LETTER from the EDITOR
Every month for the last 11 years, I’ ve devoted this space to telling old stories of my past, offering up my opinions on the sport of drag racing, entrepreneurship and a number of other topics, as well as explaining why and how we go about filling the pages of this magazine – as well as those of our website and social media channels. That last bit – about demystifying my editorial process – is something I intend to do more of in the future.
You see … I get a lot of emails, phone calls and text messages from racers and promoters looking for a little love from Drag Illustrated. To be honest, it’ s tremendously flattering. Too vivid are the memories of begging racers for interviews at events I’ d attended while serving as a crewmember on a race team( because I couldn’ t afford to get to the drag strip any other way) for it to be any other way. This time of year – with promoters and racers either on the heels of a successful season or beaming with excitement as to the promise of 2017 – it’ s almost non-stop. And I love it. I love talking to racers and promoters who are as wound-up and excited about drag racing as I am – be it going racing and competing themselves, or throwing the next barnburner event. It’ s those calls, texts and emails that help me keep my ear to the ground, discovering new things – racers, cars, events, and tracks – and feel out the different trends that come and go in the sport of drag racing. I always talk about what“ moves the needle”, and one of my best measuring devices is my email inbox and my voicemail box.
Amongst a slew of texts I’ ve received heading into this 2017 racing season was one from a seemingly disgruntled promoter. Apparently, he felt left out in the cold; that I’ d ignored him and / or his race( s), and he felt compelled to let me know. Truthfully, I appreciated the input. Not because I agreed with his sentiment, but because I still get a kick out of these little reminders that people actually pay attention to what goes on these pages( and apparently what doesn’ t). In all seriousness, though, this gentleman’ s note was powerful reminder of how this all works, and I’ d like to shed a little light on that with you here in hopes that you can use it to your own advantage.
Guy Kawasaki, world-renowned marketing guru and one of the original Apple employees responsible for marketing their Macintosh computers in the mid-1980s, once famously wrote,“ if you don’ t toot your own horn, don’ t complain that there’ s no music.” I’ m not exactly sure why, but these words
SQUEAK
have resonated with me for years and years, ever since I first read them – even though they go against everything I had and have since been taught about humility.
Many( most) of us are taught early on not to be boastful or brag, not to be cocky or arrogant, and I believe that many of us twist that notion around in our heads to ultimately mean being silent – to say nothing so as to avoid even the possibility of being hit with one of the aforementioned labels. The problem is that being a self-righteous loud mouth is not the same as being proud of what you’ ve accomplished and being willing to share that information with others, for their potential benefit as well as your own.
Unfortunately, it’ s not easy; it can be a little uncomfortable – especially for those of us with good moms and pops who raised us right. But let’ s face it – sometimes it’ s OK to brag; sometimes it’ s even necessary to brag. When you do good work, you need not be afraid to let people know, and that’ s why“ the text message” mentioned above is a touch frustrating – it was the first communication this individual had ever directed my way.
I hate to admit that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, but I will say that like most anything and everyone – it’ s the path of least resistance that is often taken. The promoters, tracks, racers, teams and manufacturers that we work with most are the ones that work with us – they keep us in the loop, they hit us up when they have news to break, they remind us of upcoming events, oftentimes inquiring as to what they can do to help facilitate our coverage / support of whatever it is they are doing. We’ re certainly always on the lookout for exciting and developing storylines in and around the drag racing world, but there’ s simply no way in this day-and-age that we can keep track of everything that is going on at every drag strip or in every drag racers’ garage.
So, please, I encourage you – racers, team owners, manufacturers, sponsors and enthusiasts – don’ t be afraid to let people know what you’ re up to, and don’ t fool yourself into believing that updating your Facebook status means that you’ ve notified the planet that you’ re headed to the points meet this weekend in Division 5. If you’ re looking to see your name, or that of your sponsor and your team, don’ t be afraid to beat the brush – make some calls, send some emails, shoot out a few texts.
It’ s not crazy to toot your own horn – it’ s crazy to think that someone will do it for you.
Wesley R. Buck Editor-in-Chief wes @ dragillustrated. com
Scott Dorman Publisher 615.478.5275 scott @ dragillustrated. com
Will Mandell Senior Sales Executive 615.426.0465 will @ dragillustrated. com
JT Hudson Sales Representative 660.341.0063 jt @ dragillustrated. com
Mike Carpenter Design & Production Director 704.737.2299 mike @ dragillustrated. com
Ian Tocher Senior Editor 404.375.4895 ian @ dragillustrated. com
Van Abernethy Senior Staff Writer & Field Subscription Sales 828.302.0356 van @ dragillustrated. com
Nate Van Wagnen Web Editor & Staff Writer 440.986.1480 nate @ dragillustrated. com
Bret Kepner Historian / Statistician bret @ dragillustrated. com
Andrea Wilson Controller 660.349.0847 andrea @ dragillustrated. com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ainsley Jacobs, Bobby Bennett, Tommy D’ Aprile, Lisa Collier, Brandon W. Mudd
PHOTO DEPARTMENT: John Fore III( Senior Staff Photographer), Paul Grant( Senior Photographer), Roger Richards, Ian Tocher, Van Abernethy, Mark J. Rebilas, Joe McHugh, Chris Graves, James Sisk, Jason Dunn, Ron Lewis, Gary Nastase, Rick Belden, Jason Sharp
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Copyright © 2017 by Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Drag Illustrated is a registered trademark of Drag Illustrated Media, LLC. Printed and mailed by Publication Printers in Denver, CO.
Wesley R. Buck Editor-in-Chief
I invite you to email me at wes @ dragillustrated. com and follow me at facebook. com / wbuck and wesbuckinc on Instagram.
All statements, including product claims, are those of the person or organization making the statement or claim. The publisher does not adopt any such statement or claims as its own, and any such statement or claim does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.
8 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 117