Wally Parks editorial from Dec 1955 - Page 2

Travis Miller · 12-03-2011, 10:09 AM

The following is Wally Parks' editorial from the Dec 1955 issue of Hot Rod Magazine concerning the Great Bend event.

"A lot of fellows who participated in the recent National Championship Drag Races at Great Bend, Kansas, were a bit shaken up at the thoroughness with which NHRA officials conducted the pre-race technical inspections. Crew members who were charged with responsibility for maintaining safety of contestant equipment were trained at their jobs and handled the details with conscientious sincerity. It wasn't that they were trying to find fault with a participant's car; they simply followed the rules as they were meant to be followed. Naturally, a lot of last minutes repairs and alterations had to be made, some of which cost the entrants valuable time. Most complaints were, "We've been running this way at our strip all along and have had no trouble before!", which simply pointed out that a lot of strips have been far too lax in their enforcement of universally accepted safety regulations governing drag strip operations.

But after the meet was ended, members of the hard-working NHRA technical committee became heroes in the eyes of many participants. They exerted the same honest concern in verifying the legality of class winners as they had in searching for potential danger points in the earlier inspections.

As winners were determined, during the class eliminations, an assigned official would escort each winning car to a holding area where it was held pending a tear-down inspections of its engine. Engines were torn all the way down in real expose.

To say that some owners of stock cars in the National Drags were startled would be the understatement of the meet-they were shook! And why not? In one Stock class the first, second and third place cars proved to be running out of class, having modifications or special equipment that were definitely not permissible.

As a result, no records were established in either "A," "B," "C," or "D" Stock classes at Great Bend. Only two eliminators, "B" and "D" classes, were determined legal upon inspections.

What's to come of all this dishonesty? Well, there are several possible solutions. One is to discontinue the running of Stock classes, but this isn't practical. Another might be to run Stocks for "time only," giving no awards to winners. Last, but not least, would be to change class restrictions to simply require "no visible modifications," leaving hidden parts wide open to alteration.

Whatever is done, a lot of honest people will take the rap for offenses committed by a few would-be "hot dogs" who haven't enough confidence in their own engine refinements to declare them properly.

As always, we welcome our readers' reactions and suggestions.-WP"

12-03-2011, 10:09 AM	#1
Travis Miller Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Posts: 478 Likes: 1 Liked 276 Times in 27 Posts	Wally Parks editorial from Dec 1955 The following is Wally Parks' editorial from the Dec 1955 issue of Hot Rod Magazine concerning the Great Bend event. "A lot of fellows who participated in the recent National Championship Drag Races at Great Bend, Kansas, were a bit shaken up at the thoroughness with which NHRA officials conducted the pre-race technical inspections. Crew members who were charged with responsibility for maintaining safety of contestant equipment were trained at their jobs and handled the details with conscientious sincerity. It wasn't that they were trying to find fault with a participant's car; they simply followed the rules as they were meant to be followed. Naturally, a lot of last minutes repairs and alterations had to be made, some of which cost the entrants valuable time. Most complaints were, "We've been running this way at our strip all along and have had no trouble before!", which simply pointed out that a lot of strips have been far too lax in their enforcement of universally accepted safety regulations governing drag strip operations. But after the meet was ended, members of the hard-working NHRA technical committee became heroes in the eyes of many participants. They exerted the same honest concern in verifying the legality of class winners as they had in searching for potential danger points in the earlier inspections. As winners were determined, during the class eliminations, an assigned official would escort each winning car to a holding area where it was held pending a tear-down inspections of its engine. Engines were torn all the way down in real expose. To say that some owners of stock cars in the National Drags were startled would be the understatement of the meet-they were shook! And why not? In one Stock class the first, second and third place cars proved to be running out of class, having modifications or special equipment that were definitely not permissible. As a result, no records were established in either "A," "B," "C," or "D" Stock classes at Great Bend. Only two eliminators, "B" and "D" classes, were determined legal upon inspections. What's to come of all this dishonesty? Well, there are several possible solutions. One is to discontinue the running of Stock classes, but this isn't practical. Another might be to run Stocks for "time only," giving no awards to winners. Last, but not least, would be to change class restrictions to simply require "no visible modifications," leaving hidden parts wide open to alteration. Whatever is done, a lot of honest people will take the rap for offenses committed by a few would-be "hot dogs" who haven't enough confidence in their own engine refinements to declare them properly. As always, we welcome our readers' reactions and suggestions.-WP" Last edited by Travis Miller; 12-03-2011 at 10:13 AM.