Nice article written about the coming of age "Street outlaws" tv show.
TORQUE EAST - TONY DEFEO
TORQUE EAST – Tony Defeo
The peanut gallery is relentless...
It’s not “Street Racing”, it’s not “real”…it’s all staged, scripted bullshit. Ever since Street Outlaws began making an imprint on the world of Hot Rodding, the critics have been banging away at their keyboards with every sort of criticism you can imagine. And it’s to be expected. After all, its basic human nature to take shots at who or whatever happens to be at the top of any given heap.
And the heap these guys and this show is the top of is huge. Three and a half million people tune into this deal every Monday night. It literally dwarfs every other form of Drag Racing entertainment, and for good reason. The guys featured on the show are genuine and likable…they’re not actors, even though they have to play to the story line, and they are definitely not playing games when it comes to straight line combat.
The cars are interesting. Big variety, they shoot fire and do wheelies and swap lanes…everything you want to see from massively overpowered cars doing their thing on a barely prepped surface. Lots of camera angles and excellent blow by blow coverage of each run by both the winner and losers.
The whole thing clicks because its great entertainment. The folks at Pilgrim Studios have managed to capture what countless production companies over the decades, have completely missed.
It’s a great show, and I enjoy it. Yeah, some of it is a bit too contrived for my taste…and the editing of the actual runs is absolutely maddening, but I can overlook those things, because I see this show as something a bit more significant in the grand scheme of things.
You see an hour long Reality TV show, I see some other things: Street Outlaws is, a Time Machine.
This show, and the Grudge scene it represents is a throwback to the Match Bash Funny Car wars of 1965/66. These guys have managed to overcome 50 years of NHRA sanitizing to bring the masses true run whatcha bring, grass roots automotive combat.
Back then it was Carbed and Injected gassers, Injected and blown fuelers, Altered wheelbases and straight axles…anything went and the people packed little strips across the country to wrap themselves around the action. No rules, big action and big stars.
So, today its big tire and small tire. Stock suspension and Pro Mods. All motor, nitrous, turbos and superchargers. Gasoline, alcohol…and as soon as these guys discover how easy it is to make unlimited, simple horsepower with nitro, that is guaranteed to be part of the mix as well.
The sanctioning bodies and their corporate sensibilities eventually sucked all the fun out of the Match Race Madness days, but “Street Racers” are a more free spirited lot. Things are good now, and it looks like they’re only going to get better.
Huge weekly audience means that millions of people who have never been exposed to our culture are getting sucked in and excited by the things we take for granted. Among those millions of eyes are hundreds of thousands of 14, 15, 16 year old kids who see people they can relate to doing excessively cool things with amazing machines.
This show can get pulled from the air tomorrow, but the hook has already been set in an uncountable number of highly impressionable kids. This is a HUGE shot in the arm for the car culture in general and Drag Racing in specific.
This show has made it cool to be a gearhead, cool to go to the local strip. It shows guys being guys..talking like guys, doing guy things and having guy fun. This is revolutionary! For generations, society has done everything it can to feminize our young boys. Chuck has shown them that sometimes it’s OK to get up in somebody’s face and even punch them the fuck out if the situation calls for it.
Of all the personalities on that show, Chuck is the most profound. The guy is a bottomless pit of confidence and balls. Win or lose he’s always ready to attack the next challenge like a hungry bear with a snoot full of blood. He may not be the ideal role model for every kid out there, but our country needs more like him.
Street Outlaws is a savior for the small, mom and pop Drag Strip.
Weekly bracket events don’t bring spectators to the track. Match races featuring cars that have appeared on that show bring huge crowds. The Grudge scene has been building momentum for years, but now that this show has put it in the public eye, the public is willing to get off its ass and pay money to see it in the flesh.
This is a real economic shot it the arm for what has always been the backbone of our sport. A backbone that has been suffering for generations now.
The handwriting is on the wall. Economically, our sport is being turned upside down. An NHRA National Event with all the hoopla and polish can’t draw enough people to its mega-venue to keep sunshine off more than half its seats.
At the same time, a couple of primered, battle scarred war machines will absolutely pack the house at any obscure 1/8th mile strip that hosts them. This is good for all of us. Professional Drag Racing strayed so far from its roots that it completely alienated the demographics that populated the staging lanes as well as the stands.
