When are the good 'ol days, read the commentary (9 Viewers)

[Bobby Bennett]

BOBBY BENNETT: WHY THE “GOOD OLD DAYS” AREN’T BETTER THAN TODAY | Competition Plus

You simply cannot present this argument in 600 words or fewer. It’s a long read.

competitionplus.com

Unlike most folks on Facebook, I know the Nitromaters will at least take the time to read and hear the points made and the facts discussed.

 

[Nunz]

Great article Bobby. I agree with pretty much everything you said, and often post my thoughts on different forums, including here. I get so tired of hearing all the negativity regarding the sport today. Other than the ongoing issue of spiraling costs (which has been an issue since the '70s lol) I think the sport has more to offer fans than ever before. I've been around long enough to remember 2 hour track cleanups, more aborted runs than people care to remember, and a real fear for driver's lives. Things are far from perfect, but they never have been and never will, but I plan to continue to be involved and enjoy it for as long as I'm around.

 

[Vdubman]

Great article Bobby. I agree with pretty much everything you said, and often post my thoughts on different forums, including here. I get so tired of hearing all the negativity regarding the sport today. Other than the ongoing issue of spiraling costs (which has been an issue since the '70s lol) I think the sport has more to offer fans than ever before. I've been around long enough to remember 2 hour track cleanups, more aborted runs than people care to remember, and a real fear for driver's lives. Things are far from perfect, but they never have been and never will, but I plan to continue to be involved and enjoy it for as long as I'm around.

One time we were at Firebird in Chandler in the early 2000’s and there was a massive oil down. It took the crew like three hours to clean this thing up. Eric Medlen had gone out to look at the track, the crew started pulling all the equipment off the track and the crowd cheered and Eric Medlen just waved at everybody, seemingly perplexed as to why they were cheering for him so loudly. It was great.

 

[BOO BOO]

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.

 

[Cliff]

I got to see T/F go from front motor cars to back motor cars. That really stands out to me, just cuz it was such a change. Don't really see that today, altho watching Brittney go 343 was really something. The technology today is to the moon compared to years ago. That is probably the biggest difference today. If T/F and F/C were restricted to a 8:71 blower and returned to 1/4 mile, they would figure out how to run a 4 second run.

 

[FreddieCougar]

I get a lot of what he is saying, but I have a bit of a different perspective. The cost to attend is out of hand and keeps me from attending national events for the most part, as Pro Stock is 90% of why I am a fan and P/S is indescribably boring to me. I know the racing is tight, and the technology is incredible but the bottom line is the drivers are generic, the cars are generic, and it's just not interesting to me any more. I know there is a "get off my lawn" aspect to what I am saying but I need the variety. Buick, Pontiac, Mopar, Ford, Oldsmobile...it was interesting, the cars were interesting and they looked remotely like cars you could see on the road. Cookie Cutter racing is just not interesting, no matter how close. The Fuel classes are short, and ruled by a few, so that is not exciting to me either.

 

[Billy]

I have grown to love this sport. I still have favorites today, but they can't have the impact on me as the stars in the formative years did. Shirley Muldowney. Don Garlits. Arnie Karp. Dick Bell. Chuck Etchells. Joe Ficca. Tony Grasso. So I'm going to love it for as long as I can. What I can say, is I WISH there was streaming in the 80s. Div 1 TAFC in the 80s is my jam as far as ultimate favorites go, with Div 1 Comp and TAD not too far behind. If only they had streaming then.
I did see - Brian Lohnes did a Nitro Rewind Time Machine showing all the hoopla from Topeka 1993 and the anticiupation of the first 4 - it seemed to me it had Dave McClelland announcing and had seemed to be the "livestream" from WinstonVision then, nothing from TV - THOSE ARCHIVES i would absolutely PAY to be released and watch coverage - go backl and reminisce about my favorite ETown events, or watch some Maple Grove events from the 90s of the alcohol and Comp categories.

 

[Chili]

I miss the quantity of cars that would just show up at an event. I grew up really close to Bandimere speedway. My dad would even drive around to local motels around town to see whose trailers were parked in the lots and in many cases the car was out of the trailer being worked on. Pulling into the gates on Thursday of the Mile High Nationals was better than Christmas morning. We knew that the Snake, Bernstein, Muldowney would be there but it was exciting walking through the pits and seeing nitro cars that we didn’t even know existed. And it didn’t stop there. We would get Alky cars up from Texas and from California to battle it out with the Midwest hitters for the 8 car field. I wish I could travel back in time and get pictures of all the cars. Now I’m looking at the entry list months in advance knowing who is going to be there and then in some cases disappointed when a car was on the list and didn’t make it.

If I’m still alive in 40 years I will probably be on some message board talking about how great we had it in 2025. I try to squeeze 5-6 national events in each year because at some point either I won’t be able to do it anymore or maybe they don’t exist anymore.

 

[Chili]

I have grown to love this sport. I still have favorites today, but they can't have the impact on me as the stars in the formative years did. Shirley Muldowney. Don Garlits. Arnie Karp. Dick Bell. Chuck Etchells. Joe Ficca. Tony Grasso. So I'm going to love it for as long as I can. What I can say, is I WISH there was streaming in the 80s. Div 1 TAFC in the 80s is my jam as far as ultimate favorites go, with Div 1 Comp and TAD not too far behind. If only they had streaming then.
I did see - Brian Lohnes did a Nitro Rewind Time Machine showing all the hoopla from Topeka 1993 and the anticiupation of the first 4 - it seemed to me it had Dave McClelland announcing and had seemed to be the "livestream" from WinstonVision then, nothing from TV - THOSE ARCHIVES i would absolutely PAY to be released and watch coverage - go backl and reminisce about my favorite ETown events, or watch some Maple Grove events from the 90s of the alcohol and Comp categories.

There is a guy on YouTube that posts some awesome home videos from the 80’s and 90’s. I’ve been lost for hours watching them. Most of his videos are from the 80’s. He has a lot sportsman videos.

Jon Frank's Drag Racing - 80s & 90s

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