When your idol is no longer an idol
 

I doubt very many here watched the NHRA finals at Pomona this past weekend (motorized bowling) but there was lots of drama. Some of it was staged, some real.

A young man by the name of Cameron was running his top fuel dragster and even though he didn't make it into the playoffs, he was up against Steve Torrence.

Cameron runs a small budget self-funded car and can't afford to make many races but he's a so cal boy and this is his home race. His team is made up of volunteers, not pros like in steevie's pit.
He's also a really nice kid. I know him and I doubt he's ever had an enemy.

Torrence on the other hand has unlimited money from daddy's biddness. Whatever little steevie wants he gets. And yesterday all that money was gonna buy little steevie another championship, two in a row.

So they both line up at the starting line. Evidently Cameron took a little too long, and then deep-staged a little. Everything he did was legal, but steevie took exception.
Cameron is too small-time to do that to someone as big and important as steevie.

So steevie wins the race, and down at the other end Cameron shakes hands with his idol, the guy he's looked up to and wanted to be just like.

And little stevie punks out. He sucker punches Cameron with an open-hand shove to the face. Total low-class punk move.

On the way back to the pits, Cameron got a standing O and stevie got the middle finger and boos from thousands of fans.
I'll probably see if I can help Cameron at the winternationals assuming he raises the $$$$.

And after all the new friends he made, steevie better keep an eye on his valve stems ;)


But in torrence's defense, he's still not as low-rent as Cruz Pedregon.

Never have liked Torrence. I would have liked to see Kalita find 4 more points to get the championship. Not an Enders fan either.

Afterwards, Torrence apologized.
but the word I got was he was ordered to apologize to Cameron and NHRA and all the fans by the NHRA officials, or they'd disqualify him and he would not win the championship.
I heard him apologize to everyone, except Cameron.
He's a real badass, all 5'7", 150 lbs. of him.
He must have looked long and hard to find someone small enough to pick on.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1574119281.jpg

Kalitta is a class act. I was hoping he'd win but budgets are budgets, and Connie watches the $$$$ close. They don't throw away good parts after every run like some other teams.

I didn't like Erica very much as first, but after I got to know her a little and talked to people who really know her, she ain't so bad.
Not my first pick to win but I don't root against her unless she's across from Anderson.
There are some really, really good people in drag racing. Then there's Laughlin and cruz and Torrence.


Big shake up coming in the off season.
Alexis is back in funny car with lots and lots of dads money, she bought he team back and took Langdon's crew chiefs. Doubling their salaries will do that.
She's cool but I don't think much of her rehab I mean husband.

Langon is going back to dragsters and taking over for Crampton who was let go.
I really hope they can afford to get Alan Johnson away from scrappers, Johnson is the best in the business buy he and Connie butt heads.
Alan butts heads with others too, like Don Schumacher and john Force.
He likes to spend team money and use the team's race cars to do R&D on tech that he develops, and then later sells to the other teams. And the team owners he works for don't like that. Go figure.
He really screwed them all up last year with his six plate clutch.
Everyone had to cough up the $$$ to buy the tech, but Johnson was the only one who could make it work consistently on hot tracks after NHRA stopped using so much traction compound.
A lot of teams went back to the five plate clutch by the end of the season.

I figure NHRA has two, maybe three more good years before it all starts to fall apart.

PS some of the drama that happened yesterday, i was told about last week. Gotta spice things up to keep people interested. Especially in the pro stock ranks.
Not far from monster trucks and professional wrestling.

I watched it all. Love the drags.

The only thing that might be considered staged was the Funny Car finals where Robert Hight did an 1/8th mile burnout. Parked it in the middle of the track and got out. The only way he could lose the season championship was to cross the center line or hit the wall. Be doing that he couldn't be dq'd and guaranteed the championship without even making a run. He claimed after the monster burnout (to give the fans a show) it wouldn't go into reverse.

The statement may have been bs but it would have been his and not NHRA doings.

You guys yellowbullet members? There's nine pages of posts in a thread about it.

He should have been disqualified. That's unsportsmanship at its finest.

Even in Karting, that is grounds for a DQ from the event and likely more.

I hope he loses his sponsorship over it.

https://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2606079

Funny stuff over at YB.

He is a major ass. I used to love going to Pomona. Pro stock was my favorite, WJ, Glidden, Reher and Morrison, always hated the Dodge boys (proven later to be cheaters). Watched Dale Pulde in the War Eagle Pontiac FC, loved the In and Out FC, Pisano, etc. All of that is gone and cant even watch it on TV. It all looks the same, no matter the class. Even remember when the heavy metal band Ratt sponsored a car for he hell of it, no more fun all business now. We know what NHRA stands for nowadays...

What a low rent move by Torrence. Sheesh.

