RUN SLOWER BUT NOT SHORTER
Let's face it the sanctioning bodies have been lazy in allowing the teams to go faster and faster. Take away fuel pumps that flow like your bathroom shower and two distributors and two spark plugs per cylinder and they will slow down. Also bodies on funny cars need to get back to some semblance of stock. That should slow them down also.
Get right down to it eighth mile racing stinks in my opinion and would surely turn me away from the sport. I went to Norwalk a couple of years ago for their Halloween classic and when I arrived they had gone to the eighth mile for weather reasons. I will not go back unless I am assured there will be quarter-mile racing.
Bob Kowal
Detroit, MI
COMPETITION IS WHAT COUNTS
I think that if NHRA implemented some sanctions in the high speed Pro and Sportsman classes to slow the cars down, safety would be improved and the racing would still be exciting and just as competitive. I'm not any more of a fan now that TF is in the 4.40's than I was when they were over a second slower. It's the competition that's exciting and as long as racers race and give a stellar effort there will be fans.
Al Minopoli
Connecticut
WORTH THE RISK?
I agree with what one person wrote in about. It doesn't matter if you are going 50 or 330 mph. Life is a risk altogether. There (are) all kinds of ways people die. Shortening the track is not the answer at all. Because the cars need that much distance to slow down after 300-mph or more run.
Every driver that has died from racing accidents knew the risks of racing and knowing what going that fast could do. But they loved the sport. I don't think there is a sport out there without risks involved. Eric was a professional racecar driver and loved the sport with a passion. He grew up around it, he knew what it involved, he was involved in it when Darrell Russell and Blaine Johnson died from racing injuries he knew that could easily have been him or could be him some day. He had a passion to get out there and do it.
Funny Car has had a very good safety record so far and I believe that it always will be one of the safest classes out there. I feel they will make changes to the cockpits and help keep these drivers a little safer, but there really is no permanent solution, because each and every accident that happens will be for a different reason.
Judy W.
Cuyuga Falls, OH
THE FANS WILL STILL COME
Burk, you are an ole geezer, but a DAMN RIGHT ONE. After working as a safety crew member (insert CRASH & CLEAN-UP crew) for IHRA for over 30 years, you are right. It didn't make any difference to me whether I was on the starting line or at top end. Seeing some of the "safety" features made me sweat bullets almost every run. I saw way too many "accidents" and after all the term accident means something that can (and should) be prevented.
It is way past time that the "suits" look in the mirror every morning and not ask how they can make our sport grow, but how they can make it safer. It is like the "Field of Dreams" movie. It promoted "build it and they will come". Make it safer and they (the fans) will still come (growth) and be more entertaining.
Bud Grogg
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
While changing from quarter-mile to eighth-mile tracks is certainly the simplest solution, there are some perhaps unintended (not necessarily bad) consequences to it.
Right now, the fans are treated to some fascinating come from behind runs. The driver might be a little late on the tree, but the horsepower at the top end can pull it through for him/her. That Lucas Oil finish line cam has provided some thrilling results. I have no data to back this up, but my gut feeling is that not too many late lights have been made up in the first eighth mile.
What is arguably now a crew chief's race would become much more a driver\'s event. Personally, I find that a good thing, but it is a dramatic change from the status quo.
There would be a significant cost in totally redesigning the vehicles as well. Response at the hit of the throttle (such as is found with the ProStock Cars and Bikes) would be much more important than aerodynamics. How much chassis windup could one afford in the name of traction versus leaving that line "instantly"?
Having said all of this, I actually remain in favor of changing to eighth-mile or 1000-foot tracks. I think it's important, however, to realize that seldom is life as simple as it first appears.
Hopefully, the sponsors, the fans, the owners, and the crew chiefs can work through the issues to provide the safest possible environment for the racers.
I come for the competition, NOT for the crashes!
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