Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

There are a couple of excellent discussions going on here during the offseason, and reading them has brought a question to mind.

My first Indy was in 1966 and it was absolute paradise. Yes, I wanted to see the Pros, but more than anything I wanted to see the cars that were legends as baddest of the bad. These were the guys who were the best in the world at racing cars like I (and my friends) raced.

I'm talking about racers like Bill Spanakos (Monster Mash), Dick Moroso, George Cureton, Jess Tyree, Jere Stahl, Bill Jenkins, Ronnie Sox, Dick Landy, Dyno Don, etc.

Just a few years later I was looking for John Lingenfelter, John Dianna, Ed Hamburger, Mark Coletti, Barry Poole, Bo Laws, Ray Allen, Dave Boertman, Truman Fields, etc.

What's changed? Is it just that I was a serious gear head and took the time to recognize the really heavy hitters? Or that back then things were truly heads up and the fastest was easy to find?

Was it because that there were a bunch of monthly magazines featuring these cars? Was it because there weren't so many national events so seeing any of these guys from across the country was really special?

I honestly don't know and that's why I'm interested in everyone's opinion. I just know that there was a time when class cars truly DID have crowds around them in the pits and the stands didn't empty when they ran.

Maybe I'm looking at this all wrong, but it doesn't seem like the really excellent racers are household names for race fans any longer.

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

The difference is that in the early days, Sportsman racers had a lot more sponsorhips and factory support. It was the days of the "Factory Wars" and "Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday". They got a lot of ink ion adevrtisements and magazines. Today, very few get that type of ink.

In addition, Pro Stock was still a developing from the Super Stock class and was not a big professional class as today. The big Pro's in the early days were T/F and later F/C, which happened to mature also from Super Stock, to AF/X and finally F/C.

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

What I think changed is;

1) The guys that are the heavy hitters now are the best drivers, not necesarly the guys with the fast cars.

2) We used to run off of national records, not dial-in's.

3) You always remembered who won the Nat'ls. & Winter Nat'ls. Now there are so many national events you can't remember who won last weeks race.

4) Magazines (Super Stock & Drag Illustrated) made a big deal of our heros and their cars. Now TV is the medium and they don't even show the sportsman classes except the alky classes and a quick fash of some finals.

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

Very true! And it was all so very new and exciting.

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

Also, we ran off of national records, not the too-soft indexes we have now that just about anything will run under. In hot weather you may not find more than three or four cars at a race that could actually break out. We were allowed to run 1/10th under. The faster cars usually won. Now, it's dumbed down to mostly et brackets. Unless you get in a popular class with a good chance for a heads-up, you won't actually do much real racing. Stockers were in magazines, SSDI covered the east coast cars, and Car Craft (John Diana, and later Rick Voglin were racers and the editors) covered the west coast cars. Imagine the indexes lowered one second today, that is about what we had then.

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

In other words PROGRESS.It's a different world than then,just as 20 years in the future what we're doing is going to seem like the 2nd golden age.It's like that in every phase of our lives.We dont like it,but that's
the way the world revolves.
(I miss those days though).....................................

Ed F.

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

We're also in an attention-deficit age... there are many more things for people to spend their money on and/or pay attention to. Also, "back in the day" everything was 'new', and people marveled at everything. The general populace today has expectations born out of the "been there, done that" mentality. That being said, I think that many folks would be newly impressed at today's show if they would go again (or for the first time).

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

I think those were the innovators of the day, and Class racing was where it is at.

Now the NMRA, NMCA, ORSCA, etc outlaw street car stuff is where the attention is, and so thats where the innovators are

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

I agree with everything that has been previously stated; but the "hardcore" fan, like me, will always recognize the Sportsman stars. Peter Biondo, Dan Fletcher, David Rampy, Anthony Bertozzi, Vinny Barone, and Michael Iacono, just to name a few, are well known and loved by fans like me. The "casual" fan attends a National event primarily for the fuel cars; most of them leave the stands when Pro Stock and Pro Stock motorcycle qualifying starts, and the rest of them leave when the Sportsman cars run. The "casual" fan attends a National event Friday - Sunday (Friday - Monday for Indy); the "hardcore" fan is there from Thursday - Sunday (Wednesday - Monday for Indy). That behavior will probably never change, that is why the attendance is so low at most Divisional races and National Opens; only the "hardcore" fan attends a Divisional event or a National Open, and "hardcore" fans are definitely the minority.
Bill Seabrooks - superfan1

Re: Then vs Now - What Happened?
 

Bill, I saw the same thing when I started going to the national events. I was usually found getting under Mike Edward's feet, and when Pro Stock ran, you could sit anywhere you like. Everybody left after the fuel cars, which I have no interest in watching. Worked out well for me. I showed Pete Peery a picture I found of his Bill Hilsher<SP> Vega at a Laplace div 4 race. He said "look at all the people in the stands!" I remember them being full, but top fuel and Pro Stock ran div races back then also.

I was a little suprised the first time I stood in line at a national event waiting for the gates to open. Everybody was telling bs stories about what Kenny Bernstien and John Force were having a war about, Some whiz-bang new blower somebody had, other bs. After the gates opened, I would sit on Mike's golf cart until they showed up. The same people were walking around carrying old head gaskets, other crap they found in the pro's trash cans. Baggy shorts, flip flops, mullets or bald spots above pony tails, wife beater shirts, teeth missing. Not the same crowds we used to see. Looked like the same people I saw at my one & only NASCAR race. They are obviously only there for the noise and big speeds. Most don't know beans about the cars. That's not everybody, but a large percentage of them. The people left in the stands when Pro Stock and sportsman cars run seem pretty knowlegable. They pretty much leave when the throttle stop cars come up.

I miss the real racing.