The good old days aye bro. I used to spend every Friday and Saturday at the "drags" was fun.
I think technology is a huge distraction, we didn't even have cell phones back then, nothing was organised and the excitement was finding the pack and getting amongst it... you couldn't simply keep track online or txt your mates. Was exciting.
The modern technology the Police have makes it harder, CCTV etch, your always being watched.
I think general congestion and population / couture growth muddy's things a bit to.
And cars are generally faster these days, back when I was a boy racer (still am really) cars with 300bhp were monsters, now days your mums mini van is packing that.
Oh, and fuel was 80c a liter, that helped.
90% of modern BMW's are hardly inspiring, as someone said above, this doesn't help things.