LETTER from the EDITOR
When we shipped our first-ever Drag Illustrated Photo Annual to print in 2008, I don’ t think I could have been happier. Of course, I was happy because I knew our readers would love an exquisitely designed, sprawling collection of incredible photography, but what really had me excited was the massive problem we had solved when we sent that 31st issue off to the printer.
You see, throughout the course of the year we receive tens of thousands of photos and- not surprisingly- we can’ t print them all. Matter of fact, we can’ t even come close, and it’ s always been a touch heartbreaking for me. Knowing how much it means to racers to see their efforts in the shop and at the drag strip validated by seeing their picture or a picture of their car in a magazine, as well as what it represents to photographers in terms of accomplishment, it was always hard to let a great photograph sit on a hard drive somewhere in obscurity because it wasn’ t attached to a breaking news story, in-depth feature, cover story or race report. But it happened a lot. That first Photo Annual solved that problem. It gave us an opportunity to focus our decision to publish a photo entirely on the quality and composition of the photo, and not worry about whether it captured a historical or newsworthy happening. It was awesome and all of our racing readers have enjoyed it; I think they’ ve even come to expect it.
PRO TREE RACERS ASSOCIATION • NHRA CHAMP MILAN HEADS-UP COVERAGE
dragillustrated. com
2008
PHOTO
ANNUAL
All the Best Shots, As Only DI Can Bring You
Billy Glidden
the DI Interview
Fast-forward nearly a decade and we have a new problem- we have ten times the number of photos come across our desks, many of which are submitted by our world-class photographers specifically for inclusion in the Photo Annual. It borders on impossible to narrow the submissions down to a workable number( less than 100), especially when you’ re not looking for anything in particular- just a truly great photo. We needed a way to thin it out; we needed something specific to look for, and that’ s when it hit me- we need a theme.
For the last couple years, I’ ve been using any platform I can find to preach that drag racing
OFFICIAL VEHICLE PROVIDER OF DRAG ILLUSTRATED needs to embrace the showmanship of yesteryear, that we need to accept that our sport is equal parts competition and entertainment. It’ s my belief that any real or perceived downturn in mainstream popularity that drag racing has experienced can be correlated to our collective focus on competition- decidedly moving away from anything that doesn’ t contribute to on-track performance, altogether abandoning once-trademark components of a“ drag racing show” like whacking the throttle to seat the clutch in a Top Fueler during warmups, big burnouts, wheels-up launches, etc. In the name of going faster, we’ ve moved away from a lot of those things- perhaps not entirely, but in large part. And I get it- believe me- but that doesn’ t mean I have to love it.
So, when trying to develop a focus for our 2017 Photo Annual, we decided that we weren’ t going to include any photo that wasn’ t of a burnout, or at least taken immediately
Issue 31 January 2009 >> $ 3.95 before or after. We went so far as to inform our team of photographers not to even submit anything that didn’ t scream“ Burnout!”, and they delivered. We decided we wanted to shine as bright of a light as possible on what we think might be the most funto-watch and fun-to-do parts of drag racing- in the words of my friend and famed drag racing announcer, Al Tucci – a beautiful, smoky burnout.
It’ s my sincere hope that you enjoy this collection of photography celebrating the fine art of tire-frying, and I hope that you are inspired to let those slicks( or radials, calm down) smoke a little longer in 2018. When you’ re looking in your downward-facing sideview mirror to see the tires start to smoke or have your longtime crewman wave you out of the water, I ask that you hold onto that line-lock button just a little bit longer. I apologize in advance for the time you( or your kids) will spend scraping rubber off the inside of your wheel tubs and scrubbing your wheelie bars, but I promise you the people in the grandstands will appreciate it. Hey, you might even sell a few more t-shirts. I almost guarantee you’ ll have more fun and, hey, isn’ t that what this deal is all about?
Smoke‘ em if you got‘ em!
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
Nate Van Wagnen Managing Editor 440.986.1480 nate @ dragillustrated. com
Van Abernethy Senior Staff Writer & Field Subscription Sales 828.302.0356 van @ dragillustrated. com
Andrea Wilson Controller 660.349.0847 andrea @ dragillustrated. com
Caroline Sterling Customer Service / Office Manager 660.988.2313 caroline @ dragillustrated. com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Bobby Bennett, Lisa Collier, Tommy D’ Aprile, Josh Hachat, Ainsley Jacobs, Brandon W. Mudd
PHOTO DEPARTMENT: John Fore III( Senior Photographer), Van Abernethy, Rick Belden, Tara Bowker, Jason Dunn, Paul Grant, Chris Graves, Ron Lewis, Joe McHugh, Gary Nastase, Mark J. Rebilas, Roger Richards, Cole Rokosky, Chris Sears, Jason Sharp, James Sisk, Ian Tocher
ADVERTISING SALES: 615.478.5275
SUBSCRIPTIONS & CUSTOMER SERVICE: 660.988.2313 customerservice @ dragillustrated. com
DRAG ILLUSTRATED MEDIA, LLC 902 Kings Road, Kirksville, MO 63501 P: 660.988.2313 F: 660.665.1636 www. dragillustrated. com
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.
6 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 128