3/24/04

Still More Special Delivery Mail

Letters are still arriving daily about coverage of drag racing on television. Here is the latest batch.
response@dragracingonline.com

Stuff from Holland:

Just (read) your (article) on NHRA tv programming. Man, be thankful that you have something to watch. I lived in Australia for more than 40 years. In TV land drag racing was a Man in Women's clothing being chased away from the local dance. The only time we saw any racing on the Box was when there was some racer crash his ride or that tag we live with drag racing is from one red light to another. Those heady days when I was pulled over by the police. No, not for speeding but excessive gear changes (my car was Ford Cortina with 1300cc engine that couldn't break wind let alone speed but with Stripes). We went to court and the Judge threw it out.

About 8 years ago I moved to Holland & I've spent that time explaining to people what drag racing is, but guess what? 300 morons turn at an illegal street race & 2 by-stander's lose their lives for nothing & drag racing's in the crapper again. Okay, we talk about what English are doing or the German scene or even the Swede's & Norway or how Australia where the biggest city, Sydney, didn't have a racetrack for years.

I am proud to be a fan & always will be but let's not forget that the 1320 for 99.8% of Earth's humans is just 20 past 1 in the afternoon.

Stop complaining, Man, there is a program on cable tv here, motor's from France and they have been showing the same drag racing feature for 3 months now. Do I watch? You betcha. We live in hope.

Regards.

John Geltink

Boring TV package!!!!

I want to thank you for writing that last article. I consider myself one of the most diehard drag racing fans on this planet. I've stopped going out of my way to watch these races a couple of years ago. I feel that your site should really look at the Outlaw 10.5 races here in the south as the alternative to NHRA and even IHRA races for that matter. I've known about you for years from reading National Dragsters since the 70's so I'm pretty sure you would love the 6.00 class that they run at these events. This class blows off Super Gas class! These are full body cars with no delay boxes or any other electronics that run incredibly close to the index. I grew up going to Englishtown every single weekend from '71-'92 then moving to Atlanta. I absolutely hated 1/8th mile racing when I got here so I didn't go to many races except the Southern Nationals and maybe a couple of points races. Now I feel like I've been reborn due to the Outlaw races. They have the perfect package, which includes Limited.

John Fore III

Jok,

great article!!! Unfortunately for all of us you are absolutely correct and accurate in your description of what has happened to the coverage of the National events. NHRA seems to be trying to imitate NASCAR to some degree, but it's a darn shame they don't have the brainpower to pull off that trick!

My Dad was a NHRA tech official many years ago at Fremont and I am a really lucky guy to have been involved in auto racing since I was a kid. I am now 56 years old, I build racing engines for a living and it saddens me to see the direction the sport I love so much is going.... but that is what happens when money takes over.

Regards.

Skip Govia