Drag Racing News

By Mike Paz

I have written a few pieces for George in the past and whenever our paths cross, he always graciously offers the invitation do so again—at my leisure. So don’t expect a regular column or anything like that;

I only send something when there’s a subject which I have a strong opinion about and it’s just that, an opinion, which by definition doesn’t make it right or wrong so feel free to have your own as well.. Also, let me warn you way ahead of time that this will be a L-O-N-G rant so you may want to go look at the pictures or classifieds in the rest of this publication if you don’t want to read what this windbag has to say.  If you do decide to continue further, remember, you were advised far in advance.  Every so often while talking with racers and/or fans of the sport, inevitably the conversation gets steered towards the question of why it seems like drag racing, both local and national, has lost its popularity or is in a “downward spiral” The easiest and most obvious answer is:” It’s the economy, stupid”. Easy, yes. Accurate, no. Like any similar topic, I believe that there is a combination of factors, none of which by themselves is the primary reason for any loss of popularity but taken together could be considered to have had a cumulative negative over the years.  Just to be clear here, the local and/or regional scene is where the discussion is centered now. For me, the comfort level about what’s going on nationally just isn’t there anymore as my “insider” information opportunities dried up just my announcing ones there in 2000. Since it’s now been 10 full years without having worked a single national event for either sanctioning body, the knowledge just isn’t there to form even an educated guess, much less something close to an informed opinion.  And I don’t have a problem admitting that.