ADIOS, KLOEBER

I don't know Bob Tasca III and I don't know Mike Kloeber. But I've seen this rodeo before. New team enlists veteran tuner to help them hit the ground running. Tuner does his thing, new team has some early success, but struggles a bit too. Next thing ya know, tuner's out of a job, and those in power cite "team chemistry". Hey, I struggled in Chemistry in high school, so I'm not totally unsympathetic to the Tasca's situation. But I would be willing to bet a big stack of small coins the struggles will continue. And that's no indictment of the new guy's qualifications. I just hate to see an owner get what he wants out of a guy, then dump him as soon as they think they don't need him anymore. Owners may write the checks, but sometimes they are better off letting the workers work.

HOW MANY IS TOO MANY?

I'm talking about the number of nitro nostalgia funny cars on the West Coast. Qualifying sheets from the March Meet showed 26 cars in the pits for an eight-car show. Granted, the meet's organizers added an eight-car B field, but that still leaves ten guys on the sidelines come race day. And as noted elsewhere in DRO, the feeling of "... this year is over" was voiced by several participants. Could it be the March Meet can't carry the entire racing season for the AA/FC crowd? With the upcoming events, it will be very interesting to track the car count, and contrast that with how many cars go up for sale, and how quickly. Steve Romanazzi has his stuff for sale, and so does Len McLaughlin. Who will be next?

I wish I could say a tour of the Midwest during the summer months would be a solution to the problem, but it isn't a realistic expectation. Most of these guys are just like you and me, working men who cannot take off a month or two to go racing. Too bad, because the Midwest portion of the nostalgia scene could benefit from seeing cars like the Plueger and Gyger Mustang, the Pisano family Vega, and the Pedaler Arrow making noise at a track near you, as the saying goes. It always was way cool to see the local racers take on the California Cars at good old Kansas City International Race way. May it be so again.

GOOGLE BOB MOTZ

I meant to do this before I started writing - I really did! But I didn't, so now I'm asking you to do just that. If he has a web site, please do what is necessary to buy a T-shirt, or whatever they have for sale, and help out a true icon of drag racing exhibition performers. I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Motz reduce the tree line behind Dragway 42's tower to smoking shadows of their former selves many years ago, and it was worth the price of admission. If Bob gets back behind the wheel of his jet truck at some time in the future, I for one will gladly pay to see it. Until that day, buy a T-shirt. You won't regret it.

AND WHILE YOU'RE AT IT

Once you settle up with Bob Motz, go on over to Youtube, and punch in "fuel altereds" on the search field, and find the video clip of Mike Boyd and the Winged Express. You don't have to play the entire clip, just the part where the starter turns over, the cack starts up, and the burnout goes down. If you don't feel better after a few reps, then there's no hope for you. Get outta drag racing and don't come back. I'm not worried - you will like it just fine. I just hope you have a good sound system on your computer. Mine could use an upgrade.

CUE THE VISUALS, PLEASE

Once the Winged Express has worked its magic, consult your local listing and find the Ion Network, new home of Inside Drag Racing. For my money, the best TV show on drag racing anywhere. It's the unfiltered stuff that you don't get otherwise.

THE CALIFORNIA KID

I'm gonna miss him while he's gone - Chris Martin, that is. And I hope he isn't out of the DRO lineup for too great a period of time. Like all of us, Chris has his faults. When I started writing for Drag Racing Online, I decided early on that Chris was our resident Hunter S. Thompson, and any attempt on my part to usurp his title would be futile. Some of his rants set me on kill, almost literally. But what I wouldn't give right now to hear --again- his story of how Freddy DeName "solved" the mystery of a disappearing race car and trailer, or the one about what Sonny Liston and Sam Giancana  discussed in a Cleveland bar. That Chrissie, he's a story-teller of the first order. I hope they don't cure him of that! Hurry back, kid!

Later!  

 

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