NHRA Top Fuel Racer Issues Dire Warning About Series' Future

[brendellajet]

My wife and I have been able to talk to the whole Torrence family and many of their crew the past 3 years in Vegas. They are the most personable people we've made contact with in the pits. The wife in fact, has her NHRA hat signed by all three,, Billy, Steve and mama K. across the bill. We never were rushed and felt right at home with each of them. Granted this was was early in the day but none the less they were great. I spoke with the fuel man and he too was very nice and answered all my questions and I suspect because I asked some not so common questions that I'm sure he's not been asked a million times. The super charger guy was the very same.

We're very disappointed this year not getting to go but what hasn't been a disappointment in 2020.

The Torrences...would have loved to see Ferre kick the crap out of Steve when Ferre deep staged him last year [emoji12]

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk

 

[Travmon]

HERE is where it all went south , Drag racing is NOT A TEAM SPORT ! When you let a couple guys that have the resources to fund several teams run the show you end up with where we are at now.. I have and continue to be very involved with the sport and watched the collapse happen over a decade..Here in the northwest and all over the country there is capable cars sitting in garages never to be raced again..I'll take some of my friends as example , when the nationals rolled into town there was always several local T/F cars that would get in the show ( in all cities that had national events) these are people that worked their collective asses off all year for this one chance to haul ass.. Now imagine you and your buddies just spent the last 2 months getting ready , prepping car , buying spares and it is now GO time.. So you show up at the track and the first thing you see is 5 or 6 semi-trailers hooked up together ( With a technology center) and upwards of 100 people on the payroll that is your competition for the weekend , DO YOU EVEN PULL YOUR SHIT OUT OF THE PULL BEHIND TRAILER ?? Not only did the locals bring a car they brought FAMILY they brought FRIENDS and usually filled up there own section of bleacher space..NO MORE .
I saw the writing on the wall several years ago, I quit watching when I knew in the winners circle it would be the same 4-6 drivers every weekend. So how do you fix this .. SIMPLE if you want to fix it...NEW RULE , if you want to own several cars and dominate a sport you now get to have a separate address for each car , no more mega shops for 6 teams, no more parking next to your other cars at the race , no more technology centers. IMAGINE if this was the NFL and jerry Jones owned 5 teams and on game day he looked through his large staff and cherry picked the players for the battle at hand, NFL would not last long. Its not a TEAM SPORT to drag race nor should it be.. And for Christ sake be observant to changing trends.. I am currently involved with a couple pro-mod cars and some drag radial cars this is the most exciting thing going these days because no 2 runs are the same and the cars are still somewhat recognizable and they are hauling ass.
Last year we went to Boise and ran the street outlaw TV deal , the owner of the track had never had such full stands and there was less then 60 cars on the property.. They have their collective asses in the sand and will wait for total collapse before any changes. TOO BAD ! my latest creation is coming along .

 

[rivermobster]

Here is what I think NHRA should do. Let anyone 16 and under in for FREE, cut the regular ticket price in half. Get people in the gate! Bring PRO MOD on hard, hit up ever local sanctioning body up near a local track and create strategic partnerships. Bring in a street racer 10.5 tire type class and partner with all of the "street racer" type TV shows to bring them to the bigger NHRA events for points, something along the lines of Best Street Racer in America. Do power tours with Motor Trend between events. Embrace social media and all of these smaller things that are getting more TV and internet coverage. You have to change or die! There are so many things they could do but refuse to for some reason?

BNAG!

PRO MOD could easily be the main attraction. Why they don't let those guys run with everyone else, makes zero sense to me. And yeah, the gate prices are freaking Stupid.

 

[RaceTec]

View attachment 921745

First, I agree! Second, bitchen build! Who is the engine builder? If you need a little help let me know!

 

[Travmon]

First, I agree! Second, bitchen build! Who is the engine builder? If you need a little help let me know!

Mostly an in house deal with some help from Jim Andrews and others locally..It will go on to Walt Austins hub dyno and we do have the brain trust from the east coast for help as well.

