Landracing Forum
Bonneville Salt Flats Discussion => Bonneville General Chat => Topic started by: dwarner on November 18, 2007, 11:09:06 AM
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Once again I was copied on an email involving FR. I stewed over this for a while and then sent a response, against my better judgement. The subject involved youth, LSR and television. I issued a challenge to bring the subject here, I doubt that will happen. So I decided to post my response to them and see if I am on track or tunnel visioned.
"Paul,
I just had an idea and a challenge for you.
My challenge is to take this subject to www.landracing.com and take the pulse of the people who actually compete in LSR. The person to whom you continue to repond to is not the expert he has annointed himself to be.
As you know, if you have attended an LSR event, that the racing is very boring and does not in anyway lend itself to televison. The venue and class structure is too vast for the general public to comprehend. If you think that the sport needs to reinvent itself for tv I suggest that someone else form a body with a set of rules and events to accomplish this.
Those that actually put something on the race track do it for the personal challenge not in an attempt to fluff their feathers on tv. The environment is harsh, the waits are long, the pay back is non-existant. This form of racing is not for everyone, the sport needs and exists today with long term participants. The ones who come once or twice and then complain that they have not received special treatment will never have the passion to take the challenge and become a better person because if it.
I look forward to seeing the results of your investigation.
Dan Warner"
I am truely interested in comments. maybe I am off base on this, maybe not.
DW
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Dan; You may have seen that I also felt the need to respond. I would disagree about LSR being boring. But the general public might think so. Properly edited as the Speed Channel coverage of the Bub Meet, it can be very interesting. Most people wouldn't like the drags much, but may like ESPN coverage that skips down time. My question would be, Is growth at current rates a good thing? Many think Speedweek has outgrown it's optium size. What is in it for me? Or you?
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Any coverage of LSR is better than the spelling bee on ESPN.
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My thoughts are similar but some limited TV highlights like they did with the "Worlds Fastest Motorcycle" was very good. It's kinda like golf, more fun to do than to watch but TV can make it interesting. Now do we need TV? No, do we need to recruit young people to lsr? No, they are here now and are waiting in the wings to step in. Does the sport need to grow? No, it's very healthy and tough enough to manage at the level of participation we have now. People on the outside keep trying to tell us what is "wrong" with lsr but the truth is lsr has grown, it has young people coming into it and really can't stand much more grouth without becoming somthing that takes away the amature event it is, and that is what makes lsr unique.
You did good Dan.
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I'm in agreement with you Dan, that presently, the way meets on the salt are conducted would be quite boring to the TV viewing audience. A properly edited documentary can be much less boring, and I am all for more of these happening.
Our format and rules, should not be changed to accommodate TV coverage. Over the years, the basic format and rules have evolved and been proven.
I am in favor of Evolution rather than Revolution.
On the other hand, the media coverage we have had over the last several years has been beneficial, in that more of the car loving population have come to respect what we do, as well as the non car loving public seeing that it in fact exists. For us foreigners (non Southern Californians), that can have some impact.
As for attracting more participants, better media coverage will do that but as has been said a number of times, Speed Week has grown to an almost unmanagable size. Two combined courses helped this year, but we still were in line for 5+ hours a number of times. Waiting in line though has always been part of the deal.
I don't know the answers to making the meets better, other than helping as I did this year before the meet. More volunteers need to come from outside SoCal. There are always some foreign volunteers, but we need to do it as the "core" guys do.
Since most of us that compete are well above 50 years old and many, like me are in the last third of their lives, we need new blood, particularly in the car ranks. Motorbikes seem to generate lots of young people because of the reduced cost, but we do need to attract more young car guys other than second generation for the continuation of Land Speed Racing at a quality level.
So, now you have another opinion.....
PAUL, DONT LISTEN TO F. R. !
Rick Byrnes
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:? Quote from Don: "Those that actually put something on the race track do it for the personal challenge not in an attempt to fluff their feathers on tv. The environment is harsh, the waits are long, the pay back is non-existent."
