Simmering tensions boiled over yesterday on Hot Rod Magazine’s Facebook page when a few needling barbs aimed at English drag racer Andy Frost, drew Frost into the conversation about Larry Larson’s 5th consecutive Drag Week win and ultimately led to the magazine asking if Frost would attend Drag Week if they picked up the tab for transportation. It was an interesting example of the power social media has these days and also it highlighted the longstanding debate surrounding what have to be the two most famous street legal drag racing cars in the world, Larson’s Nova and Frost’s “Red Victor” Vauxhall.
Frost’s car is street legal and he has been very deep into the six second range, actually competing as a Pro Mod over in England. There’s video of him cruising down the road in it and his accomplishments and dedication can’t be questioned. On the other side of the argument are those that feel Larson’s car and accomplishments more significant because Larson drives his car on the street frequently and for longer stretches than Frost appears to do.
Where do we stand? Well, in our opinion the two cars were built with two different objectives. Larry’s car was built to be a bad ass fast street car. Frost’s car was built to be a street legal Pro Mod car (in our opinion). The differences are that one performs better on the street covering the miles and the other performs better on the strip. Would we want to see them tangle face to face? Oh hell yeah we would.
With Hot Rod needling Frost, he responded several times and basically said that if someone picks up the check, he would ship his car over and make a go of it. Quickly after that happened, Hot Rod responded and asked him point blank if he would come on their dime. He responded that if the magazine picked up every expense, he would show up. Will it ever happen? Who the hell knows, but the possibility alone is damned interesting!
Click here to see the discussion involving Hot Rod and Andy Frost. — Click on the discussion below the photo of the blue van doing a burnout to see it all.
If I was Larson I wouldn’t show up unless Hot Rod picked up ALL my exspenses too.
Seems like they are sponsering a car to challenge Larry. I’m sure the other Unlimited Racers would like to have ALL thier exspenses paid for too when they are going after Larry too.
That’s it …. I’ll only attend again if THEY pick up my tab too ….
I can see Frost’s point on cost, it’s a perfectly legit reason not to come over to the States. IMO, I wouldn’t say Frost’s car can make Drag Week until it does, because I don’t see days on end in the UK in some of the blistering heat, at highway speeds for periods of time that would practically cross the UK. Not to mention most the UK is at or near sea level, so he also doesn’t run at the average DA that Drag Week historically has taken place at. I would like to see him show up, but understand the legit cost/time reason on crossing the Atlantic.
Kind of like Polly Motorsports with the Trans Am and the Silver State Challenge. People don’t make the horsepower at 6,000+ft elevation as they do at sea level (among other things).
I think it would really be chicken shit if hot rod paid. They don’t pay out any dollars to the winners now. ALSO, the most important thing is the coverage. If they didn’t let Chad and Kyle cover the event they wouldn’t even get a bang for their buck. The “Brits” at home would get to see it until it was over.
Kick DF in the balls Walt…..LOL…you Da Man….you’ve earned crotchety old man status….I might be meeting you to pick up some stuff next week?…something your son was cooking up….a crate of motor parts?.
I think it’s pretty lame for whomever at Hot Rod to be talking cmask to Andy Frost. That post was uncalled for, and even though I like attending and supporting Drag Week, since when did a couple dudes who put on the event – but have never competed in it themselves – get to call out anyone they please? If Frost had paid more attention (he doesn’t even know what Hot Rod magazine is, from the sound of it), he’d have called out the “It can run 8s at Drag Week no problem” F-Bomb.
HRM probably can’t pay for squat on its own. But read between the lines:
“If you have GM sponsorship that involves anyone within the US arm of GM, it seems this could work. We’d LOVE to see you here for the event’s tenth year in 2014.”
In other words, HRM is going to twist Government Motors’ arm to pony up for Frost’s appearance at DW.
And maybe . . . just maybe . . . that will prompt somebody in FoMoCo’s Glass House to do something a little more impressive than sending KJ Jones to run DD with a bolt-on supercharger on a two-year-old production car.
