IT'S IMPORT-ANT

[VW NOT V8]

IT'S IMPORT-ANT
It's good to see drag racing online finally acknowledging import drag racing, but unfortunately it's of little value when the real facts are either missing or mis-reported.

First off, Tim Marshall must have forgot his meds when he claimed that Abel Ibarra was driving an Opel. Abel has usually been a Mazda man, and his present ride is a seven-second RX-7. Abel's previous car was a low 8-second RX-100. Marshall further blows his credibility by claiming that Mark Meadors puts on import drag racing events; in reality, Goodtimes Motorsports has been out of business for over a year and a half. Just go try to find their website if you have any questions about that.

Chris Martin fouled it up early on when he totally mis-spelled Adam Saruwatari. He then went on to foolishly try and compare an old e.t. of Adam's to various NHRA classes. Hel-lo Chris, this is apples and oranges, they don't mix, and there is little basis for comparison!

During his questionable article on the history of import drag racing, Martin alluded to the disappearance of the NHRA Modified Eliminator class. What he failed report on is why the class disappeared, how it was changing, and how the NHRA altered certain rules to eliminate the VW platform from competition because it was kicking so much V-8 booty.

Martin went on to claim that later "the only imports in drag racing were motorcycles" which is a full-on falsehood. During the '80's Volkswagens dominated the import drag racing scene at places like Orange County Raceway,where the crowds numbered in the tens of thousands for every event. Unlike the V-8 guys, there was no factory support for this racing effort from Volkswagen.

You can find further info on the history of VW drag racing at my website, which has a streaming audio interview with Mark Schley. The Schley Brothers raced in every one of the lower 48 states and all of Canada during their relatively short career, a feat that most modern-day import and V-8 drag racers can only marvel at.

One thing in the d.r.o. import drag racing articles that was funny was the Tim Marshall claim that "Team Top Fuel featured a 10-second Volkswagen".

Guess what, Tim, the Pro Racing Association has an all-motor, heads-up Pro Stock class where the record is a 9.71@137 mph. We are talking about VW Beetles with full tube chassis, restricted to 9 pounds per cubic inch, running only race gas and manual transmissions, no fuel injection or computers allowed.

The last comment to be made here is in regards to the Chris Martin claim that Cory Mac was the first VW-powered dragster to run in the sevens. This may be a questionable claim, but there is no question that the fastest and quickest import dragsters in the world are flat-four based. The current king of the hill is Kris Lauffer, who holds the HotVW's record of 7.04@188 mph. His 60-foot times are .95., 96., .97, etc.

Kris set that record at a blown alcohol V-8 race in Whitman, AZ, (Speedworld), on 10/99. He had to race alone, because none of the V-8 dragsters had the sack to run against him. The main thing that caused them to back off was his 6.94 pass, which he unfortunately couldn't back up. That pass was the first and only time an import racer has run in the sixes; why hasn't d.r.o. reported this phenomenal accomplishment?

Tim Marshall made a pretty big deal of the top-fuel Sakura rotary running a 7.86; why did he fail to mention the Quarterflash II dragster of Hilo, Hawaii, when it ran a 7.16(and 7.17) on 5/30/99? Was it because it was "only" an alcohol-powered flat-four? Well then, what about the Volkswagen VR-6 powered dragster that the Esserini's run? Their W/C HotVW's record is a 7.83@166 mph, set in Sacramento on 3/99. Beyond that are literally dozens of flat-four dragster passes in the 7-second range, made by several different racers.

I hope this helps clear up some of the d.r.o. confusion over import drag racing. If any of you have any questions, please contact me or check out my website for numerous video clips on the subject.

thank you,

Dan Euritt
http://www.oceanstreetvideo.com

 

Geez Dan,
It appears that Tim wasn't the only guy who missed his meds. What a rant! Anyway all we were trying to do here was give the import racers a call. Both Chris and myself readily admit to being ignorant about import racing but we thought it was importnat enough to give it some space. Sorry that our effort evidently pissed you off severely.

We will run your letter in the letters column and try to do better in the future if we have any positive response to our covering import racing. If we do, do you have any interest in being our import columnist?

Jeff Burk
Editor/Publisher

Above article can be found at: http://www.dragracingonline.com/response/ii_6.html


Chris Andrews - The Mailman

[Marty]

NHRA altered certain rules to eliminate the VW platform from competition because it was kicking so much V-8 booty[/i][/u][/b].

The above metioned Mark Meadors did the exact same thing when I brough the LGK Dragster to run at their Goodguys events.

The car was perfectly legal until they decided to change the rules mid-season and kick us out AFTER we qualified #2 in N/E2 (we passed tech and were already in qualifying when they came up to me at the end of the track as I was getting out of the car and told me to leave) at Sears Point. At the previous race March Meets 2002, we went all of the way to the finals.

I guess after 1 runner up and a #2 qualifying spot at the very next race has somebody pissed.

Marc Meadors is a chicken crap jackass - PRINT THAT!

[VW NOT V8]

The above metioned Mark Meadors did the exact same thing when I brough the LGK Dragster to run at their Goodguys events.

The car was perfectly legal until they decided to change the rules mid-season and kick us out AFTER we qualified #2 in N/E2 (we passed tech and were already in qualifying when they came up to me at the end of the track as I was getting out of the car and told me to leave) at Sears Point. At the previous race March Meets 2002, we went all of the way to the finals.

I guess after 1 runner up and a #2 qualifying spot at the very next race has somebody pissed.

Marc Meadors is a chicken crap jackass - PRINT THAT!

First off, Tim Marshall must have forgot his meds when he claimed that Abel Ibarra was driving an Opel. Abel has usually been a Mazda man, and his present ride is a seven-second RX-7. Abel's previous car was a low 8-second RX-100. Marshall further blows his credibility by claiming that Mark Meadors puts on import drag racing events; in reality, Goodtimes Motorsports has been out of business for over a year and a half. Just go try to find their website if you have any questions about that.

Marty,

My point of view: Mark Meadors was more interested in BLOWING GOATS, than being earnestly involved in Motorsports. This is proven by his lack of involvement in the development of competitive drag racing. His feeble attempts  to regulate rules in regard to banishing teams that possess concepts within the rules enabling them an edge on the competition is asinine. Not unlike that of the days of yore - the PRA.

[Marty]

Marty,

My point of view: Mark Meadors was more interested in BLOWING GOATS, than being earnestly involved in Motorsports. This is proven by his lack of involvement in the development of competitive drag racing. His feeble attempts  to regulate rules in regard to banishing teams that possess concepts within the rules enabling them an edge on the competition is asinine. Not unlike that of the days of yore - the PRA.[/i][/font]

Hehehehe

[my62ragtop]

I can't find the original article anywhere.  Do you have a link?