Feedback, Friendly Notes, & Hate Mail

Outlaws Out Front

Excellent article by Ainsley Jacobs on“ Nova Joe” Albrecht and his path to victory at Lights Out 8 [“ Hard Work Pays Off,” RS 119 ]. For a lot of us, it’ s nice to get a little reminder from time to time that the hard work, sacrifices made and investment of time and money required to go drag racing can ultimately be worth it. Excellent work! Bobby Ross, Burbank, California

Can’ t stress enough how important it is that these young men and women we are more and more frequently seeing behind the wheel of big power, crazy fast race cars have a strong mechanical understanding of how the vehicle they’ re driving works. It’ s absolutely fantastic to know that“ Nova Joe” is not only young and motivated, but he’ s a knowledgeable and talented fabricator. You guys pegged this guy a winner in the 30 Under 30 issue and- clearly- you were correct!

David Pacheco, via the Internet

What’ s Next?

Thrilled with your radial coverage, especially Radial vs. World, but I have to ask where is this class headed? If it wasn’ t out of control a couple years ago, it’ s upside down and on fire right now- and that isn’ t meant to be a negative comment, only to illustrate the insanity of this class right now. It was only a few years ago that guys like Kevin Mullins were getting major-league press from DI for a string of low 4-second passes and now you couldn’ t qualify for a 32-car field with those numbers. I know that Donald“ Duck” Long has spoken candidly( on the pages of your magazine, matter of fact) as to these heads up classes all having something of a lifecycle, and I guess I’ m just curious as to where you guys see it. The money that is being spent to compete at the highest level in this category, according to the people I talk to, would likely rival or at least closely compare to that of NHRA Pro Mod. That’ s unreal. The real question is probably, how much is left on this fuse?

Eugene Knapp, via the Internet

[ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WES BUCK REPLIES: I don’ t think you’ re totally out of line with your thoughts, Eugene, but I think this radial movement has plenty of life left in it. As long as Donald Long is able to keep stirring the pot, keep people interested and excited, I believe his events will continue to grow or at least maintain. I do think that all these heads up categories have something of an

The Outlaw Issue

212.69

MARK WOODRUFF KNOCKS DOWN THE SCOREBOARDS IN SOUTH GEORGIA

The Arrival

‘ STEVIE FAST’ JACKSON MAKES A SPLASH IN NHRA DEBUT

Lyle Barnett Can’ t Be Stopped

Eric Latino Sets the Pace in Pro Mod

LIL’ COUNTRY SCOTTY G DEAN MARINIS

expiration date, but it feels very fluid, almost ever-changing. My fear has always been rising payouts bringing a slew of bigger and bigger budget teams into the fold, but it would certainly appear that a lot of the usual suspects- even a few that admittedly race on a limited budget- remain frontrunners, and that’ s got to be a good thing. I’ m still waiting for a bunch of top-tier PDRA Pro Extreme, Pro Nitrous or Pro Boost cars to strap on a set of Mickey Thompson 315-series radials and get involved, but for whatever reason it hasn’ t happened yet- and that’ s probably a good thing. Thank you for writing!]

Rock Bottom?

Not sure how the rest of the drag racing community feels, but I believe Pro Stock hit rock bottom at the recently completed NHRA Spring Nationals in Houston. Just 13 cars were on the property and while the field was pretty tight, it really felt sad- maybe for the first time, at least for me. I think it was the first time I kinda took a step back and said,‘ Wow, Pro Stock is in real trouble.’ I suppose you could argue that they rebounded with at least a

ON RADIAL RACING’ S BIGGEST NIGHT, ONE MAN STOOD TALL dragillustrated. com

full field( 17 cars) in Charlotte, but I still believe we’ re far beyond“ the writing is on the wall”- Pro Stock is a proverbial dead man walking. You can’ t help but feel for all the guys that are so heavily invested in this class, but is there not a point of like making matters worse? How can anyone feel good about continuing down this path? Stop the bleeding? Maybe?

David Williams, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Read a book recently that talked about quitting, and how that sometimes it’ s OK to quit. It feels like we’ ve reached that point with NHRA Pro Stock. There’ s a time to stick it out, and there’ s a time to throw in the towel and it would appear that the real challenge is to know the difference. Is there truly a future for NHRA’ s once fan-favorite factory hot rod eliminator? There may be, but it is this humble reader’ s opinion that it cannot and will not happen without something approaching a complete reboot. I’ m talking steel roof and quarters, perhaps some sort of factory crate engine program, or at least a current production engine, 10-inch slicks, no wheelie bars? Of course, nobody is going to be completely satisfied with whatever the future of the class looks like and starting from scratch is a far cry from ideal, but it’ s hard to envision any other possible solution.

Hector Romano, via the Internet

[ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF WES BUCK REPLIES: I’ m not saying there is an instant fix, but I will tell you this- reducing the schedule for NHRA Pro Stock would help A LOT. Pulling the Pro Stock schedule back from 24 to say 18 races( or 14) would no doubt have a significant impact on car count and, in my opinion, sponsor involvement. It’ s my opinion that very little of this heads up drag racing stuff makes financial sense, but there are people out there that’ d jump into the fray if the schedule and monumental dollarfigure attached to Pro Stock was even moderately reduced. I know there are several race teams that struggle to secure sponsorships because the return on investment simply isn’ t there- it simply costs too much to be involved at a high level. You may be right that a complete reboot is required, but I believe a schedule reduction will have a positive impact.]

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12 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 120