"The Day The Other Shoe Dropped" was given Dec. 8th, 1995- as the Grateful Dead announced their expected retirement. Dec. 8th, 2006 will be given equal onimous billing with the "final column" by the undefeated champion of Drag Racing hardcore fandom, Dave Wallace. Citing the points circus Glendora adopted, which I mentioned here earlier this year, Dave goes on to bend a few earshttp://www.dragracingonline.com/nowthen/viii_12-1.html .

I realize, as I read..and reread the master's voice, I am not quite as ready to throw in the towel on the current choices straight-line acceleration offers 'allfus'. The DRO site of Jeff Burk still continues to increase the coverage of primarily Southern and Midwest slammer shows which document the organic growth of 10.5 in.tire racers; add the T/S automatic tranny scene out of the Ronnie Hood-ruled Carolinas, more Texas circuits than one can count (a constant in our sport since Garlits first rode west..) and the rise of Chicago/Joliet action that reminds me of Englishtown: a track that stays busy merely by locating in such a huge metro area...and there to serve a rather broad clientele.
I recently concluded Union Grove to be the all-time 2nd best strip, based on these same factors. Despite recently publicized decline of rustbelt cityscapes, heartland drag strips continue to offer opportunities for invention and independence. If 'they' can keep up with the needs of service industry workers doing staggered shifts and building with whatever's available out there for classes not invented yet, 'we' will keep paying entry fees for multiple nights-weekly sessions. I've often felt drag strips should model their operations closer to...bingo parlors. Tight Tune and Bracket programs several times a week give more racers more opportunities to be loyal patrons.
My sense of the sport over the past 10 years has maintained some continuity. My decision not to give all my cash to all willing vendors has ostracized me less than I predicted; my selective participation in this sport has kept me from being flushed down over-ambitious organizational ratholes of all types....and kept me more resilient for change.
I also continue to predict all sanctioning bodies and circuits which cannot sustain themselves without Fortune 500 money are doomed. The implosion of 'shows' cast by 20th century marketing studies in a 21st century world will be sad, angry at times and a series of major life perception- altering events for those of us who grew up thinking drag racing had to evolve naturally, by its' very nature. Of course, Mickey Thompson also said the sport had to remain amateur for the same reasons...and we saw that unravel some 50 years ago.
The VRA may have been syptomatic of what is to come. Who will choose to redefine themselves and survive? Where will they choose to display such reinvention? Where will ANRA race without Los Angeles County Raceway(- due to hold a final Hangover Nats., with a Last Drag Race scheduled for, roughly, this coming Easter)? Will the Nostalgia racing movement go down in history as noted more for infighting than historical research and reenactment? Can we do such reenactment without these orgs...and still purchase insurance for safe event promotion?
Can a uniform, safety-based set of rules for financially sustainable classes ever be put together?