Have you and the other team owners had any contact with Mr. Hartenstein or any of his partners? Have any of the PRO members had any conversations with him?
CK: Yes, some have.
And their impression of HD Partners is?
CK: They (HDP) are very smart people, very smart. They are business people and that is something that drag racing has needed. It needs fresh blood, a different outlook on things, different perspectives. See, these people (HDP) are money people, they know how to take a ticket and sell it. If they had the ability, they would go to Alaska and sell ice. Given that and my take on it, and I've told people that have come to me, let it happen. We don’t want to kill it, let it go on now.
How do you feel this possible sale will affect professional drag racing?
CK: It can only be better, let's put it like that way. When and if this thing does transpire and the whole machine is put into motion, who knows what happens and what goes on? It's just something that I don't see as having any downside for drag racing as it sits right now. I see it all as being positive.
These days the amount of nitro percentage Fuel teams are allowed seems to be a big issue. What do you think of the 85 percent rule?
CK: One of the other things that has not been conducive to improving the sport is the 85% nitro rule. I think it's a disaster. It’s a rule that is going to continue to (cause us) to blow up parts. Using 90% nitro is so much easier on the equipment. I'll give you a good example. My son, Scott, and Dave Grubnic, went down to Australia for Christmas last year and Scott drove Jim Read’s Top Fuel car. They made six runs on 90% nitro and didn't hurt one part. They ran 4.51/332 mph and didn't hurt one part, and the race track was well prepped, they used the 1430 Goodyear tires and didn't hurt one tire.
I’ve told Tom (Compton) we need to have 90% back. He said, What if we have an accident? I said, What do you mean an accident? We aren't going to have an accident, we've got a rev limiter on the thing. He says, Oh well, you'll tear the tires up. I said, No! He says, The car will make more power to keep the tires hooking.
When we mentioned the 90 percent idea to him earlier in the year, he was terrified. I think the reason for that is he's not a racer, he doesn't understand what's going on. I tried to explain that to him, but he doesn't have the ability to understand because he's not a mechanical person. He doesn't understand what we do. I told him, You're not a drag racer, you don't understand this, and he got his feelings hurt I guess.
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Can Graham Light help the situation?
CK: A little bit, but I think that if NHRA went back to the 90% rule, they feel that their insurance and liability will escalate and it's only because of lack of knowledge about the issue. PRO had a meeting a couple months ago with Alan Johnson there. I have the utmost respect for Alan Johnson, he's the smartest person out there and the question comes to him: Alan, if we had the 90% rule what will you do and he said, I'll run 90%. And the whole thing about it, if the other racers don't want to run 90%, they can run 85%, run what you want, but we should have the option.
Can you be more specific as to why 85% is so much harder on parts and the teams financially?
CK: It's parts destruction. In order to make the torque that you need with these cars, you have to do it with compression, fuel volume or better superchargers because nitro methane’s flame front is slower when you are at 85% and it makes less power and torque. The flame front (flame propagation in the combustion chamber) is faster than when you are at 90%. So, when you're at 90% you get a longer burn rate and a longer power stroke, and you don't have to keep the gas compressed. Nitromethane becomes very active with increased cylinder pressure and temperature. After you get to about 55% nitro/alky mix, nitro will go off by itself with enough compression; that's been proven.
Now, when you go the 90%, you just reduce the compression in the thing and the flame propagation takes care of itself and you don't need the compression with it because you've got more power. You're putting more oxygen in the combustion chamber so you take compression away. We have to increase the compression in an 85% motor by about 10% to make the power we need. We're right on the edge of blowing the motor up, every lap.