Feedback, Friendly Notes, & Hate Mail

THE HOTTEST GAME IN TOWN

NHRA Pro Mod Series Serves as Doorslammer Drag Racing’ s Ultimate Proving Ground

PRO STOCK CHAMP BO BUTNER GOES

NO-PREP

No Time

First off, I’ m a lifetime subscriber. It’ s been a long, long time since Gilbert“ The Rock” Jacobs was on the cover of DI and after all these years, I was pretty sure that I’ d never see another grudge or no-time racer get hit with that kind of spotlight. You guys proved me wrong. Justin“ Lil’ Country” Swanstrom is a serious racer that has put the no-time world on notice. He deserves the ink, just like all these no-time racers do. Would love to see you all do a complete no-time issue in the future with feature stories on all the major players. The no-time shootout scene is hot like fire and you should take notice.

Doug Savory, via the Internet

Genuinely Good

Without question … Wes Buck’ s“ Letter From the Editor” last month [ DI 132 ] was amongst the best piece he’ s ever put together. Actually, I was blown away to read such a powerful message in a drag racing magazine( no offense). Regardless, I wanted to let ya’ ll know that I have seen first-hand the environment and community that Wes wrote about in his column, and I’ m proud to be a part of it. I have to admit that it

J. R. GRAY / JOHN TAYLOR / JAY COX / GEOFF TURK

dragillustrated. com

TEAM WORK

MAKES THE

DREAM WORK

NMCA’ S RISE TO THE TOP

“ LIL’ COUNTRY”

warms my heart every time I attend a drag race and see so many people of different races and religions stand for the national anthem. I’ ve also always found it interesting how the drag strip seems to be one of the few places in the world that sees people from a variety of different financial backgrounds all hanging out together and competing against one another, almost always treating one another as peers. Again, it’ s a super special community that I’ m proud to be a part of.

Chad Stevens, via the Internet

[ FOUNDER AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR WES BUCK REPLIES: Wow! That’ s some seriously high praise! Thank you! I, too, feel lucky to be part of the drag racing community. I’ ve been to more races in the first part of 2018 that probably ever before in my life, and it seems like I’ m given some example of the awesomeness of these people at every track I go to. I remember back in March at Donald Long’ s“ Sweet 16” in Valdosta, Georgia, when Keith Haney’ s well-known“ Enigma” Chevy Camaro sheared off every single torque converter bolt prior to the semifinal round of the $ 101,000-to-win event. Despite having just lost, Stevie Jackson was the first person over in the pits to help his longtime rival( at least on the drag strip and internet) have a shot at beating the turbo-racer( Dewayne Mills) that had just trailered him. It was a pretty spectacular scene, to be honest, and one of the purest examples that I’ ve seen in a long while of how far racers will go to help one another. Another example came at the recently completed

NHRA Heartland Nationals in Topeka, Kansas, late on Saturday night after qualifying had wrapped up for the day. Mike Janis and company had expired an engine and thrashed all day, skipping the final qualifying session, to try and get their hot rod ready for race day. When qualifying had finished up, it was Danny Rowe who Janis would be facing in the first round of eliminations. Pitted nearby and realizing that Janis and his team hadn’ t eaten and had been thrashing all night, I watched as the Rowe camp went over and invited the Janis crew over for dinner. It may not seem like much, but it seemed pretty significant to me, personally. Here are two teams that will face each other in eliminations the following day, breaking bread together the night before. Anyway, thanks for writing, Chad. I say it all the time, but I truly believe we’ re all lucky to be a part of this deal.]

A Cut Above the Rest

Really enjoyed Ainsley Jacob’ s feature on the National Muscle Car Association and its top-flight team. That’ s a series that, I believe, sets the bar and has without question established itself as a clear No. 2 behind the NHRA in terms of drag racing sanctioning bodies. Let’ s be honest, would anyone have ever believed that the IHRA could be surpassed by an organization dedicated to preserving street-legal drag racing? Their rise and continued upward trajectory is not lost on the racing community, I can tell you that for sure! Nice work!

Jose Johnson, via the Internet

[ WES BUCK REPLIES: Hard to argue with you, Jose! First off, Steve, Rollie and Mike – the guys at the NMCA that I, personally, know the best – are amongst the most passionate people I’ ve met in this industry. Their passion for NMCA and drag racing in general is basically unparalleled, and that’ s something that I really appreciate. Their vision is clear, and I think they have a unique and extremely potent combination of passion for the sport and passion for their project businesswise( NMCA and NMRA) that sets them apart from the crowd. The production value of their events from a fan-perspective is amongst the best that exists in drag racing, and I think that from a racer’ s perspective the execution of their events, the consistency and the competitive environment is much loved and widely respected. Thank you for writing!]

Murdered Out

Holy cow! How about that new matte finish and heavier paper?!?!? I really didn’ t think there was much room for improvement with Drag Illustrated, but I have to say that I’ m blown away by the new look. Major props!!

Daniel Allard, via the Internet

[ WES BUCK REPLIES: Thank you! Shout out to our own Mike Carpenter, longtime Art & Production Director here, for forcing this change through. We’ ve been talking about doing something like this for a long time, and we finally got it done. To be honest, we wanted to make a statement. In a time when it seems like everyone is cutting corners or scaling back, we wanted to double down. We know that our racing readers have an eye for aesthetics and appreciate quality( we’ re car guys, right?) and we wanted to up the ante and deliver a collector’ s item, coffee-table quality magazine. Sounds like the plan worked! Thank you, so much!]

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12 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 133