Mike Ashley Goes to Shu's-4th Funnycar

[WildcatOne]

My opinion on Ashley going to DSR is I'm just glad it ain't the Wonder Wagon tribute with Johnny Gray driving it. Heck, the season's a third of the way through and they're leading the points in 3 of the 4 pro categories by arguably a couple of events and doing everything they can to build up the Pro Stock team to where they're competitive. I ain't saying I like what they're doing or how they're doing it, but by golly they are packing a hell of a wallop these days (no pun intended to Capps). I thought it was a halfway great thing that Evan Knoll did in buying into Ashley's team, but going with DSR, well, shoot. There must be rea$on$ for decisions like that which go beyond all the good vibes. Cheers, WC1

[Billy Mac]

I can't say that I "like" the idea of all these "super" teams.....but where would Funny Car racing be without it???
Force
Basemore
Capps
Scelzi
Del Worsham
Wilkerson
Cruz
Tony
TJ
Tony Bartone
"Maybe" Frank Pedregon
who else could field a team....on their OWN and be competitive??

Densham?? Perhaps
Jim Head?? Prolly.....
but that's still not a 16 car field.....

Face facts....Super Teams are here to stay.

[Lippy]

i have found myself saying "Eh?" a lot lately... i like it

Good to go! Eh? I like it!!

[Lippy]

Will it be DSRA? or, JFRA. I think these guys need to stop and see what they are doing to the rest of the competitors, drag racing started out as a bunch of people who enjoyed drag racing and the comraderie, they still do, but there is something amiss, I believe greed has a big part in this. I'm like Jim, It's more like a carnival with only two clowns getting out of a VW.

[WildcatOne]

It's starting to look like corporations competing in a market for the "upper hand" instead of racers bringing their life's work to the line, ya know. The DSRA and JFRA are very good examples, Lippy, well-put...the spirit of the sport is changing in the NHRA. I think outside of that upwardly-spiraling money game is where the rest of us can make a difference. So far the "nostalgia" (for lack of a better word) drag racing circuit with reunions and events has not been corrupted by the corporations moving in and turning it into another sponsorship circus. I'm sure it's been looked at, but I sure hope it stays real. It ain't that I don't get a truckload of jollies watching the front-line cars duking it out, but the hype and the emerging conglomerate financial institutions that accompany it are getting tiresome and I almost resent it...it's killing the competition and ruining the chances of a "little guy" being able to take a realistic shot at winning. I remember Robert Schwab coming out of nowhere to get to the semis at Denver in 2004 (I think there were a total of 16 Funny Cars that showed up, so he was in), and Wyatt Radke making it to a final round in the late 90s or early 00s without computers; maybe I could include Dean Skuza running unsponsored in '03 (Big Shoe fired some of Scotty Cannon's crew that helped with the thrash getting him ready to face off against Bazemore in the final in Dallas...after a little talkie-poo from Scotty, he hired them back) and almost making it, or Al Hoffmann running on a shoestring for a while and he won some events, even climbed into the car bandaged up so he could get staging points. I'm sure there are more examples that we could talk about, but the overwhelming majority of wins have gone to the "big guys" for a long time. It's become a sad fact of life at that level. My 2 cents. Cheers, WC1