Don, I agree with just about everything you said except the last phrase in your statement above. I think the personal enrichment from the competition is extremely rewarding. The opportunity to try and make history at a "world class meet" is rewarding. To be part of an organization that is as respected as BNI/SCTA is rewarding. The friendships made over the years is rewarding... I could go on and on but I would just sound like I was trying to convince people of the REWARDS of LSR.
BUT, if anyone takes up this sport thinking there are FINANCIAL REWARDS and they are going to get rich, they probably should go do NASCAR or some other sport.
The REWARDS of LSR are personal achievements. :-D
Terry A. Hume
Tightwad, MO
ctracing@earthlink.net
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People love racing….going to it and watching it on TV, millions of dollars are spent in advertising and merch. Because of the viewers sponsors fork the money to the events and racers.
Land racing without head to head racing is a tough pull…..no one to root for when it’s one car at a time and only verses a clock. The ignorant viewer knows nothing about the previous record holder or what it has taken to break a record. The only way to cover Bonneville and get viewers is to have a clips and segment before each run that gave history of the previous record, showed the people, personalities and car for the spectator to know what they are trying to beat….and subsequently someone to root for other than just a number in a book.
From what I hear last Speedweek had record attendance. I don’t know that if there were more TV coverage that more people would show up to the events but personally I don’t care as long as I am there.
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Terry,
My comment as it relates to pay back was intended to refer to a monetary reward.
Further on in my post I did reference the personal goals and the satisfaction of reaching those goals.
I do agree that a "packaged" program of one hour that covers a 10 day event could have some benefit to the sport. The tv proposed by others tended to point to a program that runs live such as the NASCAR three hour pre-race show on now.
DW
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Dan, I suspect that if they had 4 cameras filming 12 hours for the week of racing they could get enough to put together a nice 1 hour program. The problem, of course, is nothing is happening that sells soap... meaning the diversity exhibited does not lend itself to a sponsor putting out the bucks to show his product would put in the seat of a LSR vehicle.
We participated in a little trailer at speedweek a couple of years ago for a production group trying to sell the concept to one of the networks. Didn't sell soap I guess...
As I said before, we need to encourage and involve the younger generation. Sure a lot of them think a bike is the ticket, it is the least expensive way to landspeed race.
Terry, put you glasses on unless they squeeze the tail off the a's in Tightwad...
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Land speed racing is fast... but our growth is slow...and steady. Growth in the spport we love comes from only one place.... the "salt bug". Now wether the participants were bitten because of the excitment of speed, the laid back atmosphere, the friendly people, the chance of being involved in history, or personal achevement, the fact is its easy to be bitten into involvement. If you pole the people who have left out sport for various reasons i think the majority would return if they had the chance. so in our case i thing the slow growth has, and will maintain adaquite involvement. The only thing that really threatens our sport is axcess to the venue.
Now as for the TV thing...I have done 5 tv shows and literly have a legal file drawer full of interviews I have done in the past. 2 years ago right before Christmas i approched TLC and Discovery with a motorcycle related TV series... There questions to qualify interest were basicaly "who would be interested?" (in our sport any gearhead that likes anything fast). "Would it be exciting?"(our boreing sport could be edited to something exciting). "Would there be drama?" (burrrt.. thats where we fail big time...). As nutz touched on, we dont have side by side racing, who pushed who into the wall drama. Hell we rarely have more than one person entered into the same class. I guess if we got those anerican chopper buttheads to come out and throw wrenches at each other we might have some content for one episode (dont the Coddingtons have drama in there shows?) The Manning/Ack show in 06 was the closest we came to real competitive drama in a very long time.. thats why they aired a episode of it. We dont have enough content for a small series. On my TV show pitch, they wanted 6 show produced by me in the "can", and 200 grand and they would air 4 of the 6 shows. If my show had favorable reviews they would talk about a series.... As for a show on us, we would have to hire a professional production company to get a few shows in the can, then submitt the shows... good luck... anyone interested?
