A little "Did You Know" fact about the mater... (3 Viewers)

[Rajunz]

It doesn't seem like all that long ago. I remember when the Ed Dykes NHRA race results started... did anybody else here call the Castrol 900 number for results before that?

Called it every race day, like clockwork. The lines were real busy right after eliminations, this was before we had same day race coverage.

 

[Jrod]

sorry its been a while. just an outside looking in deal. as far as talking about the oakley deal i meant it in a humourous tone. anyway, i thought it would be a fun post but I guess I've ruffled a few feathers...

anyway the point is jerrod and rod have done well for themselves from an online drag racing league.

No feathers ruffled feathers at all bro...it's all good!

Rod and I have done ok...but actually got yourself strapped in bro! I was very happy for you.

 

[Alan]

I came on board to the old "Mater" just to catch the next post of Rodge, I mean Pat McGill, I mean Takamychet, I mean Dan Lynch or whatever his name was? Those were the days! Moving on to the new Mater was like finally getting a handle on that unknown bad rash?

Pat McGill...now there is a mouth!!!!

 

[HEMI6point1]

Don't forget TK-421 or bernie eccelstone or whatever the heck his name is.

 

[mick]

i remember the speedvision.com message boards - never posted there.
for the life of me i can't remember how i found nitromater.com.
i found it early on though.

was oakley associated with scotty cannon at the inception of
this website? or was there a brief period of scotty running nitro FC
before he hooked up with jim/oakley?

anyways, used oakley grips back in early 80's and still have a pair of frogskins
probably purchased around '85........this website has always been
easy to love. thank you to all involved in creating and maintaining it.

 

[Alan]

i remember the speedvision.com message boards - never posted there.
for the life of me i can't remember how i found nitromater.com.
i found it early on though.

was oakley associated with scotty cannon at the inception of
this website? or was there a brief period of scotty running nitro FC
before he hooked up with jim/oakley?

anyways, used oakley grips back in early 80's and still have a pair of frogskins
probably purchased around '85........this website has always been
easy to love. thank you to all involved in creating and maintaining it.

I believe that Oakley/Jim Jannard were the 'dead presidents' that brought Scotty over to NHRA...

 

[vegasnitro]

Don't forget TK-421 or bernie eccelstone or whatever the heck his name is.

TK421 ... LOL

Back in my youth I wanted to form a rock band and call it TK421 and name the first album "Why Aren't You At Your Post?" It was gonna make me rich.

 

[Alan]

TK421 ... LOL

Back in my youth I wanted to form a rock band and call it TK421 and name the first album "Why Aren't You At Your Post?" It was gonna make me rich.

Not to roll off subject (like I'd do that...) but Chris, did you get your goods??

 

[Kris]

Since people keep talking about Oakleys (got my first pair for my birthday in 2006, thanks sis!) it reminds me that I've got enough cash in my PayPal account to pick up a second pair of Oakleys.

I suspect this Oakley thing is gonna pick up steam like my tattoo thing has since I got my first tat in 2004 and have gotten two tats in the past year. Looking at getting my fourth and fifth before the end of the year.

Maybe I should buy some new Oakleys first. Cost about the same as my tats.

But, first, more 'Mater surfing (aka work avoidance).

 

[HotRodCrazyBob]

Yep Jim, we all know there are always 3 sides to every story.....one side, the other side....and the truth.

And sometimes we got all 3 !

I am having a flash back (NO not that kind!!)

Do you all rememeber:
Jerrod and Duct tape!
Kelly and the Swirly Thingy

The "My 1st Drag Race" thread or was it "How I got hooked on Drag Racing"

The Joker and "more cheese - please"

More important there have been some very articulate and insightful words from people who really know!


I again say thanks to all that got it started and got us here!

 

[vegasnitro]

Not to roll off subject (like I'd do that...) but Chris, did you get your goods??

Idunno ... I have not been home.

Last week was an Alaskan cruise. Check out this itenerary ... Friday was Ketchikan Alaska, Saturday was Victoria British Columbia, Sunday was docking in Seattle and flying back to Vegas (same plane as Larry Morgan!). Got to Vegas at 5pm (didn't bother to check the mail), got up Monday at 330AM to catch 6AM flight from Vegas to Albuquerque then fly to Orlando then fly to Fort Myers FLA ... then drive to Port Charlotte, FLA and managed to get a couple of hours of work done when I got here!!! Anyway you slice it ... that is a hell of a 72 hour stretch.

