FEEDBACK ARTICLE - GARY DENSHAM "HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?"

I have raced a funny car with Gary for close to twenty years and now race a nostalgia top fuel car.  I have done and do this for just the exact reason’s Gary is describing.  It is a passion many of us have and I want to let you know that was a great article that Gary wrote and he was able to hit the center of the target.  Thanks Gary and good luck in the big show. -  Jim Murphy, Santa Rosa, CA

Bravo Gary, Multi-car teams for the most part are not good for our sport, but boy are they important. The numbers suggest we need them at this time but I believe they discourage participation at the individual level. The world we live in now is far more expensive to survive at than in the times of your reflections but thanks for the thoughts and your important contribution to the sport on an international level. Keep going mate. - Garry McGrath, Melbourne Australia

Gary’s article is dead on. I also remember the fun it was to drag race the way it was in the past. I used to hitch-hike to races and stay in the haulers overnight. Memories like at Englishtown where Richard Tharp shot M80 firecrackers with a slingshot at the security gate cause they wouldn't let him bring beer into the pit. Or calling John Weibe at home to have him bring some Coors beer east, Cause you could not get it east of the Mississippi then. Try calling someone like Force now. First you get a secretary, then someone else, then maybe an assistant, then a PR person, but never John. Maybe a bad example but you get the idea. Go up to Mike Ashley and ask who was Leroy Goldstein and I bet he says he is a stock broker on Wall Street. I worked on some of the best funny cars in the USA. I miss names SHOWTIME, STARDUST, L.A. HOOKER, TEACHER’S PET, SUNDANCE, TELSTAR... the list goes on. If I ever win the lottery, there will be a funny car race somewhere with NO corporate cars. If it has corporate sponsors on the car it won't race. We did it for fun and a love of the sport. Not for the money and fame. - John Farr, Bowie, MD

It’s refreshing to read Gary’s comments. We run nostalgia events to be there with our friends just running the car does not get it. -Randy Bradford, Marysville, WA.

Don't think that fans haven’t noticed this either, we have! I have been chasing these cars around since My Dada brought me to my first race when I was seven years old. In some ways the sport has gotten better in the 20 years since my first event, but in other it has gotten worse! I think you have hit the nail on the head with this observation, and I don’t think I could have said it better myself! - Nathan Johnston, Minnetonka, MN