Looks like AJ is withdrawing from the rest of the
season due to the lack of sponsorship
EDIT
This is the Alan Johnson top fuel team
http://www.alanjohnsonracing.com/aev-363.aspx

Sad. Car counts are down from the local tracks to the highest levels in the sport. Spectators are staying home. Other forms of racing are also having troubles. Speaks to the general condition of the country. I see no reason to be optimistic that it will turn around. Sorry to be a Debbie Downer.

Sounds like the truth to me. It is what it is.

I dont know about your part of the country but
this area is coming back strong.. hiring is
going strong
EDIT
I think the big money auto places arent making it
and pulling the money back in... drag racing is
getting smaller by the day

It is WAY too expensive for these teams to operate these days....even for an extremely smart man such as AJ that can make a car fly BUT it still takes big $$ to buy the parts, machine them and testing.... Can't say that I am surprised....

$60 to watch one day of racing is keeping me from attending an event for the first time ever. Plus parking will probably be another $20. No thanks

Same thing with concerts, I refuse to pay the outrageous cost.

has nothing to do with the condition of the Country.when they made a show out of drag racing it was down hill from there. no body wants to see multi owned cars competing against themselves. people are just spending their time and money doing other things now days.

that is also a factor, you get screwed from the time you enter to the time you leave.

drag racing started as a grass roots sport. nhra wanted to professionalize it and this is what we got. nascar did the same thing but added the "personality idol" to the equation. a lot of people just don't identify with it; especially grass roots racers. i don't go, won't go, and could care less about either. i feel the same way about professional sports. i would rather put the hundreds of dollars in spectator fees into my car than the organizations pockets.

That's my take also.

I am glad NHRA is or was around. I am glad I got to witness it during it's heyday. I am even more thankful to be able to participate.

My friends father was a sports writer for the local news paper 25 years ago. He always got free tickets to the NHRA nationals in our area, Columbus and Indy and we went for many years straight.
It gave me the drive to put my own team together 20 years later. And I got to race with and pit right along side of some of my heros in top fuel since we ran top alcohol dragster at the US nationals like 6 years in a row. I quialified and raced at the US nationals on TV! It was really cool and thank NHRA for that.

Winton drag racing, when it was real.


I'm in the blue shirt.

We won!!
It was a hell of a ride and would not trade it for anything in the world! How many can say they pitted next to John Force 20 years ago? I can!!

Maybe the Gas Monkey car can qualify now.

I don't pay a lot of attention to the circus that is the fuel cars and Pro Stock. What I see are local guys who have quit. Sportsman racers who have disappeared. Last week at Englishtown for the D1 points meet, 25 Super Gas cars, 32 Super Comp, 69 Super Stock. They did have 99 Stockers, but Stock in Division 1 has always been a big deal.

When I was chasing points hard, there were always 110-120 cars or more in all these classes. When I talk to people, they all say it's money, not because they don't want to do it anymore. Sure, costs are up, but if incomes had kept up, many of these guys would still be out there.

It's about income vs. cost of living. For small business owners, which many of these guys are, it's tough to keep the doors open let alone finance a race operation. The economy's in the dumper. People have 2 or 3 lousy part time jobs now instead of the one good job with benefits that went away a few years ago. Why? That's another conversation that would likely turn political. I'm not going there.

I wonder how many spectators actually keep track of which cars/drivers belong to which team (or none at all).

I'm a fan and I can't keep track of who's who; especially with livery changes from race-to-race.

Just a quick note here about the No Prep Armegeddon held here in OKC. There were so many spectators the first night they ran out of parking spaces. It was monumental. Had to limit the spectators the second night for crowd control. There's plenty of interest in drag racing, just not the circus NHRA has created.

Never fear, The Don gave Langdon a ride for the countdown.

I was at Joliet for the nats this year, crowd looked pretty good.

Went to a concert at Wrigley Field and saw AC/DC. Our tickets were $240 each. Great show, but it's not something I want to do every day.

Same with national events, fun once in awhile, but not every weekend.

Yeah I see that Don is giving him a ride for the
countdown

I haven't got a single bad thing to say about the NHRA. Racing has naturally evolved to what it is now. When I started racing in Outlaw 10.5 low eights got you wins. Then it was low 7's. Now it's low 6's or 4.0's in the eighth. It used to be relatively inexpensive to field a car. Now it's not. None of this is the fault of the NHRA. It just is what it is.

Went to watch Drag Week at Da Grove yesterday. The place was packed. Some cool fast cars well worth the $10 bucks.

Force vs DSR: yawn. Pro Stock aero jelly beans: yawn again. 1000 ft for nitro: wrong move. Not making Pro Mod a full class years ago: another dumb move.

Typical NHRA event costs besides ticket and parking....$5 soda, $3 bottled water, $8 beer...$7 hamburger or brat...and NO COOLERS ALLOWED for spectators. Screw that.

Team racing has done to NHRA what it has done to NASCAR...turned it into a sad joke...especially the 4 lane circus act.


Rant over

I have my favorite car/driver in all the classes..I
like Tony in the DSR car driving for ARMY.. due to me
being in the ARMY.. then Hagan in FC... then AJ in PS..
I like the pro classes unlike many here..if its a competitive
race I will like it.. I'm am very competitive myself...if you dont
care for it.... oh well

I dont go to the races anymore..I use to go to 1 or 2
races a year but it is way over priced... now I just
watch it on TV

Haven't been to an NHRA points event since 1981, but back then it was cheaper to enter a car and race than it was to be a spectator if you were going to be there every day. In 1972 at the Columbus Div. 3 points meet I entered my new Vega in M/Stock to be able to park in the pits, get the cheaper price, plus being able to take my cooler in along with my mini bike. No doubt the same is true today, at least to some extent.

Pro Stock has the closest racing in the history of the class. AJ just stuffed the tree up Line's azz and strapped a huge holeshot on him.

As far as cost, NHRA is no worse than any pro sport or concert. I was just at a concert last week and saw people buying $10 beers 4 at a time. We were in the cheaper seats and our tickets were almost $250 a pop. NHRA national events are cheap.

EVERYTHING is more expensive these days...........don't see why some think racing, or going to the races should be any different

nothing has got more expensive.The money has lost its value.

I agree, racing is racing and never was or will be cheap and I'm glad.

I am a dick, had many people say to me I would love to come by your shop and see your race car. Or they would be in my office asking for a tour off my race shop and car. I rarely give tours.

I told them all except for sponsors to come to the race track to see the car if they want.

I'm thinking to myself sometimes... I'm not wasting my time giving out free tours to tire kickers. Some of them did come to the track and I gave them the deluxe tour of my car and trailer if they came.

My race shop is private like my bedroom at home is to me.

If racing was cheap, then it wouldn't be racing. My cars are entertainment tools/money makers and I treat it as such.

Interesting. Steve has deep pockets............