April 23, 2008

Silver…?

That’s right, my friends. We here at Drag Illustrated are approaching the anniversary of our 25th issue. Looking back at how far we’ve come in a relatively short amount of time is surreal to say the least. I don’t know that I’ll ever feel any sort of emotion quite like what stems from seeing your business grow until I take a notion to have kids.

There’s no denying that everyone out here in this industry is out to make a living. No question. For me, though, there are a few other motivating factors. Unfortunately, I haven’t been blessed with the ability to fabricate race cars from chrome moly, titanium and aluminum alloys, nor have I been afforded the opportunity to pilot a nitro funny car, but I seem to have found my niche in manipulating the English language in a way that drag racers appreciate.

From painting the stripes in the staging lanes at Eddyville Raceway Park back in 2005, working as the manager of the ‘strip to the years I spent traveling up and down the road match racing with my dad – I haven’t spent a single day wanting to do anything other than drag race. I don’t know what they call this sickness I have, but I can’t refute my infection.

At the end of the day, it’s not about making magazines or writing stories, or even making money. It’s about making history. Drag racing is one of the few sports that are universally appreciated and understood. There probably isn’t a person with a valid driver’s license who hasn’t whipped out and passed someone on the freeway and got a kick out of it. Not to mention the millions of people who’ve pulled up to a stop light alongside another vehicle and felt the urge to beat them to the next light. Who can’t appreciate a heads up drag race?

Drag racing is the only motorsport where you can pull your car straight off the street and into competition. In my eyes, there is no reason that drag racing can’t be the biggest thing to ever happen to motorsports.

That said, I guess it’s up to us to continue to build the sport of drag racing. Hopefully, one of these days I’ll walk myself down Main Street, USA and ask a passerby who Greg Anderson is and hear, “One of the baddest men ever to pilot a Pro Stock car” as an answer.

Till then.

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April 8, 2008

Late Night Creepin’ Volume 1

It seems like 2 o’clock in the AM is the only time I can get any writing done these days. The growth Drag Illustrated has seen in the last few months has resulted in a nuclear meltdown of our phone lines and it keeps everyone on staff hoppin’ from open to close. Unfortunately, that leaves only the after-hours to concentrate on my writing responsibilities. I don’t really mind it that much, though. There’s something pretty special about those early morning hours that relax me and let me focus on the task at hand – whatever it may be. Even when I was younger, I’d do most everything late at night. Projects in school to the web design I did back in college to try and pay my bills, most all my moments of brilliance came around 3 or 4 AM.

Most any time you’ll hear from me on this righteous new website of ours will come after much of our readership has called it a day. Amongst my late night ramblings I intend to provide some insight into the world of Drag Illustrated. What it’s like trying to assemble 100-plus pages of drag racing every few weeks and maintain any sort of sanity along the way. Believe me when I say that this new Drag Illustrated website is just the first of many new and exciting things we have in store for 2008.

And while blogging isn’t necessarily a new idea, I do think it’s going to be a very cool part of what DragIllustrated.com has to offer. I’ve been a big fan of blogs for quite a while; from the NHRA.com driver blogs to the random writings of people all across the world wide web, it’s good stuff to read. I think it’s safe to say that all of us gear heads are drawn together by the fast cars at the drag strip, yet I truly believe it’s the PEOPLE that make us keep coming back for more. Personally, I’ve met my best friends, worst enemies and everything in between all at the drag strip. To try and further connect to our readers, we decided to take some of our most vocal staff members and give them a podium from which to speak to the world. The roller coaster ride that this entire adventure has been is really hard to relay in the space I’m allotted from month to month in the magazine. Hopefully, a little spot on the web will better accommodate my long winded nature.

Stay tuned, same drag time, same drag channel.

WB