hows drag racing down south ? it feels like its dying up in the north ...car counts ect

dfree383 wrote:

LovesDemCubes wrote:Is the fix to this malaise returning to Muscle Car Heads Up events where Fords, Mopars, Pontiacs and Chebbies are welcome but not the Ricers?

Excluding ricers is no way to fix the problem, kids need cheap cars to soup up to go to the track, you get rid of the rice your getting rid of the essence of hot rodding. You may not like them but they are the cars that kids can afford to screw around with. No kids = No Future to the sport.

I don't want to see Legal Drag Racing end.

Watching my cousin and his friends race 300 feet at Fort Gay WVA's Tri-Rivers Drag Way encouraged me.

Lots of folks show up to race.

[quote="LovesDemCubes
Watching my cousin and his friends race 300 feet at Fort Gay WVA's Tri-Rivers Drag Way encouraged me.

Lots of folks show up to race.[/quote]
That is a fun little track.And they pack that place EVERY RACE.

I think as people get older they want more value for their money and less work. I've seen a lot of cruise type events increase dramatically in car count. Some don't want or have all the time involved with a drag car any more but want to drive their muscle car.  Cruisin' the Coast in Biloxi Ms had 5572 pre-registered cars this year. That is just the people that register and I bet there are at least 30% more that don't register let alone all the cars that are not eligible to register yet still go. It has grown so much in the last 5 years that come Friday it turns into one big 20 mile parking lot. There are a lot of older people there with their favorite muscle car.

Fuel prices keep me close to home and trying to keep this Tbird going. I spend more going to work now than I did going to races 3 nights a week 15 years ago and don't make any more money.I'm liking my old Mustang more and more all the time. Way cheaper and easier to race .The Tbird is fun ,but I need to throw the chute at these small tracks to be safe, and I am usually by myself .I hate to have ask someone to help me pack it,they usually are glad to help though.A engine for the Mustang is around $3500 and the Tbird is closer to 10 times that. If I was rich it would be just fine ,I'd have a few extra engines too.BUT that just ain't the case..

I hope no one thinks I'm looking down on bracket racing because I'm not. I was just saying what I like to do. I agree that keeping ricer's out is not a way to fix things. Right now tracks need every car they can get thru the gates. Some of them are pretty cool.

jasonf wrote:I think as people get older they want more value for their money and less work. I've seen a lot of cruise type events increase dramatically in car count. Some don't want or have all the time involved with a drag car any more but want to drive their muscle car.  Cruisin' the Coast in Biloxi Ms had 5572 pre-registered cars this year. That is just the people that register and I bet there are at least 30% more that don't register let alone all the cars that are not eligible to register yet still go. It has grown so much in the last 5 years that come Friday it turns into one big 20 mile parking lot. :(There are a lot of older people there with their favorite muscle car.

I see that more and more around here too. We had around 1500 cars for the last car show/cruise nite. I wish we could get a 1/4 of that to show up at the track. Seems like everyone wants to build a pro touring car now instead of a full tilt race car.

dfree383 wrote:

LovesDemCubes wrote:Is the fix to this malaise returning to Muscle Car Heads Up events where Fords, Mopars, Pontiacs and Chebbies are welcome but not the Ricers?

Excluding ricers is no way to fix the problem, kids need cheap cars to soup up to go to the track, you get rid of the rice your getting rid of the essence of hot rodding. You may not like them but they are the cars that kids can afford to screw around with. No kids = No Future to the sport.

Ill build another 4.6 before i do another "ricer" engine. Or i may get real crazy and pull my Lt1 in my 93 Bird again.

I think the biggest thing killing racing is the economy. Also the fact that most kids now are dumb as a rock so when the hood goes up they faint at the tangled mess of wiring.

Well, I'm doing my part to put another car on the track, hopefully next season.

jasonf wrote:I think as people get older they want more value for their money and less work. I've seen a lot of cruise type events increase dramatically in car count. Some don't want or have all the time involved with a drag car any more but want to drive their muscle car.  Cruisin' the Coast in Biloxi Ms had 5572 pre-registered cars this year. That is just the people that register and I bet there are at least 30% more that don't register let alone all the cars that are not eligible to register yet still go. It has grown so much in the last 5 years that come Friday it turns into one big 20 mile parking lot. :(There are a lot of older people there with their favorite muscle car.

