The Oral History of the PDRA
like a second job for me . That ’ s the downfall . That ’ s the cons of it .
The pros of it is you feel like you ’ re doing something for the good of the sport and to help other racers have a neat place to race . People know they ’ re going to get paid . And it ’ s a good place for the sponsors . Starting out , the sponsors needed a place for these cars to run where they can sell product , whether it be Hoosier Tire or Jerry Bickel Race Cars or RJ Race Cars or shock people . They all needed an organization for cars to go race so they can sell product . We were just trying to fill a void . So the pros on my side of it would be trying to help the industry , an industry that I love . I ’ ve always loved racing . If I can do something good and help out the organization , help out the industry , I felt like I was doing that in the early going .
But like I said , the cons of it would just be it becomes more of a business . You can ’ t ever please everybody . It ’ s always something . Somebody griping about something and all you ’ re trying to do is a good thing . And you spend a lot of money . You get a lot of complaints about this or that all the time . And don ’ t get me wrong , I wanted to hear complaints when I was part of the organization . I want constructive criticism . But over time , that part of it takes the fun away from racing . If that was my business it
It ’ s the same thing with my kids racing in the series . Everybody wants to think that you ’ re taking advantage of situations , but that ’ s so far from the truth . I will make my kids take a back seat to a free win light before I ’ ll ever let them have a free win light . I want to be a racer just like everyone else . When I turn on a win light , I want everybody to know that I earned that win light . It ’ s harder for your kids because people are cruel at times , and you want them to know that they earned it as well . We ’ re pretty rough on our kids . They earn their way . I feel like that ’ s the right thing to do and the right way to do it . I probably shouldn ’ t care what anybody else thinks , but when this thing is done and over with or we ’ re not competing as racers anymore , I want our legacy to be exactly that : a legacy . Knowing that what we did , we did . I don ’ t want an asterisk next to our name .
PDRA went into the 2017 season full of momentum . Outlaw 632 , a class that was birthed in Florida , was added to four events after a promising trial event at the Bradenton race . Extreme Pro Stock became a full-time class , a status that hasn ’ t changed . With increasing demand in Top Sportsman , which saw as many as 88 entries attempt to qualify for the 16-car field in 2016 , the series created an “ Elite 16 ” field for the
Since the beginning , Classic Graphix has offered official merch to PDRA fans .
Fans pack the stands at PDRA ’ s stop in Tulsa . would be one thing , but I ’ m trying to race to get away from work and to have a good time . That ’ s the bad part , but it had a lot of good parts also . I wouldn ’ t take anything for what we did . I ’ m proud of it .
TF : The pro [ to owning and racing in the series ] is , hey , we know that there ’ s going to be a series . We know what we have . We know what the plans are to continue . It ’ s the thing that a lot of people have in the back of their mind – is there going to be a series ? Is there going to be this or that ? Well , when we ’ re driving the ship , per se , that makes it nice because we know there ’ s a direction . That ’ s one of the hardest things to communicate to everyone – we ’ re solid here . We ’ re growing . We ’ re going to continue becoming the PDRA that we all want to be . That ’ s probably the biggest pro to it .
The cons , bluntly , are the people that just don ’ t know , that want to make up the stories that aren ’ t true . I will take a hit before I ’ ll ever take a handout . To do this and be competitive and be able to win , it ’ s hard already because these teams are great out here . But for me to be able to do it and have somebody accuse that I have an upper hand in any way , shape , or form , that ’ s hard . It ’ s easy for me to lay down at night and go to sleep knowing that I ’ ve done everything the right way , but that doesn ’ t keep the chatter from happening . I ’ m ultimately a competitor and if I turn on a win light or I win a championship , I want to know that I earned that . If there ’ s any way , shape , or form that I felt like I got that without earning it , then it wouldn ’ t go into my life as a win .
16 quickest Top Sportsman cars . The remaining cars would fall into the regular Top Sportsman field of 32 or 48 cars depending on car count . That pilot program proved successful , and the same program was adopted for Top Dragster for 2018 .
With increasing car counts and sponsor support , the series announced increased payouts of $ 10,000 to win in Pro Extreme , Pro Nitrous , and Pro Boost for the 2018 season . Liberty ’ s Gears also signed on as the title sponsor of Extreme Pro Stock , a role the company has continued ever since . Increased payouts for the Top Sportsman 32 and Top Dragster 32 classes were also announced . Outlaw 10.5 was added to four races , and turbocharged entries were allowed in Pro Extreme Motorcycle for the first [ and last ] time .
Despite the $ 10,000 payout , Pro Extreme was struggling to attract the cars needed to run even an eight-car ladder . Even Scruggs , perhaps the one racer most associate with Pro Extreme , parked his car late in the 2017 season to focus on family and business . In May of 2018 , PDRA reaffirmed its commitment to the class , but when just a few cars showed up for the Summer Drags in Martin , Michigan , the writing was on the wall . The class was cut for the rest of the season , effectively ending a run that started in 2005 .
JS : That was pretty hard , I ’ m not gonna lie about it . That ’ s one reason why I was losing interest too because it ’ s not fun when you don ’ t have a lot of competition . When the cars started dying off and we were struggling
168 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated . com Issue 185