FOUNDER’ S LETTER
For as long as I can remember, I’ ve heard people say that sportsman racing – bracket racing – isn’ t exciting, isn’ t fun to watch or isn’ t interesting. It’ s always troubled me, honestly, because this is the brand of racing that our sport is built on. Not only are there numerous race tracks that would cease to exist if it wasn’ t for the support of their weekend warriors, there are innumerable companies that would be in serious trouble without these racers.
Honestly, I don’ t need to defend sportsman racing. Whether on the national or divisional scene, at big money bracket races or local points meets – I know without a shadow of a doubt that these events are comprised of some of the fiercest competitors, most talented drivers and finest machinery our sport has to offer. It’ s not up for debate. In my humble opinion, some of the best prolevel drivers I’ ve ever seen earned their stripes and continue to hone their skills on the bracket scene. It’ s a gnarly place to do business( compete and have any level of success).
In my opinion, the aforementioned situation – the entire discussion – brings to light a much larger issue that has plagued our sport for decades, and it starts with the razor-bladesharp focus we’ ve had on the cars, technology and on-track aspect of drag racing since the beginning. I’ ve written and spoken about this regularly, but it seems to be weighing on me more so than ever before, and I think it’ s time we take a good, hard look at how we’ re presenting our sport to the masses. For what it’ s worth, we here at Drag Illustrated have always felt that stories aren’ t in the dial-ins, or the reaction times or the elapsed times or the trap speeds. Sure, there are times that those items are
Issue 56 >> August 2011 >> $ 4.95 dragillustrated. com
SPORTSMAN SPECIAL
AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS
S T A R R I N G LUKE BOGACKI • PETER BIONDO DAVID RAMPY • FRANK MANZO SCOTTY RICHARDSON & MORE
The first Sportsman Special Issue: DI 56, August 2011 newsworthy or exceptionally interesting or significant, but by-and-large the stories coming out of every race weekend stem from the men and women that do the racing – not the cars, parts and pieces that they use.
Personally, I feel that’ s a lot of the reason so many dedicated bracket racing magazines and websites have struggled or gone away entirely is because the focus was always on the numbers and stats, which, for the most part become meaningless immediately after they show up on a timeslip or a scoreboard. The real stories are about late nights and long trips, epic thrashes and unforeseen victories. Take the cover of this Sportsman Special Issue of Drag Illustrated and the incredible feature our own Josh Hachat penned on the one-and-only Dan Fletcher and try to tell me sportsman racing isn’ t exciting, awe-inspiring and entertaining. But you’ ll notice the story on the pages of this magazine isn’ t centered around the aforementioned numerals and decimal points, but on trials, tribulations and triumphs – in life and on the drag strip.
That’ s where I think our sport has been missing the boat for the past half-century or better, and it’ s been why we’ ve focused our efforts almost entirely with Drag Illustrated on telling stories and sparking conversations that go well beyond the results of drag races. It’ s always been our goal here to grow and build the sport of drag racing by telling the many inspiring and relatable stories of the people who spend their hard-earned money and precious time burning up the eighth- and quartermile every weekend. I’ ve said it before, but I’ ll say it again: Fast cars, loud engines, smoky burnouts and the thrill of close competition may have been what brought us out to the races for the first time, but it’ s the people that keep us coming back.
Wes Buck Founder & Editorial Director 660.988.2313 wes @ dragillustrated. com
Scott Dorman Publisher 615.478.5275 scott @ dragillustrated. com
Mike Carpenter Design & Production Director 704.737.2299 mike @ dragillustrated. com
Nate Van Wagnen Editor-in-Chief 440.986.1480 nate @ dragillustrated. com
Nancy Koeppen Chief Operating Officer 573.552.5551 nancy @ dragillustrated. com
Will Mandell Senior Sales Executive 615.426.0465 will @ dragillustrated. com
JT Hudson Sales Executive 660.341.0063 jt @ dragillustrated. com
Robert Jaramillo Director of Business Development 626.253.6428 robert @ dragillustrated. com
Van Abernethy Senior Staff Writer & Field Subscription Sales 828.302.0356 van @ dragillustrated. com
Josh Hachat Editor-at-Large 660.988.2313 josh @ dragillustrated. com
Caroline Sterling Customer Service / Office Manager 660.988.2313 caroline @ dragillustrated. com
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ian Tocher, Ainsley Jacobs, Tyler Crossnoe, Bobby Bennett, Lisa Collier, Brandon W. Mudd, Tommy D’ Aprile, Will Hanna, Sadie Glenn
PHOTO DEPARTMENT: John Fore III, 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
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DRAG ILLUSTRATED MEDIA, LLC 902 Kings Road, Kirksville, MO 63501 P: 660.988.2313 F: 660.665.1636 www. dragillustrated. com
Copyright © 2018 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 Founder & Editorial Director
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.
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