Its been a long year already, and I have accomplished like almost zero....I did get one car rebuilt and running, but no time or money to race it.

Everything else is just sitting....And even if I did get my "street" car running...NY & my insurgence just ruin the rest with pure greed and red tape....We don't have any way of having a seasonal vehicle on the road here, and inspections are required every 12 months and registration every 24months on every vehicle and drivers lisence every 3 years now...Its ridiculous. And the trailer is another $170 yearly, plus inspection on that as well. The insurance on my seasonal RV was ridiculous as well as more than the monthly payments!....and besides my stuff, I also have my 19 year old kids car on my insurance, that's a lot of fun...If I fire one of the cars up, the neighbor calls the state police, which really upsets the old lady who hates my car hobby anyways....

The worst was when I got a quote from a classic place, paid the money down, then they asked for pics, and then double the rates...I am so done with the BS here..

It sucks here in the car hobby in NY...93 octane is like almost $4/gal if you can find it. And my piece of junk Ram is eating parts like they are going out of style and has run me $5k already this year and it will need brakes and tires before winter. And fuel is costing me $130/wk just to go to work...

Not to mention, all my safety gear expired...I re-upped my 8.50 license, but the track switched and no longer accepts IHRA, and my two pit spots went up a $100 each...

After that my engine/trans guy retired, my paint guy retired, and anyone else I knew retired or went AWOL....

And what do I get out of it anymore...Not a lot..... Its almost always more work, and very little enjoyment. How in the heck does anyone do this without any support?

Sorry for the rant, but its not fun anymore, and it all basically just sits. Found other hobbies without the work yourself to death factor.

Engine guy, transmission guy, paint guy, etc is the reason you can’t afford this sport. Someone has to say this because your engine guy cost you a lot of dog gone money. 6.0 engines shouldn’t have the issues you’ve suffered over the years. They should last 3-5 years of weekly racing then Be freshened. This sport is only as expensive as we let it be. Sorry 😢

Have a hobby or live in New York. I would move to a free state state with less regulation and the weather is better.

I'm nobody to give others advice, but I suspect most people hit points with motorsports that require them to decide if they either want / need to scale back their efforts or get out entirely.

Ive always felt if ya cant go all in just bracket race or class race on a comfortable budget. It keeps it fun. If ya still have the drive to race dump everything and consider a very mild bracket car or a new SRT type car to drive to the track in comfort and still race.

Sounds like you might be done. Some of us have thought about it from time to time.

Good luck.

Move. I did. Best thing I ever did. Kick myself for not doing it long ago.

Dragula: I am in the same boat as you. My engine guy sold everything and retired some what. He still tinkers with cars. The other place is a year out. I got injured in 2023 so my stuff has been sitting. Truck needs front suspension, front and rear brakes and a transmisson installed. I have all of it sitting there waiting on me. But what I could get done in a day has slowed way down. And its frustrating. BUT I am not giving up yet. My goal is to get out in Sept and October. If you was closer I would help you out. Birdtracker

Never give up.

I am gonna let it all sit till I get more motivated, maybe getting out is the wrong way to phrase it...Got a pile of parts here, a ton of work to do, and zero motivation....If I could sell all of it, I would consider it, but so many times people like to play games and I don't have time for that either. It doesn't cost me anything just sitting here, so when I have more money, I will order more parts, and then try and work on it later this year or next....Gonna need to find some new help though. I am not even going to the Nats this year, it just doesn't seem worth it. Haven't been to any cruise nights, and only one race this year, that I made a couple passes at, and then got rained out. All my tech crap is out of date, anyways.

I have a slightly used spare Hemi block sitting here with pistons and a cam and half the oiling system, on top of the brand new Hemi in the Cuda that has like 10 min run time on it before the car melted all the cooling wiring down and I parked it. Bought all new wiring to re-wire the entire Cuda front to back with new ignition and Leash relay board and everything else, but just not motivated to even look at it. And my chassis guy forgot to put me on his schedule to help me put a master cylinder in the floor of my Nostalgia car and make me some door panels. I called him again and back on his schedule now before HE retires...

But no lift possible in my garage, and way too expensive to build a shop/garage...Should have anticipated this years ago, and built one then. So signing off here for a while...Just no aspirations to do the car thing anymore.

