NHRA President Glen Cromwell Announces Lawsuit Against The Coca-Cola Company (2 Viewers)

[Cliff]

Reflecting on sitting in the grandstands at OCIR in the late sixties, at 11pm, surrounded by 30,000 like minded car-o-holics, watching a couple of top fuelers push off toward their appointment with their respective destinies.

How did we get to this today?

Technology......

 

[sammi]

I am thinking that in the late 60's very few people made a living in drag racing. A dozen or so at the sanctioning body, engine builders, parts makers and sellers and a small band of touring cars.

Now, multiply the previous number by 1,000 and the demand for a racing job is strong. Drag Racing is made vulnerable by the huge amount of capital needed to keep these people employed. (as NHRA has painfully discovered).

Maybe we don't need to be a "major" sport. Maybe we don't need 330 mph car relicas. Maybe we don't need a touring "pro" series. Maybe we don't need to be on TV so much.

We do need a safety structure so cars don't harm drivers or spectators. We need to rekindle the joy of seeing a great race or a beautifully engineered and turned out race car.

Maybe Wally was right.

 

[TopFuel@Lions]

What Mark and John Waters said,good stuff.

Can we leave the politics, talk of ones portfolio out of this please, sheez.




TopFuel@Lions
Talladega Short Track Announcer.

 

[none]

Not being argumentative just asking, What business runs today the same way it did 50 years ago?
Lions closed 48 years ago.
OCIR closed 37 years ago.

Racing has evolved, safety has evolved. Back in the "Good Old Days" how often was there a fatality?
How often did a Funny Car literally burn to the ground?
How long did it take to clean up oil? Or dry the track after a rain shower?
How long did it take to fix it when someone ran over the lights?
How many races were decided because of an oildown making it a one lane track for the next ten pairs?
How many hours did you wait wondering when they were going to pull them out of the "Hot Car Lanes"?
Do you want all that back as well?
I think that some people remember all the good things, but seem to discount all the not so good things from back in the day.

I miss the days when I could fix anything on my car, including rebuilding the engine if needed.
But would I rather have my 78 Ford truck back instead of the one I have now? Not a chance.

Alan

 

[wireguy]

Not being argumentative just asking, What business runs today the same way it did 50 years ago?
Lions closed 48 years ago.
OCIR closed 37 years ago.

Racing has evolved, safety has evolved. Back in the "Good Old Days" how often was there a fatality?
How often did a Funny Car literally burn to the ground?
How long did it take to clean up oil? Or dry the track after a rain shower?
How long did it take to fix it when someone ran over the lights?
How many races were decided because of an oildown making it a one lane track for the next ten pairs?
How many hours did you wait wondering when they were going to pull them out of the "Hot Car Lanes"?
Do you want all that back as well?
I think that some people remember all the good things, but seem to discount all the not so good things from back in the day.

I miss the days when I could fix anything on my car, including rebuilding the engine if needed.
But would I rather have my 78 Ford truck back instead of the one I have now? Not a chance.

Alan

Well stated Alan, and the good old days are just around the corner.

 

[T.Smith]

Reflecting on sitting in the grandstands at OCIR in the late sixties, at 11pm, surrounded by 30,000 like minded car-o-holics, watching a couple of top fuelers push off toward their appointment with their respective destinies.

How did we get to this today?

30,000?? Where did you get that number?

 

[Huge]

Not being argumentative just asking, What business runs today the same way it did 50 years ago?
Lions closed 48 years ago.
OCIR closed 37 years ago.

Racing has evolved, safety has evolved. Back in the "Good Old Days" how often was there a fatality?
How often did a Funny Car literally burn to the ground?
How long did it take to clean up oil? Or dry the track after a rain shower?
How long did it take to fix it when someone ran over the lights?
How many races were decided because of an oildown making it a one lane track for the next ten pairs?
How many hours did you wait wondering when they were going to pull them out of the "Hot Car Lanes"?
Do you want all that back as well?
I think that some people remember all the good things, but seem to discount all the not so good things from back in the day.

I miss the days when I could fix anything on my car, including rebuilding the engine if needed.
But would I rather have my 78 Ford truck back instead of the one I have now? Not a chance.

Alan

NHRA has spoiled most of todays fans including myself. A lot of todays fans couldn't handle what went on in the old days. I sure wouldn't want to go back. But I do miss the cars and drivers from the past.

 

[Cliff]

Not being argumentative just asking, What business runs today the same way it did 50 years ago?
Lions closed 48 years ago.
OCIR closed 37 years ago.

