(Photo courtesy of Tulsa Raceway Park) – So last weekend I was in Tulsa at a track both Chad and I seem to find ourselves at with frequency, the well known Osage Casino Tulsa Raceway Park. I was there to announce a diesel only drag race, truck pull, and dyno challenge. It was a great event that drew a bunch of trucks out from all over the country. There was one aspect of it that totally shocked me, though. That was the fact that virtually everybody who was there competing was between the ages of 20 and (on the high end) 40 years old. The dude who won the overall contest was actually 16 years old (in a Cummins powered Super Duty Ford, no less).
The place was teaming with young guys and women who were there to hang out, see the trucks, learn some about new technology, and bench race like the normal crowd at any drag race does. The guys tuning these things were young and the whole place had a really youthful feel, more so than any other event I have been at this season. It was pretty cool.
That naturally got me to thinking about the car or gearhead world in general and what sections of it are doing the best job renewing and reinvigorating themselves with fresh blood in the form of fans, racers, and consumers. The diesel world is obviously one of them. There are a fair amount of young guys at the drags but not at “traditional” national event type gatherings. Those are graying fast. Events like the Shaketown, Throwdown in T-Town, Street Car Super Nats, etc are all younger in their reach.
Who else is doing a good job at attracting young men and women? Who is failing big time?
BangShift Question Of The Day: What Section Of The Gearhead World Is Doing The Best Job Of Getting Young Guys And Girls Involved?
I certianly think that trucks are doing the best job of attracting young enthusiasts. It is a reasonabley cheap way to get into something with V8 or diesel power. Plus you get the option of having a vehicle you can drive on a daily basis and actually be useful.
I think that the classic and modern muscle market is blowing it big time. Car prices are out of reach for most young enthusiasts and the availibility of these cars isn’t quite as good. They are a good investment for a middle to retirement aged person with a decent income, and extra garage space for a car that probably should see limited use.
I think the traditional rod & Kustom scene is great because you can park a budget build next to a high dollar rod, and everyone gets a long. For example at Milltown my Plymouth (under $5,000) was next to a Shoebox Woody Gasser (which I imagine is a lot of $$$$) spent probably a half an hour talking with the owner, genuinely nice guy and we digged each others stuff.
Failing? Four letters…NHRA
Dmitri on the 2-3 shift yanking the wheel.
Definitely the drifting community. Cheap-ish cars and used rubber make for a fun day on the track.
Gotta say that I was impressed with what I saw at the Diesel Drags this past weekend at Tulsa Raceway Park as well and even commented to Bad PK that I thought we were witnessing a new and exciting vein of racing that is just getting tapped. It was obvious that this form of racing has great appeal to the youth just by looking at the racers and crowd in attendance. For old timers like me that don’t like getting diesel smoke blasted on us at the starting line, the racing action these guys and gals were exhibiting was just as exciting as any other form of drag racing I’ve witnessed in all my years of racing. So, for me the diesel drags get 2 thumbs up!
Drag racing has been failing rather fast, who knows why. On the other hand the sport of truck pulling has been growing extremely fast.