attention NHRA and IHRA Where have all the class racers gone

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by Nick Heath

Wow. After reading these kind of nonsense generalizations from so called class racers (and it's far from the first time I've read it here), why in the world would a young person ever want to associate with this sport?

That reminds me...I can't help but wonder if the overwhelming NEGATIVITY on these forums and in this sport has something to do with what's keeping out new racers? I read these forums frequently and all I seem to ever read is some complaint about the new cars, or Ford's scam to take over the NHRA, or the bogus 350 truck, or some other bogus hidden combination like the 350 Cadillac, or something to do with LS1's or LT1's and their different hoods and different body styles, or aftermarket cylinder heads or carburetors, or the AFHS, or 1000' racing, or this class combo deal...I've explained class racing and some of these political issues to a very good friend of mine and he laughs at it! Sure there's a valid argument to be made in every one of these debates, but when is enough enough? Whatever happened to working on your car, going racing, running really fast and setting a record, because it was a FUN hobby?

I think there are many other problems with the sport relating to young people. The "we're not a car culture" argument has some merit. In the 60's and 70's there were lots of kids taking their Chevelles and Mustangs and Road Runners to and from school. Today's kids are lucky to get a Toyota Camry. Now which one is more fun to mess around with in the garage? Which one has more aftermarket parts available? Which one is more fun to drive?

But I think the economy and the overall price of class racing is the biggest problem. Let's take a look...how much does an average turnkey LS1/LT1 stocker cost...$30k? What about spare parts? What about a truck and trailer? What about the cost of traveling to and from the track via $4 diesel fuel, especially if you don't live in D-1 or D-3? And then after all of this, you can't forget the entry fees. If you can come up with a way for a young guy to afford all of this, please share, I'm listening!

For the record, no, I don't have a class car. But I'm 22 years old right now... I've been going to the race track with my dad since even before he started racing in 1998. You can do the math. Since then I could probably tell you who had the baddest B/SA in the country at that time, or the fastest C/SA in D-3 or what classes a '62 Plymouth 413 could run in. I would love to get into class racing some day with my own car or my dad's car but after reading some of these posts I probably wouldn't be able to get the car down the track anyway so why bother?

For the record, Paul and I hit it right on the head. We weren't talking about racer's sons! We were talking about all those out there that don't give a crap about going fast, building a car they can't afford in an economy that doesn't pay them a thing and doesn't have a daddy to help them. They all have $300.00 phones, X boxes and are more interested in how many amp's their stereo pushes than the HP in their cars.

I've taken a few to Grudge night at Gainesville and offered them my PT Cruiser to make some runs but they didn't take me up because they were too busy playing "angry birds" on their phones. They had no interest at all.

JimR

BTW you little snot, both Paul and I were class racing before your dad learned to blow his nose. "...so called class racers..." my butt!