A.D.R.L. vs the others
Please forgive me if I make no sense with this post, but my wife and I have just endured four days of freezing temps in a house that lost its electric power during a snow storm this past Friday evening and just came back on this morning. I really do know what brain-freeze means and it is true. No we had no alternative heat source. It really makes you appreciate the modern comforts, like HEAT.The American Drag Racing League vs. the others.For many years I was a fan of both the NHRA and IHRA drag racing series but my interest began to subside when most of the Pro teams began acting a lot like the NASCAR teams do when they win a race. "The Satcoo Tool, Powerslide, Wainscott 2011 Mazda Miata" was a real hot-rod today. If I want to see a NASCAR race (which I don't) I will turn on the tube. Then the fact that the IHRA could never level the playing field among its Pro Modified teams. It seemed like they were changing the rules for the P/M class on a weekly basis at one time. After 10 seasons, the NHRA has finally decided to make the Pro Modified cars a true NHRA Pro Class. Maybe they (NHRA) finally realized this was a class worthy of becoming a Pro class. I knew they were a long time ago. Too little, too late if you ask me. Now that the IHRA is taking the "racing entertainment" approach to the sport, nah I won't ever go to another IHRA event for as long as I live.Six years ago, Kenny Nowling decided to try something a little bit different with the formation of the American Drag Racing League. Today, he has one of the best (IMHO) drag racing organizations in the sport. He and his staff know how to put on one damn good racing event. Not a show but an event. Sure, they run only the 1/8th mile but where else can you see a doorslammer carry the front wheels almost to half track or a motorcycle carry the wheels the entire length of the track? Where else can you see a sub 4 second run by a blown or nitrous car? What I like most about the ADRL style of drag racing is that it is the old "run what ya brung, and hope ya brung enough" style of drag racing. The ADRL style of drag racing brings back great memories of when my dad took me to my first drag race in 1969. It was a Gasser event (I also got to see the Green Mamba in action) in Orlando, Florida at a strip call Orange County Dragway or my first national event, an AHRA race at the Rock. In all the years that I have been going to Rockingham Dragway (AHRA, IHRA, and NHRA), I have never seen a crowd like the one I saw this past September at DragStock VI. I am certain there were well over 75,000 fans in attendance. I am a member of the ADRL and will be for life. I hope to go to more ADRL events in the coming years and I urge all of you to go to at least one ADRL race. You won't be disappointed.Chris.
I agree Chris........the "get in all the sponsors" banter has worn out its welcome......and so has the Big 3 (or so they would like to think they are). I grew up in the southwest corner of Virginia and cut the teeth on "Real" drag racing......run what ya brung. In that day even the teams with sponsorship were first and foremost racers. Now, there is no real coverage of the Sportsman ranks and the **RA's don't understand we no longer care which one of John Force's or Schumachers cars win.
Micahel. Yep, I like the Sportsman ranks much more than I do the Pro ranks, well except for the Pro/Mods. Its bad though, there seems to be a move even in the class that I enjoy the most, that is very similar to the Force and Schumacher multi-team approach. It is a matter of the Almighty dollar. What these multi-car teams don't realize (even those in the ADRL) is that they will eventually kill the sport and then we, the fans, will be left with what? Ye Gads, NASCAR. I think I would probably take to watching Bacgammon Tournaments.