Next issue, DRAGSTER will celebrate its 500th issue; representing almost 20 years observing drag racing in Australia. That's a hell of a lot of magazines, a hell of a lot of work, and a not inconsiderable time span, given the history of drag racing in this country. In the lead-up to that issue we've been doing a lot of research for some articles we're planning as part of our celebration.

While most of what we'll be on about will cover the last 20 years, during which DRAGSTER's persisted with the job of bringing you the best in drag racing coverage, with the sole interests of drag racing at heart, part of that research goes back to as far as 1958, when drag racing first began near Melbourne. Looking back through all those magazines and meeting reports is not only an exercise in nostalgia and whimsy.

As a result of this exercise I'm thinking of introducing a regular little spot called, "Was it ever really like this?" For example, I read an interview from the early 70's with the then National Director (or CEO) of the Australian Hot Rod Federation (AHRF), the precursor to ANDRA, which stated that he received an honorarium of $2 to cover out of pocket expenses. I repeat, was it ever really like this?

However, probably for the first time, I've sat down and researched the whole history of drag racing in Australia, from the beginning to the present, in the space of just a few weeks, and as result I've come to recognize the truth in the old adage, that the more things change the more they stay the same.

It's been engrossing to see the rise and fall in the sport's fortunes over the past forty years, to see the waxing and waning of enthusiasm for various fads and flavours, to observe the evolution of the current structure of things, to note the times when things have been so similar to their present situation that it's almost uncanny.

Just go back a decade to the late 1980's, when there was no championship drag racing operative in Sydney, and only some off-street racing, with a handful of Modified and Super Sedan/Street entries thrown in, at Oran Park. Back then it was conducted over some odd-ball distance, since that's all that was practicable over the main straight of that circuit. In Melbourne and Adelaide track owner Bob Jane was refusing to sanction his street meetings with ANDRA. The dollar was at an all-time low, and the national economy was down. There were problems in North Queensland, where the track operator was arguing over the cost of sanction fees and insurance.

The only bright spots seemed to be in the form of the South Queensland and Western Australia divisions where the major tracks were showing signs of health. Graeme Cowin packed up his racing operation and went to the United States to race and Jim Read parked his racing for lack of opportunities.

Now in 1998 we have no championship drag racing in Sydney, with only some off-street racing to keep the flame flickering along. There have been proposals to stage some limited racing at Eastern Creek with some Modified and Super Sedan/Street entries but this time they were rejected by the New South Wales Division racers by a vote at the Divisional Council. In Melbourne and Adelaide track owner Bob Jane is refusing to sanction his street meetings with ANDRA.

The dollar is back at that all-time low and the national economy is down. There are problems in North Queensland, though over different issues, and the only bright spots seem to be in South Queensland and Western Australia. Graeme Cowin is off to the United States to race, and Jim Read has virtually parked his racing operation, having sold off his transporter.

Seems to me it looks pretty parallel.

What heartens me is that, as they had at all the previous low points of the sport, all the attempts of all those who would drive down drag racing or manipulate it for their own gain amounted to nought in the late 1980's, and there's no reason to assume they will be otherwise in the late 1990's.

By 1990 things were on the way up, with the 1990 Nationals in Perth being one of the seminal events in the sport's history. By 1991 there was a distinct surge, with boom crowds coming to the races at Calder and Willowbank, and the appearance of a new drag strip in Sydney. I'm not saying it will all be exactly like this again, but the one thing that I have learned from my past two weeks of digging in the records - if I didn't know it before - is that everything does move in these cycles, and sometimes it's a matter of just toughing them out.

But a positive approach helps a heap more, and though it sounds corny, if we keep looking for our strengths while we deal with the problems we'll be back on the way up. If drag racing is worth devoting all the time that is squandered on it by so many people, all the money that is scrimped and saved to keep race teams going, all the effort and thought that goes into clubs and divisions, all the passion, ardour and rage that is spent on it by so many people, then it has to be worth fighting for, and from amongst the ranks of so many the solutions to whatever ails us must and will be found.