Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

After the announcement that Englishtown is stopping Drag racing, it makes me wonder about the future. So enjoy it while you can.
We always talk about kids not being involved but what is going to happen when we are all in self driving electric cars? They say it is 10 years down the road when it will be the norm. And if the politicians can figure out a way to make money off these technologies, watch out.
It is coming. Your thoughts.

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

One door closes another door opens.

There's still Atco and Numidia. Both are good tracks. They will benefit from the closing of e-town.

There's Island also. Island has faced the same pressure to close for a long time. The track has been in disrepair for as long as I've gone there. I wouldn't be surprised if they close in the future.

One of the reasons I've stayed in Jersey is because of the tracks. With the outrageous taxes and stupid politics of the state, I know that I'll be moving within the next 5 to 10 years. There are a lot of tracks down south and around the country. I don't have to stay and take the abuse of state and local politicians and neither does anyone else.

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

I cannot believe how many people are not only accepting electric/autonomous cars, but embracing them! Normally I'd say they are the same wack jobs that would live in an apartment in a city and take public transit, but no, more and more people I know are saying stuff like "well that would be nice to just get in and the car take you somewhere" HOLY CRAP! It's bad enough, at a party I hosted a while back, I was in the minority when I brought it up, very few wanted to be bothered with driving.

Further, talk of electric cars that you pay for, drive 5 years under a "warranty" then trade in for another, no maint/repairs/etc was being talked about as if it would be mans saviour! Like buying a toaster, when it breaks, throw it away and get another. Seriously, have we slumped to this???

I ain't going down without a fight.

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

Driverless cars are another indicator of the lost interest in the mechanics but instead in the electronics. We hung out at a garage or service station. These people hang out at a coffee shop and do all their work from a distance on a computer. Are they really getting any personal association while just sipping and typing? I doubt It.
We are a vanishing breed and skill level and interest. Good luck to you guys who are just approaching retirement age. It will be gone as you know it just like it is gone as I knew it already. Long live Class Racing and Jr. Stock.

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

I got my drivers license when I was 16. So did everyone I knew in High School in 1974. Driving was a blast, a new adventure.
Today it is inconvenient. Adventures happen on cell phones,
But I`m not sure it will change that fast.
Gasoline tax is hard to replace.
Mike a114

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

Young people are not getting driver’s licenses so much anymore. In fact, no one is. According to a new study by Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute, the percentage of people with a driver’s license decreased between 2011 and 2014, across all age groups. For people aged 16 to 44, that percentage has been decreasing steadily since 1983.
It’s especially pronounced for the teens—in 2014, just 24.5 percent of 16-year-olds had a license, a 47-percent decrease from 1983, when 46.2 percent did. And at the tail end of the teen years, 69 percent of 19-year-olds had licenses in 2014, compared to 87.3 percent in 1983, a 21-percent decrease.

I am 74 and started driving trucks on the farm at 14. Everybody had their license at sixteen and we all had something to race, I had a 40 olds with a 54 324 engine. Today kids have computers and don't care about driving. Is there any way to turn this around?

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

I got my learners permit the day after my 16th birthday, then about 6 months later I took my road test and got my "Junior License" which is basically a learners permit but you can drive between your home and work, a work-study program, college, or night school (no high school) between 5 and 9 pm. If you take drivers education (which I did just so i could get my license as soon as possible) you can get your full license at 17, if you don't you cant get it until 18. So for many it isn't even possible to get a license at 16

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

While it's true in general that the love affair with cars among kids has dropped off, there's a huge following in the small tire and grudge stuff. Enough that there is even a TV show about it. Bracket racing also has a big draw.

Stock, SS and comp have lost a lot of participants but drag racing is still very much alive. There are a lot of young people still involved just not in stock, ss and comp.

The grudge and small tire events draw a lot of spectators. Nobody wants to sit around and watch bracket racing. There's a reason for that and contrary to some people's point of view it's not about the crashes.

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

How do you change anything? get involved with your Grand Children. That is the generation learning things. The last generation is lost. They are the computer hacks.
Spend time with your grandkids teaching carpentry, plumbing, how to check air in tire, parts of a real car. They might surprise you with their interest in Grandpas toys, hobbies and CARS. They will be the ones who might keep it alive.They are the ones who need to be impressed with the lack of Craftsmen, skilled in all the trades. They might chose a trade like welding where a great salary can be earned as opposed to a college degree.

Re: Drag racing Enjoy it while you can
 

I wouldn't take Englishtown's closing too hard for the sport as a whole. The sport in the Northeast? That's another story. They have a shortage of land, are overtaxed and over regulated. Most of the rest of the country doesn't have that trifecta of negativity hanging over their heads (Cali has two of the three).