How come no one participates any more?

[yellomalibu]

Re: How come no one participates any more?

I used to Love Drag Racing in the 70's and 80's and then all the Rules started changing to the point that all the Cars are the same, and you can't out do your competitors by enginuity and creativity because the Rules wont let you unless you have a lot of Money to sway the promoters to letting you. (Cookie Cutters) The average guy cant compete with that.

That's what's so great about bracket racing. It's not about how much money you throw into your car to go as fast as possible. You build your car to be consistant, you learn how your car reacts to changing weather and track conditions, you hone your ability to cut a good light every time, then you learn how to predict what your car will run on the next pass.
No, it's not the same as old school "heads up" drag racing... it's (dare I say?) much more challenging; just not necessarily for your wallet.
You can race your daily driver, or you can spend $70grand on a new turn key dragster... whatever you can afford.

Nothing feels better than beating a 7 second dragster that (someone sunk a ton of money into), when you're driving your 11 second home built door car.

[CDMBill]

Re: How come no one participates any more?

I don't think the issue is participation, its dilution. 90% percent of the motor driven activities listed didn't exist when the legeds were getting started and people forget that the golden age for motorsports of all kinds started with the end of the WW2, the availability of space, airfields ad the like, and the economic expansion that accompanied it. But, they were focused on relatively few types of activities.

The incredible variety of choices now means we all have to pick our spots. A trip down the aisle at SEMAS or even PRI shows the breadth of the automotive aftermarket industry and that's just one segment. In another post DF copied a story that mention how Wal-Mart is reducing the number of magazine tiles they carry by 1400! What hell are all those books about? Fly fishing, competitive knitting, combat kites, collectable black powder guns; the choices today in this relatively wealthy society are incredible.. Less positive is that the middle class family, the backbone of all grassroots level motorsports, is now mostly a two income situation with all the scheduling difficulties that implies. Most of us have to drive a lot further to find a legal place to race, and yes it costs more when you get there, but I'm amazed at the toter homes with two cars and Jr. Dragster you see at a bracket race.

Admittedly I have only the one car, which is why it is such an absurd compromise for all the stuff I try to do with it, but I've made choices too. That said there seem to be a lot of participants in this Car Junkie corner of the world.

[MadmanMark]

Re: How come no one participates any more?

Having a beer with a well known drag racing crew chief a couple of years ago. He uttered some words to live by.

"If you want to impress others grab the wheel, if you want to impress yourself, pick up a wrench."

Sounds like the most impressive thing would be the pick up the wrench and then grab the wheel.

I got lots of kids, family, and job excuses too, and it's getting harder to make time to drive like a madman (and more risky seeming since there's kids now). Hitting the dragstrip, even if it's only 1-3 times per year, really helps me get things out of my system (maybe the high-speed ride home with numbers on my windshield and track speeds fresh in the head helps too! ;D).

Maybe I can get one of my kids into one of those non-drag-racing cool driving things and get my kicks through them, but if they're like me they'll do whatever I don't want them to. I don't want them going +140mph in a 30+yr old car right now.

[dieselgeek]

Re: How come no one participates any more?

Looking back on the biggest of my hot rodding heroes, it seems that they all got out there and participated in racing—and more than just that, they did LOTS of different things. Guys like Mickey Thompson, Ray Brock, Ak Miller...they ran the lakes, the drags, Baja, boat racing, Pikes Peak, La Carrera, rallyes, economy runs, and more. They did different things with different cars.

These days, it seems that the average gearhead owns one car, or one type of car (ie nothing but Chevelles, nothing but Mopars, nothing but FEs). It also seems that the average car guy is content to just drive to shows or cruise nights. If they do race, they usually ONLY drag race.

I know money is one answer. But why else is it that hot rodders are no longer racers?

Perhaps it's just that there are more people who build hot rods that don't like to race? If grassroots racing were dead, I'd agree with you...

and besides, weren't YOU the guy who came up with the idea for Hot Rod "Power Tour? ??? " :D

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: How come no one participates any more?

I thought it was rod and custom americruise , or boyd and gray baskerville and dennis varni going to the hot rod nats