Is this really considered "racing?"

[OptimaJim]

Hello, I'm new to the board and don't have any first-hand experience with land racing, so I'm hoping the good folks here can assist me.  I maintain the YouTube Channel for Optima Batteries and we recently had someone comment on one of our videos, featuring Polly Blytt's Trans Am, which has run 407 km/hr and lays claim to being the fastest street-legal car in Europe- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvlZpHa8hZ8

The person commenting on the video indicated a different car was actually the fastest, because it ran 183 mph in the quarter mile.  They also suggested top speed runs aren't considered real racing and the folks at Bonneville know what they are doing is not considered real racing.  These statements seem to fly in the face of everything I thought I knew about this form of motorsports, from the mission statement of the S.C.T.A., to the very name of this website.  Is there a debate within the motorsports community that I am not aware of, as to whether land racing is considered real racing?  I appreciate your assistance.

Jim McIlvaine
eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc.
www.facebook.com/optimabatteries

[Black Rose Racing]

Jim,
 
 I suppose it depends on who you ask, to us it is absolutely. Hope you can come to the Salt and see for yourself someday.

[Steve Walters]

I know we buy a lot of Optima batteries, including the two in my car.  I have never heard this argument before, I have heard, only 230 miles an hour, my drag car doe's that in a quarter mile.  In reality Land Speed Racing isn't a whole lot different than drag racing, just instead of going 1/4 mile your going 5 miles.  The factors of wind force come into play which requires a lot more horse power than quarter mile racing, the weight needed to keep the car on the ground dictates more horse power, the rolling resistance of the dry lakes needs more power.

 The same American icons that brought us drag racing brought us Land Speed Racing.  To most of us the adrenaline rush just gets better the faster and further we go.  The satisfaction of going flat out is just plain Nirvana at its finest.

Steve     

[dw230]

I guess you could say we are racing against time. With the speeds being run these days it is really a five mile drag race, you have to ET the clocks if you want to win.

DW

[kiwi belly tank]

So is anybody else P'd off with that statement?
I can answer that with one technical word, DUH!!
 Sid.

[Tzoom]

Land speed racing is the highest form of racing, Mr McIlvane.  What isn't racing was this year's Daytona 500.

[Milwaukee Midget]

Jim, welcome to the forum.

Of course this is racing.  Some prefer to call it ‘Speed Trials”, which they are.  While we do not compete bumper to bumper and fender to fender as NASCAR, CART, SCCA or NHRA competitors do, we do drive cars or motorcycles, prepared to a specification, against established records, and in the case of SCTA-BNI, under the auspices of the oldest motorsports sanctioning body in the country.  We compete, therefore, we race.

The nature of the way we compete might not correspond with those who have to have the visceral thrill of defeating an opponent in the heat of the moment.  It’s more like chess than football, and in that sense, the plan is much more critical to the outcome than luck, skill, or our fellow competitors.  We compete against ourselves, the other vehicles in our classes, and against those who established records before us.

I look at some of the people involved in this sport, and I’ve discovered a number of folks who have passed through numerous other forms of racing, and have wound up land speed racing.  I can name four or five off of the top of my head from here in Wisconsin alone, with backgrounds in road racing, modified dirt cars, drag racers.  After they’ve beaten everyone else, or have been beaten by everyone else, then they graduate to land speed racing, where they have to beat their most fierce competitor - themselves.

Yeah, it’s racing. 

Wanna trip out to Bonneville with me this September?  I'll introduce you.   

[Nortonist 592]

Is Formula 1 racing or a fast parade?  Is NASCAR racing or a demolition derby and a couple of fast laps accidently happened?  Of course its racing!!

[jimmy six]

I think DW has it right...even from my humble beginings in 1974 and arrival in 1975 with a car I really never considered it racing. Yes a race against time but I always felt if there wasn't some one beside me or around me it wasn't a real "race".

I do believe it's the highest form of motorsports for anyone including the rank amature if it is what you really have a passion for. Other in different venues I'm sure feel the same. I love it because no one including a wall is going to hit me and I get to go fast as I can.

You can go to you tube and face book and lookup  "car 49" to see the other side of my family.

It's all in houw YOU see it........................JD

[kiwi belly tank]

Ok, my feathers are still ruffled. It's one thing to be sucked in by a dumb statement like that but batteryjim must have some loose lug nuts to wander in here & throw that one on the table!  Sid, PO'd.

[Nortonist 592]

Which is the toughest?  Another competitor or time?

[Milwaukee Midget]

Which is the toughest?  Another competitor or time?

Another competitor can make a mistake.  Time is unrelenting.

[Nortonist 592]

Which is the toughest?  Another competitor or time?

Another competitor can make a mistake.  Time is unrelenting.

Exactly.

[maguromic]

That statement is the most asinine comment I have heard and to say it the person hasn’t been to Bonneville or seen any other form of motor sports. If they have then they would realize that this is the panicle of racing. If you take the time to look at the past and present competitors you would notice there are many that are from the top ranks of the other racing venues. Last year at Speed Week, besides all the great racers there was an ex Indy Car driver and a two time 24hrs of LeMans winner including a 24hrs of Daytona win.  Also I have personally talked to a F1 team owner that is contemplating building a stream liner.  Why, because he thinks it’s the top of the game.  Most of us are armatures and some have very well funded teams, but the salt is the great equalizer and will humble all that race on it.  Tony

[DocBeech]

I can see and understand where jim is comming from. He posted quotes from other people with a question. He is actually correct in his statement.

"They also suggested top speed runs aren't considered real racing and the folks at Bonneville know what they are doing is not considered real racing.  These statements seem to fly in the face of everything I thought I knew about this form of motorsports, from the mission statement of the S.C.T.A., to the very name of this website.  Is there a debate within the motorsports community that I am not aware of, as to whether land racing is considered real racing?  I appreciate your assistance."

There are people, and I have heard people who believe bonneville is not racing. Its just like anything else in debating. In highschool the majority felt that cheerleaders were not athletes yet they recieved varsity letters. In bow hunting a lot of people believe crossbows are not bows and don't want them to be allowed early hunting. Those people are wrong from an engineering stand point. The list goes on and im sure you can come up with your own examples.

He wanted to know if there is a debate on if people believe land racing is actually racing. The correct answer would be yes. I have had the opportunity to see a lot of different sides of the racing community. The racing community is as broad as the automotive industry. Some people will tell you its not a sports car if it doesn't have a V8. Others will tell you its not a sports car if it can only handle a straight line and can't make a turn at speed. Some people feel F1 and Indy cars isn't racing, its all about qualifying and time trials which it mainly is(but you get the racing aspect and timing down by perfect engineering, lack of mistakes, and practice before qualifying). Others feel that monster trucks is just a show and not a real racing sport, but despite what they think its an engineering marvel to carry that kind of weight in the air and not break something. So the correct answer to what he posed is yes, it is under debate. If you want to accept the records and numbers that the SCTA holds for land racing is up to the individual person. You could disagree with the rules and/or handicaps the SCTA poses on people and just choose not to accept the record holders as being the best. You can choose to spend your entire racing life only on the salt flats. The real answer to if its a real racing sport or not though depends on the racer and the spectator.