Another Top Fuel Team is Parked

[bukweet]

I remember the days the Big Dawgs toured and booked races for a living. None of the stuff we have now with only 8 to 10 annual races.
For the teen-aged spectators(me included), it was a lot more fun to see a booked in show and the local cars were the heros in the fashion Pinks(Rich makes me ill)has brought back to drag racing.
The economy is hitting everything and everyone. I'm a realtor so it hasn't missed me either.
We may not come out and be the same but we will make it through and it just might be better on the other side.
Everyone on here likely knows the difference between working on something or fixing it.

Insanity...doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result.

Lets pray those that can, fix it.

Hold fast.

 

[Toejam]

This way seem a little weird to ask considering I do know the state of the economy but DP just says oh the hell with it and lets everyone go? He doesn't even TRY to find something else?

I was thinking that very thing! In '06-'07 he ran many races out of pocket, with Cat coming onboard full time in '08. I think this was DP's excuse to walk away, maybe the economy is kicking his ass like everyone else's?

 

[sammi]

If any of you are in Glendora, could you put a note under the wiper on Mr. Compton's Bentley saying nitro racing in a trouble and it would be swell if he could try to do something about it.

Mark

 

[Randy]

AA/FC is dead. T/F is dead. Over the last 40+ years people have said one or the other or both over the course of those years. Panic never set in...opportunities did. Believe it or not the classes have survived wars, economies and nitro bans and will continue to.

Used to be a couple of guys with decent jobs could put a car together and be competitive. Many didn't do much travelling and only raced withing a few hundred or a thousand miles from home. Big money has changed all that, but now times are changing. Pulling back from the days of ungodly excess may actually be good for the sport.

Here's a post I put in another thread:

Teams parking it creating short fields will open up opportunities for new teams to compete. NHRA should stay with 16 car fields or the infux of new racers will dry up in my opinion. Some in the TAD and TA/FC ranks will view this as an opportunity to go pro, rather than looking at it as a playground for the rich. NHRA needs some new blood anyway. Heck, we even talked about unloading our stuff and trying FC on a limited basis if the fields remain short.

There are several IHRA FC racers looking for a new home and NHRA will provide the welcome mat.

The dedicated hard core racers will race even if on a limited basis like Bill Miller, Steve Chrisman and Mike Strausburg. They won't have the mega budget, but in time they may find help when the economy turns around and companies want to get back in. They won't be looking at who's been on the couch for the last few years in considering teams to sponsor. They will weigh in on who's out there.

RG

 

[rocketman]

"Used to be a couple of guys with decent jobs could put a car together and be competitive. Many didn't do much travelling and only raced withing a few hundred or a thousand miles from home. Big money has changed all that, but now times are changing. Pulling back from the days of ungodly excess may actually be good for the sport."

That would be fine with me Randy. I thing the CAT deal is a wake up call that theres an end to all the "big money".

 

[sparky]

I would love to see the days of when "a few guys with good jobs" could go out a run some regional races and do it competitively return. It was great to watch the low buck guys run with the rest.
They could fill the fields and it would be important that they were paid accordingly to make it worth their while.
Randy Goodwin is correct in that it would create opportunities for new blood to enter the game.
Make these cars affordable to run with a decent payout and the sport will continue being great and everyone will still fill the stands. It can't possibly be that difficult to implement cost saving rules. It worked before all these big pumps, blowers and billet this and that became the norm.

 

[Professor Dave]

David Powers and Ken Black are in the home building industry. The last time the level of residential construction was as low as it is today (see GDP data) was the second quarter of 1995 and this quarter it is likely to be lower than that and I expect that house prices still have a good way to fall. Things in that industry are not likely to improve anytime soon-it's in worse shape that the auto industry.

 

[Guppy]

The dedicated hard core racers will race even if on a limited basis like Bill Miller, Steve Chrisman and Mike Strausburg. They won't have the mega budget, but in time they may find help when the economy turns around and companies want to get back in. They won't be looking at who's been on the couch for the last few years in considering teams to sponsor. They will weigh in on who's out there.

RG

O.K. corporate America, You can have your name ALL OVER a T/F car for a 10th of what you would think, we are ready, are you ?

 

[Jenn]

I posted this in another thread and I'll post it again in response to Randy's comments.

