8th January 2023
Last day of holidays, and a Sunday, and I get called to a mine to fix a machine. I’m ok with that. I’ve been a bit lost because of the extended time off anyway.
News filtered to me last night on the passing of a drag racer almost as soon as it happened. Words more or less pointing out that I had said this will happen 18 months ago. May his soul rest in eternal peace. My thoughts are with his family and friends. I never knew the driver, but drag racing is a family sport and any death is felt by all. It’s so sad to see videos of the crash on social media. It’s almost impossible not to see it. I suppose that algorithms place our interests together. I only pray that the family aren’t put through the pain of seeing it over and over again. But no doubt they will.
This will forever change drag racing in Australia, possibly the world. The ruling bodies have been trying to slow the Pro classes down now for well over 10 years. But every time they make rule changes, racers being racers, find a way to go quicker.
The only way that I can see this being avoided in the future is for shorter tracks. I was a straight shooter 1/4mile only racer in my younger days. It was 1/4 mile for me or nothing. And then I raced a 1/8th event. A normal 1/4 mile event you got 3 qualifying runs, and then elimination rounds where you may, if you were lucky, get 3 more runs. That is unless you lost your first race, then you were back on the trailer and on your way home.
1/8th though, you can sometimes get 4 or 5 qualifying runs, definitely a minimum of 3 though, and the shootout style of racing give you a guarantee of 3 rounds of racing. For the crowd, because the track is only 200m long, they see the start and the finish, something you can’t do watching a 1/4. Also the amount of runs that a spectators see. It about 1 min per 1/4 race. Burnout, stage, race, tracks clear, next…. But with the 1/8th, it’s an average of 2.5 runs per minute. More races, more noise,and all the racing is in full view of all those watching. And hey, Top Fuel (dragsters and funnycars have been 1000’ (300m) for ages now any way) they done that because they were just to fast.
Do you think shorting the tracks will pass the pub test? Do people want to see the speeds of the 1/4, or are they there for the burnouts and launches? A shorter track will make the starts closer for “Dial your own” racing. And because the track is shorter, the cars/bikes will almost always run side by side on every pass.
We will wait and see what the outcome is.
Any way, here’s the view this morning. Mining is considered as one of the most dirty jobs around, and don’t get me wrong, it is, but considering this view shows the beauty of this country not 200m from the mine.
Craig.