 

[was thatguy]

HERE is where it all went south , Drag racing is NOT A TEAM SPORT ! When you let a couple guys that have the resources to fund several teams run the show you end up with where we are at now.. I have and continue to be very involved with the sport and watched the collapse happen over a decade..Here in the northwest and all over the country there is capable cars sitting in garages never to be raced again..I'll take some of my friends as example , when the nationals rolled into town there was always several local T/F cars that would get in the show ( in all cities that had national events) these are people that worked their collective asses off all year for this one chance to haul ass.. Now imagine you and your buddies just spent the last 2 months getting ready , prepping car , buying spares and it is now GO time.. So you show up at the track and the first thing you see is 5 or 6 semi-trailers hooked up together ( With a technology center) and upwards of 100 people on the payroll that is your competition for the weekend , DO YOU EVEN PULL YOUR SHIT OUT OF THE PULL BEHIND TRAILER ?? Not only did the locals bring a car they brought FAMILY they brought FRIENDS and usually filled up there own section of bleacher space..NO MORE .
I saw the writing on the wall several years ago, I quit watching when I knew in the winners circle it would be the same 4-6 drivers every weekend. So how do you fix this .. SIMPLE if you want to fix it...NEW RULE , if you want to own several cars and dominate a sport you now get to have a separate address for each car , no more mega shops for 6 teams, no more parking next to your other cars at the race , no more technology centers. IMAGINE if this was the NFL and jerry Jones owned 5 teams and on game day he looked through his large staff and cherry picked the players for the battle at hand, NFL would not last long. Its not a TEAM SPORT to drag race nor should it be.. And for Christ sake be observant to changing trends.. I am currently involved with a couple pro-mod cars and some drag radial cars this is the most exciting thing going these days because no 2 runs are the same and the cars are still somewhat recognizable and they are hauling ass.
Last year we went to Boise and ran the street outlaw TV deal , the owner of the track had never had such full stands and there was less then 60 cars on the property.. They have their collective asses in the sand and will wait for total collapse before any changes. TOO BAD ! my latest creation is coming along .
View attachment 921739
View attachment 921738 View attachment 921740 View attachment 921744 View attachment 921745

Nice! That’s fucking bad ass.

As far as your TF buddies...it’s a National event. Who did they think was going to show up?
Did they prepare for 2 months not knowing that Dougy would fly in on his Learjet Thursday night? Or that Force would roll his 12 trailer convoy in? Let alone Schumacher and his platoon of minions?
Have they never heard of Torrence?

I get it...the traveling circus has pushed the privateer out of the pro classes.
Im a spectator these days, and I never raced at your level.
I love local tracks, nostalgia, match racing, all of it.
But I don’t confuse that with the circus. I go to a National event to precisely see the big teams and mega set ups.
I actually spend all day Friday in the sportsman pits usually. It’s awesome in my book.
And yeah, it’s more than the $20 admission for Friday night street drags. So what.

There’s lots of ways to race other than national events. All sportsman racers must accrue divisional points to enter a National event as you well know.
It’s mind blowing to hear their resumes as they square off.

Every Motorsport on earth is dominated by corporate teams at the pro level. Every Motorsport on earth has venues and classes and sanctioning bodies below the pro level.
As a fan, I enjoy all levels of drag racing.
Apparently I’m not the only one.

I love National events. I’ll never stop going until they fold up or take a knee.
Same with local drags.

NHRA announces Sunday sellout at NHRA Arizona Nationals

NHRA officials announced a sellout crowd at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix.

www.nhra.com

 

[Travmon]

Nice! That’s fucking bad ass.

As far as your TF buddies...it’s a National event. Who did they think was going to show up?
Did they prepare for 2 months not knowing that Dougy would fly in on his Learjet Thursday night? Or that Force would roll his 12 trailer convoy in? Let alone Schumacher and his platoon of minions?
Have they never heard of Torrence?

I get it...the traveling circus has pushed the privateer out of the pro classes.
Im a spectator these days, and I never raced at your level.
I love local tracks, nostalgia, match racing, all of it.
But I don’t confuse that with the circus. I go to a National event to precisely see the big teams and mega set ups.
I actually spend all day Friday in the sportsman pits usually. It’s awesome in my book.
And yeah, it’s more than the $20 admission for Friday night street drags. So what.

There’s lots of ways to race other than national events. All sportsman racers must accrue divisional points to enter a National event as you well know.
It’s mind blowing to hear their resumes as they square off.

