One wonders how to read the contradictory, sometimes positive, sometimes disastrous messages being given out by drag racing in this nation. Just when things seem to be on the up they suddenly plunge back into the black, and frequently for reasons that have little directly to do with what is going on in the sport, other than we who have to wear the impact of the ebb and flow of outside circumstance.

The sport has been suffering through a lengthy, imposed downturn, fuelled by the lack of any championship drag racing in New South Wales as well as an overall malaise, evidenced by the decline in activity in North Queensland, internal conflict over the changing face of ANDRA's administrative and fundamental structure - driven by financial pressures on those at the financial coalface of the sport, not to mention the declining value of the Oz dollar and ever increasing costs to stay competitive, a burgeoning touring car scene which has been sucking in every available sponsorship dollar, and more of the on-again, off-again management of the two major tracks in Victoria and South Australia. It's the sort of list that might make you figure it was time to walk away.

That there are so many people who are not despondent or lethargic but angry over the state of affairs speaks volumes for the tenacity of this sport's supporters, and its resilient strength that will enable it to survive all sorts of abuse and punishment. And the fact that people are angry is a perfectly good reason why it deserves to be fixed.

Of course it isn't all bleak gnashing of teeth, tearing hair stuff. We have a new world class drag strip in Perth that promises to provide a major boost to the sport in the West, and which has the capacity to take the sport up a level to where it can possibly be soon staging an annual major championship event. Top Fuel racer Jim Read did some major work on the Western Australia Minister for Sport along these very lines at the opening of the Quit Motorplex - Kwinana Beach venue, and there's no reason why, with a bit of work that can't be brought to fruition.

While at this stage no details can be given because of the sensitive and fluid state of negotiations, it is expected that the move towards establishing a stand-alone, independent drag strip in Sydney is proceeding rapidly in a positive direction. Such a reversal of the drag racing situation in Australia's largest city promises to be a major advance that will boost all forms of drag racing, from one side of the country to the other.

The drag strip in Tasmania has been a sideshow to the rest of drag racing in Australia for a number of years. It has hardly progressed since it was built in 1979. Its lack of standard safety features has been a situation of concern for some time, but now it has been purchased and the new owners promise to step it up to meet the standards now applying in the rest of the sport. Now, maybe, drag racing in Tasmania can move into a new phase of growth.

But now, just as we start to see positives, factors outside the sport threaten to have pushed drag racing in Victoria and South Australia into the dark ages. At this stage I doubt that there's reason to plunge into despair over the announced moves. The final paragraph in the press release provides too many opportunities to find ways out of the tunnel of darkness and back into light.

Calder and Adelaide have lost much of the impetus they possessed earlier in the 1990's. The feeling of excitement and progress they once possessed was a metaphor for the sport as a whole. They discovered how to put on races which drew crowds after a real problem in the late 1980's when it got so bad that at one meeting the crowd virtually rioted at the end of an event and chased officials from the track. Calder pioneered all sorts of new and innovative little items, they pursued big "events", such as the first 4-second run, and a "permanent" location for the Nationals, which they began to work on to try to build it into an event worth being proud of.

Now they've fallen back into an inability to complete race meetings, have cut the number of events, chopped out all the little things which once made their drag racing unique and exciting, have stopped wanting to participate in international race series (a decision which has impacted seriously on other drag strips around the country), in Calder's case most notably they've stopped the chain of track improvements which had been ongoing since the mid-80's, and have increased charges across the board. And now their press release related to the suspension of racing is offering as partial excuse the reason that here's been a decline in crowds (it doesn't differentiate between spectators and competitors). Well, given the above, is that a surprise?

Drag racing needs to be run by those who understand it. This isn't a simple managerial proposition; it requires sympathy for and understanding of the ever changing face of the sport, for the problems facing the competitors, the needs of its participants at all levels (racer, fan, sponsor, regulator) and an insight into the potential future of the sport to maximise the opportunities that come along all the time and which need to be tapped to ensure growth and development.

It's to be hoped that these problems are of a short term duration, and do not result in long term damage. One of the issues we've become aware of while chasing a drag strip in Sydney is that if the ARDC at Eastern Creek Raceway had kept running the occasional open drag race - even only three or four times a year - there would have been no case for pursuing a separate racer-run track, and even though it's been a tough and traumatic process that the sport can come out of this much better than it ever went in, and much better than it ever might have been without that managerial shortsightedness at the existing track.

Sometimes it's necessary to pass through tough times to evolve into something more durable and better suited to the times. Right now drag racing throughout much of Australia is undergoing a process of evolution from a 1970's mode to a 2000 form. Lets hope the situations facing drag racing in Victoria and South Australia right now are just a part of that process.