Racing has evolved, safety has evolved. Back in the "Good Old Days" how often was there a fatality?
How often did a Funny Car literally burn to the ground?
How long did it take to clean up oil? Or dry the track after a rain shower?
How long did it take to fix it when someone ran over the lights?
How many races were decided because of an oildown making it a one lane track for the next ten pairs?
How many hours did you wait wondering when they were going to pull them out of the "Hot Car Lanes"?
Do you want all that back as well?
I think that some people remember all the good things, but seem to discount all the not so good things from back in the day.

I miss the days when I could fix anything on my car, including rebuilding the engine if needed.
But would I rather have my 78 Ford truck back instead of the one I have now? Not a chance.

Alan

You could ask Larry Sutton, or Don Garlits, or Snake about the good old days. Yes I do miss the cars, but not the stuff Alan was talking about. Cleaning an oil spill on the track was 1 guy in a truck holding a bag of grease sweep & letting it go on the oil. then another truck with 2 guys with push brooms sweeping up the oil dry. A bad oil down was a "2 bagger" (2 bags of grease sweep) & sometimes more, if the oil was all the way from the start to the shut off area. The lights were literally made from glass in a fixture. If a driver took out the lights, glass everywhere, etc. I really used to hate one lane tracks. Pomona was bad in that way. The left lane was always hard to run in for the fuel cars - up in smoke. Oh, you always sat close to a loudspeaker so you could hear the times the cars ran. No score boards then.

 

[robinjackson]

I sometimes have people come up and say, "I used to go to Santa Pod in the '60s/'70s... What's it like now? Has it changed much?"

I reply, "Well, we have flushing toilets now."

 

[Greggo]

I was young but, I do remember all those points Alan made.
Even the oil-down cleanup entertainment. No t-shirt cannons. But occasional in-the-stands topless cuties.

 

[4onthefl4]

Not being argumentative just asking, What business runs today the same way it did 50 years ago?
Lions closed 48 years ago.
OCIR closed 37 years ago.

Racing has evolved, safety has evolved. Back in the "Good Old Days" how often was there a fatality?
How often did a Funny Car literally burn to the ground?
How long did it take to clean up oil? Or dry the track after a rain shower?
How long did it take to fix it when someone ran over the lights?
How many races were decided because of an oildown making it a one lane track for the next ten pairs?
How many hours did you wait wondering when they were going to pull them out of the "Hot Car Lanes"?
Do you want all that back as well?
I think that some people remember all the good things, but seem to discount all the not so good things from back in the day.

I miss the days when I could fix anything on my car, including rebuilding the engine if needed.
But would I rather have my 78 Ford truck back instead of the one I have now? Not a chance.

Alan

My first drag race was sometime in the mid 60's. It was at an old Navy Air base that was a rough as a corn cob, no guard rails and the lights was aircraft search lights shining down the track which made it difficult to see the starting line and I could go on and on about the safety issues at that race. But, I've been hooked on drag racing from that night on.
The scene reminds me of a Charley Pride song about going home again:
"It's nice to think about it, maybe even visit, but I wonder could I live there anymore".
By the way, the main attraction that night was Jack Chrisman's Comet funny car.

 

[megadeth]

With regards to Mike Salinas, his decision to sit out 2020 was made well before any of the COVID stuff happened. They're super busy up there in the bay area.

Either way it was a good move.

 

[megadeth]

Why? Racing is happening and a champion will be crowned. Not sure why people are saying Force made the right move, he had no choice, 3/4 of his sponsorship $ bailed out. He had no choice but to sit out.

And it shows! The lack of competition is wrapping it up for team Schumacher. Like in strike years of other major sports there will forever be an astric next to the crowned champion. You know for sure he lost his sponsorship money? That is what’s been rumored! Rumors aren’t facts. If you do know then spill it! You probably won’t because you don’t know more than anybody else!

 

[mgty3whlr]

The lack of competition is wrapping it up for team Schumacher.

Not for Top Fuel Bob.

 

[SundayNiagara]

Not for Top Fuel Bob.

Unfortunately.

 

[Jeff Walters]

To relive the old days all you have to do is attend the march meet or hot rod reunion. Most of the the clunks that never ran worth a shit back in the day are still out there blowing shit up.

 

[r2]

Sure got quiet - hopefully that's good news.

Marcus Lemonis (@marcuslemonis) on Twitter

#NHRA (@NHRA) on Twitter

feel free to change it up.

 

[Nick Name]

Almost sounds like Alan believes drag racing is better today than it was.

 

[4onthefl4]

Almost sounds like Alan believes drag racing is better today than it was.

It is.

 

[Nunz]

Almost sounds like Alan believes drag racing is better today than it was.

Jay if you read his post, you'd get that what he was saying was in some ways, it's WAY better today than it was. There are sure many things about the old days that are missed, starting with the sheer number of fuel cars at any given event. But, anything that's been around for 70ish years is going to change, a lot. I believe we all have a tendency to look back and remember what was good about the past, in many aspects of our lives, including racing.