Every Motorsport on earth is dominated by corporate teams at the pro level. Every Motorsport on earth has venues and classes and sanctioning bodies below the pro level.
As a fan, I enjoy all levels of drag racing.
Apparently I’m not the only one.

I love National events. I’ll never stop going until they fold up or take a knee.
Same with local drags.

NHRA announces Sunday sellout at NHRA Arizona Nationals

NHRA officials announced a sellout crowd at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix.

www.nhra.com

I WAS HAPPIEST when we were racing a pro-mod capsule dragboat ( fastest small block on water ) what a great bunch of people to hang with all weekend..If everyone was not getting killed in that sport we would still be doing it.

 

[Travmon]

It was also not helpful for a privateer to keep up with the safety and BS changes they were tossing around that would make your car obsolete before you ran it..

 

[was thatguy]

I WAS HAPPIEST when we were racing a pro-mod capsule dragboat ( fastest small block on water ) what a great bunch of people to hang with all weekend..If everyone was not getting killed in that sport we would still be doing it.

I drove a few hundred miles to see my first boat drags in 2000 at Chowchilla.
I had just moved from Alaska.
Id never seen anything like that except on TV.
Never missed Red Bluff after that (lived in Redding) until they shut it down.
Red Bluff was always bad ass. Lots of pro boats and stuff.
Bought my 5 rib at the races one year.
Still have my Miller.

 

[was thatguy]

It was also not helpful for a privateer to keep up with the safety and BS changes they were tossing around that would make your car obsolete before you ran it..

Now that I can agree with.
When my backwoods track went Div 7 almost all of our cars were not to class safety spec.
They’d let us run at first but then had to comply or sandbag a slower class.

 

[Travmon]

I drove a few hundred miles to see my first boat drags in 2000 at Chowchilla.
I had just moved from Alaska.
Id never seen anything like that except on TV.
Never missed Red Bluff after that (lived in Redding) until they shut it down.
Red Bluff was always bad ass. Lots of pro boats and stuff.
Bought my 5 rib at the races one year.
Still have my Miller.

View attachment 921761

Red Bluff by far was my favorite, street party , great people great racing..My son and I were on the start dock when LOOSE CANNON showed up with the twin prop deal and in less then 10 feet that boat was 4 foot out of the water..A memory that will last forever..And man did we sell t-shirts there avg for a red bluff race in the early 2000 was about 2k in sales...Love those fans..

 

[Travmon]

s

 

[PRORACER7474]

About 15-20 years ago, I think the math penciled out to something like 2500$ per pass. That was assuming no equipment failure, just the bare bones. It's been years since an independent could really be competitive in the series. Even as far back as the 90's, seeing an independent was rare. Seeing one qualify was always kind of exciting.

To show up, pretty deep pockets. To be competitive, cubic dollars.

Steve Torrance is a independent

 

[PRORACER7474]

Remember when you could walk the pits and see the drivers , talk and get their autographs? Now the only time you see them is when they win a pass and the TV cameras are there interviewing them. The last driver I saw in the pits was Kenny Bernstein, that was 20-21 years ago. He shook my hand and we took a picture with my 6 year old boy. He was a really cool, quiet guy.

when was the last time you were at a race? I was in Indy a week ago and all the drivers were there and available to the fans

 

[PRORACER7474]

Indy 2020

 

[was thatguy]

when was the last time you were at a race? I was in Indy a week ago and all the drivers were there and available to the fans

I’ve never had drivers unavailable.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Steve Torrance is a independent

I was kind of under the impression calling Torrance an independent would be the equivalent of calling Kalitta Motorsports a "Mom&Pop" operation. They are both considered to be independent. I would say some are more independent then others.
I guess I should have been more clear. Maybe I should have said that the fuel cars have been more a millionaires' club. The days of gooseneck, or modified dryvan trailers, have gone away. There are no more service stations or machine shops sponsoring cars.

