container rides to Hawaii? A slow boat to China? Please.
I say the group can pound sand. I tried to be a dues-paying member. They let me down.
Can I end my rant with this little ditty? I believe as a car owner you have the right to run your car, when you want, where you want, and how you want. For as much or as little money as you deem acceptable.
It looks like this situation will only get more sideways. West Coast cars have been parked this summer for various reasons. Some for money issues, others for frustration with the NFCA. Some of the parked cars might make an appearance or two, but not at any sanctioned NFCA event. It’s too bad. It could have been a great thing.
What is also funny is how the nitro guys always seem to attract drama amongst themselves while the sportsman racers just race. ANRA, NERA, and other groups just quietly keep on keeping on. No drama, just drag racing.
So Scouts, it’s time to end our meeting of Pack 4130, Den CH3NO2, with the Cub Scout salute and the pledge of the Cub Scout motto. Repeat after me: DO YOUR BEST. I think we need to take a lesson from the Scout book and do our best to have fun with our hobby.