Kent
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As I said before, we need to encourage and involve the younger generation. Sure a lot of them think a bike is the ticket, it is the least expensive way to landspeed race.
You guys have encouraged lots of the younger generation by the way you have accepted them. I am one of the younger generation of racers who got into LSR the least inexpensive way, a motorcycle, however that has slowly turned into wanting to build faster bikes and I have even started researching building a streamliner. If I do build a liner it will not be tomorrow or even next year it will be a something I do when I feel like I have learned enough to even attempt to do something of that magnitude. That learning has and is currently coming from the experienced generation of land speed racers. I have met so many people that our willing to help and share the history of LSR with me that it has left me with nothing but just wanting more. So just keep doing what you are doing and the younger crowd will eventually learn.
I have told more than a few people on the outside of LSR who think I am crazy for what I am doing that half of the reason I race is because of the racing, the other half is because I enjoy being around the people of LSR. Something I haven't felt since I got out of the Marine Corps......a brotherhood.
Scott
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If my show had favorable reviews they would talk about a series.... As for a show on us, we would have to hire a professional production company to get a few shows in the can, then submitt the shows... good luck... anyone interested?
Kent
If the show ever happens I want to be on it.....and should be....I am handsome guy in landracing.
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I probably have no business getting involved in this ......... compared to those who have made LSR a lifestyle and devoted decades and dollars, I don't have an experienced opinion to offer ......... but indulge me for a few minutes if you will.
I'm sixty years old and grew up in Indianapolis. Cars were an integral part of youth and adolesence.
Drag racing was really cool because of all the obvious reasons but also beacuase it was real heads-up racing and competitor oriented. To make a long story short, expanded media coverage and television coverage turned it into a fan, media, spectator oriented sport and it lost it's personality.
I spent a lot of time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a kid too. It was always fun to see the latest from the innovative, free-thinking car builders of the time. No more - all gone. NASCAR is much the same story. These series have turned into carnivals with side-shows, driven by nothing but money and sponsorships, all in the name of putting on a show for the "fans". Formulated, indistinguishable jelly beans advertising Pampers, Kleenex and Kotex.
LSR has not sacrificed it's integrity or it's personality. It's by racers, for racers, with racers and seems to maintain a purity of pupose not found in other venues ....... and (again, from my unqualified point of view) doesn't need to be modernized, aligned with other forms of motorsport, or otherwise tinkered with. Let it evolve at it's own rate, feed and support itself and enjoy it for all it's worth.
Where else can you take any number of entries, line them up and not have any one of them look like another? Where else can you leave cash and credit cards on the seat of your open race car and walk away (or overnight) and never think twice about it?
LSR is too pure to modernize and expose to too many people NOT INTERESTED in the RACING!
Thanks for your time .......... delete me at will,
Don Strong
Currently residing in Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati Ohio
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Don:
YOU HIT IT RIGHT ON!
Pete
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As a rookie team this year we came out, learned some of the ropes, waited in lines and achieved a many (though not all) of our goals. We got to meet a large number of wonderful people and had the opportunity to learn about their cars (and educate them about ours). Our two children (ages 8 and 7) got to see their Dad and Mom work their butts off, put in long hours and achieve. They also learned that things don't always go right and that you have to get up and go on. My daughter wrote..." Today my Mom didn't get to race. I was sad because it would be her first time down the track. My Mom didn't get to race because it was too windy. That day I learned that things don't always go the right way. It was very dusty!"
These youth are getting a lot out of LSR. There is more to "get" than money (though they get that too by collecting cans!!).
Miriam
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Don Strong is exactly right.As long as we are indulging a hobby, or a sport for some, and not enertainment, such as the TV races, LSR will maintain it's reason for being. When it becomes entertainment, packaged for the masses, it develops a new purpose. Making money for people who have nothing to do with the racing.
