Drag Illustrated Issue 144, May 2019 | Page 8

FOUNDER’S LETTER the success of single-car teams in Top Fuel like that of reigning champion Steve Torrence and the gung-ho na- ture of racers like Scott Palmer and Terry McMillen, it’s clear to me that we don’t currently have a mechanism in place to either sustain or grow NHRA Top Fuel or Funny Car – drag racing’s quickest, fastest, most prestigious and visible eliminators. While NHRA has reallocated purse money to encourage participa- tion and financially compensate top-performing non-qualifiers, it’s clearly not enough to motivate someone to make the investment required to field a part- or full-time fuel car. After five races, NHRA is averaging 15.6 Top Fuelers – just under a full field, and not enough to give qualifying any amount of significance. We’ve got living-legend drivers like Tony Schumacher doing color commentary, and promising superstars like Leah Pritchett scrounging for sponsors. It’s a weird time. By all accounts the sport has never looked better – big crowds, record speeds and a bright, shiny television partnership that appears to be producing. Whether it’s working with teams to control costs, possibly reining in trap speeds exceeding 330 mph in the process, exploring new marketing and promotional mediums, or a combination of all those, there’s clearly work to be done if the NHRA or anyone else wants to see nitro racing on a pro-level experience any sort of growth. Big-money bracket racers and the promoters organizing these events aren’t getting their due. It’s amazing the high-stakes drag racing poker that is being played at racetracks around the country right now. A quick glance at the “big-money” races going on in 2019 totals $1.5 million – guaranteed to winners alone. The amount of money being thrown around right now, especially considering that $10k, $20k and even $50k races are basically a dime a dozen, is hard to believe. Brace yourself because the days of back-halved and street-stock appearing cars in Radial vs. the World are numbered. Obviously, there are outliers and racers who are proving they can get the job done with cars that originally came off an assembly line (looking at you and that beautiful blue Malibu, Mark Micke and Jason Carter), but considering over half the qualified field at the Sweet 16 were legitimate double frame rail Pro Mods with radials and the associated 3.694-second bump spot for that race, it’s hard to believe we’re going to see many more purpose-built, steel-bodied radial cars being built or purchased for this brand of drag racing. There’s many more trends and issues that we’ll continue to identify and explore here at Drag Il- lustrated – both on these pages and online via our website, social media channels and my new podcast (The Wes Buck Show, available on iTunes), and we encourage you to be a part of those conversa- tions. Shoot me an email (wes@dragillustrated. com) and let us know what you believe is the next big thing in drag racing or see as an issue on the horizon. Wesley R. Buck Founder & Editorial Director 8 | Drag I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com 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 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 Fox Customer Service / Office Manager 660.988.2313 caroline@dragillustrated.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ian Tocher, Ainsley Jacobs, Kelly Wade, Bobby Bennett, Brandon W. Mudd, Tommy D’Aprile, Will Hanna, Sadie Glenn PHOTO DEPARTMENT: John Fore III, Van Abernethy, Rick Belden, Tara Bowker, Shawn Crose, Jason Dunn, Paul Grant, Chris Graves, Ron Lewis, Will McDougle, 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 © 2019 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. Issue 144 H aving spent a majority of my life at the drag strip and for nearly the last 15 years earning my living in the sport, I’ve been blessed to see a world of different things come and go, rise and fall – people, categories, venues, series, sanctions and a host of seem- ingly hot trends and styles. Out of all the life-changing and fulfilling expe- riences that I’ve had on this journey with Drag Illustrated, I think it’s actually the overarching perspective that I’ve gained along the way that I find most valuable. It’s also probably the most commonly used tool in my belt at this point. While our business is primarily that of selling advertising space alongside a busy roadway trafficked almost entirely by hardcore drag racers and industry members, the last few years have seen me playing the role of consultant more so than anything else. Whether it’s engine build- ers, chassis shops, electronic manufacturers, race promoters or track operators, a majority of my time these days is spent lending an ear and offering my opinion (right, wrong or indifferent) on a host of circumstances. It’s a situation as humbling as it is empowering. Sometimes I still have to pinch myself to truly grasp how amazing it is, and how much of an honor it is, to have anyone in this industry identify me as someone worth listening to. That said, I have to admit that spewing my thoughts and opinions on the sport of drag racing to anyone is amongst my absolute favorite things to do, and that’s probably why I get so excited about our annual #TRENDING Issue of DI. With a multitude of different things seemingly catching fire and/or cooling off in and around our beloved straight-line motorsport, I felt it’d be most enjoyable and easiest considering my limited space here on these pages to cover as much ground as possible, and let’s face it…in this day and age everyone seems to like things a little shorter and more to the point. Radial racing isn’t going anywhere. You don’t have to look any further than the smile across cover star Alex Laughlin’s face to see that the enthusiasm for categories like Radial vs. the World isn’t waning one bit. The same can be said for X275. When we interviewed promoter Donald “Duck” Long for this magazine in the build-up to what would inarguably be his biggest event – Lights Out VII in February of 2016 – the brash, outspoken promoter admitted that he didn’t know how much life his beloved radial eliminator had left in it as performance levels sky- rocketed. Fresh off a barnburner 10th anniversary in Valdosta, Long admits, along with the rest of us, that there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight for Radial vs. the World. When we saw these cars dip into the 3-second zone, it felt like we were toeing up to the finish line, but now that they’ve infiltrated the 3.5-second range, it’s clear that “RVW” is only hitting its stride. There’s undoubtedly an issue with pro-level nitro racing that needs to be addressed. Despite