Who wouldn’t want to see Larson or Lutz in a much more aerodynamic factory Ford (with a Moran-Kaase twin-turbo mountain motor on methanol under the hood– now that would be some EcoBOOST . . . ) taking on GM-funded Andy Frost?
Come on Ford Racing and GM Performance . . . make this “ultimate street showdown” happen!
That would be an interesting matchup for sure but we’re forgetting the difference between “street legal” and “street car”! I also believe if Hot Rod is going into the business of sponsoring match races then they need to get out the checkbook for Larson, Lutz, Bailey and the rest of the super competitive cars in Unlimited!
Promotors have never equally spread the wealth. For example, in the early ’70s, when Charlotte promotor Richard Howard (most likely fronting for GM’s Vince Piggins) cooked up the $10,000/race “appearance money” deal for Junior Johnson’s Monte Carlo, the promotors weren’t spreading the wealth to the other teams left destitute from the idiotic pull-outs by Ford and Chrysler. Instead, they wanted to insure there was a competitive Chevy in the show to boost gate receipts.
In drag racing, it was the same when track owners paid “appearance money” or “tow money” for stars and booked match races. Only the select few got the coin.
Promotors have always tended to target “help” where it will give the most “bang for the buck” to their own bottom lines. HRM/Family Events is probably no different.
Moreover, HRM will be using sponsor money, not HRM money, if they set up a deal with Frost.
Six second, 200+ MPH street, race cars built, paid for by Ford or GM that would be fun to watch. Wonder if the Lawyers and the NTSB would even let that happen? Maybe a suit case of small unmarked bills will fall off a few trucks at a few shops.
I appreciate everything Andy and Larry have done with their cars. I also think it would be cool as hell to see them face off on Drag Week. What I do NOT think is cool, is spoiling Drag Week with big money. Let Andy find his own sponsors/money to foot his bill.
Ron
Being competitive in Unlimited already costs big money. They don’t just give away Lencos, chrome moly funny car cages, carbon fiber tubs, and 2,000+ h.p. turbo mountain motors.
According to Frost’s Facebook statements, GM is apparently already funding Frost’s street-legal Pro Mod. GM already funds HRM’s Power Tour and CC’s Street Machine Nationals (two un-PC events that can’t excite the bureaucrats and lawyers very much). So from HRM’s perspective, it’s not much of a stretch to jawbone GM into backing a little international challenge for Larson.
A Frost-Larson match up would help market HRM’s international “brand,” and, if GM made Frost change the badges from Vauxhall to Chevrolet (it probably wouldn’t take that much to rebody Frost’s old Vauxhall as a more current generic Holden/Opel/Vauxhall/Chevrolet), it would help GM’s on-going efforts in establishing the Chevy nameplate outside of the US.
Moreover, to knock off Larson, it’s going to take something more than merely matching him move-for-move in a privately-funded barn-door shoebox (unless he breaks or quits). Sponsors and more exotic machinery are inevitable in Unlimited (unless HRM wusses out NHRA-style and protects the status quo with . . . limits). Frankly, I’m surprised that Larson’s challengers haven’t already thought more “out of the box” or obtained solid six-second equipment with sponsors’ money.
And I’m astonished that LARSON HIMSELF hasn’t cashed in on his success by selling the quarter panels and fenders of his car. Or that King Larson and his Court of pursuers haven’t cooked up a touring match race show to cash in on their notariety. These guys are leaving money on the table.
HRM is opening up a can of worms sponsoring a participant in Drag Week. Does the NHRA pay for John Force show up at races? HRM is the sanctioning body in this race.
Sure it would be cool to see cars come in from around the world to take on the champ Larson, but dont get involved in paying for challengers to show just because you are tired of seeing Larson win every year. And, thats what its all about. Selling mags. Bringing in an international challenger because it would make good press and pump up mag sales is almost as pathetic as news agencies inflating stories in order to increase ratings.
