CAPPS FAN
Ron Capps is a class act; a lot of racers could learn from him. He has been beat up more than anyone out there, but still keeps a fantastic attitude. Ron has made a fan for life because
of the way he handled racing Robert in the final in Vegas. Call it what you want but seems like he stepped off the throttle and let Robert win. I feel it was the right thing, time and place for an act like that.
Ron you are a champion in many eyes, your day will come.
Donny Lowrance
Colorado City, TX
GOOD THOUGHT
Mister Burk, just wondering. Why not shorten the tracks to 1/8 mile and have safer and just as good of a race. Oh, and your luxury boxes would be at the finish line. Just a thought.
Ron Lobb
Paris, IL
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, MARK?
Fuel classes - How about one pump with an inline organization supplied restriction, one mag, limit the pulleys, single element wing on dragsters, 2 speed Lenco with no air-operated clutches, adequate minimum weight to discourage titanium or other expensive materials. Hey wait a minute, you can't do that! Your neighbor may beat a heavily sponsored car. I remember 16 fuelers at Laplace Dragway near New Orleans (late ‘60s to early ‘70s, and Southland Dragway near Houma, LA (early ‘70s). As a kid, those shows were something to see. I do not remember the fields of 30 plus cars but it must have been sight to see.
Anyway, I bought an old ex A/EA, which was run by Ricky and Leo Klarr out of Hattisburg, MS. I believe the car won Div.4 4 years. High dollar teams were around then, but these guys just beat them by shear determination. Boogie Scott from Covington built the car. Boogie’s wife asked Leo how he was doing on one of their trips to the shop. His reply was, Dreaming of how to take a hundredth off of the car.
If I do make if out in C/EA (no chance but it should be fun), it will have the wording on the back, "from a day when men won comp. not money!"
I just recently found your site and I have been enjoying it ever since.
Thanks,
Mark Brown
GET A CLUE!
Overall, I enjoy your publication, however, get a kick out of all these rule changes you guys want to see in the sportsman classes. I am a competitor in Stock Eliminator. Sure, NHRA/IHRA class racing has its problems. You guys are continually pushing for "heads-up" racing (see Bezerko Bob's column or one of Burkster's past columns). I don't have a $200,000 motor home or a $100,000 stacker. The vast majority of sportsman racers don't.
Heads-up racing works like this: He with the most money wins. Look at how the rich guys are already ruining the 10.5" classes, which aren't even 10.5" tires. That's why we have index racing, breakouts, etc. It's called a necessary evil. I do agree that much of the electronic aids need to go away. I think Jok is the only guy you have that has a clue to what the sportsman racer has to do to race.
Jim Kaekel Jr.
Coloma, MI
NO SKILL NEEDED FOR 1/8TH MILE RACING?
Jok, YOU ARE WRONG!!!! Being a racer you should agree that racing a quarter mile is way funner (sic) than an 1/8 mile. I raced 1/8 mile back in the SE when I lived there and it sucked. At least the people had enough brains in the Midwest when I lived there to race the full length and out here in California it is still 1/4 mile. 1/8 mile is just reaction time racing. Whoever cuts the best light wins. There is no driving skill at the top end.
As far as really fast cars (nitro and alcohol) just slow them down. Get rid of the 2 fuel pumps, reduce the cubic inches by 100, get rid of 2 mags, and cut the nitro percentage even more. The problem is, however, then Goodyear will not advance tire technology because all the sudden the tire is "good enough."
There also can be a lot done with chassis technology. Doubling the wall thickness and making the main tubes diameter 50% larger would strengthen chassis's tremendously without increasing the weight much. You know that your dragster chassis is so light you could pick it up and carry it around easily. This is money well spent. Also the bigger the tubing the easier it is to weld.
Just a few ideas for you to think about. 1/8 mile sucks.
Kurt Carlson
SP 536U
SE 5369
TC 5369