We have a guy up here, Ron Smith, who has been running a Top Fuel car in the Northwest Nationals as long as I can remember. He's got an old car, an old trailer, an all-volunteer crew, and this is the only race he does each year. I've never seen him make it past the first round. In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen him make a full pass under power, come to think of it. But he's there each year, and I admire his unbreakable will. he and his friends are out there because they love it.

I haven't followed drag racing for a few decades, so basically it's all chicks now? And small, effeminate guys? Weird. :confused:

Easy to tell you haven't followed drag racing for a few decades.

From the CAPCO website,
all hat no class

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1574181922.jpg

Zackly, and that's what real drag racing is all about. It's not the guys who have multi-million $$$ sponsors or million dollar semi-trainer rigs. It's the guys who do it because they love it.
They spend their own money and time trying to compete with the giant teams. They can't afford to make all the races, and they know it's impossible but they do their best anyway.
That's why I like to root for them, and guys like Gary Densham.

I’ve met quite a few of the NHRA fuel drivers. Not a one of them would I describe as effeminate. Except the ladies, but even they have pretty huge balls.

And the mods allow pretty much anything to be posted or said. Really classy place.

Unbelievable article supporting Torrence in Dragzine:

https://www.dragzine.com/features/editorials-opinions/commentary-torrence-dq-wouldve-sent-wrong-message-to-racers-fans/

My God, this moron thinks turning drag racing into yet another form of WWF is a good thing.

I well remember when my boys were little and we watched a lot of NASCAR, because it was colorful, loud, and exciting to little kids. I turned to NASCAR because there was no chance of hearing the stars cussing like drunken sailors, or fighting like drunken sailors. We had given up watching the three big "stick and ball" sports for precisely that reason - I could not count on watching a game with my young sons without hearing or seeing some spoiled millionaire brat unloading either verbally or physically. Then, one day, NASCAR morphed into the WWF of auto racing, and we tuned out from it as well.

I would hope to see drag racing avoid all of that. I see the NHRA has posted a notice on their website that this is under review. I hope they disqualify the ass hole and strip his championship. They need to send a very strong message, lest they start down that slippery slope as well.

Similar deal recently on "street outlaws" - no prep series. they were running the mile high track where the air is thin and it's hard to make big power. Specifically turbo cars. There is just not enough air density to quickly spool the turbos on the starting line.....some of which the driver's claimed they needed 7-8 seconds with foot on the floor before enough boost was in to launch.

So for that event all the drivers had to sign a contract where the turbo cars were allowed 7 seconds after lighting the first stage bulb to build boost before light the 2nd stage bulb. Also no one could stage deep / go in and 'double bulb' to gain an advantage.

Well one guy; Jeff Lutz would spool his turbo car and when enough boost built go in an double bulb his opponent every time. he went 3 rounds ( and winning ) doing this and no one called him on it. His next opponent would not play into that staging game and made him (Jeff) back out of the beams and go in as the rules stated. The other driver won and a fight almost ensued.

I can see that kind of nonsense happening on a contrived program like Street Outlaws. It's kind of "reality show racing", far too much like the old chopper and hot rod build shows with all of their manufactured drama. The NHRA, to maintain any respect and credibility, needs to remain above all of that.

No kidding..that "Street Outlaws" show would have one believe that everyone interested in drag racing has to wear all black all the time, nothing but flat bill hats and be willing to knuckle up for the most minor slight. Those guys may know cars, but they are also all clowns(or perfectly willing to be portrayed as such)

If the NHRA were really interested in maintaining any type of integrity they would have done something. The fact that they didn't lumps them together with the "Street Outlaws" crowd.

In all fairness, the NHRA is still reviewing the situation. They haven't "not done anything" yet. Let's hope they take some stern measures to discourage this in the future. Making Torrence forfeit his championship by way of disqualifying him would send that message.

Didn't the NHRA, several years ago, threaten to pull the licenses of several competitors that were involved in this b.s. Street Outlaws nonsense? I remember is was some form of reality show street racing in which some licensed NHRA racers were involved. They dropped the hammer on those guys...

The NHRA has a long history of sweeping things under the rug to save face.
Bob Glidden's son was complaining that other pro stock teams were cheating with nitrous and the officials ignored him, so he said I'll prove it. He rigged up a hidden nitrous system on dad's car and they missed it until he pointed it out, so they banned him and forced Bob to retire for exposing the BS that was going on. That was a total bogus move on NHRA's part and is well-documented.

Remember the dodge boys, Alderman and Geoffrion?
The official story was that the wayne county speed shop got broken into and all their blocks, heads, and intake manifolds were smashed with sledge hammers. Nothnig else, just those particular engine parts.
That was all true, all except for the broken into part. NHRA caught them cheating with nitrous and made them smash their own stuff, and banned then for a period of years. And then they lied about it.
Alderman was busted for cocaine and they played that down, Geoffrion died in 2006 allegedly brought on my years of chemical abuse. But most of those details are buried deep.

