Quote Originally Posted by Itoldyouso
"Didn't care for the drama of negotiating and the flag start seemed to create some problems."

"Do you think Pinks and P A O have had any impact on drag racing?" Don
I'm with you, there, Don. Also, I don't care for the (maybe staged) hostility and usually bleeped-out profanity that goes with the negotiating. And I'd guess that the show does create interest in the sport, thereby attracting new fans. That couldn't be so bad, but I think some of the shows create the perception that that's the way all drag racing is.

Thanks, in part, to a bunch of stupid movies, the earliest drag racers were given the image of being a barely civilized horde of scuzzy punks engaging in all sorts of dangerous and illegal activities, only one of which was daredevil street racing. I remember one in which the local bad-arse challenged the local "Mr. Clean" to a "train drag". Huh? The procedure was to have the cars side by side on a railroad track, each car straddling a rail and facing the direction from which an expected train was to come. As the train bore down the scene the first car to turn chicken and get out of the way was the loser.

....... In case anybody is still reading this foolishness, the good guy (chicken that he was) got off the track and lost the race. The bad guy didn't make it in time and got squashed.

For another instance of misconception, the old North Texas Timing Association held a big race at Caddo Mills and brought in several big-name cars from both coasts as well as all the local heroes. As their races always were, it was orderly, well managed and well run. On Monday morning a young guy where I worked asked what I did over the weekend. I told him I went to the drag races. His eyes got big and he said "WOW! Any fights out there?"

I guess where I'm going with this long, boring speech is that, to some degree, that image is still perpetuated.

Even after fifty years.

Am I wrong?


Jim