June 3, 1997
DAVID WAS A FOOTBRAKER AND GOLIATH HAD A BOX
Fighting Electronic Aids For the Betterment of Drag Racing
Something was in the air as soon as the flagman no longer held a flag but the button that started the lights down the Christmas Tree. In the big scheme of things, it was not long after the starting system was taken out of human hands and made into an electronic system that we started down the path. When they started printing reaction times on time slips, someone was going to figure out how to build a better mouse trap.
Reaction timers were certainly a step forward for drag racing--they have become another part of those races that are decided by mere thousandths of a second, a part that makes racing exciting. We may have gone too far in the '80's, however, when Ike Hamma invented the delay box. Harv Philaumlee had a delay box at my home track long before anyone knew what one was (and before I knew what bracket racing was, for that matter). With this electronic aid, Harv no longer had to train his concentration to wait for that last amber bulb to flash to hit the gas at just the right time. (For the complete story on what a delay box is and how it works, see The Staging Light's Guide to Bracket Racing article on Delay Boxes.)
While Harv had discovered a way to cut his reaction times close to perfect with horrifying repeatability, other racers struggled and slowly came to the realization that if they wanted to win, they needed a delay box, too. With some prophetic vision, many racers fought the influx of electronics, knowing that it would drive up the cost of the sport and take the driver out of the equation, as well. Those racers lost that fight, and electronics became thoroughly embedded in our drag racing culture today... a culture that is slowly dying.
The price of admission in bracket racing's upper ranks is seen as overwhelming by newcomers, which is causing the Super/Pro classes to stagnate. We have few enough of the "new blood" coming into the sport as it is, and very few of our current competitors are willing to make the move up into the Super ranks, mainly due to this perceived cost. I refer to it as a perceived cost because I strongly believe that all of the electronics are not nearly as necessary to compete in the sport as so many believe. Now, after fighting against them in the beginning and losing, the manufacturers have helped ingrain electronics so firmly in bracket racing that drivers are resisting outlawing them because it would effectively render much of their already-spent money "wasted."
Participation in the electronics classes here in the northeast is stunningly low. The track operators are grasping for answers, when the answers are far above and beyond their reach, in the economy. Some track owners are reaching out to the street performance crowd in the attempt to bring new people into the bottom level of the sport, while others are trying to coax drivers to their tracks with big cash purses--drivers that are no longer out there.
I am trying to reach out in my own way wherever I can to help the sport. I have been working with my home track to help promotions aimed at the street performance enthusiasts. I am also tackling a chore in living up to my own words. I have been saying for years that you do not need electronics to be competitive in Super/Pro, so I'm taking my weary old Duster to our neighboring track to compete in Super Eliminator without all the bells and whistles. As of this writing, I have competed in one Super/Pro race and made it to the third round, beating the current points leader and a former track champion before losing to the defending track champion!
So, street guys, come out and race. We've got a place for you. To all the tried and true footbrakers out there waiting for the electronics to vanish from our sport, don't wait. Go out and Beat a Box today!
Until next time, may all your lights be green.
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NHRA Online
NHRA Online is the biggest undertaking on the net that services the drag racing community. With constantly updated results, pictures, video clips, news, and even a special e-mail news service, (and far more throughout the site) what could be better?
The Staging Light
This site focuses on Sportsman and ET racers. You'll find categorized links to well over 200 sites, a netracer photo gallery, news and press releases, a Guide to Bracket Racing, and many special features coming for '97. Classified Ads, feature articles, a 200+ worldwide dragstrip finder, and more make it a "must-see" drag racing site.
Crest Motorsports
Joe Brake's Crest Motorsports is a very well rounded and useful site. The site features current news, results, and press releases for NHRA and IHRA events, as well as a game room, links, and many related hosted web sites. The Driver's Room section houses sites for racers from Bunny Burkett to Doug Herbert.
Horsepower Heaven
Larry Pfister's Horsepower Heaven site is the staging grounds for not only his incredible line of wild sportsman class drag racing videos from the Northwest, but is also the official site for NHRA Division 6 with quick news, results, and points updates. Horsepower Heaven is also home to a few interesting related sites, from bracket racers to Pro Mods.
Nitronic Research
"Information for an Accelerated Culture." Nitronic Research presents a kind of new-age look at hardcore drag racing. With a kind of surreality and psychodelic blown motor backgrounds, combined with in your face headlines, NR provides a truly insightful look at drag racing culture in a monthly netmag format.
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Drag Racing-NHRA
