SOLUTION: LESS POWER
Jeff, you're stirring the pot big time on this one. Heh. I like the fact that the track is sprayed so at least there is some grip to it. I hate one lane racetracks. I well remember Pomona in the 1970's, when no one could win out of the left lane (the lane closest to the grandstands) with the exception of Frank Bradley one year.
I don't think you'll ever get an absolutely smooth surface, if for no other reason than track surfaces tend to degrade with years and weather conditions. Maybe the answer is just to take power away. If you limited all the fuelers to a 10:71 blower, for example, that would do the trick. Or maybe just 75% and be done with it. I guess I have to agree with you that the days of absolute ET and MPH records are over, as things stand today, anyway. Too bad we'll never see a 3-second ET or 400 MPH. Those times would have been possible if the fuel cars had not been neutered.
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OK, if we have to watch slower races, and they are side by side and put on a good show for the fans, so be it. As long as the fuelers can run 4.90's and 300 MPH, that would be OK.
By the way, just to stir the pot a little myself, I wish that Pro Stock would take a hike, and be replaced by Pro Mod. I do love the IHRA Pro Stockers, as they really are the ultimate non-nitrous gas burners, and it's something to see them run 6.30's and 220 MPH. But, as quick as they are, IHRA Pro Stockers and NHRA Pro Stockers are dinosaurs. Pro Stock was created to reflect the cars you could buy off the showroom floor, and it's been a long time since you could get a big block Camero or a 427 Mustang or a Hemi-Cuda. If Pro Stock reflected today's cars, you see 4 cyl and V-6 cars on the track, not V-8's. So why not just run Pro Mod? Everyone likes seeing fast door cars and Pro Mod would certainly compliment the fuel classes. Well, anyhoo, just my 2 cents.
Cliff Morgan
Phoenix, AZ
SOLUTION: SMALLER SPOILER
I hate the bodies on the fuel coupes. I say dump the rules for bodies, let the teams build whatever the want and do whatever for chassis covers. Chev, Dodge, Ford, none of those things look anything remotely like those models. (If) the NHRA wants to slow them down, make the spoiler/wing a lot smaller. Strut wing, why not? On the bodies it has not hurt Pro Mod any. . .Vette's to Stude's. I would rather a Nitro '66 Mustang that JFR put together long low that looked more like that then what is being used now. The roof is so small there is almost no room for a hatch on top.
Paul Rees
Long Beach, CA