GEORGE KLASS

when NHRA first started of course, they only had one drag race for several years which was the Nationals.”

Another reason for the fond look back to that time was cost. The biggest names in the sport weren’ t multi-millionaires who raced cars for a living; they were match racers who would haul their rides from drag strip to drag strip. They raced against others in highly-publicized events that saw not only the best cars, but the best personalities face off against one another. It’ s a system that has begun to return in today’ s racing, with promoters like Donald“ Duck” Long using social media as a method of helping build rivalries between the best small-tire racers in the country.

“ In those days you didn’ t have a lot of money to do stuff,” Klass said.“ Everything was trade-off, you know. Don Prudhomme used to paint cars. When he needed something done for his personal stuff, he would trade things. We always were doing that. We would be building decks and somebody else who could weld better than us could weld stuff for us, scrounging parts and trading stuff.”

Those days of racing within the NHRA are long gone, where even the Sportsman classes see massive budgets. There are other sanctions that provide the kind of action Klass grew up watching. The Southeast Gassers Association is possibly the most period-strict series in the country with cars that could’ ve raced in the 60s. Smaller groups, such as PDRA, NMCA, PSCA, and others, maintain a similar vibe of the old-school events, even if the budgets are substantially higher.

“ Now you gotta be a promoter, now you gotta be a part businessman,” said George.“ In the old days, it was just like, get a bunch of people together and see how much money we can pull and go out and build a race car –‘ build’ being the key thing. I never bought a race car; we made them. We just built them, built them out of nothing.”

For those like me not around for the days of

wearing t-shirts behind the wheel, a cigarette hanging jauntily from the lips, and a delightful young lady dropping the rag to start the race, Klass’ s website, GeorgeKlass. net, is a gift to those who cherish our history.

A combination of photos, stories, and links to other like-minded sites, Klass started the page a couple years ago after sorting through scores of photos he had accumulated through the years.

Once he started, he began receiving pictures from friends, racers, and others, creating a nostalgic hub for not only those who lived through it, but for those like me who love history and hunger for knowledge of the sport.

“ I just started in earnest. Every couple of days I would look through and see if I could find pictures and it just kept growing and growing over the years,” he said.“ Right now, I have probably over 4,000 photographs up there. I’ ve broken it down into various classes that we used to have in the 60s, many of which do not exist anymore.”

Today, the NHRA is the leader in drag racing, as far as size, payouts, media attention, and so forth. Klass is quick to say that, while he enjoys their brand of motorsports, it’ s not necessarily drag racing. It’ s entertainment. Rules are changed for the sake of television, drivers are expected to do certain things on certain weekends because of sponsor obligations. NHRA created this standard and while it’ s fun to watch and be a part of, it’ s

not drag racing, in Klass’ s opinion.

“ They created something that makes them an income as a promoter, but drag racing never started that way. Drag racing was never even a spectators sport. For many years there was no place even to sit, you just stood along the rail. That was it.

“ I love watching the dial-in stuff,” he said,“( but) you can’ t really charge people to come and watch it,‘ cause I don’ t think it’ s exciting enough, but it is fun just seeing the different cars. That’ s grassroots today. At least in my opinion.” DI

PHOTO: DYAN LOVER