I have a relative who bracket races and he dropped to one class/series instead of two and now only races like once or twice a month maybe. Multiple other people he associates with at the track are doing the same thing. Instead of racing every weekend they go fishing or ride the ATVs around and don't race the car as much.

He was thinking of building a new motor to go a little faster, but then the safety rules for the next class require more safety equipment so decided to stay where he is at to keep it affordable.

You need a break, get some rest and then decide what is best for your situation, only thing worse than giving up is, is not giving when you should.
Life is too short to not enjoy it.

draula.i feel your pain.at 64.i had to step aside from drag racing because of the cost but not out of the question for if and when things get better if it ever does..you talking about paint and body work.i only buy cars or trucks already done.so dont have to wait 5 years for someone to finsh something for me and the high price.i have learned to buy engines,trans and diffs already done instaed of waiting for machine shop to do a simple bore and hone.which yes it took them a year to do it.i refinace to 1.6 intrest before pedo joe got inprem gas here is 3.85i use it in everything because cheap gas screws up everything.have a full time job.butthat barely covers everthing.so i have my lawn service on the weekend that covers gas and food.everything is hard on everyone.i even hall water from work to cut down on water bill which is 10 bucks a month then that brings sewer bill down to 30 a month.only have a flip phone that cuts that bill down to 25.00 a month.i dont use a/c to keep that bill down

a new SRT type car to drive to the track in comfort and still race.

https://youtu.be/jwKHE5tI25M?si=QvVhtFxm-ZkX0SqT.....This is going to be a blow to the sport/hobby

Good choice IMO. I've been there with little motivation but I'm glad I didn't consider selling-off. It might do you well to do some thinking about how many irons are on the fire, especially since you are talking about monies. I'm sure there are things to keep plugging away at which cost nothing so, at least keep plugging away at one thing. Good luck!

Where you're at is coming for ALL of us. If we live that long.

Mr Dragula, I'm sorry to hear about all the red tape and expenses that you have to deal with up there. It's nothing like that here in the south. Especially here in Alabama. You should retire down here. I sincerely hope that you find some resolutions or loopholes to the situations that you are having, Good luck

I have been thinking about quitting also especially on Sundays after a bad outing but then by Monday I am ready to go again. At 70 I am not getting any younger but seeing quite a few guys older than me racing weekly keeps me going. My goal this year was to only race pro tree races and my local track added five plus an outside promoter added two more to their schedule so I fell into the points race scenerio and have been double entering pro dial and Sportsman ( 7.35 and slower ) and I renewed my parking spot again. Well I am nowhere in sportsman points and there are none for pro dial. Its hard running two classes on two different trees ( sportsman is a .500 full tree and pro dial is a .500 pro tree ) I always go rounds and have earned bye runs based on my pro tree reaction times including this past Saturday. I am going concentrate on that racing for the rest of the year including doing some traveling . Financially I'm ok , I was forced into retirement back in 2020 , stayed home a year and hated it especially with my wife being younger and still working . I work part time for an excavating / hardscaping company moving equipment , picking up and delivering supplies and doing a few oil changes on the trucks. I really like and enjoy the job , its only a few miles from home ,sometimes its only a few hours week sometimes up to 20 or so but it gives me the money to keep racing. It takes me longer to do any work on the car because of arthritis etc. but I keep going . I also have my pickup which I bracket race on occasion but mainly take it to shows and cruise nights , I must still have the desire to race because after an hour or so at a show I am thinking about " I would rather be racing or how many more days / hours till racing "

I'm glad It's not like that in Michigan. Since I am the engine, trans, and evrything but paint guy helps. My wife and I live on SS. Still do hot rod repair out of the garage to finance the hobby. I love to race. The belt's , NHRA license and chassis certs are $. But nothing insurmountable. Except for a clutch failure the 95 Cummins 3500 is very low maintenance. Been to 10 events this year. 2 wins, 2 R/U, and a semi. Learned long ago that if I wanted to race that it would take doing pretty much everything myself. And not much of the financial end wouldn't come from houseold funds. I'll be 70 in October. No plans to quit or slow up.
Doug

Sounds to me like where you live is the problem, NOT the hobby.
At some point, the reasons that make that state impossible to have a hobby will bleed over into your non-hobby life, if they have not already. Move to a state where you have freedom.

one thing i have learned, the faster you go, the more work you have to do on the car.

