2013 All Over Again?

[RockJustRock]

http://www.hotrod.com/news/1508-larry-larson-out-of-drag-week-2015/?sm_id=social_aumohotrodsshub_default_20150816_50907426&adbid=10152940939892540&adbpl=fb&adbpr=13601527539

[bigbadjav]

I read that and thought why can't he bring the 66? The start/finish line (St. Louis) is close to home and everyone loves that car.

[c2xejk]

Makes me glad I saw the truck at RMRW!

[Firechickenman]

Interesting...I did see Larry Larson at my local 1/8 mile track a few weeks ago. He was with Tom McGilton testing this car: http://http://www.hotrod.com/featur...for-drag-week/

[RockJustRock]

Larry just laid it out on YB. He's not happy with the HRM article and maybe Drag Week it seems, read and decide for yourself. Rules, money and safety. I'm perplexed as he really does seem to love the monster he created in his S-10, yet he keeps saying "out of hand".

http://www.yellowbullet.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1472786&page=7

First of all anyone who has never entered one of these events doesn't really know anything about what is involved in completeing one.

On Friday when David Kennedy (Editor in Chief for Hot Rod) called and asked about me not going I gave him my reasons which after reading the article became incredibly distorted.

I have supported DW since 05 and may continue in the future but I have always never wanted to see it go the way of Fastest Street Car in the 90's. It got out of hand and turned into Pro Mod and dissolved.

I built the S10 to try to get HR to pull in the reinson the class and all it it did was add to the insanity the Unlimited class has become. The S10 is not a street car, it is a Pro Mod car that is capable of driving 1500 miles and racing.

Hot Rod has had the support of countless people over the last eleven years and they have given HR something to write about. I stuck by HR with the decision to not put up any money for the classes so they would not get out of hand, yet they have done nothing but push things to get that way.

As far as the money is concerned when DW was the only place to race you didn't have a choice. Now with Rocky Mountain Race Week you do. To put it plainly would you rather go to work just to do your job for fun or go to work with the chance to get paid? RMRW paid to all the classes and I can promise the Daily Drivers appreciated it as much or more than I did.

Matt Frost showed how much can be done with RMRW in the first year and it was appreciated by all!

It is funny that HR thinks there is nowhere else to race because they evidently didn't realize we won the Top Sportsman class at Topeka in May and were at PDRA in St. Louis the next weekend. Last month we ran Rocky Mountain Race Week and won, were at Wichita for the Summernationals the next day, ran a no prep race in Iowa two weeks ago, and were just at Super Chevy in Denver over the weekend.

One of the other things that plays on my decision is I do not want to put myself or anyone else in harms way. They want 5 sec/250 mph Pro Mods, but they need to understand the tracks need the shutdown and safety crews to support a Pro Mod capable of those speeds.

I would like to thank all the manufacturers, fans, friends, and family that have supported all these years. I am not done running these events yet.

Hopefully this will clear the air.

[RockJustRock]

A couple of points. Larry says "a pro mod car that is capable of driving 1500 miles and racing". The S-10 was built with many allowances in the motor for durability. Yet when it was pulled after DW 2014 it was very, very tired. Wear more than hundreds of passes. I feel that is a big part of the decision as things seemed a bit gloomy after that autopsy.

The money thing. If DW 2015 starts to fade on the fast stuff part it will only help RMRW and any other street drive/track race style event in the future. If Morris and Bailey make a miscalculation on the Billet Bullet or fall out for any other reason, who will be left? Most of the former runners will fall in the new Unlimited Iron class. Where IS Dave Ahokas anyway? He played a big role in starting all this dissent and dissatisfaction!

The safety part I'm baffled at. All of the tracks on DW 2015 currently run F/C and T/F shows and safely at 1320. So much for the shutdown issue. Crew I'm not sure of.

[TheSilverBuick]

The S-10 was built with many allowances in the motor for durability. Yet when it was pulled after DW 2014 it was very, very tired. Wear more than hundreds of passes. I feel that is a big part of the decision as things seemed a bit gloomy after that autopsy.

Tired indeed, however remember the truck had zero passes on it prior to day 1 of Drag Week, and though the tunes might be considered "safe" it was still pretty hard on the engine. Now that they have tune pretty well dialed in, my guess is the engine wouldn't be as beat at the end of a Drag Week. A prime example is it just finished the Rocky Mountain Race Week and is motoring on to other events regularly, no tired engine tear down in between.

And for a few years now, not just last year, talking with Joe Barry and others, they are pretty nervous about how safe accelerating a 3,000+lb vehicle over 200mph really is, even with all the safety gear. That is a lot of inertia. I'm no expert in evaluating the safety crews at tracks, but if I were in those cars, I'd want to be dang sure the track response team was up to par for the type of wreckage that can happen at those speeds when things go wrong.

[BBR]

I said this on FB, but I think it would cool if he just went and raced something in a regular class like one of the Street Race or Super Street categories. Screw the drama, just go and have fun.

[Beagle]

I'm not much into pro mods so this comment probably reflects that. It's sort of painful that Larry is having to explain the "jumped the shark" joke that the S10 was meant to be for Unlimited in DW.

[RockJustRock]

To me it seemed his dislike of the S-10 as a concept died when it went so much quicker than it was dialed for on the last day of Drag Week 2014. He really looked like it was fun again at that point.

[TheSilverBuick]

I'm not much into pro mods so this comment probably reflects that. It's sort of painful that Larry is having to explain the "jumped the shark" joke that the S10 was meant to be for Unlimited in DW.

Sad indeed. People make fun of it for its absurd changes between street and track, but that was the POINT. To point out how absurd the class entries have allowed to become. Disappointing more didn't get the joke without it being explained.

I'm with James, it'd interesting to watch him enter a super street or street eliminator category.

[BBR]

The explanation is necessary because amazingly enough, it was not absurd enough. Had he rolled up in a Proline powered ex-top fuel car, maybe his point would have been made more clear. As is was, it just looked like he was pulling out all the stops to be on top.

[RockJustRock]

How quick WOULD a ProLine powered ex-top fuel car be anyway? I think mid to low 4s in the 1000 ft. Can you help me find investors to try this?

The S-10 was 3.96 to the 1/8, 5.036 to the 1000 on the 5.95

[MoparBilly]

I think the fact that Larry is bailing out, as well as some of the other hitters...Proves HRDW and DF's notion out. Unlimited is self regulating, no added rules needed. The Truck failed last year. Ahokas has only finished once. Project Sick Seconds went through 2 owners, 3 drivers, 2 engine combinations, and has finished only once.

So...do you build a Street car that can complete the journey, then see how fast it will go, or do you build a Pro-mod and try to nurse it through the drive. No one is holding a gun to anyone's head, and the event sold out in a few minutes.

Another question for discussion. Do the guys who have made a name on Drag Week need the event more, or does the event need big names more???

[quick 52]

Will they be selling Larry shirt's again... And Larry,Larry ,Larry or will DF say anything about the winner and the guys who show