I applaud HRM trying to get the heavy hitters to get out on the road and use their cars for what they were intended just like they did a couple years ago at sema. The pathetic turn out from that challenge was bad.
DF really needs to get that F Bomb out and running like he spent all that time and dough to build for asap. It’s been nearly a decade now
Andy Frost is as a determined racer as any i know,the cost of such a trip to the USA would be in the region of 20 grand english id recon,which aint no chicken feed,Andy didnt come on there and diss anybody or put Drag Week down,HRM did diss Andy! so they can foot the bill imoa,in my view its all good for the sport and hypes up the race,both are fantastic cars along with all the other DW cars.if HRM comes good on the call out! i assure you Frost will be there..with an army of supporters/fans.
Marc
Somebody at HRM was watching too many reruns of PINKS.
Also having been to the UK a few times, RV barely fits on the roads, Larson’s car fits fine on US roads that are far wider.
Also if you had a car like that and it was street legal, and capable of being driven around, would you? Nothing wrong with using some common sense and driving something more practicle, just because you can doesn’t mean you have to.
That all being said would be a great race.
I wish Rod Saboury with his street legal Vette would show up. That would be a good race.
As for HR and sponsorship of a car- they are looking for something to print. That would be good for them. Sure it will make some mad and they would not show, but they will still have a good showing.
If they do this, I wonder what the Aussies from this year would think about it? I assure you, it is no cheaper to get a car from Australia. Or even the Brit who was there this year- he saved for 3 years to be here.
I agree if the guys from and oz and england could do it why not frost? and you hit the nail on the head, the people who put on the race sponsoring a hitter ? seems unethical to me .
HRM, according to some, already determined the winner this year(Larson) by extending the evebt past 5 days when that was not in the rules. just stirring the pot.
I don’t recall Frost saying bad shit about Larsen’s Nova…I’m honestly surprised and disappointed in HRM for their stance on this – since when do they start, unprovoked, badmouthing other racers based on the country they come from? I know HRM is primarily American, point is its read all over the world. You can’t just slag off at people cos they don’t come from your neighborhood….if you want to beat Red Victor fairly, go ahead and put up a faster car. Don’t slag off on people because it doesn’t fit who you want to win….let your (faster ) car do the talking. BTW, its not cool to say `this guy could kick your ass ‘ and speak for someone else. I don’t see Larsen bagging out Frost’s car – just some magazine hacks – go on Frieburger, drag out YOUR car and beat Frost – or maybe shut up.
If everybody takes a dim view to HRM funding Andy Frost’s appearance at Drag Week, perhaps HRM might consider funding Mr Larsen or Mr Lutz to appear alongside Mr Frost in a round of Street Eliminator here in the UK? It’s not 1400 miles, but it’s no easy ride…
Yikes, I can’t believe that ANYBODY would condone any kind of sponsorship…
Isn’t that what has ultimately ruined most forms of grassroots racing?
SSDave has a good idea as it seems there are a lot of “issues” going the other way. Its not that expensive to get a car over here or there, but not sure what “all expenses paid” really means…Super8 and Taco Bell?
What a great way to promote Hot Rod magazine and Drag week , certainly got everyone talking about it , fantastic marketing !
I know Andy Frost but don’t know Larry , both cars are fantastic achievements and both are super quick , Andy’s car is obviously the fastest street car in the world at the moment as it is street legal and the fastest , end of argument , doesn’t matter if it does 100 miles a year or 10,000 , street legal is street legal , not taking anything away from Larry as i’m sure he will be coming up with ways to go faster in the near future and will be eager to get the title back which is cool and keeps the whole street title interesting and alive , it’s a massive achievement to run a 6 in anything let alone a car that can live on the street ,
Maybe a World Drag month series should start ,”20 drag strips ,3 continents, one winner” go on someone , organise it !
these cars are very fast but are you all aware of a 3rd competitor coming up the rear who claims to be even faster ??? he goes by the name of fordson van from lancs UK