The trends are reversing now, and the suits that plundered it all are on the run.
Street Outlaws is a template of how things should be done.
The real beauty of 1/8th mile, no prep Racing, is that at any given time, any car can beat any other car.
There is no true, foolproof way to approach this style of racing. Cash will not always beat brains or balls.
You can build all the horsepower and chassis money can buy, and it will definitely increase your chances of getting to the other end first, but it also increases your odds of going up in smoke and or peddling your way to defeat. Yes, in this world a small tire car with a small engine and a small plate can jump up and tear the ass out of a Pro Mod. Strategy and finess rule the day here. That 660 foot skating rink is the great equalizer and the variety of machines and personalities working it is magical. There is something or someone for everybody to cheer on.
And then there is the coverage.
I’ve been viewing televised Drag Racing for nearly as long as such a thing has existed, and I have never seen anything that even approaches this level of good..no, greatness.
Justin Shearer is the perfect host. The guys delivery, knowledge and enthusiasm are the perfect delivery system for bringing the novice up to speed..How much of it is scripted and how much is off the cuff, I have no idea. But, none of that matters. The person sitting down to absorb the action he is seeing on TV is given all the background and setup he needs to actually grasp what is going on.
There was one episode that ran recently where Farmtruck and Azn were calling the action at a 32 car showdown. It was absolutely the best race coverage I have ever seen. If the “establishment” had adopted this style at the dawn of our sports TV coverage, history would have taken a completely different path. In the late 60s, Drag Racing was well on its way to becoming Americas biggest spectator sport. If guys like these were presenting it the way they did on that show, we would have had it in the bag.
To be fair, there is a bunch of downside to this show and some of the goings on around it. But, thats all covered in a million various Facebook and forum posts. I see a lot of good here. America needs a Kye Kelly , and gearheads need a reason to spend their nights out in the shop, and Drag strips need celebrities to shout about on the radio.
And of course, the Peanut Gallery needs things to bitch about on the internet.
Street Outlaws seems to be covering all the bases.
– Tony Defeo
TORQUE EAST - TONY DEFEO
TORQUE EAST – Tony Defeo
The peanut gallery is relentless...
It’s not “Street Racing”, it’s not “real”…it’s all staged, scripted bullshit. Ever since Street Outlaws began making an imprint on the world of Hot Rodding, the critics have been banging away at their keyboards with every sort of criticism you can imagine. And it’s to be expected. After all, its basic human nature to take shots at who or whatever happens to be at the top of any given heap.
And the heap these guys and this show is the top of is huge. Three and a half million people tune into this deal every Monday night. It literally dwarfs every other form of Drag Racing entertainment, and for good reason. The guys featured on the show are genuine and likable…they’re not actors, even though they have to play to the story line, and they are definitely not playing games when it comes to straight line combat.
The cars are interesting. Big variety, they shoot fire and do wheelies and swap lanes…everything you want to see from massively overpowered cars doing their thing on a barely prepped surface. Lots of camera angles and excellent blow by blow coverage of each run by both the winner and losers.
The whole thing clicks because its great entertainment. The folks at Pilgrim Studios have managed to capture what countless production companies over the decades, have completely missed.
It’s a great show, and I enjoy it. Yeah, some of it is a bit too contrived for my taste…and the editing of the actual runs is absolutely maddening, but I can overlook those things, because I see this show as something a bit more significant in the grand scheme of things.
You see an hour long Reality TV show, I see some other things: Street Outlaws is, a Time Machine.
This show, and the Grudge scene it represents is a throwback to the Match Bash Funny Car wars of 1965/66. These guys have managed to overcome 50 years of NHRA sanitizing to bring the masses true run whatcha bring, grass roots automotive combat.
Back then it was Carbed and Injected gassers, Injected and blown fuelers, Altered wheelbases and straight axles…anything went and the people packed little strips across the country to wrap themselves around the action. No rules, big action and big stars.
So, today its big tire and small tire. Stock suspension and Pro Mods. All motor, nitrous, turbos and superchargers. Gasoline, alcohol…and as soon as these guys discover how easy it is to make unlimited, simple horsepower with nitro, that is guaranteed to be part of the mix as well.