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I don't think LSR lends itself to TV. Warching one car run by itself does not make for exciting TV unless, of course, you are part of the crew or some way involved with that car. I would compare it to chess. Long interludes followed by a quick move. Plus the attention span of the average TV viewer doesn't run to the five mile marker.
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1996 a USA today reporter done an interview with me in Craig Breedlove's SoA pits.
I told him what Speed means:
Speed is a dream - Nascar, Formula One, Cart - this is business, making money.
Speed means, someone got a dream to build a racer and get them to the salt - he is building this dream in his backyard with friends. He brings his dream out on the Bonneville Salt Flats with the help of his family and friends. And he goes home with a record or with experience...and much more friends who all got the same dream....going fast in a racer.
Once you be hooked from the virus of speed there is only one healing....coming back.....if you be old or you be young......there is no different.
This year I saw a lot of young people bringing out a home build racer - and this young people was not the second or third generation from salt racers. This was people who went into this sport by there own, may be the saw the Fastes Indian......but there is a new generation.
The big problem with our sport is that he works not very well on TV - the speed we run looks not fast due to the enviroment......a Nascar with 200 mph on a high bend looks ten times faster than Don Vesco with 450 mph on the salt...there is not the kick behind.
Showing the starting line and the pits......if you like to get a 1 hour program together you have to be very good with cutting the video material that it will be a good show......for non Bonneville visitor....
To get the feeling, spirit and emotion of Bonneville you have to be there.......and than it will be yourself who has to find out if it's boring or excitement...........
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Can't agree with Nortonist more, and he may be giving the average TV viewer a compliment on their attention span.
I don't agree with that STAN BY guy about limiting entries/participation as he inferred on a recent post, but those two FRAGILE surfaces that Landspeed racers compete against one another and ma nature on make it difficult to the point IMHOP that scheduling enough time and days for all and anyone that chooses to compete is a mind-boggler.
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I probably have no business getting involved in this ......... compared to those who have made LSR a lifestyle and devoted decades and dollars, I don't have an experienced opinion to offer ......... but indulge me for a few minutes if you will.
Where else can you leave cash and credit cards on the seat of your open race car and walk away (or overnight) and never think twice about it?
LSR is too pure to modernize and expose to too many people NOT INTERESTED in the RACING!
Don Strong
Don, if you are new at this you sure catch on fast, couldn't agree more with your post.
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Don "gets it"
DW
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LSR is not a good spectator attraction, unless you include wandering the Pits and talking with the participants or walking the staging lanes at El Mirage (that's what got me hooked).
If you see the start of the run you don't see the end. If you watch from the Pits you see the cars come and go but by necessity are way back from the action. As a spectator at Bonneville in 2000 I still remember the sound of Al Teague making a run in the morning. It sent chills up my spine!
There are a number of second and third generation "youngsters" involved today because of family. Unless you are good at picking and choosing a soft record to run on, or a new combination of car and drivetrain, it is going to cost a lot to build a competitive car. Some team efforts work, like the young guys racing under the "Bean Bandit" banner.
Growth for growths sake is not good, but we definitely need new blood, not necessarily young blood to keep LSR healthy.
Tom
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One of the reasons I'm throwing down my spare time, money and effort to get into this sport (and I consider it a sport as well as a hobby) is because of the fact that it is NOT dominated by advertisers and high-profile personalities. In fact, most of the sporting events I tend to gravitate toward tend to be of an amateur or semi-pro variety.
But one of the things that brought me to this sport was seeing Gary Gabelich set his record in 1970, and if I'm not mistaken, it was shown on ABC's Wide World of Sports. An edited feature, for sure, but to a 10 year old growing up in Eastern Iowa, the whole thing was exciting and very cool. So mass media did have an impact on my decision.
