Part of what hurt drag racing

[Ron Middleton]

Interesting thread and my take on it is pretty broad but to me I see society as a whole hurting the sport. Now days with all the environmental issues and the soaring costs of fuel over the last 30 years has driven the interest away for a lot of people. Instead of a steady stream of muscle cars cruising down the highway we have economy cars and suv's with little distinction between every model. When I was in high school Vocational education and programs like Auto body repair and Auto mechanics thrived now days all the counselors are trying to steer all the good students to a college education and less physical work. Kids are sitting inside playing XBox, etc. instead of getting out and riding the bikes, go karts and mini bikes like I did when I was young. Noise issues, zoning and residence restrictions all add to the lessening of interest in cars as a whole. And until recently the factory's didn't really advertise performance vehicles such as the new performance cars by Chevy, Ford and Mopar. Very few local dealerships sponsor or promote racing like they did in the 60's and early
Auto racing as a whole has changed and weekly programs don't feature a lot of what they did 30-40 years ago. No pro's at points meets, NASCAR drivers with contracts that prevent them from running non Cup series races, etc. all diminish the allure of it. And as a whole, I think most racers do a less than stellar job of introducing new people into the racing scene. Enclosed trailers are probably a small part of it but as a whole I think the racing community hasn't adapted well to the overall changing lanscape of today's society. JMT.