 

[PRORACER7474]

I was kind of under the impression calling Torrance an independent would be the equivalent of calling Kalitta Motorsports a "Mom&Pop" operation. They are both considered to be independent. I would say some are more independent then others.
I guess I should have been more clear. Maybe I should have said that the fuel cars have been more a millionaires' club. The days of gooseneck, or modified dryvan trailers, have gone away. There are no more service stations or machine shops sponsoring cars.

well i guess if you consider that they fly back and forth to the races in there private plane, maybe they are millionaires lol

 

[PRORACER7474]

I was kind of under the impression calling Torrance an independent would be the equivalent of calling Kalitta Motorsports a "Mom&Pop" operation. They are both considered to be independent. I would say some are more independent then others.
I guess I should have been more clear. Maybe I should have said that the fuel cars have been more a millionaires' club. The days of gooseneck, or modified dryvan trailers, have gone away. There are no more service stations or machine shops sponsoring cars.

You need to look in the sportsman pits, you would have a hard time finding a gooseneck/dryvan trailer in there, I would bet most racers from Super Gas up have 200k plus in there operation

 

[monkeyswrench]

well i guess if you consider that they fly back and forth to the races in there private plane, maybe they are millionaires lol

How to make a small fortune in racing...start with a large one!

I was a lowbuck guy, what I lacked in money and skills, I made up for with use of nitrous...the joys of unsanctioned events

 

[DRYHEAT]

I thought Dick Lahae (sp) was one of the last competitive independent small guys. But that was 30+ years ago, rarely ever saw him have much help other than him and his daughter. The last time I saw him they were still pulling a chaparral trailer with a Chevy crew cab Dooley. Classic

 

[Looking Glass]

Gary Densham, was one of the Last true independents. His shop students were his Pit crew. John Force owes alot to Gary from way back to the beginning.

 

[mash on it]

Gary Densham, was one of the Last true independents. His shop students were his Pit crew. John Force owes alot to Gary from way back to the beginning.

My brothers auto shop teacher, Gahr High School, Artesia.

Dan'l

 

[monkeyswrench]

Gary Densham, was one of the Last true independents. His shop students were his Pit crew. John Force owes alot to Gary from way back to the beginning.

Pretty sure that was why Gary got the season under the JFR flag...was cool to watch the "Teacher's Pet" driver go big time. After that, the next season he had NEC as a sponsor I believe.

 

[Carlson-jet]

Nice! That’s fucking bad ass.

As far as your TF buddies...it’s a National event. Who did they think was going to show up?
Did they prepare for 2 months not knowing that Dougy would fly in on his Learjet Thursday night? Or that Force would roll his 12 trailer convoy in? Let alone Schumacher and his platoon of minions?
Have they never heard of Torrence?

I get it...the traveling circus has pushed the privateer out of the pro classes.
Im a spectator these days, and I never raced at your level.
I love local tracks, nostalgia, match racing, all of it.
But I don’t confuse that with the circus. I go to a National event to precisely see the big teams and mega set ups.
I actually spend all day Friday in the sportsman pits usually. It’s awesome in my book.
And yeah, it’s more than the $20 admission for Friday night street drags. So what.

There’s lots of ways to race other than national events. All sportsman racers must accrue divisional points to enter a National event as you well know.
It’s mind blowing to hear their resumes as they square off.

Every Motorsport on earth is dominated by corporate teams at the pro level. Every Motorsport on earth has venues and classes and sanctioning bodies below the pro level.
As a fan, I enjoy all levels of drag racing.
Apparently I’m not the only one.

I love National events. I’ll never stop going until they fold up or take a knee.
Same with local drags.

NHRA announces Sunday sellout at NHRA Arizona Nationals

NHRA officials announced a sellout crowd at the NHRA Arizona Nationals in Phoenix.

www.nhra.com

Those paragraphs are both happy and sad. I guess we will get what we vote for with our Dollars. In the end that is what it amounts to.
I'm rooting for the little guys.
Not really into the NBC/fox live coverage or the MSM take. It's about building a car and running it down the track. I have had more fun and enjoyment running bracket races than heads up. Big money says one thing. It has become a business. That was not what it started out as.
Have fun used to be the bottom line. It was not red or black accounting.
We will just have to disagree but remain amicable.