It's taken me 37 years of incubation in order to commit to this. From what I've read and seen on this site, and from talking to some of you at Bonneville and El Mirage, competitive cars take years to complete. You wait in line for hours for your opportunity to run. You carve out huge amounts of time working on vehicles, thinking through problems, and sacrificing. And damned few of us will ever hold a record. Not only is it the fastest sport on earth, it's also the slowest. If I'm any example, I suspect the youth will come, it's just that they'll be old by the time they're ready to race.
And unless there is something extraordinary, such as an attempt to break the sound barrier, that just doesn't translate to television. If you were to change the sport in order to reach a broader television audience, I probably wouldn't be interested in competing. I'm not interested in being waved over into the Evian Paddock, or having my picture taken in the Boraxo Winners Circle, or competing in the Cingular Wireless Speedweek, brought to you by - whoever.
Don't ever lose sight of the fact that this is elemental racing at it's finest, and that we're lucky to have it. If TV doesn't get it, then TV doesn't get it, and that's just too bad for TV.
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DW wrote "there is no payback". I have to disagree strongly. When you finish a run and your crew pull up beside you and screams that you went over the record, thats the PAYBACK. A check or a trophy has nothing on that moment. I've been fortunate twice this year to hear the shouts and screams and believe me there is nothing to beat it.
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I probably have no business getting involved in this ......... compared to those who have made LSR a lifestyle and devoted decades and dollars, I don't have an experienced opinion to offer ......... but indulge me for a few minutes if you will.
I'm sixty years old and grew up in Indianapolis. Cars were an integral part of youth and adolesence.
Drag racing was really cool because of all the obvious reasons but also beacuase it was real heads-up racing and competitor oriented. To make a long story short, expanded media coverage and television coverage turned it into a fan, media, spectator oriented sport and it lost it's personality.
I spent a lot of time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as a kid too. It was always fun to see the latest from the innovative, free-thinking car builders of the time. No more - all gone. NASCAR is much the same story. These series have turned into carnivals with side-shows, driven by nothing but money and sponsorships, all in the name of putting on a show for the "fans". Formulated, indistinguishable jelly beans advertising Pampers, Kleenex and Kotex.
LSR has not sacrificed it's integrity or it's personality. It's by racers, for racers, with racers and seems to maintain a purity of pupose not found in other venues ....... and (again, from my unqualified point of view) doesn't need to be modernized, aligned with other forms of motorsport, or otherwise tinkered with. Let it evolve at it's own rate, feed and support itself and enjoy it for all it's worth.
Where else can you take any number of entries, line them up and not have any one of them look like another? Where else can you leave cash and credit cards on the seat of your open race car and walk away (or overnight) and never think twice about it?
LSR is too pure to modernize and expose to too many people NOT INTERESTED in the RACING!
Thanks for your time .......... delete me at will,
Don Strong
Currently residing in Kentucky across the river from Cincinnati Ohio
bloody well said mate , I could not put it better myself , I hope and pray that TV and big business stay far away from LSR as east is from west
Gary
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Very well said Don! You hit the nail right on the head.
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I mentioned in a rsponse to Terry that my "pay vback" comment was pointed to a cash reward. I totally understand the personal satisfaction "pay back", maybe more than most.
Took me 41 years to gain a red hat. I had plenty of sunburned hair because of my refusal to wear a hat at the salt until it was the corrct "red" one.
DW
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Folks - I am not a racer, just a fan of LSR. I attended the 1998 Speedweek from Friday to Friday and was never, ever bored.
Remember, it's not just the machinery that makes a TV show, it's the people (someone mentioned drama). Yes - there is enough of both to make a show about Bonneville - maybe not a 26 week series, but a show nonetheless.
A clever producer or director could generate a show about LSR.