 

[Chili]

The GoRacing.com drag racing section is where I got my start, and Jerrod and Will I think were over there too. Jerrod sent me an e-mail to come check out his new website. Man a lot has changed since then. I think Jeannie Allsage was the first person to ever post, and I was second.


Here is a screenshot from 2003 thanks to archive.org

Paul,
Even though we had never met I think you were the one that invited me over to Nitromater when it begun. If I'm not mistaken I think you were Stardust on the goracing.com site?

 

[SST2096]

Nice little bit of history... I'll add something as well.

About the same time Ed Dykes was doing race reports (actually a bit before), we had a little group on AOL doing a Friday night drag chat (called, interestingly enough, the Drag Racers Forum).. It started as a couple of ET racers shooting the breeze, and evolved into an online hangout for a lot of different racers (and others involved with the sport). Among our regulars were Phil Burgess (in my best Grace Pander voice, "a dear friend of mine") of ND and the Mater's own Bobby Bennett. Some of the NHRA regulars included Dean "Where is He Now?" Skuza, Capps (still as cool today as he was then), Jeff Arend and others who drifted in and out.

Of particular note was when Bob Glidden came into our chat and named names regarding the use of nitrous oxide in Pro Stock (yes... WE broke that story), and we got ink in ND a couple of times (I even wrote an article for them about it). Our discussion about the Wayne County "controversy" even had the late Steve Evans give us a rebuttal on "NHRA Today" (I still have the sound file on a CD somewhere).

Speaking of sound files, a rather interesting note was when Bethesda Softworks released their NHRA drag racing game, I noticed some of the sound effects (racing background sounds while you were in the garage) were ones that I created on my old 486DX50 (remember those?). In fact, my favorite sound file was one I titled "McDive", which was a hit back when I made it (especially for you, Mr. Yates!).

Eventually, the rigors of trying to run a chat while having a life (and running a racing operation of my own), led me to disband our little group. But by then, there were other outlets (message boards, USEnet, etc.), so it quietly went away. I'm content to lurk here and post occasionally when I feel the need.

There's my little piece of history for ya's.... DONE.DONE (you old DRF'ers should get that one!)

Sign me,
"The poster also known as RacerX70"

 

[Chili]

The changes have come at such a swift pace that what was really happening back in the earlier days of interreactional telecommunications now sometimes feels like ancient history, even when the time frame is only one or two decades ago.

Prodigy had a similar, albeit smaller audience forum as CompuServe, with their own volunteer internet racing reporters. It too was firewalled, as was just about anything that was general public online access. Join a service, pay by the hour for access, and you could peruse the content of that service provider. For a while, I was paying for access to Prodigy, CompuServe and AOL, all at the same time. Prior to the firewalled ISP message boards, the internet still existed, but much of it was text only. If you knew how to find it, such things as the UPI (remember them?) raw international news feed was available. It made for interesting reading back in 1984...

Internet usegroups began the initial expansion of the internet beyond firewalled ISP's, at least for the average home computer owner/user. That's where the expansion really started to take off in a global way. Then, the World Wide Web came into being, and web-based information removed the need for local ISP's that had to include long-distance phone charges in their subscription rates. KaBoom! A huge explosion in the availability for every sort of information to be easily accessible to anyone with a computer and a phone line.

The WWW not only changed this medium of communication, it changed the way the world communicates and does business.

I was one of the Prodigy racing reporters way back in the day. I started posting my work on the usegroup Rec Auto Sport Info (after I posted it on Prodigy of course), and that resulted in a surprise or two. After covering a FF2000 event (I was covering all kinds of racing back then), I received an email from the Motorsports Editor at the Indianapolis Star asking me if I was the FF2000 PR guy. I replied I wasn't and that my R.A.S.I. post was just my coverage of the event - the FF2000 PR guy was new and a bit overwhelmed that weekend. She offered me a job at the Star covering open wheel support series events. I was extremely flattered, but I turned down the offer, telling her my true racing passion was drag racing. She then offered me another job as a stringer for the Star covering the NHRA National Event circuit. Again, I was very flattered, but had to turn it down too. I was still going to the drag races out of my own pocket, and at the time really needed the flexibility to continue to choose my travel schedule based on both financial concerns and interference with running with a brick and mortar store.

