dragillustrated. com

SPECIAL REPORT

SEMA Board Members Tackle RPM Act, Industry Growth and International Expansion

BIRDMAN

SPEAKS

No-Prep Superstar James Finney Lays Down the Law

Cameron

Ferré

Southern California’ s First- Generation Nitro Junkie

Make Drag Racing Great Again

From the printed magazine to the Drag Illustrated Facebook page – the good energy is hard to ignore. Congratulations on practicing what you preach – DI is Making Drag Racing Great Again. Thank you.

Ron Smith, via the Internet

[ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WES BUCK REPLIES: Thank you so much for noticing and acknowledging our efforts here, Ron. The sport of drag racing and its growth and prosperity is a teamwide passion and mission here at DI. We’ re trying hard to make sure that we leave this sport we love so much better than when we arrived on the scene in 2006.]

Hooked Up

What an impressive piece on Mickey Thompson’ s Tommy Kundrick in DI 114. As a longtime bracket racer, I admit that I’ m not as tuned into the drag radial scene as maybe I should be, and I’ m stunned / surprised / interested in the technology that is going into these tires. This guy knows his shit!

Dave Baker, via the Internet

Bright Future

PLUS

Bob

Rahaim

Harry Hruska

Shannon Morgan

Jason Miller

Tommy Kundrik

Loved seeing an absolute gem of a young man like Cameron Ferre on the cover of Drag Illustrated. As Wes Buck said on his Facebook live show in recent weeks, it’ s amazing

that Cameron has made all this progress in his racing career – making his Top Fuel debut and even going a round, taking out Tony Schumacher in the process – without being the product of a multi-generational drag racing family. That’ s a testament to this young man’ s passion and drive, and it’ s great to see in a young person in 2016. Thanks for telling the story.

Nick Olson, via the Internet

Would love to see some more from Cameron Ferre, perhaps even something technically focused on how to better use and make the most of your data acquisition system. I’ m a lower budget racer that has to buy stuff second-hand, and I think there is a lot of us in racing that would love to see some very RacePak-focused technical articles.

Larryl Washington, via the Internet

[ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WES BUCK REPLIES: Don’ t worry, Larryl. We got you. Stay tuned to DragIllustrated. com and your email inbox in the coming weeks and months!]

Birdman, No-Prep

Not sure how I feel about Drag Illustrated publishing a story on someone who readily admits to illegally street racing a twin-turbocharged Pro Mod. I know it’ s been talked about before in many places, and I am well-aware that it happens and there’ s likely no stopping it from happening, but holy crap … that was a bit sobering to read. Isn’ t that car capable of running in the three-second zone? And he literally races it on the street? What planet are we on? Anita McDonald, via the Internet

The undisputed KING of no-prep drag racing deserves ink, and I’ m thrilled that Drag Illustrated pulled the trigger on this story and gave a great guy, great racer and awesome race car the publicity it deserves. It would seem to me that Birdman, and the reasonably attainable

ex-Pro Stock / Top Sportsman single frame rail Pontiac Firebird he races, has been a big part of the reason no-prep drag racing has taken off the way it has.

Shannon Morgan is the undisputed queen of no-prep drag racing, and the originator of this kind of racing – without question. It’ s awesome to see all these events popping up across the country, but you just want to see the person that laid the foundation for so much of it get the credit they are due. You can also ask just about anyone that has ever been to a race Shannon is involved with and they’ ll tell you she runs a tight ship.

Jay Baker, via the Internet

Promotional Excellence

Good work on the Jason Miller feature. It’ s good for the sport as a whole that we have young event promoters and organizers that are trying to change with the times. Amongst the many problems that face sports of all types, but especially drag racing, is the tenancy to keep doing things the way they have always been done, and I think it’ s worth mentioning that there are some promoters in drag racing, and people in general for that matter, that are trying to stay current, change as the world changes and come up with new ways to capture

the attention of racers and fans, new and old. I see tracks struggling in many parts of the country, and if you ask them about their email list or about their social media efforts

or about their relationship with the racing media, well, they hardly know what you’ re talking about. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.

Stuart Quinn, via the Internet

Michigan Man

Kudos to Josh Hachat for the incredible story on NHRA Pro Mod racer Bob Rahaim and his familybased race team. Nice to know that there are other racers out there that take such great pride in involving their kids in their racing, and also to know that there are pro-level racers out there – that guys like me aspire to be like – that hold their team and their own self to high moral standards. Awesome. Thank you!

Trent Allen, via the Internet

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