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The original post had to do with taking the pulse of the sport. What pulse, were too old for a pulse!!!! Just kidding. Anyway there have been some good points made here. But every one of the 20 or more people that would have never attended a race at BV except for my participation have loved it. One fellow who races drag boats ands attends several NHRA national events a year took 450 pics and told me it was the most fun he had ever had at a race event. They all love the rods and great variety of race cars,and the sound of cars in top gear laboring on the white dino. I my self had tears in my eyes when Al Tiegh made his last run at 430 mph in 2003 and consider it the coolest motorsport thing I have seen except for Garlits winning Indy in 84.
A lot of people that aren't even race fans saw and commented to me how they loved Worlds fastest Indian and the docudrama Worlds Fastest Motorcycle. If presented as a docudrama and with the use of those cool F-1 cameras on the cars at speed and the long shots with the cars along the length of the course as a back drop flashing past in a blur for that speed effect like they do in NASCAR, I think it would work! They would have to feature cars and bikes that were fast, interesting and challenging a record or better yet locked in a battle for a record or fast time.
The current format would work with just ONE change. And it is a change that those of us that love competition would welcome. Every year make a high participation class in each of the major catagories i.e. roadster, modified coupe, lakester,streamliner, sit up bike, etc. as a feature class with a special reward whether a record is set or not. Three motorcycles created a lot of dama so if announced in advance some of these classes could get several contestants. The SCTA could get sponsors for these catagories much the same as Hotrod sponsors high speed of the meet. No money just the " carrot " of a little extra competition and a special award without having to beat Tom Burkland. Can the SCTA do this? Of course they can, they create new catagories all the time so one car or bike can get a trophy for being the only one in their class, running on an open record. So they create NO competition classes, why not COMPETITION classes???? It would be fun ! And create a little TV drama.
This should bring out the NAYSAYERS!!!! lol.
Racergeo, your LSR voice of reason!!
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George,
For general information the SCTA already does this (not quite like you describe) at El Mirage. The following is from the El Mirage Procedures:
IX. AWARDS
Awards will be given to participants based on their points as defined in Section VIII of this procedure. Multiple awards may be combined on a single trophy at the highest point of receipt, e.g. a record trophy may list 3% award, 1st place and/or participation. Awards for the season will be given under the following criteria:
A. Top Speed
A trophy will be awarded to the overall fastest car and motorcycle of each meet. A perpetual trophy will be awarded to the overall fastest car and motorcycle of the season. The winners of the perpetual trophy will also receive a trophy for keeping.
B. Records
A record trophy will be awarded for each new record set during the racing season.
C. First Place
A First Place trophy to entrants whose speed is the fastest in class if there were three (3) or more entrants in the class and no entrant’s speed is within 3% of the record.
D. Performance
Performance Recognition Plaques will be awarded as follows:
o Three Percent, to entrants whose speed is within three percent (3%) of the class record at the end of a meet.
o Second Place, to entrants whose speed is the second fastest in class when there are five (5) or more entrants in the class at the same meet.
o Participation, to entrants who entered the same class three (3) or more times during a racing season but did not qualify for a first or second place trophy.
Tom G.
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At Bonneville you have the same type awards
Fastest car pass ... Hot Rod Trophy
Set a new record that lasts the week .... Record Trophy
Run within 3% of a record or faster without setting the record ... Performance Award Trophy
Run as fast as you can ... personal satisfaction, better than any other reward, doesn't matter if you were on the crew or the driver.
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Yep, but original question was about youth and TV. My suggestion adressed that. Youth seem to like competition and so does TV. I'd pay to see a good " duel on the salt " between Nearburg and Nish in A/FS. Are you there Brett Keptner? Or I'm I just so excited about LSR that every thing is fun, interesting and exciting?
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Bonneville gets plenty of digital coverage both on TV and print. I'm not sure what was going on in this shot but I snapped it at speedweek this year:
(http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com/bonneville%2007/pic4.jpg)
Plus I've seen plenty of TV commercials featuring the salt. :-D Of course that's not exactly the coverage you guys are talking about. I agree with roadtrip on every single point.