In Ohio seems like racing attendance is down but several local cruises are growing bigger every time I go.

Drag racing around here has been in a steady decline for at least 10 years, from what I have observed in the Houston area. Super Shops and Martel Brother's closed at least that long ago, in part from the big mail order companies, and the lack of street cars. If we can't get the youth off the video games and cell phones, not to mention a job that will enable them to move out of their parents house, I think the furture of the sport looks pretty bleak. It's mainly the older diehards and in some case's maybe even the jap junkers, keeping some tracks afloat. Wish I could be more optimistic, but without more youth involement, and a better economy, I don't see things improving.

As a high school student I aced small gas engines and auto mech and was also teachers assistant for both, I have thought several times of talking with the shop teacher about getting students involved in building and campaigning a racecar built by high school students.

What happened to the show Dragrace High, I believe was the name where students built a racecar? I thought that was a great show and can't believe it didn't last. I watched every single episode.

[quote="bigblok2000ranger"]As a high school student I aced small gas engines and auto mech and was also teachers assistant for both,




I also aced both in high school on small engines went to state my last year and got 2nd place my rachet locked up and still finished about 30 sec behind the 1st guy. I was the teacher's asst. class my Jr year and still see my old shop teacher around town and he still remembers me and that was 28 years ago.

I agree with the rest most young people dont get into motorsports like they did 20 years ago

Yeah I had a scholarship from Briggs and Stratton to go to their technician certification class but couldn't attend because my idiot coke snorting father had to move because the police were starting to investigate him.

Would have been certified technician at sixteen years old. The school I went to didn't have a budget for the shop classes so everything we worked on was donated from people around the area. For my final project I rebuilt this old Briggs and Stratton that had a cast iron deck and even the shroud was cast iron, didn't have a recoil either. When the recruiter from B&S came to talk me he ended up donating $500 to the shop class tool fund and took it back with him.

Record participation at Drag Week this year. 230 cars started, and last I heard 181 made it to the final day. So at least there's some growth in some segment of the sport.

In my opinion, there was a huge surge in the sport that resulted from Pinks and Pinks All Out. If the NHRA cared at all about growing the sport, they'd find a way to develop a similar TV/race series. Speed killed the show to push NASCAR, and there has been a decline in interest ever since.

My folks wouldnt let me take auto mechanics in school, that worked out well.

That is why "grudge night" around here gregular weekend race.
ets a higher car count than a There is NO purse and NO "lose and go home" ... people are there to RACE and of course some test & tune. Entry is usually around $15.00 or $20.00 bucks per person whether you have a car with you or not.
Essentially, that is a "cover" charge for getting in and the use of the track ... the racing is FREE really.

I went a couple weeks ago to visit and there are street cars and race cars and even tow trucks getting to race someone for a "grudge".
It is all about the racing; not about the winner at the end of the night.

Thats

rmcomprandy wrote:

dr's wife racing wrote:Thre are no rules in grudge racing,or the fast 8 deal I was talking about. That was art of what I was saing. Cheap simple and easy for tracks.  Any one who hasn't been to a grudge race should go. It's even fun to watch.

That is why "grudge night" around here gets a higher car count than a regular weekend race.
There is NO purse and NO "lose and go home" ... people are there to RACE and of course some test & tune. Entry is usually around $15.00 or $20.00 bucks per person whether you have a car with you or not.
Essentially, that is a "cover" charge for getting in and the use of the track ... the racing is FREE really.

I went a couple weeks ago to visit and there are street cars and race cars and even tow trucks getting to race someone for a "grudge".
It is all about the racing; not about the winner at the end of the night.

Grudge night at Milan was my first time down a drag strip back in 89?  Paid my $10 at the gate, told them I was racing and lined up to run.  People were wondering what the heck a 78 Mercury Marquis was doing in the staging lanes, but after I started knocking off fox bodies, they figured it out.