Dear Readers,

Last month I asked how the economy was affecting reader's race operations. We had a record number of responses and they keep coming in so I will leave the survey open until we hit the maximum. CLICK HERE to take the ECONOMY WOES survey.The information you have shared is incredible and very appreciated.

The results to date are below.

In addition the following readers had a bit more to say:

Gas has gone up 30%. But it was only 12% of the total budget so now it's 16%. It's still the cheapest part of the whole deal. The most expensive thing I could do is park it and have a very expensive conversation piece.

My racing project has come to a crawl, I dont have much $ to put into it after dealing with Everything associated to high fuel cost.

May race events further away, race to race basis.

I now ride the bus to work and I may not be able to attend(crew) certain races if the team can't pay my way.

It is my hope that by sharing these responses and results you will not feel alone in your battle with fuel or if you haven’t changed a thing this may shed some light on low car counts and spectator attendance.

Speaking of car counts, I have a bit of a sore subject that has been eating away at me since the Heritage race in Vegas. An individual that does not run the Heritage Series on a regular basis entered his open cockpit, 27’ T truck type car in Nostalgia Eliminator III. This particular competitor is not a regular on the vintage circuit because he competes in NHRA’s Super Pro class. I am all for new competitors and growing car counts but this racer has full electronics designed to control the run from start to finish allowing the driver to dial in exactly what he/she needs to run right on the index. My complaint is this, the racer knows full well this is a nostalgia meet with NO ELECTRONICS. That does not stop him from using his. After he won the Sunday morning bracket race running dead on his number round after round with nearly the exact same reaction time each round he then proceeded to take out NE III competitors during Sunday eliminations. After his first round win a group of racers went to the tower and requested the assistance of Tech personnel to inform this particular racer that he was NOT to use electronics. After heated words and claims of innocence the racer goes red in his next round. Now how does someone, who had supposedly unplugged his electronics from the start, yet was able to run nearly identical passes with identical reaction times suddenly go red? Hmmmm…doesn’t add up if you ask me. Personally I am not in favor of allowing cars with electronics to compete even if they say “they are unplugged”. Heck, I don’t even like transbrakes but they are in the rules and therefore I accept them. But electronics! I say remove the system completely in order to compete in a nostalgia race. The whole point of nostalgia drags for me is running in the spirit of the past and racing into the future, not copying NHRA circuit cars and just putting an old body on it. That is just my opinion and it had me steamed. If you have a different opinion or just want to weigh in please email me at Editor@vintagefuel.com and I will answer each mail in Vintage Fuel Members Only Letters to the Editor.

On another note and new quest for information...I get razzed for running a Mopar yet rumor has it Mopars make mega power. So I am curious, what power plant do you run? I have put together a quick, 5 question survey to find out more and see just how far off the reservation I am with my Chrysler Wedge. CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE MY POWERPLANT SURVEY. Remember once you take the survey close out of the survey window to return to Vintage Fuel.

Last but not least I want to take a moment and share some information to help you navigate the E-Zine and take full advantage of our Members Only Site. The E-zine is pretty straight forward, you may jump around to articles using the links in the Table of Contents to the left of the screen or you may go page by page using the NEXT PAGE buttons at the top and bottom of your screen. When a video is included with an article you simply need to wait for the video screen to finish loading then click on the PLAY button in the center of the screen to play the video. Articles that have photo galleries are designed so you may browse the gallery instead of having access to only the photos I chose for you. Click on the gallery link and browse away. Once you are done with the gallery simply exit that page by clicking the RED X box in the farthest right hand corner to return to Vintage Fuel. Typically when text is in bold white that means it links to the referenced item. As always if you have questions or need help navigating you may call (702) 382-0004 between 8am and 5pm or email Editor@vintagefuel.com.

The Members Only site is incredibly interactive and full of bonus material you will not find in the E~Zine. Bonuses include reader rides, Letters to the Editor, member blogs, promotions, contests, and access to all videos and photo galleries even when they are no longer accessible via the E~Zine. Membership is free but only for a limited time so register today! In upcoming issues I will point out specific bonus features included in the Member area to assist you with taking full advantage of all it has to offer.

Don’t forget when you need something for your vintage ride check out our Advertiser's websites as these are the companies that have committed to working for you. Thank you for all of your support and don’t be shy about sharing your thoughts…we love to hear from all of you!

Sincerely,
Christy Thom
Editor