My 2 cents. The good old days.. Pro's..... 1/4 mile, Larger car counts , wack the throttle , long burn outs, dry hops. Con's possible long clean up's , longer in between runs , cars not as fast. Not much in the way of TV or finding results. Today.... Pro's... Faster cars, safer for drivers , better tracks for fans, much more TV , results available quickly. Con's ... 1000 ft, less cars , no throttle wack, no long burnouts or dry hops ( Basically start car line up and run). Racers always want to go faster, with advances in technology the industry developed parts that would make that happen at the expense of the show. As far as the TV announcers nobody can hold a candle to Steve Evans , biggest complaint is todays announcers seem to feel that they have to talk all the time. My younger days I was at the old Detroit Dragway all the time. Still go ( I'm still hooked) and will keep going but it is not as much fun as it use to be.