 

[boatpi]

I grew up racing and attending every event at Lions and OCIR, my home track. We even had Wednesday High School drags at OCIR, great program, just $10. I was a journalism major in HS, so I got to go and get a press pass and take photos of my classmates at OCIR. Jim Dunn lived on by block in his early days, La Mirada, then we both moved on. One weekend day he pushed his slingshot out of the driveway and idled it around the block, priceless event. I saw Mike D at Pomona a number of years ago and reminded him of that, he remembered. Dad and him did not always get along as I recall. Anyone remember manufactuer's Funny Car Championships at OCIR? usually fogged out.

 

[SpeedyWho]

I think I've watched one event since they went to a 1000'. Just isn't the same to me. They could have implemented other safety measures to the cars, restricted engine displacement, cut Horsepower or whatever before they cut 320' off the track.
The timing of this media bolstered virus panic really killed sports that were dying soon anyway NHRA and NAPCAR a just two of them.

 

[kurtis500]

I raced for 18 seasons in the IHBA/LODBRS.. in the sportsman class and usually only 1-2 races a year. With that said I think the real problem with most of motorsports is the people cant relate to engines or mechanic skills anymore. A couple of reasons:

1- people dont work on their stuff anymore so they have no idea whats going on with the car/boat/motor
2-electronics have taken over the skill of tuning. No longer a needed skill except in small and specific fields like racing or hot rods
3-Over many years teams tried politically correct moves for the sake of being politically correct and not just to win

30 years ago you could pull over any truck/boat at Parker or Havasu and find a tool box with some replacement parts in the truck for the boat and truck. The owner had enough skills to make minor fixes himself. Those days are gone, along with the basic skill, exept for a smaller group of people. F1 has always been different because its market attracts people mostly worldwide and by car brands the fans will never own. Ad in the unlimited R&D thrown at the F1 cars and its an elite racing people like to watch but will never participate in. NHRA, dirt track, NASCAR, IHBA were never that way...almost always started as owner drivers

 

[Shrub Lurker]

at least we still have football

 

[Ziggy]

.
.
I want to fly jets too, that ain’t happening either. Lol

Sure you can, and for under $150

 

[Moneypit]

First a "drag race" is 1320 feet, one 1/4 mile, unless you're running signal to signal on the local boulevard. 2nd, remove ALL the electronic recorders, tune from the drivers input from the "seat of his pants" after a run. This would/could eliminate the "team's" advantage of sharing info from the computers. You can't stop the big spenders from spending unless you make it a losing idea to spend millions on machine shop equipment.. If lower payouts for winners runs the big teams away, so be it. The little guy that shows up for nickels and dimes tow money will appreciate ANY purse... (I got $50 bucks once at OCIR for runner up in brackets and was on top of the world of door slammers).. OH, and fuelers don't eat 11+ gallons a second, even at 3.70s they'd have to carry over 40 gallons of fuel...
I'll just add that I haven't paid to get into a NHRA drag race in 4 decades or more.. Either crew, or comp'd by a sponsor....Or I stayed home...
Ray

 

[scottchbrite]

I thought Dick Lahae (sp) was one of the last competitive independent small guys. But that was 30+ years ago, rarely ever saw him have much help other than him and his daughter. The last time I saw him they were still pulling a chaparral trailer with a Chevy crew cab Dooley. Classic

Not taking anything away from him, but Dick had Larry Minor money behind him for a number of years. He was one of the OG’s that knew how to tune a race car and used computer data to confirm what he already knew

 

[monkeyswrench]

Side question:
The fuel cars are running blowers now bigger than a small block. Now, 20+ years ago, all the big teams had a handfull of blowers on the rig, more at the shop.

Where'd all the old ones go? If they're in a barn somewhere I'd like to clean one up and build something fun

 

[Travmon]

Also of note Terry McMillen is qouted as saying there may be a boycott at the Gainesville race as the nitro (dragster or funny)to win has gone from 50k to 15k.. and I also see that Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes F-1 fame was wearing a arrest the cops shirt or some shit on the podium WTF.. NOT A BIG FAN of all the changes to our peaceful lifestyle .. I think all these angry people need a good boating weekend without social anything !

 

[kurtis500]

s View attachment 921769 View attachment 921770 View attachment 921771

didnt mighty mouse have a small block in it?

 

[Travmon]

didnt mighty mouse have a small block in it?

Copy that , fastest small block on water at the time..6.99 @ 188mph