Remember a while ago when jeggy retired for 2 years? Talk is that he got caught too.

Remember when Bernstein junior retired because of back problems? That was the official story but the rumor mill was talking about failed drug tests.
Same rumor with Alexis. By by, see you in a few years.

DISCLAIMER these are just rumors and discussions I've heard among the drag racing community, and I have zero proof. Grain of salt.

I blame MONSTER Energy drinks, who brought the WWE mentality to NASCAR when they took over as sponsorship of the series. It became much more of an extreme sports event that was exciting/contoversial pandering to the millenial crowd.

The NHRA has always been rather buttoned down (except for John Force), and I hope they stay that way in the future.

https://beforeitsnews.com/motor-junkies/2014/02/wayne-county-speed-shop-of-the-1990s-does-anyone-know-what-really-happened-the-eventual-outcome-of-every-bull****-under-ongoing-investigation-2487742.html

That Jeff Lutz guy has his shop about 10 miles from me.

Bob Glidden info:

https://www.nitromater.com/threads/bob-glidden-and-nitrous-oxide.19541/

I got the whole Wayne County Dodge story directly from Eddie Hill one rainy Saturday during the Northwest Nationals. My then nine year old son and I had gone to watch Saturday qualifying, which was rained out. We were walking through the pits, just looking at cars, and poor Chris, my son, was looking pretty darn dejected.

As we were passing the "nuclear banana" (the Pennzoil top fuel car of Eddie Hill's) pits, someone called out something like "hey kid, why the long face? Why don't you get out of the rain and come on in here, and have a hot dog or something?" It was Eddie Hill himself. He spent the rest of the afternoon pumping Chris full of hot dogs and Cokes, while regaining us with some great racing stories.

He eventually got to the Wayne County story. His version was that it was a "vigilante group" of disgruntled racers who had taken it upon themselves to "send a message" after the NHRA had ignored them. He told us they had made the Wayne County boys stand there and watch as they smashed all of their stuff. He claimed he had a direct line on that, but who knows. It's certainly one plausible variation of what might have happened.

As an aside, what a great guy, Eddie Hill. Chris still talks about that day. A top fuel champion grilling him hot dogs on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Doesn't get much better than that for a young race fan.

I think Lutz is a jerk. Ive been watching the no prep series this year and the racing is much better than the goofy street outlaw stuff. After almost every race the loser gets out and shakes the winners hand. Lutz and Larsen have huge egos and cant stand to lose so they throw a fit. I have no respect for that.
Ther real suck part is, NASCAR and NHRA are done for the year. Time to watch movies, I guess.

I bought a Honda CR250M from him. Eddie Hill's Fun Cycles in Wichita Falls. Tx. He spent a couple hours shooting the chit with me about his racing.

Great guy.

I only met Eddie Hill once, it was at Ming lake. I was trying to tune my blown-gas flatbottom boat and he stopped by talked for a few. I didn't realize who he was at first, and then he said he has lots of parts and that if I needed anything, give him a call.
He's the real dude, Lots of respect for him. If he said it happened that way, i believe it.

BTW I was cleaning out an old book case a month ago and found another phone number, Jerry Darien. Hand written by him on a piece of paper, prolly from the mid 80's. Talk about tuner royalty, no one could tune a blown alcohol motor like him.
one of these days I should scan it before I space it.


<iframe width="1072" height="603" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IiiUIEsKLVE" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I remember a true story about Pro stock in that era where 1 team - possibly Dodge had the nitrous tank hidden in the dry sump oil tank. They were back in the pits after testing and the tank blew up throwing engine oil sky high and over everything

If I remember right they closed up the hauler, put the front end back on the car and tried to leave - but were stopped. Possibly someone here remembers that. I think it was alderman coming back from being banned for 2 years?

https://www.nitromater.com/threads/bob-glidden-and-nitrous-oxide.19541/page-2

Several of those guys are now millionaires. All because of the show. For that sort of money most people will act however the director asks.

Chuck has dynoed my 911 twice. Several of the shops are within a few miles of my house.

The real "winners" of that show is Farm Truck and Azn. They do nothing much more than the comedy relief, and have a neat store I have been to. They get to do some silly stuff, and make money doing it.

It'd be fun to watch Steve Torrance try to hit Matt Hagan like that.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1574295838.jpg

My buddy said that this morning. Hagan would break him in two.

Hagan is a beast.
'bout 5 years ago, maybe longer, someone teased him about being .... pudgy. I think it was john force, but he wan't trying to be mean about it.

Evidently Matt didn't like that and he hit the weights.

<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YZXr_ueN3IM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>