Not only will you have other teams trying to make the field that normally compete in other series but here's a thought, how about the liquidation sales that are going to be happening? Less expensive, slightly used but still top of the line parts coming down the line at liquidation prices.

TAD drivers could practically steal some of those parts and make them work.

Another thing that i don't think Fans realize is how much fan support helps these smaller teams. Not financial support but just going down the pits and watching those guys work. You probably have better access and certainly better views if you go hang with the smaller teams.

I've sat in those stands when Chrisman, or Hartley, or Noveli comes to the line and heard comments like "here comes and oil down". I'm sorry you have to set there through an oil down, but you've got down to earth racers who actually do it for the love, not the cash on the line. They deserve every bit of respect that you'd give the big guys, if not more because they are doing it for you more than doing it for their sponsors.

I've also been wandering around the midway and see the low budget teams plug away at rebuilding their engines, and nope, the driver can't come out and sign autographs cuz he's pushing pistons too. But get a few people watching them and they stand a little bit straighter and work a little big harder.

If losing big names brings guys like Chrisman, Hartley, Noveli out to the track and parks their small operations on the same row as JFR, and DSR, I'll take it, because these low budget racers might finally get the respect they deserve. Or at the very least, prime parking.

 

[Mooseman]

I dream of oneday racing a nitro funny car , when I get to that point I would probably try and do it with crap all budget and sleeping in a tent at the track and living on sandwich's and coca-cola lol , hey I can dream can't I lol but this old article I found deffinitly has a point about the um bad potentials of racing with no money.

Up In Smoke - May 1981

 

[J.C.]

I posted this in another thread and I'll post it again in response to Randy's comments.

Not only will you have other teams trying to make the field that normally compete in other series but here's a thought, how about the liquidation sales that are going to be happening? Less expensive, slightly used but still top of the line parts coming down the line at liquidation prices.

TAD drivers could practically steal some of those parts and make them work.

Another thing that i don't think Fans realize is how much fan support helps these smaller teams. Not financial support but just going down the pits and watching those guys work. You probably have better access and certainly better views if you go hang with the smaller teams.

I've sat in those stands when Chrisman, or Hartley, or Noveli comes to the line and heard comments like "here comes and oil down". I'm sorry you have to set there through an oil down, but you've got down to earth racers who actually do it for the love, not the cash on the line. They deserve every bit of respect that you'd give the big guys, if not more because they are doing it for you more than doing it for their sponsors.

I've also been wandering around the midway and see the low budget teams plug away at rebuilding their engines, and nope, the driver can't come out and sign autographs cuz he's pushing pistons too. But get a few people watching them and they stand a little bit straighter and work a little big harder.

If losing big names brings guys like Chrisman, Hartley, Noveli out to the track and parks their small operations on the same row as JFR, and DSR, I'll take it, because these low budget racers might finally get the respect they deserve. Or at the very least, prime parking.

Amen to everything you posted above! Would it really be such a bad thing to have drag racing return to its roots of RACING and put all of the mega dollar owners and sponsorships aside for a while? While I appreciate the growth that NHRA has achieved over the past few decades, I also miss seeing the "average guy" build and run a fueler on their own and enjoy winning rounds/races entirely on their own sweat and blood.

Bring it on, heck maybe an average guy like me could afford to go racing again with a few buddies, lol.

 

[Wes]

Hey William...we race at the sportsman level just a tick above that! If we didn't have such a nice track within minutes of home we'd be sleeping in the trailer...not a 1/4 million dollar motorhome!

My parents and their racing partners raced Pro Comp in the 70's with off the wall stuff towing a nice dragster in an incomplete "enclosed" trailer with Dad's company car (aka, Ford E350 van with a 460). Sharing hotel rooms and eating wish sammiches was the norm. Apart from an oil deal from Pennzoil (Reeder Distributors in Dallas) and some small parts sponsors, they did it all out of their own pockets...and the car flat flew!

It only took 25 years, but looks like we're back to Top Fuel circa 1983. Many short fields (even at 8-car events), few full-time touring teams. What came out of that downturn was the triumphant return of Large Father, the introduction of Darrell Gwynn Top Fuel Driver, the second coming of The Thrill, and many, many colorful "indies" that made the 1985-1989 seasons amongst the best in the class' history.

It sucks that we have to lose so many great stars of the class all at once. But I predict most or all of them will return and be greeted by the fans, sponsors, and new blood.

