Who’s counting?

Mr. Burk: Just read your comments on Epping, and while I realize you are paid to be negative, your comments are way off base. I was at Epping Thursday through Saturday. The crowd Saturday was so large and dense that it scared me a little, and I've been going to National events since the mid seventies.

First, Epping has been rebuilt gradually with many improvements since they ceased IHRA membership, and before this event would hold much more than 8K. On Saturday, the stands were full, they were five deep at the fences, the hill held about 3,000 people, and the pits were scary crowded. The people involved in putting on this event had a lot of foresight, and many of the fans were NASCAR fans who LOVED the nitro cars. The reason you've seen so much about the fans in other press coverage is that there were a ton of people there. Your estimate is low by at least half. My estimate of the Saturday crowd is 45,000 and the facility was completely on overload. The Friday and Sunday crowds were also quite large despite 90 degree temperatures.

I don't know if you actually go to any races but I would suggest coming out if you can next year to see for yourself. The track is reinvesting all profits into the facility and I think next year it will be even more crowded, and that things will run more smoothly. I know you hate to hear this, but chalk one up for Mr. Compton!

Regards,

Bill Horton
West Hartford, Connecticut

Try making it fun again

I just reviewed the latest article by Jeff Burk. I have been going to the drags since the mid ‘70s, was a fan of nitro from the first time I heard an AA/FA fire at the old SIR in Kent. I attended every possible nitro event in the northwest for years and followed it on television. However, the NHRA product has become, frankly, boring. I prefer to hit nostalgia events at Boise or Mission rather than going to the NW Nationals. The cost is too high for an NHRA event (which is not an affordability issue for me) and the amenities suck.

I would prefer to see events at a smaller track with better amenities and what appears to be an appreciation for the fans, particularly at Boise. At best, I attend the Friday NW Nationals session of qualifying because performance is generally better on Friday. NHRA needs to revamp its product, get nostalgia cars involved, bring back nitro Harleys and make it a fun event rather than a corporate catered money grab. Just my two cents.

Scott Clement
Seattle, Washington

Saturday Night ‘Niteslow’

A few weeks ago I went to the Saturday Night Nitro show at Famoso and although there were some great passes and races in the nitro portion of the show, the three hours between nitro sessions were very slow and boring. There were very long periods of time where nothing was happening at all and when some cars did run they were usually single runs and most of the time not full runs.

I have been to just about every nitro race in SoCal for the last forty years so I know what I'm talking about when I say that, in order to entertain race fans and keep them coming back, you must have cars going down the track at all times. I don't care what class it is - anything from Top Fuel to Stock, it doesn't matter. People want to be entertained and not just sit there and see nothing.