IHRA Opener... Looks like 3 hr shows will be easy...

[WCB]

Great Pictures..
Thanks

[Rapid Randy Baker]

Good to see you back.

[John Howe]

Sorry I didn`t get back to y'all last night, but I was down with he flu. I`m hitin' on all cylinders again now.

HI RH, I got to the track at about 3pm or so and left right after the jet trucks ran.

"Have you recently become a drag fan or are you a long time "casual" fan?" Well, I`ll give ya a bit of my background. I`m 55 years old and have lived in Miami most of my life. In he mid 1960's I had a friend who's dad use to take us out to watch roundy-round hydroplane races at a local marine stadium. In the later 70's and thru the early 90`s I crewed on a few hydros. Hydro racing is barely alive now. There use to be a drag strip nearby, Hollywood Speedway, and I use to go out there from time to time to watch the big races. The Hollywood track closed up about 12~13 years ago and the property is now all condos and strip malls. I`ve been to the Palm Beach track numerous times as well as the Bradenton track. I`ve also been to the Gator Nat`s 4~5 times, but not lately. I`ve never made up to Orlando Speed World.

"Did you take in any of the class racing or were you more interested in the "wow" cars ?" I went up primarily for the "wow" cars, but I do indeed appreciate the sportsman classes. However, bracket racing does not really appeal to me all that much. I understand why bracket racing exists, but I much prefer "heads up" racing.

"Any concern that some of the passes were not overly competitive or were you content at the spectacle(it is....no doubt! and less about close racing competition?" I had read a week or to before that there wasn`t going to be any testing/tuning/timing runs so I kind of expected that it would be kind of "sloppy",... and it was. Hopefully for the fans, and racers, they can get a few practice runs worked in before the show starts. Still, it did have a spectacle value,...at least to me.

I think IHRA and the racers went out of there way to welcome the fans and that`s cool! Hopefully they can shape up the show better in the future that makes for tighter racing. I understand this was the first time for this format so there`s bound to be "kinks" in the program.

I think I did get a few pics of the "Bullet Bob" car and/or team. I`ll go look now. JH

[John Howe]

Two quick things before I get back to digging thru pics from Friday.

The first, I understand that the drag boat guys have all finally gotten all the organizations together with ONE rule book! That could be good....if it all holds together. I`m sure some are unhappy, but let's see if works out.

The other thing goes under the heading of "stupid is as stupid does". These pics were taken 6~7 years ago in West Palm Beach. Ohhh, the last shot is a bit crooked because I was falling on my ass as I hit the shutter.

[draglist]

Cool stuff, John. That jet truck story is a hoot. bp

[WildcatOne]

Great stuff, John, and a very good read. Excellent photos and take on the first IHRA platform. It was very informative, honest and straight-up. Thank you! WC1

[Zappy]

Great shots John H. And I like the one standard rule book idea. Good for all involved. The "HRA's should take a lesson.

[RH]

Thanks John. I appreciate your perspective.I'm sure that IHRA wishes they could clone 20,000 of you at every race venue! It will be interesting to see if we have a new breed of fan or a substantial number of long time fans such as yourself that go for the new format.I hope they thrive but have to admit I'm still pissed over the fast door cars being gone
I used to go to DC every year and watch the Presidents Cup Unlimited Hydro races on the Potomac. What a great show they were in the day,unreal to see those big boats and the spray show in the tight course corners right in front of the DC Memorials. I remember the first Turbine and the furor it created,lot's of Allisons and RR,and even a few V/8 driven boats running the class
I really miss them.
Hope your over your bug.

Ron

[John Howe]

I did find a few Bullet Bob pics.

[draglist]

Those are great. Hey, John. Can I nab a few of these to illustrate the Drag Lists? bp