Drag Racing is Dying

IMO NHRA is now out of touch with the average enthusiast. To me that's pretty apparent with the sponsors too - many of which I have little idea who they are or what they are about. How can I relate to a car and driver that has a multi-million dollar budget and pulls up in a couple of decked out semi's? Can't even get close to the pits anymore to see what's going on there - unless of course you have the VIP Acce$$ Pa$$ to get you into the team's "ho$pitality" area. In contrast, around '82 or '83 I went to a match race event in Sacramento that featured Prudhomme and Force as the headliners - I was able to wander into their pits and chatted with both of them - good luck doing something like that now.