Considering the wide variety of motorsports options out there, many people ask me why I've dedicated my life to import drag racing. After all, there's more money in NASCAR, more prestige in Indy cars and it's cheaper to run a motorcross bike. Plus, the women at powerboat races tend to be fine looking and well-tanned, which is always nice
I tell them I'm in import drag racing because it's the newest, most technically challenging form of racing in the world. NASCAR cars are archaic cartoons atop pig iron frames, IRL cars are strangled by regulations, motorcross bikes are too simple and you're more likely to find fresh technology in a spectator's bikini than you are in a drag boat. If you're a mad scientist with a passion for racing and technology, the sport compact drags are the only place to be.
Of course the direct comparison I've avoided so far is between traditional drag racing and the new world of import racing. Let's look at the NHRA PowerAde Drag Racing Series, which is, at least theoretically, the most prestigious professional drag racing series on Earth. There are four basic categories in the series, one for bikes and three for cars, and there isn't electronic fuel injection, much less a turbo or nitrous, allowed in any of them
The three car classes are based on technology that was state of the art in like 1962. Pro Stock, Funny Car and Top Fuel all rely on 500-cubic inch V8s with single cams in their blocks pounding on pushrods to drive overhead valve cylinder heads. Want to run more cylinders or less? Not allowed. How about overhead cams and four-valve cylinder heads? Nope
The Pro Stock rulebook hasn't changed in so long there's virtually no difference from one car to another, even though they're supposedly based on different production vehicles. Hell, a few years ago some of the Chrysler teams were found to be running GM cylinder blocks. In Pro Stock, everyone has to run the same carburetors, the fuel is all regulated, nitrous is treated like kryptonite and computers are intimidating mystery boxes. Everyone runs about the same chassis with the same tires, aerodynamic devices are severely restricted and I think all the drivers get their hair cut by the same guy
Imagine you're Warren Johnson and trying to get an advantage on the competition. Because you're so severely restricted in what you can do, you're probably inside the shop for weeks at a time playing with different valve spring rates, cylinder head shape and cam profiles. You're spending whole rivers of cash and time, but you're only making tiny little baby steps of power. One or 2 gained horsepower is a giant victory. When you're testing at the track, you might make little chassis adjustments and watch your 60-foot times improve by 0.0001s of a second.
I'm surprised Pro Stock drivers don't just drop dead from boredom halfway through their runs.
In contrast, import racing is wildly wide open. Over here at WORLD Racing, we've got a front-drive Celica with a longitudinally mounted four being force-fed by a turbo that could swallow a raccoon in one gulp. We've got more computing power aboard than Apollo 11 used to get to the moon, our chassis design is completely unlike anyone else's and I don't think we're going to be selling it as a standardized package anytime soon.
In sport compact racing you either innovate or lose. Not itty-bitty innovations either, but big swing-for-the-fences technological leaps of faith. We shift paradigms more quickly than the traditional NHRA shifts their air-powered Jerichos. That's what keeps this new and exciting every year