Cost

What ever they get is probably not enough. I matched race and exhibition at the National Events four year straight and you would be surprised how much of your own money you use. Don’t forget, most people still have house payments, etc. The personal appearance always requires some money of your own for something. I know at the end of the year I was lucky to break even and that’s when a gallon of nitro was $4.95. Not everybody gets asked to go to those races and any monies they get is pretty neat to me.

Entertainers

Drag Racing, yes it is a hobby for most of all entries simply because there is always only one winner in any class... Over the years it HAS been the street classes that have supported the sport on a weekly basics. But you have to admit on a regular basic on a regular night or day at the races the stands are empty. You can see it in a lot of the videos on youtube and a lot of personal videos; the camera is on the bike or car and in the back ground going down the strip the stands are almost empty. You could have 1000 entries of nothing but street bikes and the stands would still be almost empty. Ask your local track Owner/Operator how many Spectators it takes to make a profit. A spectator takes 18 inches of the seat he is sitting on, how many 18 inches do you see left in the stands. In the old days Bob Daniels of the NHRA could count the row of seats in the stands and tell you almost to the count how many spectators was in those stands because of those 18 inches. It’s not just the street bikes that have supported the races it’s also the street cars, you need those entries to keep the tracks open. The tracks make there real money when they have a big race that includes the Pro stuff, exhibition stuff, match races and especially the Fuel stuff. Why do you think over the years there has been so many different Associations that have disappeared, you don’t suppose it’s because there’s not enough 18 inches filled. NHRA, IHRA, all the big Racing Associations have depended on those 18 inches being filled enough times during the year to stay a float. Look how hard is to keep the Pro Stock bikes in the Nationals, how much is going on right now among those guys with rider changes and Sponsors. It’s a tough racket, Drag Racing has gotten so expensive it’s just plain hard to be a DRAG RACER.

Worried about Story

I was a little worried about posting that little story about Larry and myself, I hope it doesn’t offend anyone. Thanks about the hero thing, I guess I shouldn’t feel bad about it because I know I was and still am a hero to my Daughter, Patti. I have hundreds of stories floating around in my head like that. I won’t be able to post most of them because I can’t put all the times and dates together properly and I probably would offend someone then. I have some good ones about TC and me, our races at the Nationals, our Match races. Two of my Exhibitions at the Winternationals in Pomona, CA I talked the NHRA into instead of making three single runs between the last rounds of Top Fuel Dragster to have a match race. One year it was Boris and the other year it was "The Worlds Quickest and Fastest Pollock", Sonny, anybody remember that name. If I can find enough data while researching for these stories I will put them together and post them, don’t look for than soonest.