As far as attracting youth I don't see that as a problem. I am 35 which is young compared to the 50+ age that I know is common on the salt and I attended my first speedweek this year to watch. Like many of you I have been involved with lot's of different racing before the salt caught my attention. I think if you want sport growth then targeting guys in other forms of motorsport is the key, not TV. Honestly though with limited venues where you can run lsr why would growing be a priority? As I saw someone else post what's in it for them to get a bunch more people out there. I would guess bringing too many people out there would make some leave.
I plan on running something out at the salt in the next "few" years and my two sons that it was great. Here is a picture of my boys and one of the awesome people we met out there:
(http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com/bonneville%2007/pic21.jpg)
I bet it wasn't 15 mins of meeting our new friends that they asked my boys how they would like to sit on a real race bike! This goes to show that getting hooked on the salt has no age limits. Great people out there! Oh here is one more pic of youth on the salt, I think this girl is in her early 20's:
(http://www.carbonfibertubeshop.com/bonneville%2007/pic27.jpg)
I'm really bad with names so I can't post it here but I'm sure some of you know her. It was really cool talking to everyone out there and we'll be back.
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Racergeo,
I kind of like your idea about featuring a alternating group of cars each year @ B/V, but don't know how you would do it. As a Roadster driver I would love to see all those in a certain class run at the same time as a special part of the event. Getting everybody ready at once would be a challenge. In the Roadster catagory you would have Modified, Gas/Fuel & Street. Some would run the long course, some the short. So much for spectator involvement.
Limit it to type? First off a XXO/STR running 160. then a AA/BSTR running 230. How does the spectator relate.
It's certainly interesting from a promotional perspective.
Well, I addressed LSR, but not the youth aspect.
Tom
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The motorcycle at the starting line is the White Goose Bar entry. Consistency is their mantra, they strive to be and continue to hold the slowest record in the book.
The rider, Kim, had to be reminded to "keep pedaling". I had a new rider candidate here at work, Annie is about 1/3 more aero than Kim. Think always "pounds lighter, miles faster(or slower in the Goose's case)"
Our own Tom G is a major supporter of the cause,
DW
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Want I want to know is how many posts do I need NOT to be a newbe anymore , and I agree we need more youg people in our sights (not Bob Sights) well you know what I mean. Iam only 37 and I feel like I been going to bonneville a long time. But next year I will be driving so I am going to miss having the best place to see bonneville. Maybe Dan can start a under 40 club some day . mike
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4 more
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I'm well on my way to the second 40, closer to 80 than 40. I wouldn't want to be in any club that wanted me, or Jack or Groucho.
DW
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Maybe Dan can start a under 40 club some day . mike
I think Dan would prefer 3 or 4 12's to a 40... 40's get warm on the salt ya know.
The newbie is just your participation here, does not reflect your time on the salt. But it does seem that people that had a lot of salt on their shoes over the years post more. Of course old guys just like to see their thoughts in print... for posterity and all...
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Youth and LSR reminds me of a few other oxymorons. Oh Well. What really needs to happen is youth "working" with LSR. This is starting to happen but it works very slowly. Old guys in command don't want to give up anything. Anyone who does not see this is blind. Dan is finally stepping back from the rule book after many years of hard work, flack, name calling etc: He deserves a rest...
Every year we get a few young folks to step up and inspect cars. They probably have been in LSR from birth and with "dads" help want to give back. So he shows up at the "old guys" car who's never done jack s--t and what does he get but a bunch of grief and bs. Why would anyone step up whose young(that means under 30) I don't blame them for not helping again
I seems when we get one running for an office we choose to elect the old guy. Ferg 3 is our only hope at this time for youth. Youth that's a funny word. I'm 63; by the board standards I'm youth.
I've taught a lot of guys how to use the air pump correctly and the fuel checker. and are they young. no. They are my age. Enough of this rant......................Good Luck
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I think Dan is in more clubs than he's telling us, your right a 18-35 club would be nice,but Iam already a sailty dog.
