Quote Originally Posted by Mike in Motown
I dont feel that drag racing has been ruined.
My heading was a referrence to the differences in what a spectator saw, cheered for, and dreamed about on the "Golden Age", versus today's experience. Those guys who are now in their 50s, or older, stood along the dragstrips of the '60s, and know what I am talking about.

You had to listen to Ronnie Sox shifting a hemi with a crash box, so violent dirt would fall out from under the car each time he shifted, watch Jackson's Scratcher /SR stand up on the rear bumper, then smash the oil pan when it came down, hear a CC/GS launching and shifting at about 11, 000, and pulling the wheels four times before the finishline, watch Jenkins brake an axle so bad, the wheel came out from under the car, or watch two blinding chrome and blue metalflake cars roll up to the starting line, in the Top Fuel final in '65 or '66.....then you would see the difference.

The numbers are better today, and the television coverage is vastly better, which I think has a lot to do with the continued success. Today I root for my heros, and love to see the bad guys lose. That is a result of watching them on TV, and getting to know their personalities.

I grew up 90 miles from Indy, and they didn't even mention the largest drag race in the world, on the local news....until that camera man was killed in the late '60s by an ejected blower!!!

Back in the day, we generally didn't even know what the racers looked like. We were actually cheering for our favorite make, cars we recognized, or what the magazines made us perceive as heros.

While the numbers were not as good, the show was better. Tire smoke, violent cars on the edge of control, fabulous chrome, and metalflake made the cars glamorous, and you could tell the classes, because certain bodies were used for certain types of racing.

Today, the cars of most classes seem to be generally the same chassis, engine and appearance. A Pro Stock may look the same as a Pro Mod or Sportsman car. the cars usually make nice straight smokeless passes, without any unnecessary motion, and the race cars very often look like a bottle or box of some product.

Things change, but they don't always get better. That's what I'm talkin' about. :-)