Columns
MAKE OR BREAK #54
Make or Break
w/ Rick Jones
Rick Jones
Well, we’ve three races under our belts so far with a Pro Nitrous car, and we’ve had a lot of fun. Not only have we met a lot of great people and been treated very well by the ADRL, but things have went fairly smooth overall.
Honestly, this is the coolest racing that we’ve ever been a part of. When we raced Pro Stock we were limited, as was everyone, to the amount of power you bring with you to the track. With this nitrous car, we decide how much power we think the car and the track will take. It’s surely a new thing for us, but we’re learning every day and trying to figure everything out. The two cars we built for Shannon [Jenkins] and Rickie have been awesome; I believe we hit the bull’s eye with the first try. Nobody is more critical on the cars we build than me, and I feel that we get a much better understanding of what’s going on when we race the cars we build. I really want to thank my guys at the shop, though. They do a great job on building these cars; they put a lot of effort into each and every one of them, and it shows. Continue Reading »
Letter from the Editor #54
Wes Buck
At a very early age, I was exposed to a phenomenon that I’ve always referred to as the “wants versus needs” dynamic. Growing up at my father’s auto repair shop – working there after school, every Saturday and all summer – I was thrown headfirst into the complex and often turbulent world of dealing with the general public. For whatever reason, I started to take notice of an interesting trend amongst customers in different situations. An individual would fork-over $2,000 for a brand new set of 20-inch wheels and tires that he wanted for his pickup truck, and a diesel powered pressure washer couldn’t erase the smile from his face. Three weeks later, when he needed an 80 dollar set of brake pads installed on the same truck, and it was a near tragic experience that one couldn’t help but assume was sure to ruin him. Two-grand for something he wanted was no problem, but 80-bucks for something he needed was a deal breaker.
Examples are innumerable, especially in the drag racing and high performance industry, but that’s spending money isn’t my point – as surprising as that may be. Far more interesting to me, personally, is the different behavior of a person who wants something, and a person who needs something. Continue Reading »
The Real Deal #53
The Real Deal
w/ Tommy D’Aprile
Tommy D'Aprile
Do you think you have what it takes? Can you do it? Or is it so hard that you’re not even going to try? Come on, people. I’m talking about the “P-word” here. Do you have it? Can you buy it? Well, yes and no. So, what am I talking about? Persistence. It’s not for sale, but don’t worry – we all have it. When you were a baby, it’s not hard to believe that you crawled, then walked, and then ran. Certainly not in the same day, and it took countless hours and days of effort for you to do this. Only with persistence are these things possible. We were all born with it, but along the way some of us have lost it or someone in our life tried to take it away. You can get it back, though.
Let’s start with the thought process. “I think I can, I think I can.” Nah. Let’s try something that works – “I know I can, I know I can.” Continue Reading »
MAKE OR BREAK #53
Make or Break
By Rick Jones
Rick Jones
We went to test at Palm Beach International Raceway the first week of March to make our first test runs on our new 1969 Camaro Pro Nitrous car before our first race ADRL race in Baytown, Texas. Shannon Jenkins just picked up his new car from us a couple weeks earlier so we both wanted to get some laps on our new cars. Since we were going to be there testing on Monday through Wednesday we decided to run the Shakedown at Palm Beach put on by Dave Hance that same weekend.
We have never raced a nitrous car like this before, so I knew we had a big learning curve ahead of us. Monday we started out breaking in some new tires and letting Rickie get use to the car. Our first and second pass down the track on Tuesday was a soft and easy 4.08 then we came out and ran a 3.96 witch was pretty cool to run our first three-second pass. On Wednesday we ran a 3.87, and that was cool. Believe me, Rickie got a kick out of that. Continue Reading »
COMFORTABLY NUMB #53
Welcome To The Jungle
By Wyatt Haldin
Wyatt Haldin
I’ve been watching the recent goings on in Madison, Wisconsin with a mixture of fascination and horror. I can’t recall a time when lawmakers have had to leave their chambers under police escort because it wasn’t safe to walk the halls of the capital building due to unhinged union protesters. Let’s travel back in time to November of last year. There was an election and there were big changes.
