There’s no question that drag racing finds itself in a particularly challenging battle today — perhaps the toughest battle that its had to face in the nearly seventy years that organized drag racing has existed. In a world with rapidly decreasing disposable income, an explosion of competing entertainment options, and a sad but very real societal disinterest in the automobile, this is a unique time for the sport we love. We all see it — the fans, the racers, the media, and the sponsors. And drag racers and drag racing fans are a particularly protective and vocal bunch, especially when they observe mismanagement or pure lack of effort and believe strategic moves can right the course.

As such, it’s the topic that just won’t go away. 

Pick any internet drag racing message board and it’s a common topic of discussion. Here on Dragzine, veteran journalist Susan Wade recently penned a column suggesting some new ideas the NHRA could, and perhaps should, consider implementing. Her piece was inspired by an Autoweek article written by noted drag racing journalist Rob Geiger, containing outspoken commentary from some of the NHRA’s once-compliant top stars. Former Funny Car racer Whit Bazemore even whipped out his thoughts on the NHRA’s growing struggles in a recent story that ran on Competition Plus. The non-profits, the boards of directors, the promoter…they may put on the show and make the decisions, but this sport ultimately belongs to the people, and they want to see change.

Real working-class folks driving real cars doing unpredictable things is what the casual fan of drag racing is after. It harkens back to the early days of drag racing, where a couple of guys with some spare cash and some creativity build whatever it takes to go fast.

But what kind of change needs to occur? What’s working and not working? And can the sport afford to make wholesale changes without rocking the boat right to the sea floor? No doubt there a lot of ideas, some good and some bad, but there are also a lot of misconceptions out there.

As a member of the under-35 crowd, I can’t help but be taken aback each time it’s suggested — in a negative light I might add — that imports, bikini shows, and stereo-cranking contests, all staples of “lifestyle” racing events, are what drag racing may need for a shot in the arm. There’s nothing wrong with any of this, but as history, and a number of failed organized import drag racing ventures have proven, it isn’t the answer. Nor is a move to fuel injection in Pro Stock or a concerted effort to retain some stock body appearance, as NASCAR’s failed attempts to stop their dwindling attendance have shown. 

To that same effect, such concepts as fewer events, better payouts, the banning of wheelie bars, the discontinuation of super class racing, or even returning to quarter-mile nitro racing aren’t going to bring the crowds back out. No, what drag racing needs are real cars, that real working-class folks can relate to, driven by real working-class people, doing wildly unpredictable things. It doesn’t need politics, leaders wearing suits, or even world-class racing venues.

Duck X Productions’ Lights Out V was a certifiable hit — a ‘happening’ that has drag racing fans the world over clamoring to be a part of.

At it’s core, drag racing is the purest of all forms of motorsport. But the further away it gets from it pure origins, the less intriguing to the masses it becomes. 

If you doubt that, find an old episode of Pinks and take a look at the piles of 10 and 11-second cars racing off an arm drop in front of capacity crowds.

A few promoters still get it, and outlaw small-tire racing is perhaps as close to drag racing in its purest form as you’re going to find. It’s real cars, many of them with real engines, that the average fan can get into it. They’re wild, they’re out of control, they crash, and they post unthinkable numbers. And despite the big crowds they already draw, the only thing keeping this corner of our sport from exploding on a mainstream stage is primetime cable attention with Street Outlaw-style drama and character development it can’t afford to buy into.

We can make Funny Cars look like street cars, take the hood scoops off Pro Stockers, or race another 320 feet all day long, but what those with the power to make it happen must do is not only take a look at what’s been tried and failed elsewhere, but look in the rearview mirror, at what the sport was founded upon. Because I can tell you, it wasn’t the stale, lovey-dovey, grotesquely expensive corporate environment that it is today.

As drag racing fans to the very end, we’d all like to see our wants match up with reality — that drag racing could become as big as NASCAR simply by promoting its young drivers, or by starting its television program on time, or that (like me) you wish Stockers and Super Stockers could fill the stands to capacity. But it’s going to take a bigger wave of change than that, and if we want to reach out to the masses, who are looking for drama and something to connect with, there’s sacrifices that have to be made.

It’s time to rock the boat.