This hobby is not for everyone, and yes it is a lot fo work and always seems to be a lot of money also.

IF you really want to keep racing, maybe slow your car down, or just deal with it or quit.

I have spent more money that i ever have in the last 2 years ....is it worth it to me?? YES

Whatever you decide, its what makes you happy.

It does make it easier that i do almost all my work, and paint and body are what i do

Well, everyone is different. Come back when you're ready.

"Sustainability of the activity" can be hard to figure out, and what works for awhile can suddenly fall apart later and turn impossible.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

I do as much as I can myself, but I don't demand it be done yesterday or to a level of absolute perfection in every detail.
"Really good" is the overall level I enjoy being at the most. I'm not there anymore, but I used to be there back when I drove my '68 Charger everyday.
"Seriousness of the Effort" is another variable that sometimes requires an ego vs. time vs. money check to get things aligned.

Yep.. what Tony said , thats why I slow my car down from 10.70s to 11.50s .. leave at 2,000 shift at 6500 easier on parts and $$$ and much more competitive for the classes I run. I am making just about as much hp ( 4 hp less ) with my 9.5 to 1 pump gas 410 inch small block and 70 more lbs of torque than I did with my race gas 11.5 to 1 motor. I used to run a faster class and chase E.T.s always looking to go faster , I had another 408 inch small block that wasn't reliable and eventually cracked the crank and kept breaking rockers rather than spend the money to fix it I sold it as is for a good price, With a roller cam , good rockers and more compression it had the potential to run in the nines . Based on my finances it wasn't feasible to do , just fixing it was going to be several grand. My operation still wasn't cheap but its with in my financial means and I get enjoyment and round wins out of it . In my case going slower is just as much fun.

If you followed Seinfeld, one episode was about the "Summer of George". This was supposed to be my "Summer", then a 2 week vacation in the hospital and now the summer is over for me. Free time on my hands and now a low budget project '65 Dart retro SS/ car that's streetable( Mopar 590 cam, ported heads, 904 and the original AFB. Track only cars are not practical for me anymore. A little street racing is more fun. I'm using up all my shelf parts and hope to keep the $ low. Not to add to your NY problems, they have now outlawed wood burning stoves for this heating season. You need a change in Albany.

I haven't owned anything actually fast but a bunch of my friends have, and I've asked all of them if they had to do it over again where they would stop on the enjoyment/price/pain in the butt scale, and most of them had the same answer - somewhere in the 10's/9's depending on the motor and how much the car weighed. Beyond that for typical street strip stuff, especially n/a or nitrous, it seems the maintenance starts going up dramatically and it also gets exponentially more expensive to go faster. About the only exceptions now are some of the 8.50-ish turbo LS's in generic wrappers like Mustangs, they seem to be relatively low maintenance and still are decent on the street.

One of my friends has owned a couple outlaw 632/LDR style cars that were competitive in our local heads up series. He has to have 3x the total investment in his current car and it's only 3-4 tenths quicker in the 8th. But if you're aiming for the top of a heads up class, there isn't any way to do it besides spending money.

The other thing that helps is focusing on one car. Just the thought of 2 race cars and building a 3rd sounds like a recipe for burnout, and it's hard with limited time/resources to give all of them the attention they deserve. They never hurt getting pushed in the corner though, they'll always be waiting for you if the motivation comes back!

Thinking of getting out....of New York.

Fixed it for you.

Bad year for me too.

First outing of year, car was on rails. Won. I remember thinking "man this might be a pretty good year!

The the rain started, didn't run for a month, then first race after the monsoon season I have an electrical problem. Didn't make first round.

Then more rain.....

Then Memorial Day weekend my $350 starter decides to let me hanging in the Semi's of Sunday race......

Then a few weeks later I try to make a quick 16 field. 2 passes and didn't qualify. $150 travel and entry for 2 passes.

Then too hot to race. 100 Degrees....Um not anymore.

Then next race when it cooled down to a comfortable 95 degrees and track finally got hot I developed a spinning problem.

Buy a new set of slicks for $800. freaking 3 inches larger than the marked rollout. Car slows down.....

Then 4th of July weekend towing home I lose the lockup in my 48re transmission.

Still on lift with trans scattered all over garage. $800 converter, $700 rebuild kit, $800 input shaft, $200 stator tube, and $300 worth of sensors and fluid.

