This past weekend was Bandimere Speedway's Mile High Nationals and although it looks like all nitro, fast cars, and family fun, that isn't the case. The National Hot Rod Association, or NHRA, is the head of this monster of a race and they will single-handedly burn professional drag racing to the ground. The truth is, once NHRA has it's hands on Bandimere for the weekend, the only thing they care about is money, and the family aspect of the place that helped raised me washes away.
When I was younger, being at the Mile High Nationals with my dad was one of the biggest events of the summer and it showed me that in drag racing, there are all these interesting people that know all these amazing things about this very technical sport. I used to love the jet cars and a chill would run down my spine when, for a slight moment, everyone in the crowd turned to look at my dad, but the nostalgia of the Mile High's has been gone for some time.
NHRA pushes the idea of a "family sport", that every driver has a specific team backing them, while behind the scenes, I don't even get to watch my dad race on the starting line. My sister and I have to pay 90 dollars for a crew ticket just to sit in an enclosed vehicle. My dad runs in this class called "Top Sportsman" and in order to get down on the line, you have to have a restricted area sticker on your "credentials". Otherwise, hell freezes over and if you don't have them, NHRA track officials will embarrass you, yell at you, and make you leave. Make a daughter, mother, and any other family leave. In Top Sportsman, a racer can only have 2 people down there on the line at one time with him or her, and if you know what these cars do, you know it takes two people to properly set this car up to go down a quarter mile at 7.50 (at 190 Mph). So much for pushing the idea of family, NHRA.
However, when the professional racers (girls and guys that go just a little faster, and get paid a whole lot more) come out they are allowed an entire team full of people down on the line with them. This team includes, family, engine builders, personal chefs, a guy that puts one spark plug in, the guy that wipes the sweat off the racers brow, you know that sort of thing. Think about the liability of a car that goes faster with more people and a blower. Then there is me and my family just trying to watch my dad at a lower speed behind a concrete barrier, a safe distance away, with less liability. Now imagine if the general public knew the sad fact that this is just all about money and nothing about family. People come from thousands of miles to participate in such an event. Next year, I will be doing the same and the more involved I get the more sour of a taste I get in my mouth. I have been around cars for 19 years at this point, I know (and other family's know) what it is like to be appropriate around cars.
This year, The Mile High National's have had less people come to it than ever. If you have been to enough of them, you realize it just by the cars missing in parking. Numbers are dropping and it has nothing to do with Bandimere Speedway but has everything to do with the monopolization of every car in professional drag racing. Let me break it down for you. In the world of drag racing, there are two big names, John Force and Don Schumacher. John Force is a champion many times over and most people know him as the biggest team in racing. But what most people don't know is that John owns about half of all of the race cars in the entire profession and Schumacher owns the other half. If one team drops out, there goes half of drag racing and it's not like either of these guys are getting any younger. They're monopolizing the entire sport, cauterizing a new wave of racers unable to participate in the professionals because they aren't in with the political billionaires. The second John or Don is done with this gig, NHRA no longer has a brand.
Don't get me wrong, I love drag racing. It is NHRA I can't stand because they're phony. If they were a political candidate, they would be much like Obama, trying to transform America or in this case drag racing. Well newsflash, we don't want drag racing changed, we want it to be nostalgic for everyone again. No monopolization of teams, unreasonable restrictions, no hard ball. Just a guy (or gal) ready to show the Mile High City and the world what it is like to live your life a quarter mile at a time.
