The real reason will probably make everyone sick.

Freeman mentioned Toyota. Oh boy.

topside flipflopped the backside of the hindsite that didnot the whynot of the holeshot of the whatnot.

maybe they'll use the additional two lanes at LVMS for "no prep" during the national event

With Pro Stock going in the direction it has chosen I waited till the last day of the offered "All Access" discount to re-up. I enjoyed the heck out of it last year so I signed up again. Unlike many on here I still enjoy Top Fuel and Funny Car and with Pro Mod getting more and more popular that will be my Pro Stock replacement.

That would certainly keep the stands full. imagine Pro Stocks running against some of the faster Out Law boys side by side and Pro Stock looooooosing

wouldn't that be just hilarious.

LVMS will have 4 brand new lanes...not just 2.

Well, isn't that special; I can cross that track off the list of NHRA races I might attend. Heck, at this point I'm preferring nostalgia & bracket races; I'm still a Stock/SS fan, and enough of a Luddite that I love the "traditional" cars.

So because a track is going to a 4 wide format for ONE race that will get you to never attend. Makes me wonder how dedicated you were to going in the first place....And we wonder why drag racing is a dying sport. Maybe we should consider giving everyone a trophy next, they are already plenty close with all the Wally Races these days anyway. T

It's only 4 wide for 3 classes. Like Schumacher said, "it's Bruton Smith's track and if he wants us to do it, we'll do it." I got the feeling Sarge didn't like it either. In Vegas, they should run it like a horse race. Get the betting windows open...

If you like STK and SS then Vegas is the place to go to watch class eliminations. It was way better before the mistake of limited car counts.

I'm excited for the 4 wide out west.

I've wanted to see 4 wide fuelers as well. Seems like it's kind of a fad though, it would be cool for a race or two then... I'd rather see the regular 4 rounds. Pro Stock shouldn't be 4 wide ever. The racing is too close and good not to have 4 rounds of it.

I agree... and the one I have is a prime example. It should have come with winning the series championship I was running, not any old points race involved with it. While it is cool to have.... it certainly isn't held in as high of standard as that award should be.... and "yes" I realize there are different "Wallys". Mine is the "smally" and not bright gold like the "large" one we'd all like to have . With my style of racing (recreational), I really never expect to even be running for one. And the jr program..... don't get me started!!!


On the four lane deal.... I've been thinking about attending a national again. Been a long time, but I'm not paying out the whazoo to go to that s##t show. I hope it fills the seats for them, and draws more folks to the sport. I for one quit going because it's seemingly become more scripted than the "street outlaws" we've been discussing

Hey, Al - I've only been around it since the '60s, including fab work & my own cars. I just don't like 4-wide because I prefer to study 2 cars & how they get downtrack. If you were to read my previous posts here over the last several years, you'd see I've been pretty damn dedicated to the sport, though admittedly always wary of the NHRA.
I'm dead-set against anything like "trophies for everyone", and other marketing gimmicks.

Topside, Just trying to make a point and taking what you said at face value.

"I can cross that track off the list of NHRA races I might attend"

Since the track hosts two NHRA national events a year seems a bit drastic to just dismiss the track as a whole. Given that logic I assume you will never attend either race at Z Max dragway either. Seems kind of short sided for someone with a long history of supporting drag racing.

In retrospect, the Wally comment was not appropriate to aim at you. That was just me interjecting my opinion on one of the things I see wrong with NHRA.

Keep up the fight and support drag racing anyway you can. We are loosing racers at a rapid pace these days and they are not being replaced by younger racers. The guys I know here and replying to this thread are not spring chickens either. When they go who will be there to replace them.

OK, Al, maybe I should have singled out the 4-wide gimmick race. I feel that 4-wide reduces the ability to appreciate & dissect a contest, for the simpler and short-attention-span onslaught of sound & fury.
I'm just a traditionalist, and by nature bristle at "improvements" like 4-wide. And yes I know that at times in the distant past, other races were run 4-wide.
I agree with you about handing out Wallys like candy at Halloween; it tends to devalue the perception of those that were hard-won. I'm absolutely and vehemently opposed to "everyone gets a trophy", as in my mind it devalues success, and eventually, heroism.
My formative - and still cherished - experiences in & with drag racing were the golden years of Lions & other SoCal tracks, before the big money came in. I've said many times that while big money does allow people to turn pro & earn a living at their passion, it can come at a price that alters the sport in which they compete, so that the "Everyman" aspect is lost. That's why I said in another thread that I'm preferring nostalgia & bracket races.

I get to hear all the stories from the old days in SoCal when we race in Fontana with the heads up car, which wont happen anymore since NMCA West folded. When we run there we have Gary Hansen with us at every race and we go to dinner with he and he wife. He is a great guy who ran all those great SoCal tracks in the day and he often opines about them. But he also still builds Comp Stock and SS stuff so he appreciates the stuff now as well. When we have the rare occasion when Roland Leong with us the stories really start getting tall. I was not a drag race guy at all. The past is lost on me for the most part but listening to these guys talk about the glory days of SoCal drag racing it sure sounds fun. When Lambeck and Gary get together they have some awesome stories from the Pro Stock days back then that are epic..

I don't like the 4 wide stuff either. I have heard people who attend the events that it is hard for them to follow. Meaning people who are part of the traveling circus that follow them when I have had the opportunity to talk to them. But if it puts butt in the seats who am I to argue.

As for trophies, that mentality had a terrible affect on our society. There is not distinction for excellence anymore. I ran a Little League for five years and saw the affects. Why should anyone work hard if they all get rewarded the same. It just seems to get worse and worse over the passing years that they embrace the practive..I blame soccer myself

Oh yeah, the "golden era" had some hysterical times, and plenty of goings-on that would shock polite society. And like Smokey Yunick once said, the rulebook got a lot thicker because of those guys. I had the good fortune for a few years to be around Fuel guys, and some of the early FC racers, many of whom were at a whole 'nother level of insanity compared to "normal" people. But the racing was passionate & gritty & tightly knit in ways that seem mostly lost now.
Someday maybe I can tell those stories...

If they want to run 4 wide, let'em run it the way they USED TO - on a 2 wide strip. Let's see who has the stomach for it..