.

Love it.

I've been hear drag racing is dying since about 1978, yet it's still kicking.

I saw a bunch (8+) of drag strips close up in SO CA from the mid 1960s to today
Same thing in AZ, Beeline, Speed World and now Wild Horse Pass is schedule to close this year

Everything fun or good in California is dead or dying. That's why people are leaving the state in droves!

"In 2021, about 360,000 people relocated from California to another state–or, in some cases, country. That's up from about 275,000 the year before, and both of those numbers represent a significant increase from pre-pandemic departure rates.Mar 2, 2023"

Over 500 cars at the Baby Gators last week.

Yet NHRA sets quotas for the Sportsman classes at 50 for the Gators. 8 grade points to get in.

Drag racing is just changing. All this No Prep, Poor Your Own Puddles, No time class events are taking over. They are packed with participants and spectators. It costs the track owners hardly anything also, since they don't have to half the staff working and no track prep all day.

I hope its not the NPK TV fans that showed up to spectate at the gators, from what I've seen of them they'll have no clue whats going on with 90% of the classes at an NHRA deal to the point it will probably turn them off. "he jumped by 4 cars and still got the win light..[censored]"

The money they spend is still the same color regardless of their knowledge or what brought them there. People still show up to be entertained not knowing the details of the sport.

Welcome to the Colosium ladies and gentlemen, today's event is...different times, same thing. Drag racing (as we once knew it) IS DYING; it's more than taking a different shape! The young people are not educated as we were in the industrial arts (auto shop, woodshop, machine shop, electric shop, welding, etc) so they're clueless and don't care about what 'love affair with the automobile' America once had. It's a different day folks and a way different crowd.

Humans will compete no matter what - it's in our nature. HOW we compete has changed since the 1st foot race to avoid being eaten.
In drag racing's Golden Era, pretty much anyone could compete with cheap parts, simple tools, and not much investment.
But there was no TV coverage; spectators had to travel to the track. Sponsorship was minimal - if not non-existent - for most racers.
Also, there was little if any money to be made as a racer.
Then the rise in the entertainment culture & TV exposure brought ad & sponsorship money in; that was a fundamental change.
Consequently, the sport's been split between the polished TV Pro stuff, and the more regular-guy stuff (Sportsman), but the costs to compete have skyrocketed.
NHRA can "sell" the Pros to the masses - and TV - as a spectacle, more easily than the "door car" classes that most of us play in.
So, the more street-race-oriented stuff develops, and has also become a goldmine for TV.
Grass-roots is arguably the purest form of racing - but what money there is for the racers is derived from the packaged entertainment.

The money they spend is still the same color regardless of their knowledge or what brought them there. People still show up to be entertained not knowing the details of the sport. [/quote]

Look at the average ticket cost for an NFL, NBA or MLB game, it's still less expensive to spend an entire day at a large drag racing event.

More race tracks have died because of state/local regulations or possibly competition from another local tracks, than lack of interest.

As a side note in regards to


other's comments about 'change'; I've been a stock/super stock racer on-and-off since 1971 but (as mentioned), due to the ever-increasing costs of class racing, I decided a few years back I can no longer afford it, so I'm done! However, after moving to Southern Tennessee I discovered the Southeast Gassers Assn (check them out on youtube). This organization is basically reclaiming the '60s gasser racers AND, they have a super stock category! While it is very different than what I am used to with the NHRA SS racing, it's a heads-up category and is based on XX pounds of car weight (with driver) x cubic inch displacement and it's a 4 spd only (no automatic transmissions allowed) category. Since this is more of a 'regional'/southern origization they don't have all the stringent rules about this and that, but it functions on a 'first to the finish line wins' basis. I might also add it's very popular and draws quite good spectator gathering with appreciative crowds. This type of drag racing gets back to a form of 'grass roots' racing with the 'run-what-you-brung' and heads-up flavor...equipped with back-up girls too! I'm building one of these cars now, and since I can still walk/talk and breathe and am a decent 4 spd driver, I'll give it a try...yeehaw!!

Anybody interested in this can check out their website

southeastgassers.com



4-5 years ago (prior to my exiting the State of Confusion), I read an article (possibly US News?) that clearly stated THEN the migration out of Calif was somewhere around 700,000, and that wasn't individuals but households...PER YEAR. Having been born/raised in the SF Bay Area, it's truely sad to see the state in such a deplorable condition but like all-too-many folks these days think...'let the other guy fix it!' Yeah, right...

just my "old man" opinion.............nothing more, nothing less.........
need to get back to the grass roots of the sport.
safety, sure, but 2yr seat belts ????? then "allow" 50yr old belts as ok ???????? [what the FARG ?]
i realize new cars are very capable of going WAY faster than our old stuff, but more flexibility in the rules would allow more to participate. [think "airport drags"]
then there is the $50-75.00 or more entry fee to participate in an evening's fun.
that's getting up there for this old guy's finances to participate in.
maybe a return to "outlaw" [within reason] tracks would help ?
the only drawback, there has been many, many, of those closed over the years.

While some of the other versions and types of drag racing don't interest me, I'm glad they are helping track operators make money.

No tracks, no racing.

Yeah but grassroots currently just means limiting rear tire / size. We have 235 outlaw and guys racing on normal radials. Thing is, if the guy can afford the Proline motor, he certainly can afford a tuner guy that gets the car down the track regardless (rich guy still wins). This is why I think more and more guys are just going back to pro mod.

Real grassroots would be a claimer class, if your junkyard LS came from a junkyard and you're running 8.70's they'll certainly have no issue racing in a $5000 claimer class? And just leave it at that, $5000 claimer with a 3000lb min weight with street legal appearing legal car. That would be a barn burner in this day and (roadkill) age