THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
Burk you better crawl back in that bottle ‘cause it is not going to happen. It is all about the money. I would to see it happen but I think times have passed us by.
Jerry
Tucson, AZ
BUT WHAT ABOUT RACEBRICKS?
Come on Jeff, real factory support? With the aerodynamics of a house brick at race speeds do we really think the factories are going to give substance to real race car design?
John Geltink
Wellington, Australia
REMEMBERING THE GOOD OLD DAYS
I agree that the shape of the pro cars all look the same. I did not follow drag racing from 1982 till 1999; boy was it different. I have been following drag racing since then. I went to all of the fall national events at Route 66 till they were cancelled, and a couple of the June nationals. I used to go to Union Grove two times a year for 20 years. That was back in the day they would have 10 to 20 each Pro Stocks, Top Fuelers, Funny Cars, jet cars, rocket cars even a rocket powered go-cart. That was more fun than it is today. Although I like the speeds we have today. That’s my opinion. I could be wrong.
Jeffrey Kammes
Dekalb, IL
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KENNY KILLED IT?
Wow Burkster! You sure hit the nail on the head with this column. I couldn't agree more - neither Funny Cars nor Pro Stockers look anything like the cars they are supposed to represent. Having grown up with drag racing in the ‘70s, I watched with amazement as Kenny Bernstein almost single-handedly transformed funny cars from the Monzas, Vegas, Arrows and Camaros we could recognize, into that God-awful "Batmobile" thingie. And NHRA allowed him to do it! I wondered what in the world they were thinking then, and I still do.
Funny Cars became just a different version of Top Fuelers - flip top creations laid over frame rails with x,000 horsepower nitro engines, as opposed to rails with the same type engines. No longer could I look at a Funny Car and say, "Yeah, cool-looking Chevy Monza Snake is driving!" Nope. Instead, it became, "What the he-- is KB sitting in this year? What in God’s name is that thing?! Ugh!"
Yes, nostalgia racing fills some of that void, but no one has yet satisfactorily explained to me why these racers need to have bodies that are so perfectly aerodynamic, rather than bodies that might help sell Detroit's (and Tokyo's I guess) products.
The only analogy I can think of is, in NASCAR the drivers always complain about Daytona and Talladega, that it is "no fun" for them. I say, who cares? The races are for THE FANS, not the racers. Of course, the racers are the ones out there doing it, but that doesn't mean they should have everything their way.
My proposal is, make a true "funny car" class, with bodies that actually resemble those of real cars, and let the big-buck guys race the monstrosities they run now. Market them evenly, cover them equally, and we'll see how long it takes for the fans to completely forget about the "batmobiles" and concentrate on the "real" cars.
Thanks, as always, for your insightful comments.
John Murnan
Cottage Grove, MN