The State Of Sportsman Racing - Interesting Read

[ALMACK]

Originally Posted by Jeff Niceswanger

Hi Kevin ...

Great Post ... You got me thinking .. I still work in a factory (Union Shop), work a 40 -60 hour week ( weekends included) and carry my dinner bucket and hard hat back and forth to work everyday ... Probably,...... back in the "60's" that you speak of, 90 % of NHRA members were just like me ...... I wonder how many "dinner bucket carriers" there are now days racing Class Cars ? I'd say that has been replaced by business owners..
In the Factory I work in, there are 400 members, and 150 management team... Out of those #'s, there are 2 of us that race cars. 1 that pulls trucks, .... I'm the only class racer, the other guy is into the small tire 5.0 Ford stuff...( We compare notes as he is setting up a new Holley FI system on that mustang ...)
Back in the 60's, ALL guys were into cars, Right? ... Look at how its changed...

^^ Good points
I am the only Class racer where I work.
One other employee is a bracket racer, and another into truck pulls.

Back in the 60's and 70's, the NHRA, IHRA, AHRA, etc were the only game in town.
No NMCA, NMRA, Outlaw racing series, big bucks bracket races etc. at the time to choose from.
Younger racers new to drag racing now have a lot more choices, so class racing for some is not an affordable choice.
I wanted to run Stock/Super Stock when I was 21 but had to wait 30 years before I could make my first pass as a class racer due to the buy in cost.

Also, you can count me as one of the "dinner bucket carriers"

I like going to Division events, but the 3 day schedule makes it tough for guys working Mon-Fri.

It would be nice to see the Division meets go to 2 day events, but as it stands right now, I have to make do with 1 qual. pass on Saturdays. ( or slip out of work early on Friday and hope to get there early enough to make a clean up run late Friday afternoon