Angel Nieves, founder of the Street Legal program, just posted within this past half-hour to confirm progress-from his catbird's seat within the LA govt. catacombs. The Mayor seems somewhat convinced, yet not-in Angel's words- in "Love" with the concept as presented. What is fer-sure is no "flying saucer" (Jets- a regular attraction at the old Terminal Island) or nostalgia Top Fuel (sorry, Richard Heath...). Here's hopeing this next week inches the new Long Beach Brotherhood track forward s'more........

An official Brotherhood Newsletter is active, as of this month. Major media sore thumb (in that he operates in major media while serving the entire spectrum of his potential reader/listenership....and how often do you find THAT these daze??) Steve "the Car Nut" Parker is hosting Big Willie....in both internet and chivalric terms. http://thecarnut.typepad.com/international_brotherhood/

Another expat from Full Throttle News, "Nitro Dave" Kerr, knocked on my door at Four Freakin' Thirty this morning to let me know he's unearthed back issues from those thrilling 1990's--as well as more reels of 16mm he shot at the So. Cal citadels of drag racing. I sense reconstructive surgery on that film will be scheduled for this winter......

Three Seventy is a pretty intense indicator of how far the slammer obsession has flown downrange. The Scruggs ADRL ET leap jumps the ProMod game into the same paradigm shift that match race Pro Stocks took circa '74 when backdoor supported Hemi Colts began pounding into the 8.60 zone at midwest tracks. Never again will we be able to look upon ProMod local shows with the same set of eyes. The previously mentioned mason-dixon eastern seaboard scene-while $pending much energy.....the 10.5 scene.....all the indie doorslammer activity running heads-up in N. America....all of it will start to have a lil asterick in the back of our collective mindset.

Meanwhile, the innocent enthusiasm of racing occasionally spills into the cable glut of marketing. Great reports that the Pinks unleashed...whatever that sweet 16 thing is they do....set to air Turkey Day weekend had a wonderful vibe at the crass Strip in Lost Wages. "The People, United, Will Never Be Defeated", as we used to put it in the '80's. A who's who of Brotherhood Alley cats convened for the taping-and the Brotherhood should get more pos. national attention than the last time Peterson Pubs. tried to 'splain the concept. A nice touch: prize money was diverted to the family of the late Ed Conrad-killed at Irwindale a couple weeks back......

While this balm sooths the outer-limits shock of slammer finances and sustainable culture, we still have Cliff Gromer and the Mopar Action people as the sole holdout of humor in autoculture magazines (Krass and Bernie, notwithstanding....). The latest ish provides total irony in the events section, coupled with a good argument against my assertion that hunting down blocks and heads from junkyards still has value these days. Gromer's gang puts 500HP as the small-block rule of thumb beyond which your Iron becomes pretzels. The recommendation we all suck it up and buy Batton blocks is-still- diffused in real world post-mortgage meltdown 'merica. There has to be a better option-what I've seen in applications up to and including loads of nitro in Altered truck motors leads me to hold out for alcohol fuel-fed Mopar, Chevy and Ford castoffs. We haven't ventilated them ALL, yet......