I was sitting in my garage last night and found a stack of old Over Rev mags. Man...that was THE BEST magazine ever. The way the articles were written, the interviews, the content. I wish it would have survived. I think that kind of coverage helped racers get sponsors and gave the sponsors decent exposure. It just wasn't widely distributed like some of the 'other' mags.

I was reading some of the race coverage and people always reference the way sport compact racing "used" to be with full fields and "used" to be popular. A lot of the races would have 8-10 pro all motor cars qualifying and some had full 16 fields in Hot Rod, but overall most of the events were half full fields with big spreads in times. Some Hot Rod fields would have a car at 7.9, 8.0, 8.7, 9.2, 10.5, 11.5, etc. Big spread. I look at the classes now, at least at these east coast events, and I personally feel all this talk about sport compact racing being dead is crap. The grassroots classes are packed and the quality of the competition is better than it ever has been!! We definitely don't have 3 second spreads in the field anymore. Pro RWD and Hot Rod might be dead, but Modified isn't, Outlaw isn't, SFWD isn't, All Motor Street isn't, Pro All Motor is struggling but there were a lot of races back then with 3-5 cars too.

We have good quality competition now with lots of racers...it is just in different classes with lower budgets. I hate seeing people talk about how dead it is. The only thing dead about it is corporate sponsor interest. The racing is there...

 

i could not agree more! i still have almost every issue at my shop. i will not let them get thrown out,they are still a great read even though i have read them all like 10 times.

 

 

troof

 

I too found some Over Rev mags this weekend. I was showing some friends who Arturbo used to be. Just a has been. LOL

 

Loved that magazine!

As far as the "state of import racing"...I've been going to events since the mid 90's and to me it never died, all it did was change. I don't think import racing will ever get as big as it used to be as far as pro teams competing and the level of sponsorship that there used to be. But as you stated, grassroots classes are bigger than ever and with that the upper classes will build over time as people step up. I think NSCRA and IFO really have good things going on if they can keep going just like they are and have a stable place for people to race for the future. This will help with the growth of the sport because guys in the lower classes get the bug and then step up to other classes over time. If everything's changing all the time all it does is keep setting everyone back.

 

I remember reading them over and over till the next one would come out.

 

I still have a stack of those also. I liked that mag alot. Wish that was still around.

 

I agree... me and a bunch of locals from around co race every week at t&t and at least once or twice a month in a local heads up class we fill two class of various street cars and some dedicated race cars it is currently bigger than ever and the competition is great. Almost all of us are planning for ifo vegas and im counting myself in for the westcoast outlaw race even though my car wont hang door to door with the rest of the class im still in. Anyone that says our sport is dead should know its because of them and should build a car and come race or shut up already. I may be at a low level compared to alot of people in the country but i have been at the track every chance there is for 7 years.

 

Sorry for bringing this ancient thread back from the dead, but my associate editor found it and sent me a link, and I had to say "thanks" to those who remember OverRev fondly. It really makes me feel good to know that people appreciated what we did with the magazine. I still think it's the best thing I've ever been lucky enough to be a part of, and I miss all the friendships and good times.

Unfortunately, while the content of OverRev was a success by any standard, we were never able to find enough advertising support to reach a break-even point financially, and that put the magazine in an early grave. It didn't help that sport compact drag racing, at least at a national level, was burning itself out at that same time.

Drag racing is, at its heart, something that you do, not something that you watch, and I am glad to know that the guys who were racing for the love of the sport rather than fame or money are still getting it done, and sport compact drag racing has never been healthier at a grassroots level. That's the important part - making passes down the strip, not taking pictures of it or writing about it.

Anyway, thanks for reading my rambling, nostalgic BS. If you want to know what I'm doing now, take a look at www.LSXtv.com or www.CorvetteOnline.com

- Paul Huizenga
Editor, OverRev Magazine

 

overrev was good this thread made me get my old mags out and look through them and it made me realize how much things have actually progressed and it was because of us the racers. we kept this alive from all the hard work and years of pushing forward. Look how much more technology we have for our cars and how much faster we are going more consistantly.

I have to give a big thumbs up to Cliff from IFO though. There is more coverage lately in each magazine I pick up from IFO events than anything else. It's nice to see drag racing back in print and I hope it gets better and better.

 

Honda Tuning has been picking it up a lot on drag race coverage as well. They have had some really nice articles.

 

Thanks for noticing ;-) Pretty much every month at least one, many times all, of the major print magazines have some form of IFO race coverage. The next issue of Import Tuner will have all 2011 IFO points champions mentioned with pictures.