FOUNDER ’ S LETTER
From the very beginning – 12 years ago – Drag Illustrated has served the mission of growing and building the sport of drag racing by telling the many stories of the incredible men and women that spend their hard-earned money and free time at the drag strip – racing , tuning , crewing , officiating and simply enjoying the spectacle that we believe is the great American motorsport . Amongst the stories that we tell here on these pages , however , are also many a deep-dive into the issues that are facing our beloved sport and where its future lies – typically by picking the brains of the people who have a hand in steering its course . While there are few things the team here enjoys doing more than bench racing and sharing war stories with racers past and present , we believe it is mission critical to offer constructive criticism , sound-off on hot topics and generally play armchair quarterback ( err … crew chief ) as to what we ’ d do differently from time to time . Plus , it ’ s a lot of fun .
It ’ s also something I ’ m extremely proud of . To be honest , it was a lot easier to shoot from the hip and “ call it like we see it ” when our readership didn ’ t include many thousands of mailing addresses from around the world , and every single issue and its contents weren ’ t readily available online – to be seen and shared by potentially millions of people . It never seemed to stop a story that had some spice from circulating and generating a reaction , but the speed of circulation and the scale of the reaction has massively intensified . It ’ s an exciting time . And , I think , that ’ s always been at the center of whatever critique we ’ ve offered over the years . I truly believe that we ’ re living in the golden era of drag racing . Almost all of us have fond memories of the past – especially when it comes to racing and racers , events and tracks , certain cars and even parts and manufacturers that have certainly came and went , or at least changed over time – but the fact remains that this sport of ours is in as good of a place today as it has ever been .
What we ’ ve never wanted to be is the proverbial old man yelling , “ Get off my lawn !” The sport of drag racing faces many issues in 2018 , but that ’ s always been the case . There ’ s always division and differing opinions , and there ’ s always going to be a certain amount of us-versus-them that exists – whether it be promoters and racers : sportsman and professional , heads-up and bracket , Pro Mod and radial , or whatever else the case may be . We ’ ve also always had a number of hot trends in play , some
of which will become passing fads , and a few that will stand the test of time .
More so than anything else , I believe drag racing has tremendous momentum right now . From the NHRA ’ s slew of sold-out shows through this first half of the season to Donald Long ’ s back-to-back barnburner radial-tire events to start the year , the continued popularity of Street Outlaws and no-prep racing as a whole , the success of our first-ever $ 100,000-to-win World Series of Pro Mod , the PDRA ’ s eight-race , million-dollar series for outlaw eighth-mile racers and a seemingly innumerable amount of successful , independent , big-money , heads-up , grudge , bracket and specialty races – like the Good Vibrations Funny Car Nationals – it ’ s hard to find a sore spot when it comes to options for racers and fans . Matter of fact , I ’ d argue that it ’ s controlling the growth of some of these categories , the number of events where they ’ re contested , and weeding out inauthentic , money-hungry promoters that should top our collective priority list at the moment . It ’ s not exactly a secret , nor hard to infer that that there are drag racing eliminators that simply don ’ t have the inventory of cars to support the number of events on the schedule . The market will inevitably speak and sort those matters out , but it ’ s often not before the damage has been done – waning excitement and enthusiasm , promoters scrambling to fill fields and the like .
If you read between the lines of my wide-ranging interview with John Force later in this issue , you ’ ll also likely find that another place where our sport ’ s highest levels have room for growth is in star power . Name a booming sport of any kind , and you ’ ll likely be able to quickly identify the transcendent star that caused the pot to boil over . We have examples right here in racing . NASCAR ’ s decline in popularity over recent years is without question directly correlated to the mass exodus of their big-name , superstar drivers . Discovery Channel ’ s Street Outlaws success ? Look no further than Justin “ Big Chief ” Shearer and Shawn “ Murder Nova ” Ellington .
The point Force made , perhaps without even having to say it , is that there are plenty of racers that are doing their job – showing up the drag strip to race , and fighting the many physical , emotional and financial battles required to be successful in doing so . The onus , in my opinion , falls on the rest of us – sanctions , promoters and the media – to shine as bright a light as possible on the many stars and stars-in-the-making that exist in drag racing today . Which , I ’ ll conclude with , has been our bread and butter since day one .
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
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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
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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 .
8 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 135