There had been a bit of competitive relationship between CompuServe and Prodigy in the early days of online drag racing coverage. That was actually sometimes pretty funny. There was sometimes more rivalry being verbally expressed in the press room than there was on the track! While the NHRA came to accept online reporting to be something that was worthy of seat space in the press rooms, they were grumbling about having to give up four of those precious media chairs at each event, and announced that only one service would be given credentials in the near future (if I remember right, it was a one-season advance notice).

Fast Eddie Dykes secured a financial commitment from the best (in my opinion) drag racing sponsor on the planet to provide enough funds to cover the travel expenses of the reporters. That was Manna from Heaven! I was still with Prodigy when Ed finalized the deal. I ran into him at (of all places) the inaugural Las Vegas NASCAR Cup event in the media center. I asked him about the deal, he confirmed it, then he asked me if I wanted to join FastNews. I asked him if I could think about it for a week. No problem was his response. I needed a little time to figure out how to break it to my Prodigy friends that I was going to "jump ship" and go to the races with Ed and Larry and Rick. That was the best decision I've ever made in my entire life.

...and I wasn't "just a fan with a laptop". At least, not in my first year. I hauled my desktop computer around in the back of my station wagon to work the races. My desire to work in this sport was definitely there, my equipment was just a lot bigger than everyone else's!

Sorry for rambling on so long. And thanks Jerrod for THE drag racing forum that is a combination of information and interaction on a real name basis.

I was part of the early race posters on the Prodigy site. Racing Photograper Les Welch contacted me in either 1992 about posting results each night following the Mile High Nationals. For payment he hooked me up with parking credentials (right by the gate) and a free ticket for the whole weekend. After each day I would meet Les below the tower and he would give the qualifying sheets so I didn't have to write down the times as they ran. I would then go home and basically retype all the info for the fans to read. I stopped doing the reports when they were able to secure a seat up in the tower. I would of loved to do it but I always went to the races with my father and it wasn't right for me to sit up in the tower without him. I always wondered where it could have taken me but I don't have any regrets.

 

[mick]

need to correct my earlier post (thank you paul/stardust)
the website i remember was GoRacing.com (not 'speedvision.com')

 

[Alan]

Idunno ... I have not been home.

Last week was an Alaskan cruise. Check out this itenerary ... Friday was Ketchikan Alaska, Saturday was Victoria British Columbia, Sunday was docking in Seattle and flying back to Vegas (same plane as Larry Morgan!). Got to Vegas at 5pm (didn't bother to check the mail), got up Monday at 330AM to catch 6AM flight from Vegas to Albuquerque then fly to Orlando then fly to Fort Myers FLA ... then drive to Port Charlotte, FLA and managed to get a couple of hours of work done when I got here!!! Anyway you slice it ... that is a hell of a 72 hour stretch.

I would say you haven't been home!! My boss returns to work tomorrow from Alaska, hopefully with some halibut for his best employee....

 

[Jenn]

I would say you haven't been home!! My boss returns to work tomorrow from Alaska, hopefully with some halibut for his best employee....

And hopefully the best employee shares with ya!

 

[vegasnitro]

I would say you haven't been home!! My boss returns to work tomorrow from Alaska, hopefully with some halibut for his best employee....

I caught a 30 pound King Salmon about 100 feet away from a bear. The guide took a great picture of me holding the fish with the bear in the background looking at me like I stole his dinner .... still waiting on that guide to email me the pic ...

 

[Alan]

And hopefully the best employee shares with ya!

I caught a 30 pound King Salmon about 100 feet away from a bear. The guide took a great picture of me holding the fish with the bear in the background looking at me like I stole his dinner .... still waiting on that guide to email me the pic ...

Touche, Jenn!! (That's too-shay, not tush, like bootie...no need to bazoomba another thread)

I'm hoping he has some halibut, silver salmon, and some smoked salmon that he and his family do. Best smoked salmon I've ever had. He is from Alaska, so when he goes up, he pays only for airfare, and stays with his family, has access to vehicles, and fishing boats. He has it way too good up there!!

 

[Jenn]

Touche, Jenn!! (That's too-shay, not tush, like bootie...no need to bazoomba another thread)

I'm hoping he has some halibut, silver salmon, and some smoked salmon that he and his family do. Best smoked salmon I've ever had. He is from Alaska, so when he goes up, he pays only for airfare, and stays with his family, has access to vehicles, and fishing boats. He has it way too good up there!!

One of my customers used to bring me smoked salmon when he went up there. Nice thick slabs of it...mmm, so good.