Might get the truck fixed this week and not even try to go to the races for awhile lol.

But knowing my stubborn *ss I won't quit!

Dragula,

Definitely some solid advice or feedback in this thread. Your dilemma is almost identical to a friend of mine’s. He is juggling two different cars, and trying to make both into fast street/strip cars. He is quickly growing tired of the endless expenses and frustration associated with owning two cars. His real issue is he gets in a hurry, makes mistakes that cost him time, and money resulting in constant do-overs. I told him to make one a dedicated race car and make changes to the other to make it a mild pump gas street car and never take it back to the track LOL. I believe he is finally going to make some changes so it’ll be interesting to see what happens. Good luck with your decision.

Then next race when it cooled down to a comfortable 95 degrees and track finally got hot I developed a spinning problem.

I've heard several other's that have been having similar issues as of late. Not sure if they changed something with the prep or are over prepping, but be prepared to fight that issue.

Also wonder why you weren't at the last Q16 race as it was STUPID hot and the bump was only a 6.23.

I'm sure I'll see you at the next street race

Like said before, you've had way more trouble w/ that hemi than anyone should have. No reason that engine should be having so many problems.
Sounds like your biggest issue is where you live. There's a reason people are fleeing that area.
Having more than one car just adds to the frustration when you're getting burnt out. I know it has w/ me...hence the reason I'm thinning the herd. I've gotten rid of 3 project cars in the past year. Still have one to go.
Time means more than money, have to prioritize.

Like moparracer I have had little things go wrong too .. second round of pro dial a month ago I am 003 on the tree to my opponents 030 shift second gear the car lays over.. my fuel pressure regulator went bad ( I tried to adjust it earlier and somehow managed to make it past first round ) to add to the pain I would have had the bye next round based on my r.t.. Over the winter I replaced my exhaust with a TTI "H" pipe after spending $400 for it and had the collector ends welded for a few more bucks.. I start hearing noises under the car , since my car sits so low the mufflers were hitting my driveshaft I had to replace last year after breaking one at another race. I was able to finagle the hangers temporarily to get them away from the driveshaft but they still hit a little.i have since had the muffler end of the pipe bent to move the mufflers further away seems to be ok now. its always something . but I keep going. About the only trouble free vehicle I race is my low 15 second D150 I put new drag radials on this year and its been deadly consistent , I have raced it about four times so far this year with zero problems , it actually has way more eliminator and round wins than the Dart and its Won two First place show trophies one at a Mopar show and another at a truck show recently...still not as fun as the Dart though!

My heads up car has been sitting for three years with my Keith Black B1 headed 572 already installed with the ATI powerglide I built already bolted to it. Heck the driveshaft is even all bolted in. At 68 and racing allow I’m too old and beat up to play the nitrous heads up game so it sits. I just came back free m a three day big money race that my small block duster ran 6.005-6.03 over three race days. I took the hood off for the first time in 8 races to check the fluids on my 4 years old engine. The only thing I do on race day is add alcohol and check the slicks air pressure. I’ll rebuild both my Indy headed 422 and Edelbrock headed 408 this winter and hopefully be set for years. Working on my dodge truck and motorhome is starting to get to me and I’m going to have to start paying someone else to do those repairs on jobs I hate. I just did rear parking brakes, new disk brakes, tailpipe and resonator on my 3/4 ton dodge in 90-95 degree weather in my gravel driveway and it about killed me. If I want to continue into my 70’s racing I gotta stop doing those trips of jobs. Building a new powerglide today and hopefully get it installed for Michael Beards three day big money race at keystone. It sure would be nice to have a lift but my garage can’t handle one. Ohhh hopefully the head up car will one day make some bracket races but we shall see.

I had the same thought... too easy to get drawn & quartered by spreading yourself too thin across multiple vehicles to maintain.

being in my 70's and finally getting my charger back together and running, it makes me feel [kind'a] young again.
however, being roughly two hours away from any track, and on a fixed income plus some health issues that make me pretty intolerable to heat, i'm considering a "dragy" device.
that way, i could get out to a local stretch of semi-deserted/seldom used road, and make a pass or two occasionally.
better than nothing, i guess.......

Thin the herd and concentrate on one car. Keep the one that makes you the happiest sell the rest Its just stuff

You're not wrong....Lost a lot of time and money of the last couple of engines. Hopefully I learned somthing and the new one should run good and last..The wiring bit me and melted down under the hood and all needs replaced.