The sanctioning bodies and their corporate sensibilities eventually sucked all the fun out of the Match Race Madness days, but “Street Racers” are a more free spirited lot. Things are good now, and it looks like they’re only going to get better.
Huge weekly audience means that millions of people who have never been exposed to our culture are getting sucked in and excited by the things we take for granted. Among those millions of eyes are hundreds of thousands of 14, 15, 16 year old kids who see people they can relate to doing excessively cool things with amazing machines.
This show can get pulled from the air tomorrow, but the hook has already been set in an uncountable number of highly impressionable kids. This is a HUGE shot in the arm for the car culture in general and Drag Racing in specific.
This show has made it cool to be a gearhead, cool to go to the local strip. It shows guys being guys..talking like guys, doing guy things and having guy fun. This is revolutionary! For generations, society has done everything it can to feminize our young boys. Chuck has shown them that sometimes it’s OK to get up in somebody’s face and even punch them the fuck out if the situation calls for it.
Of all the personalities on that show, Chuck is the most profound. The guy is a bottomless pit of confidence and balls. Win or lose he’s always ready to attack the next challenge like a hungry bear with a snoot full of blood. He may not be the ideal role model for every kid out there, but our country needs more like him.
Street Outlaws is a savior for the small, mom and pop Drag Strip.
Weekly bracket events don’t bring spectators to the track. Match races featuring cars that have appeared on that show bring huge crowds. The Grudge scene has been building momentum for years, but now that this show has put it in the public eye, the public is willing to get off its ass and pay money to see it in the flesh.
This is a real economic shot it the arm for what has always been the backbone of our sport. A backbone that has been suffering for generations now.
The handwriting is on the wall. Economically, our sport is being turned upside down. An NHRA National Event with all the hoopla and polish can’t draw enough people to its mega-venue to keep sunshine off more than half its seats.
At the same time, a couple of primered, battle scarred war machines will absolutely pack the house at any obscure 1/8th mile strip that hosts them. This is good for all of us. Professional Drag Racing strayed so far from its roots that it completely alienated the demographics that populated the staging lanes as well as the stands.
The trends are reversing now, and the suits that plundered it all are on the run.
Street Outlaws is a template of how things should be done.
The real beauty of 1/8th mile, no prep Racing, is that at any given time, any car can beat any other car.
There is no true, foolproof way to approach this style of racing. Cash will not always beat brains or balls.
You can build all the horsepower and chassis money can buy, and it will definitely increase your chances of getting to the other end first, but it also increases your odds of going up in smoke and or peddling your way to defeat. Yes, in this world a small tire car with a small engine and a small plate can jump up and tear the ass out of a Pro Mod. Strategy and finess rule the day here. That 660 foot skating rink is the great equalizer and the variety of machines and personalities working it is magical. There is something or someone for everybody to cheer on.
And then there is the coverage.
I’ve been viewing televised Drag Racing for nearly as long as such a thing has existed, and I have never seen anything that even approaches this level of good..no, greatness.
Justin Shearer is the perfect host. The guys delivery, knowledge and enthusiasm are the perfect delivery system for bringing the novice up to speed..How much of it is scripted and how much is off the cuff, I have no idea. But, none of that matters. The person sitting down to absorb the action he is seeing on TV is given all the background and setup he needs to actually grasp what is going on.
There was one episode that ran recently where Farmtruck and Azn were calling the action at a 32 car showdown. It was absolutely the best race coverage I have ever seen. If the “establishment” had adopted this style at the dawn of our sports TV coverage, history would have taken a completely different path. In the late 60s, Drag Racing was well on its way to becoming Americas biggest spectator sport. If guys like these were presenting it the way they did on that show, we would have had it in the bag.
To be fair, there is a bunch of downside to this show and some of the goings on around it. But, thats all covered in a million various Facebook and forum posts. I see a lot of good here. America needs a Kye Kelly , and gearheads need a reason to spend their nights out in the shop, and Drag strips need celebrities to shout about on the radio.
And of course, the Peanut Gallery needs things to bitch about on the internet.
Street Outlaws seems to be covering all the bases.
– Tony Defeo
