Drag Illustrated Issue 157, June 2020 | Page 8
LETTER from the EDITOR
Over the last few
months, I’ve been
asked all kinds of
questions about
how the COVID-19
pandemic has affected what we do
at Drag Illustrated – questions
like “How do you cover drag racing
when there’s no drag racing to
cover?”
Fortunately, ever since social
media and the internet made race
results instantly and abundantly
available to fans several years ago,
we haven’t focused on actually covering
races in the magazine. With
the exception of major, once-peryear
happenings like Lights Out,
the World Series of Pro Mod or our new race, the
World Doorslammer Nationals, we’ve focused on
featuring the personalities in drag racing and telling
the stories behind the race results you’d find online.
However, it goes without saying that everyone at
Drag Illustrated is thrilled to have races to cover
again. To celebrate the first few races of our new
post-quarantine world, we’ve added an expanded
race coverage section. We had boots on the ground
at Keith Haney and Todd Martin’s Throwdown in
T-Town at Tulsa Raceway Park, Keith Berry and
Lance Stanford’s Wooostock at Darlington Dragway
and Donald Long’s COVID-8, and I got to cover
the PDRA’s first race of the season, the East Coast
Nationals at GALOT Motorsports Park.
You’ll find photos and features from all those
races in this issue, plus several interviews with a
wide range of personalities in our sport. For the
cover story, Josh Hachat spoke to Paul Lee, who
wants to race his nitro Funny Car so bad that it
hurts. We’ve got stories with racers Jim Howe Jr.
and Stevie “Fast” Jackson talking about how the
Nate Van Wagnen
Editor-in-Chief
pandemic has affected their season.
Jim Halsey and Keith Haney
provide insight from the racer and
track/series operator standpoints,
and Rollie Miller discusses the
challenges faced by major touring
series like NMCA and NMRA.
Then you’ve got TJ Zizzo providing
a burst of optimism as he shares
why he thinks the unique new
NHRA schedule might actually
benefit some of the professional
teams like his.
As of this writing, it’s safe to
say racing is back. Independent
promoters and major series alike
have kicked open the gates for
racers to get back to doing what
they love. But is this the last we’ll speak of this
horrid pandemic? Probably not. From the top of
the sport down to the bottom, this public health
crisis will leave a lasting impression on everything
from big-show nitro racing to local level bracket
racing. We’re going to feel its effects in July when
the NHRA starts up again in Indy, and we’re going
to feel it still in 2021 when tracks like Summit
Motorsports Park will open for the first time since
the conclusion of the 2019 season.
We’ll continue to explore this topic next month
in one of my favorite issues, the State of Drag Issue,
where we usually talk to industry insiders about
anything from track prep and safety to car counts
and performances. We’ve already started taking
the deep dive into much bigger issues facing drag
racing here in 2020, but I’m also open to suggestions.
What do you want to read about? Whose
opinions do you want to hear? Do you have opinions
or insight to share? Drop me a line through
the contact info below or to the right of this column.
We’ll talk soon. DI
Feel free to email me at [email protected]
and follow me at facebook.com/nitronate1320
and nitronate1320 on Instagram and Twitter.
Wes Buck
CEO / Founder & Editorial Director
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Mike Carpenter
COO / Design & Production Director
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Publisher
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Nate Van Wagnen
Editor-in-Chief
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JT Hudson
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Josh Hachat
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CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Ian Tocher,
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Bennett, Brandon W. Mudd, Tommy
D’Aprile, Allyson Johnson, Pete Epple
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Copyright © 2020 by Drag Illustrated Media, LLC.
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PHOTOS: TARA BOWKER, KAYLEE CURRAN
8 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 157