FOUNDER’ S LETTER
This issue of Drag Illustrated is slam-packed, per usual, with incredible reading and breathtaking photography, whether it’ s a quick hit of fun and unending optimism( 20 Reasons to Be Excited About Drag Racing in 2018); a deep, hard-hitting look at the success that can come from taking chances and sticking to your guns( Pat Musi’ s rise to the top); nostalgia Funny Cars at Santa Pod; the world’ s fastest street cars in Joliet – we have what you seek. With every issue we ship to the printer, we try to pull together the best, most spectacular, interesting and deserving people, cars, sanctions and venues, and tell their respective stories.
Beyond doing our best to tell good stories, we’ re also here to spread the good word that is drag racing – to preach the gospel of the eighth- and quartermile, and everything in between. While I certainly believe in the value of critical analysis( I’ m amongst the harshest critics on any-and-everything we do here – parties, races, publications, etc.), I also believe that our collective efforts here at Drag Illustrated are best spent championing the sport of drag racing. Let’ s be honest, in this Internet age there are more than enough people moaning and groaning about everything under the sun, including drag racing. I can hardly handle any more outrage than what exists on my Facebook news feed at any given time. That’ s why I’ ve always taken great pride in our rosy outlook and aforementioned unending optimism toward the sport we know and love when it comes to filling the pages of this magazine. Sure, there’ s always room for improvement, but you don’ t have to look too hard to find a wealth of reasons for optimism when it comes to straight-line motorsports in 2018. Truth be told, we stopped our list of reasons to be excited at 20 simply because we’ d run out of time to write stories and compile photography for the other 15 or so that we scribbled on a legal pad during our first editorial meeting
Wesley R. Buck Founder & Editorial Director
regarding the subject.
I take a good bit of ribbing( hopefully, it’ s all kindhearted and fun) for my rose-colored glasses, but it’ s my opinion that a positive outlook is almost a requirement for success in this day and age. Over the course of the last 12 years, this team has faced innumerable challenges and roadblocks – economic strife, an ever-changing publishing world, bad sales months, blown deadlines and extremely-out-ofthe-ordinary ideas – and if wasn’ t for our positive perspective, I believe we would have thrown in the towel at some point along the way. The fuel for the success and growth of this company since the start has been a collective belief that things are good and only getting better.
Alan Kay, a well-known computer scientist, once famously said that“ point of view is worth 80 IQ points.” Apparently, this was a notion he made public in the early 1980s. I heard it for the first time a few months ago, and I was bummed that I hadn’ t come across it sooner. I was reading a book on Jeff Bezos and his success with Amazon. com and found that Bezos subscribed to the notion – believing that a positive outlook was critical amongst the characteristics he looked for in key team members. Not surprisingly, most breakthroughs come from a shift in perspective. Where people had previously seen the same problems, the same opportunities and the same solutions – creators of change shift their perspective to discover new solutions, new opportunities and new problems. Taking a look at the bright side never hurts.
Like a bridge, we exist to lift people up. We understand there are issues facing our sport – our world – and we’ re not afraid to talk about them openly and honestly, but we know our role – and that’ s to shine as bright of a light as possible on all the amazing things happening at drag strips around the world, and the impossibly awesome people that are making them happen.
I invite you to email me at wes @ dragillustrated. com and follow me at facebook. com / wbuck and wesbuckinc on Instagram.
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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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 © 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.
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.
PHOTO: RICK BELDEN
8 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated. com Issue 136