Yeah, I like the little collection I have....And it is very easy to get side tracked. I will just keep collecting parts and get everything together at a later date I guess.

Its supposed to be fun... if its not then take a break and try other stuff.

There are alot of things to do in life so do whatever makes you happy.

I've heard a smart fella mention that most folks start to lose interest in racing after about 15 years and only a few hang on for longer. Seems pretty accurate.

We have cut back this year - I simply dont enjoy racing when its 90 and miserable hot anymore.

Well if 15 years is the preverbal limit for racing, I am way past that! Closer to 30 years I think....ouch!

This guy may be smart at some thing but that’s a stupid comment. I’m at 48 years and no guys with many more than I.

I ama firm believer in if something no longer brings you joy to let it go personally Clearly the cars are not doing it for you. But parking and ignoring them won't cost anything except possibly maintenance when you go back

In my case, if and when the car thing gets overwhelming, I slim it down - sounds like a lot of hot rods, expensive & fast, to juggle.

Most of the guys I used to race with are gone, and when I moved 20 years ago, it was just me and the low-10-sec car as far as drag racing.
And the tow was pretty crappy. Eventually I felt I just needed to pull back, and do a street/strip slower car (less maintenance & expense).
I moved again, to where there's a nicer track fairly close by, and am building the "slow car" that should be a more casual effort.

Kinda where I was at last year.....This year, things just hit the fan even worse.

Never done anything more exciting than watching my boys race. My only bucket list.

I got mad at NHRA in 1988 after they factor 10 more HP on my 1963 M.W. stocker.
I sold my three drag cars and took up flying, found out that it was a lot of work to get my private license and normal flying wasn't much fun It was a faster than driving but you had to rent a car when you got where to were you were visiting: whiney :
I did spin a trainer accidently and finally let go of the controls and it recovered on its own like had been told it would do in the training, My next 1.8 hours in training was in an aerobatic trainer learning to recover (some aerobatic maneuvers also ) from unusual flight positions, that was a real kick in the pants
My message is the flying was fun but expensive and after flying a bunch of hours ( 1100+) I lost the drive to do it for fun
I'm back drag racing at 79 yrs. old, I'm thinking of stopping that again
Step back and give it some time before rushing on making any decisions on your future and fun

I'm 63 and have been considering selling my Dart for a couple years now. It's a pump gas street/strip deal that I initially bracket raced for a few years, I started with a 340 running 7.20's, then a 408 running 6.50's to the current 434 running 6.20's. When the heads up street car stuff started, and I ran it and did well for a couple years. The car is naturally aspirated and does well if I'm running other naturally aspirated cars and there lies the rub. For the last few years, the local tracks have lumped all the cars together, power adders and non power adders. My last race I made the 16 car field, there was one other n/a car in the class. I made it down to four cars, the other three were blown late model Mustangs. That was two years ago and the cars are much faster now so my small block would be fodder for the power adder cars.

I don't care to bracket race and rarely drive the car now. It requires very little maintenance, an oil change and run the valves once a year and it's ready to go. The plugs last for several years, it doesn't get hot or have any issues on the street. I just think it's time to move on or for a change. The only reason I haven't tried to sell it is because I don't want to deal with the idiots that have no serious intentions about buying it.

I'm thinking I'd like to have a nice mid 70's to a mid 80's short wheel base truck with a/c or a later 6.4l Challenger.

[img]https://images.app.goo.gl/crLYrNEP2RQxSxn87[/img]

Sort of the situation I'm in w/ my cuda. I've always done headsup stuff. I used to do OK in the streetcar shootouts when I just ran all motor, but got tired of getting outrun by power adder cars. So I put on the spray, but I'm always a day late and a dollar short. I do pretty good against other nitrous cars, but the turbo guys are in the 4s (1/8 mile stuff here). I have no desire to do what's required to go faster w/ my car. I run the Mopar KOS deal occasionally b/c it's been fun, even though I know I'm just donating to the pot and usually out in the first round. As entry fees and the cost of everything else rises, it's making me really question what I'm doing. I don't take the car to the track more than 2 or 3 times a year now.
To be honest, one of my most fun track days was running a bracket race.

I have my dad's road runner and my 454SS truck that I usually play around w/ on the street. I enjoy that as much as anything else.