JUST KEEPING THE ECONOMY GOING?
It's the American Way - find an edge, get one up, no matter what the cost. And if you have unlimited dollars so much the better. Carbon fiber bicycles, golf balls with more zing, or high helix superchargers, every sport is scienced out. All in the quest to win. The problem is that in "winning is everything" has no limit when money can buy everything.
Just like in NASCAR, the problem is that the cars in the fuel classes are just too fast. Those guys aren't driving, they are just aiming and hoping nothing goes wrong. If they hit a marshmallow it's all over. Often the overtaxing of parts leads to hand grenade hemi and oil-downs with the inevitable delays. Or overpowering the track smokes the tires and the driver shuts it off...yawn.
Yeah, yeah, it's wrong to slow the cars down; so what if parts blow up. I want to see 400 MPH this year, blame Goodyear, NHRA, rev limiters. I want 100% nitro. What's next,
mountain motor fuelers with 30-in wide tires and jet assist?
Bracket racing is way more competitive than the pro classes. For most you have to finance, own, work on, and drive your race cars. I wish I could sit on my butt in an air-conditioned million dollar motorhome with an executive chef while a team of specialists pull unlimited supplies from a semi-trailer and spend more on a tear down than I have in my own car. Hell, I might even have to go outside and get in a car every few hours. Only a handful, and I mean 5, cars win all the marbles year after year in Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock. Hell, a trained monkey can win with the John Force well financed juggernaut three headed attack.
The problem with no limits is that drag racing could become like NASCAR when the speeds became so high that that racing was crash after crash. Typical NASCAR race: ten laps and a crash. . .boring, plus all the finishes under caution became a major problem. So, they changed the rules. So should drag racing.
I'm not in favor of badge engineering where all the cars are the same except for the paint like Pro Stock and Funny Car have become. But something had to be done to slow these cars down and eliminate oil-downs. I remember a number years ago at Pomona I gave up after 3 hours of oil-downs and went home. You think television producers see this as a plus? Additionally, the lack of side by side racing with up in smoke runs and pedal-fests sucks too.
First rule change needed in my book is one car per owner each class and no skullduggery either with paper owners. Keep oil-down penalty to keep pro teams honest. Speeds. . .hmmm. . .maybe cubic inches but allow traction control.
Without some limits 350-mph runs are a possibility for the high dollar teams and the danger for the driver in loss of control and the g-forces in stopping are real. I'm not sure the rev limiters, nitro percentage, tires or even cubic inches is the answer, but something had to be done to make Nitro racing safer and more competitive and reduce fan unfriendly oil-downs.
James Moore
Los Angeles
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'
With the high interest in the nostalgia stuff these days, I just had a thought. I know this one would be real tough to pull off -- a '66, '67 door Funny Car. Cars like the "Brutus" GTO, the "Flying Dutchman," "Sampson" or my all time favorite car "Doug's Headers" Corvair. I know this one will probably never happen but I can dream. Lions Drag Strip Rules!!
Mark Hendon
Granada Hills, CA
THE MAG IS THE KEY
I am a firm believer that if the cars go back to a single mag and let that be the only rule so to speak. I remember when T/F and F/C both had a single mag and I had goose bumps on both arms. To me it appears an easy way to control the cars and still use all of the crew chief's mind, plus it would be exciting racing.
Mike Coker
Westfield, IN
