[Paul Merolla]

At 40, I know I don't quite qualify as a "young guy", but I am definitely a newbie...after 10 long years of dreaming, I hope to dump the clutch in my stocker for the first time by the end of summer. This will be my first racecar ever. That being said, here's my perspective: All my friends are what you'd call gearheads...they own everything from street rods to modern musclecars. Some are bracket racers, some have dabbled in Friday night grudge racing at the local track, and some have never been down a dragstrip. What they all have in common is this: for the most part, none of them even knew what Stock was until I started building this car. I myself had no clue until I saw Dave Cech's Chevy II at a Friday night grudge race at Scribner back in 2000. I don't think it's realistic to think you can attract new blood from the general public. They will come from the local bracket racing demographic, in my opinion. This is where Mr. Beard's "Farm System" approach is very smart. If we classracers can regularly hold combos at local tracks, the performance-oriented subset of bracket racers can be "recruited" there. Stock is NOT an entry-level class anymore...entry-level racers shy away from the concept of their car fitting into a class - it's just too complicated for someone who's getting their feet wet; that being said, I don't want to see Stock watered down to cater to those folks. That's what the attraction is for me: How the heck can a 283 with the tiny stock carb run freakin' 11's???? They are very special cars, and the learning curve makes it great!