question

[smith19]

this is mainly for you older fella's. did you like the cars better when they ran sideways in the corner or locked down like they are today?

[ndra]

60s,70s and 80s racing was by far the best.

[lokwaidid]

old days were better. alot more competitive i think. less ground effects and more driver involved. didn't need 800-900 hp. alot of guys on here make it sound like if track records aren't being broke it was a bad night. some of the best racing at any track every week is the mods or streets stocks because they act like the lates of 30-40 years ago.

[ozzie 35]

racing was better in the 60's and 70's because there wasn't all the different series running up and down the road.What we thought of as heros ,were running at our local track every week.In those days ,most of the big shows were in the fall,and that's when guys started traveling to regional tracks for 100 and 200 lap shows.Yes 200 laps on dirt.try that today. We got to see our heros every week ,instead of 3 or 4 times a year like we do now.I wish we could get back to that formula.Look at Northern Dirt Modified racing,they still follow a similar plan.I know you can't go back in time,but wouldn't it be nice sometimes.

[slick01]

racing was better in the 60's and 70's because there wasn't all the different series running up and down the road.What we thought of as heros ,were running at our local track every week.In those days ,most of the big shows were in the fall,and that's when guys started traveling to regional tracks for 100 and 200 lap shows.Yes 200 laps on dirt.try that today. We got to see our heros every week ,instead of 3 or 4 times a year like we do now.I wish we could get back to that formula.Look at Northern Dirt Modified racing,they still follow a similar plan.I know you can't go back in time,but wouldn't it be nice sometimes.

I am with you on that. I don't care about the 200 lap races per se though I go back to the Grand National (Cup) cars running them on dirt back in the day. I miss the days when all big dirt shows were 100 lappers. All of these series are killing things to an extent, as are sorry promoters. Alas it may end up like all things in the free market, only the good will survive.

[hoodpin]

The older days of racing was way better than today.

[blackford]

old days were better. alot more competitive i think. less ground effects and more driver involved. didn't need 800-900 hp. alot of guys on here make it sound like if track records aren't being broke it was a bad night. some of the best racing at any track every week is the mods or streets stocks because they act like the lates of 30-40 years ago.

I see it as you got the best of both worlds. As u said the streets especially are pretty much what the lates were 30 years ago. And today's SLM is a hole different monster that I enjoy for just that reason.

[MUD MAESTRO]

May be hard to believe, but when the Camaros came in as the car of choice on the short tracks, I actually lost interest in local stock car racing and preferred seeing the full bodied cars of USAC and IMCA. When I came back to the local tracks I was in shock when the LM evolved into those wedge things. Will say every era had great racing, but I do prefer race cars that have a distinguished stock look. Back then, you could root for the Ford..Chevy..Mo-Par..or the occasional Studebaker Hawk driver and knew what they drove.

[J. Steve Davis]

I remember going racing on saturday nite and seeing a full house of cars every week. 55's 56's and 57's. Big cars. Started 24 cars every week in feature. Drivers had to man handle these tanks. Lots of good racing back then. Respect those guys a lot. I also like the late models of today. People change, tracks change, and the cars have changed, but they still go round and round and throw dirt in your face and it's still fun to watch the guys chase that checkered flag.

[AshleyM]

Everyone thinks racing from their younger years or childhood-teenage years or "prime years" was the best. I'm sure in 20-30 years I'll be talking about how things were so much better in the 90's and 2010's....

[ozzie 35]

You're right.

[roger richards]

maybe some of you need to try owning the race car flipping the bill and you would see the years the cost of racing took a hike

[J. Steve Davis]

maybe some of you need to try owning the race car flipping the bill and you would see the years the cost of racing took a hike

Doesn't seem fair that some drivers are in the stands watching instead of racing on the track because of the money factor. I don't know when it really got out of hand but it is a shame. Does the racing stuff have to be that expensive or is it greed? I don't know.

[smith19]

Doesn't seem fair that some drivers are in the stands watching instead of racing on the track because of the money factor. I don't know when it really got out of hand but it is a shame. Does the racing stuff have to be that expensive or is it greed? I don't know.

probably started to get out of hand in early to mid 80's. that's when the store bought motor "really" started to come in.

[Clayton_Wetter]

I liked them old 60's and 70's Chevelles and Camaros, with an occasional Mustang thrown in and a stay brown and tacky race track all night. I was never really ready to go home.

Nowadays I sometimes pull into a track and see a lack of track prep that sets the tone early for a miserable night of loud motors, cars spinning out in the support classes and a heavy coating of dust and rubber on my clothes. Did I mention the slow nonpassing racing?

Don't get me wrong, these cars now are also great to watch, but only when they have a good track to run on. Which is not very often.

The cars keep getting faster and the tracks keep getting slower.

[Feger25Fan]

My Dad raced in the 1950s - 1984. He died about 5 years ago and thought racing today was better than ever...of course he missed the good old days, but he loved the fact the cars were faster.

I've been around racing since I was born -- if you think money was NOT a factor in the 60's, 70's or 80's you are dead wrong. I saw my Dad struggle to get the cash to put his car together every single year, just like his Grandson does today.

The main difference I see is more guys travel longer distances than they used to. My Dad would travel a max of maybe 3 hours, now Jason will go half way across the country.

As others have mentioned, one difference is the track prep. In Central Illinois the promoters of the old days used to work the track every day of the week leading up to the races, water it, nuture it, spend hours and hours on it. Today not every promoter is willing to do that.