I ran into Top Fuel driver Dave Grubnic this weekend at the Supercross race in Anaheim and we had a chance to chat about drag racing. It was a short conversation.
"There's just nothing happening," he said. "Absolutely stagnant. In fact, I was just talking to (NHRA Senior Vice President of Racing Operations) Graham Light the other day and he was saying the same thing. It's been very quiet."
If you're a glass half-full kind of guy, then it's easy to say that no news is good news. The sport hasn't lost any significant sponsors or teams so at the very least it isn't going backwards or down-sizing in any way.
On the other hand, with economic indicators getting better across the country, it's a bit of a shame there hasn't been some announcements of note.
Well, we still have a month or so until Pomona so maybe something will break.
Here's what has happened.
Coil leaves Force: To me this was the biggest news story of the year. Nineteen-time champion Austin Coil, who has been with John Force for all of his 132 wins and 15 world titles, quietly resigned the day after the awards banquet, leaving a letter of resignation on Force's desk before the boss got to work.
I talked to Force last week for a story in the next issue of AutoWeek. He seemed really confused by the whole thing and more than a little despondent that he hasn't talked to Coil since that fateful day. Coil asked him for some space and Force is giving it to him.
Coil built such a braintrust in that camp that the performance of the team probably won't suffer much. I'm a little more concerned about the mental challenges Force will face moving forward. Coil is/was Force's best friend, a mentor, a claiming influence, and a sounding board for everything Force has done. As the champ said, "I'm closer to Austin than my wife." Now he's gone.
Massey replaces Cory Mac: Past Rookie of the Year winner and IHRA champion Spencer Massey was named as the replacement driver for veteran Cory McClenathan in the Fram dragster. The conventional wisdom among the uninformed out there is that big, bad, heartless team owner Don Schumacher gave McClenathan the pink slip because Massey brought some money into the equation. Not true.
I've been around Don Schumacher for 14-plus years now and although he's done some things that have made me wince, I have to defend Papa Shoe on this one. According to Cory Mac, Schumacher has been nothing but supportive of him since the call came down from corporate for a younger representative in that dragster. In fact, Schumacher has kept McClenathan on the payroll while he looks for another gig. Pretty classy deal.
I know Schumacher can appear cutthroat in some of his business dealings but I can tell you for a fact the guy does a lot of really nice things for people that most never hear about because he doesn't talk about that stuff. This is just one example.
Enders loses ride to Buddy Perkinson: Popular Pro Stock pro Erica Enders found out she lost her ride with Jim Cunningham Motorsports to 19-year-old Buddy Perkinson when she received her firesuit, helmet, and personal items in a FedEx box. She tried reaching out to Cunningham that same day but never got through. Then she saw the press release that Perkinson had been hired and connected the pieces that she'd been dumped.
Like Jeg Coughlin Jr. bowing out of the class at the end of the season, we'll probably never know the real reasons why some things happen within a team. The only thing we do know is that Perkinson and Cunningham have a lot of work to do to get that Ford Mustang up to standards.
As for Erica, well, she's gonna be just fine. Trust me.
That's about it for the big stories of the off-season. Aside from those items, we did learn that Hector Arana Jr. will join the Pro Stock Motorcycle ranks on his father's Lucas Oil Buell, while dad unveils a new Buell he thinks will be better than the one with which he won the 2009 championship. I expect Hector Jr. to be a real contender.
I also recently had a conversation with the always understated Larry Dixon. I asked him if he draws any motivation from the incredible stat his friendly rival Tony Schumacher has posted over the last decade and if he's driven to surpass Schumacher's number of career wins and championships.
"Are you kidding me?" he said. "I've already surpassed every dream I could have ever had. I'm just loving every day and I'm going enjoy this for as long as it lasts."
I guess it's true that it's been a quiet off-season, but with a champion like Dixon leading us into 2011, I think the NHRA is going to be just fine.
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