I think the reason that the majority of eligible American voters don't go to the polls on election day is because they don't feel that they are going to "win". I suspect (and I'm willing to be wrong) that most people feel it really doesn't matter which candidate or political party will be in power because only the elite, the super rich or big business will "win". For the majority of the population, it's the same old same old. It's only human nature. People want to win and they don't get involved in something if they don't think they can.

What has this got to do with drag racing? Nothing, and everything.

Drag racing like everything else is about winning. An important element of drag racing, particularly heads-up drag racing, is that anyone choosing to participate in a specific class, needs to feel that he may (or could) win. In many cases this is an illusion, and in reality he may not have a chance in hell of winning. But, as long as the racer thinks there is a chance, he will pay at the gate and enter his car.

In heads-up drag racing, particularly the classes permitting power adders, some combinations seem to have a major advantage over some other combinations. This has been the bane of the race promoters for years. I'm not talking about one nitrous car running much better than another nitrous car. I'm talking about a supercharger or turbocharger combination running much better than a nitrous combination or visa versa . How do you create power adder classes in which different combinations maintain a fairly equal potential? About the only way to insure equality with various combinations is to handicap the superior combinations or ban them completely.

With heads-up racing, race promoters are striving to create "apples and apples" classes. Apples and oranges always create problems. If you are running an "apple" in a class and only the "oranges" have a reasonable shot at winning, you probably won't be lining up at the gate to fork over the entry fee.

This has really hit home this year in the Ford drag racing circles. In the Pro 5.0 and Outlaw classes, the turbo combinations appear to have a major performance edge over the supercharged or nitrous equipped combinations. For years, dual turbo applications were either banned outright or so heavily handicapped as to not be competitive. Single turbos were OK, but not the duals.

With the advent of the "killer" single turbos however, we have seen some incredible times from several of the racers. This has led racers with other combinations (supercharger or nitrous) to consider jumping on the turbo bandwagon. This might make sense. After all, if the turbo is going to be the hot ticket in the future and you want to win, better start ordering the "sewer pipe" systems.

Of course, if the turbo combinations are going to dominate these classes, I suspect that the racing organizations may put a handicap on them, just to keep things from getting out of hand. To a small extent, this has already happened with some minor exhaust restrictions but it hasn't seemed to make much difference, so far.

There is another little matter that the race promoters are very conscious about. Money. Without it, there are no races. The money needed to pay the racers and run the show comes from sponsors. If you think that the entry fees and spectator tickets are enough to pay the bills, I've got some land deals just waiting for you (have you heard of Whitewater?).

No, the sponsors are picking up the tab. And like any promotion, they expect a return on their investment. They are hoping to sell product. They are hoping that the winning car is using their stuff and that it creates enough attention in the pits or on the pages of the magazines, to entice prospective customers to purchase their products.

The sponsors that have been putting up much of the money are the supercharger manufacturers such as Paxton, Vortech and ATI Procharger and the nitrous companies led by Nitrous Oxide Systems (now part of Holley). These sponsors have been supporting Ford racing for years.

Now, with the turbo guys having the advantage these days, who is going to be putting up the sponsor money? Certainly not the supercharger or nitrous companies. Why should they? If their combos aren't going to be competitive, the money stops. If the turbo cars are going to continue to dominate, these classes may feature some uncomfortably small payouts. I don't see any of the turbo manufacturers stepping up to fill the potential sponsorship void, do you?

So, what will happen? I suspect that the promoters won't allow an environment to exist that isn't going to be "friendly" to the traditional supercharger and nitrous sponsors. I suspect that there probably will be some form of restrictions assigned to the turbo combinations to bring their potential more in line with the supercharger or nitrous entries. I don't know what these restrictions will be, but common sense should tell the racers that the promoters won't want to bite the hands that feed them for very long. This may be food for thought to those racers that may be considering dumping their blower or nitrous combinations for a turbo.

This may be unfair to the turbo guys, but being fair has never been part of the equation in the world of heads-up drag racing. Striving to maintain a level playing field, maximizing car count in each class AND maintaining the maximum number of potential sponsors is the key to winning, both for the racers and the race promoters.

And that's the name of that tune.