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The motorcycle at the starting line is the White Goose Bar entry. Consistency is their mantra, they strive to be and continue to hold the slowest record in the book.
DW
We just set our all time record for speed at El Mirage last meet, and there was no GPS on the bike or rider. We ran her as fast as she would go with Rick aboard and were lucky enough to break the minimum for the class.
As much as everyone loves to hate our bike, it is a great example of how some young person can get involved in LSR, without bankrupting themselves. If you look hard and long enough you could buy one and have it SCTA ready for around $2000. It hardly takes up any room in the garage, and is very easy to work on. You only need a pickup truck to transport it, or if you are really on a budget you could make up a small bike rack for your receiver hitch and put it on the back of your car. It hardly uses any fuel. The biggest problem we are having is finding parts for a 52 year old bike, but then again that is part of the fun of running a vintage machine.
I honestly have more fun running the Express, than I do my Roadster. At El Mirage I could not believe all the people that came up to me and had positive things to say about the bike.
Tom G.
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Most TV and magazine people are lazy,and rarely understand their subject matter.Making an "interesting" show about Bonneville would be much tougher,
for them,than filming the antics at Boyd's or OCC,as an example.
Conflict,real or manufacturered,presented as "Reality TV",is the latest fad.
Lazy executives everywhere love fads.Much easier to follow a fad,than create something new.
To their credit,the producers of Pinks did a pilot show about people trying to set records in various forms of racing.Saw it in September,forgot the name of it.
The one I saw looked pretty good,no idea if Speed will pick it up.
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Now if a European produced TV show on Bonneville was successful,
an American network would be more likely to copy it.
That's where Junkyard Wars came from.
It was copied from the British show,Scrap Heap Challenge.
My favorite shows of all time. :-D
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The BBC Mission series covered the Mach3 Challenegr project on the salt during '99 (production/filming by Sunset and Vine) but I do not know if this 2000 programme ever aired in the USA.
The Discovery channel - National Geographic produced - Bonneville programme of 2005 events would probably have alerted people to the 'Motorsport can be/is dangerous' information.
[ps. JCB produced a long promo tape of the Dieselmax at Bonneville but I do not know if it will ever be circulated].
Perhaps the youth prefer pouring money into 'rice burners' and the like and the feel of tarmac beneath the wheels. Perhaps get a hook in to them at Maxton, Texas or an open road race (acceleration test) first and then steer them towards the dirt and then the salt tracks of long distance LSR?
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When I went to El Mirage and Bonneville (both in 1953) we were all pretty young. Did we think we would still be doing it some 60 years later, I doubt it. Many youngsters have come and gone and a lot stayed on. Some are 3rd generation. I went drag racing in the 50s into the 70s as well as attending lakes and speedweek .. Uncle Sam slowed that down for a couple of years. It was hard to be a couple of states away and never hearing much news except in HRM.
The internet has become the best link to the LSR we have ever had. I never had any thoughts of being in the timing stand from 1983 to 1994 when Gary Cagle passed on and I was asked to take over the duties. I stayed as chief timer until 2004 when I moved to Utah. I am still very involved with the timing operation but mostly as a consultant. This pass year a few changes were made and I will be the meet and safety person and you will still hear my voice on the salt. Frank Scott is the new Chief timer for SCTA.
Our team is still very close in what we do and we also have a couple of young ladies recording in the timing trailer. The Rice's are the young guys and on top of the state of the art electronics and put in many hours.
So I was young when I started and at a young 72 still involved. I had to let go of some of the duties that goes along with the growth of the sport. The big thing is are all of the timing staff are very dedicated and will continue to be for a long time.
The youngsters are seeing what it takes and thank God they keep coming back each year and keep this wonderful sport alive. Never discourage them from getting into LSR the best family motor sport ever.