While the GOP regaining control of the House of Representatives and picking up Senate seats grabbed the most headlines, the biggest news of the night was how the democrats were decimated at the state level. All told, the republicans gained nearly 700 seats across the nation that Tuesday night. Wisconsin was one of the many states that flipped for the republicans and it looks as if the voters in the Badger state chose well. While the people grow frustrated with the finger pointing in Washington, there seems to be a new breed of state legislators who have the courage and backbone sadly missing in the nation’s capital. Despite threats of violence to themselves and their families from the thugs on the left, these leaders are beginning to do what must be done to right the ship of state. Continue Reading »
TUNING UP #53
Drag Racing World Wide…
By Trent Salter
Trent Salter
As the sport of drag racing continues to expand, the infectiousness of the sport continues to recruit a rapidly increasing fan base that now transcends international boundaries. Drag racing has inadvertently been long overlooked as a much smaller nucleus of followers who represent a sliver of the overall racing community pie. Despite a very rich history of the launch of the sport now dating back to more then half a century, right or wrong, seems that drag racing has certainly taken a back seat to more commercialized forms of motorsports in terms of popularity and visibility. Although enthusiasm for all forms of racing are obviously and consistently heading north, we here at Drag Illustrated could not be more excited about the paradigm shift that we witness and observe here on a daily basis.
It has been said that, “a rising tide lifts all boats”. We certainly believe this is true in the sport of racing, as the incredible popularity of mainstream racing in general has fueled the rapidly expanding interest in drag racing. We feel this is an inspiring revelation. Drag racing was once considered an alternate form of the racing community and serves somewhat as an ancillary form of the sport. However, the expanding popularity of our sport is as rich in passion as the incredible history in which it was founded. Our sport still has a long way to go to receive the well deserved acclaim and media recognition of other sanctioning bodies such as NASCAR, however, it is unquestionably heading in the right direction. Continue Reading »
Straight Toch #53
STRAIGHT TOCH
Ian Tocher
ADRL Alters its Points and Purse Structures
So I see the American Drag Racing League (ADRL) has finally taken my advice and resorted to a traditional points system for determining its annual world champions while retaining the unique Battle for the Belts as a stand-alone, season-ending special event.
Okay, so they never actually asked for my opinion, but I haven’t been alone in thinking the last couple of years that this was the way to go.
For the uninitiated, since its inaugural 2005 season, each ADRL campaign concluded with the championship-deciding Battle for the Belts, a winner-take-all shootout for the top eight points earners in each of five pro classes, held in conjunction with the final race on each year’s calendar in Dallas, Texas—which actually counted its points toward qualifying for the next season’s Battle for the Belts.
Got that? Good, because it quickly becomes tiresome having to explain the whole procedure every time an ADRL championship is mentioned. Continue Reading »
Letter from the Editor #53
IT’S A TWO-WAY STREET
By Wes Buck
As far as the drag racing community is concerned, ESPN has a thing for John Force. Week after week, editorial rants are published, messages are posted to forums, and chat rooms buzz as to the unfair amount of attention the Force camp, primarily John, get from the television cameras. Even I have partaken in the picking apart of ESPN2’s television broadcast coverage of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, and I stand behind those constructive criticisms as they were all offered with sound solutions and options (at least in my opinion) – unlike many armchair quarterbacks who throw around insults and uninformed opinion like beer cans and pizza boxes in their bedroom at mom’s house. Continue Reading »
Letter from the Editor #52
Wes Buck
In our past few issues, we have printed a couple of prominent features on some of the biggest stars the sport of drag racing has ever known. In DI 49, we interviewed legendary Pro Stock racer Bob Glidden, who made his triumphant return to driving in the fall of 2010 only to have health problems permanently sideline him. Then, in DI 51, we profiled the 15-time NHRA Nitro Funny Car world champion, John Force, and learned about his dream – and how chasing it has made him who he is today, a hero and a champion.
This month, again we talk about dreams, but not those that have been realized. Although perennial front-runner and Pro Mod contender Danny Rowe has enjoyed ample success – in life and racing – his dream isn’t just to win championships and set records, but to see the class and sport he loves elevated to the next level. In an intriguing exchange with Rowe, it becomes clear that some instances and especially when it comes to the mainstream popularity of the sport – drag racing is its own worst enemy. Continue Reading »
Tuning Up #52
Trent Salter
It sure seems to me that in the new business world where we’re constantly striving to create communication models that utilize the latest and greatest technology to speed the process – to further automate the already automated – we are inadvertently creating the antithesis to all successful businesses – poor customer relations.
Despite our best intentions, reticent customer relations practice exist at an epidemic level, threatening the very foundation of customer service, and human interaction in general. We rarely physically speak to one another anymore. Send your request to our customer service email. Leave us a voicemail. Oh, sorry, this mailbox is full, contact our customer service department by visiting our website. Continue Reading »
