I began going to drag races in the sixties with my brother. We lived in Southern Ohio at the time and our track of choice was Edgewater Drag Strip in Cleves, Ohio. By modern day standards it would now be considered pretty lame but I haven't been back there in over thirty years so I am sure many changes have been made.
Over the years I have seen and met a bunch of the good ones. Don Garlits, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Don Prudhomme, John Force, Connie Kallita and Shirley Muldowney. I also have met and talked to many of the new greats such as Gary Scelzi and running mate Angelle Seeling. One of the consistent traits of a great drag racer is love of the sport. They are drawn to the track as often as they can go. I have seen Warren Johnson lurking a regular saturday night run at Atlanta Dragway. I went to high school with Darrell Alderman and remember some of the cars he used to drive to school.
Drag racing is a great family sport. I have heard numerous stories of how kids are kept out of trouble because they are at the strip instead of running with the wrong crowd.
Keep up the spirit. I feel drag racing will be attacked more and more by the people who only hear the noise and see the smoke. They have no idea what we have given them over the years. And keep an open mind on the fringe racers. The four cylinder Japanese cars and the electric cars may well be tomorrows pro stock and 300 mph burners. Remember this, Swamp Rat 1, Big Daddy's first hemi powered dragster had a speed of 133 mph. Look where we have gone from that. Studie
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