If NHRA has any true designs on re-inventing the nitro engine/powertrain package, NOW would be the time to make a move. With fewer teams in business there would less initial impact on the industry if they had to go different routes with regard to blowers, fuel systems, long-blocks, and clutch systems.

 

[J.C.]

Hey William...we race at the sportsman level just a tick above that! If we didn't have such a nice track within minutes of home we'd be sleeping in the trailer...not a 1/4 million dollar motorhome!

Oops, forgot about the 1/4 million dollar motor homes. Actually, a lot of these sportsman guys were filling the pits with haulers that were probably pushing $500k! I'm guessing that most of these were purchased on credit during the housing bubble and are headed back to finance companies as we speak. You'll probably be able to pick them up for 20 or 30 cents on the dollar fairly soon, if you have any cold hard cash left after the bubble unwinds.

 

[Toejam]

Just think....some low buck TF driver who has never run in the 4's (1/4 mile) can show up and make one pass and get that $9,000 qualifying fee!

 

[Wes]

Oops, forgot about the 1/4 million dollar motor homes. Actually, a lot of these sportsman guys were filling the pits with haulers that were probably pushing $500k! I'm guessing that most of these were purchased on credit during the housing bubble and are headed back to finance companies as we speak. You'll probably be able to pick them up for 20 or 30 cents on the dollar fairly soon, if you have any cold hard cash left after the bubble unwinds.

No thanks! As much as Aspen and I would enjoy the ammenities of such luxury, we'll stick with the following:

--1990 Ford F350 Crew Cab Dually, 460 GAS engine, lowered, fun tow ride. Cheaper cost of operation than a diesel now, plenty of power, and PAID FOR! The rear seat folds into a small bed just in case it is needed.

--1997 Performax 28' trailer. Tows great, will hold virtually any car or combination of cars, and PAID FOR! If I could just get rid of that faded red exterior, though. It'll have a roof-air and a camping shower in 2009 so we can stay in it overnight.

--Sold the Casa just before the crash, moved into a shop/loft that is 1/3 the monthly cost of a house at which we couldn't even work on our race cars...damn tiny garages and steep driveways!!!

--Builder of my own cars, parts, and components. I even assemble the engines and fix what's broke. Aspen is learning to weld and helping me with fabrication. Most of the high end parts we otain are done through trade-out work for friends and other racers. About the only thing we outsource are transmissions and converters.

We've been preapring for these lean times by training ourselves to deal in cash (after first saving for the purchase), reducing overhead, not relying on sponsor money to race, and taking day-jobs in stable industries (hello medical fields!). I'm not claiming to be the smartest racer but it wasn't that hard to see the writing on the wall. We took the steps neccessary to enable us to continue to race on modest salaries during an economic downturn. Since we own everything no bank or finance conglomerate can threaten to take it away if it isn't producing revenue. Is that really a concept that is hard to grasp?

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Heck NO. Thats the last thing we should do. If ya want the sport to shrink - then shrink the fields.

if we have short fields at the first couple races that will encourage the lower funded teams to show up at the races near them because they will have a better chance of qualifying.

If you cut the field to 8, you kill the idea of one of these giving it a try.

And folks, a bye run is NOT the end of the world. Any fan thats been to more than one race knows and excepts that its part of our sport.

 

[PJ]

I'm surprised they went from losing a sponsor to just giving up so quickly. Its a shame.

 

[Jenn]

And folks, a bye run is NOT the end of the world. Any fan thats been to more than one race knows and excepts that its part of our sport.

I don't think people can appreciate a bye run until it's either been given to them, or until they've had to race 3 or 8 tough races with out one

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

I don't think people can appreciate a bye run until it's either been given to them, or until they've had to race 3 or 8 tough races with out one

You of all people understand that a bye is part of out sport. We run two at a time. So from time to time, an "odd" number of cars, will force a bye. No big thing.

 

[clwill]

I'm surprised they went from losing a sponsor to just giving up so quickly. Its a shame.

My guess is the Cat thing was almost a race-to-race thing (have to woo each local dealer, very hard work) and maybe didn't cover all the costs. Powers was just squeaking by, adding in enough from his own pocket to make it fly. Now, with the home business in the toilet he's wondering "how is this gonna work next year?" Then CAT walked, and he just said "screw it, I better concentrate on keeping my company out of Chap. 11".

Just speculation, but...