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Thanks for posting this link. I guess I am a little behind the curve. I still miss the "Sunday, Sunday" back in the day. I am definitely old school.

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Seems like the fan base isn't there like when first started. Stands look empty when scanning quick during competition! The cheers you hear on tv aren't real, they are added to sound like big crowd! Just my opinion. Love watching though!

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Having been to and participating in.......a NPK's event I can say I love it! Reminds me of the old days of early Pro Mod and the "Outlaw" feel. The show and the fan interaction is great. That being said....given a dream budget.... I'm not sure I would participate on a regular basis only because these events are generally crash fests and it's not a matter of if but when I'm going to pile my stuff and myself up.

God Bless those guys and gals with the intestinal fortitude and bucks to chase it.

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Agreed I cant compete with anyone heads up and I also dont have wads of extra cash to wad my junk up and rebuild every other month.....

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To me, personally, these type of events are more of a circus sideshow, than the type of racing that I like. As mentioned, breakage, crashes and aborted runs are par for the course. A couple of people that I know, took their small tire/no prep type cars to the recent +Street Car Supernationals" in Vegas. One crashed his small tire Mustang on his first 1/8th mile pass on the Wednesday, and there were so many other crashes and oildowns, that they cancelled the race, after dozens of cars were stuck in the staging lanes for hours. I just hope these freakshows don`t result in so many crashes , injuries, or potentially deaths, do not endanger the abilities of NHRA and dragstrips in general, to keep their doors open, due to insurance claims or lawsuits. JMO

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Back in the 60's and 70's = I was Vice President of LA Street Racers.
Often Weekends we would draw 25,000+ to watch. The Drama and
Interaction between Drivers was made it so entertaining to watch.
Every part of town had it's favorites and heros and rooted for them.
That made it wildly popular for everyone to watch.
Thousands of Dollars changed hands every week.
I made my living and paid for College with 4 days a week of racing.
Now we work an extra day a week just to pay for our racing =
never have a year that we come out ahead!

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Wow, John... we need more stories from those days! Big Willie was a hero. NoPrep stuff seems silly to me. I suppose i'm a fan of traction but YouTube Russian dash cam videos have shown me the appeal of crashes.

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"There's an a** for every seat"

Not my cup of tea. But if it helps parts manufacturers, chassis shops, engine builders, track owners and the people who participate, mazel tov

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My issue with the no prep- outlaw- made for ewetoob racing is the bad name our sport is going to get when the 18 dozen people they allow all around the starting line start getting hurt and killed. Good Lord knows NHRA isn't perfect by any means but the safety they provide is second to none.

BBB

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This is like racing in the 50' and 60's. Narrow airport runways, no guard rails. Ii raced in the 50's and 60's at Aurora Oregon airport, Balboa in Eugene Oregon, Portland when it was an old road in the Vanport area flood area, Scappose airport, The Newport, Oregon airport The Dalles Port, Washington airport across the river from the Dalles, Oregon,
Woodburn Drag Strip is a converted airport That became a drag strip before guard rails.There was Shelton Washington airport, Arlington Washington airport, When Seattle International Raceway opened they had a great show Of all the different types of car's that raced there, Go karts, sports cars, and motorcycles.
There were 64 funny car races, The fox hunt races when females got in free, when you came down the return road the fans threw beer cans at you. Bill Donner knew how to give the fans there moneys worth. He was also the lease holder at Portland International raceway ran by Steve Dembo. These tracks back then were a lot more fun becouse you built most every thing yourself.
If you see the lead disclaimer these "Street racers" are tightly controlled races with ambuanlce's, fire truck's ,and Discovery channels money. The drivers wear full safety equipment, and I bet they have better tech inspection than the NHRA. They are doing there best to end sportsman racing.
I am glad that I retired from owning and driving when I did. The main reasion I go now is the people, I have met people from all over the world and the NHRA can not take that away from me.
Remember when you wacke up and don't see dirt above you, IT'S A GOOD DAY