Downward spiral of NHRA...

[Bross Hawg]

Hey everybody, I got a idea no one has thought of...Why don't we just get rid of all the AA Fuel dragsters and funnys and start calling the A Fuel guys the kings of the sport. Have them go pro. Just as well, cause if ya put that POS spec motor into effect, they will be running faster than A Fuel. My question is, who gets the monetary gain from that motor? 8-71 blowers, are you kidding me? Why don't you start with things that make sense, like more limits on overdrive, compression, smaller pumps, less clutch discs. Things that actually might LOWER the cost instead of RAISING it. The shorter stroke deal might be ok, but not to EVERY team that now has junk cranks and has to buy new ones. But I forgot, NHRA has absolutely no interest in the little guy.

Let me tell ya a story. Last year I was helping out on Craig Smith's dragster in Seattle. We were one of three cars that are not full time teams. With us, Steve Chrisman, and Ron Smith, there were 18 cars in Top Fuel. The car passed tech and we made 3 qualifying passes. Before our final qualifying attempt, it was asked of Craig whether or not we would be in Sonoma. Seattle was the only race we planned on running. Same I believe with Ron Smith, but I don't remember them making all their runs. Chrisman ran I believe Pomona, Phoenix, Vegas, Denver, Seattle, and Sonoma. Curiously when we got to the starting line for the last qualifying pass, here is Dan Olsen, Graham Light, and one of the tech officials just waiting to pounce all over the car. They wouldn't let us run because the injector retention strap was not installed...Remember I said it passed Tech? You can take it for whatever it's worth, but obvously they didn't want us to make the show and have to pay us money for qualifying. Why do that when the other guy goes to more races? Whatever...the bigwigs at NHRA are running the little guys over and don't care.

OH, and let's see how long this is on here before it mysteriously vanishes, shall we?

 

[George.]

If you are suggesting there is a conspiracy against the little guy, then why not band together and call them out on it? What do you have to lose if you are not holding a multi=million dollar sponsorship?
If the victims don't have the guts to call out the NHRA when you feel you are being picked on, then you get what's coming.
I also think the new spec engine will fall right into place with the little guys budget, unless you have a trailer loaded full of spare parts you need to break.

BTW, is there a rule that an injector retention strap must be in place?
Was there one in the trailer?
If so, then you have no business complaining about being pulled if it wasn't installed on the car, whether they previously missed it or not..

 

[Chuck]

If your tech inspection was like most of them, the engine was not completely put together, therefore, the injector strap would not have been in place. Whether they singled y'all out because you were not running any more races is a moot point. A piece of safety equipment was not installed and you were disqualified because of it. Did you ever think that maybe one, or both for that matter, of the other teams witnessed that the strap was not in place and turned you in? When it comes to making the show and getting $9000 or taking a chance of not making it, I would bet that most low budget teams would casually point an official in the direction of a viloation of the rules. Why on earth would you not have a required piece of safety equipment on the car? What if you had been allowed to run and blew it up and a piece if the injector hat seriously hurt someone? Would you be griping about how laxed the officials were in allowing you to run the car without having all of the safety equipment installed? I seriously doubt it.

 

[kegs]

Bross

You said there were 18 cars? Well they were going to pay the $9000.00 regardless whether to you guys or someone else. They weren't going to save it.
As far as the strap I guess you'll have it on next race.

 

[Muddy]

Not much sympathy here for safety rules violation. Safety should always trump everything else.

 

[Lori]

Bross

You said there were 18 cars? Well they were going to pay the $9000.00 regardless whether to you guys or someone else. They weren't going to save it.
As far as the strap I guess you'll have it on next race.

Thanks for the smile!! Funny ~~~~

 

[Bross Hawg]

Yeah...true it will be on at next race. The point I am making is if that was Tony Shoe's car, they would have made the run and the strap woulda been on it on race day. I have a pic of Eric Medlen's car bangin the blower and the back half of the injector is 40 feet in the air above the car. It doesn't do much of anything.

 

[Dave]

Not sure about the strap, but I do believe there have been some bad vibes toward the low buck guys over the years. It's almost like they don't want to acknowledge them. I found it rather interesting that The Greek has run at Gainesville and Atlanta and he hasn't been seen on the qualifying shows yet. Sure, he didn't make the show at either race but hey, this guy is a living Legend, and he's quite a story. But no, they couldn't even show him making a run but they managed to get a couple shots of some little girl that used to drive, just standing on the starting line watching. Are they not for the low buck guys, probably.

Dave

 

[James]

Valid points Dave. In addition to what you said,they can do stories on "Hot Rod" and how he's benched,i think they've interviewed him at two different races this year. Why not do a story on the 77 yr. old man still racing Top Fuel that is a legend??

 

[CrewGuy]

Valid points Dave. In addition to what you said,they can do stories on "Hot Rod" and how he's benched,i think they've interviewed him at two different races this year. Why not do a story on the 77 yr. old man still racing Top Fuel that is a legend??

Great point! To me, that would be a lot more interesting that watching Force ham it up while he's acting like he's packing a chute. Give me a break! Some people are so transparent when they act up for the camera. Getting back to the roots of drag racing would be great. I would rather watch that instead of a circus!

 

[Fuel FC Fan]

"They wouldn't let us run because the injector retention strap was not installed...Remember I said it passed Tech?"

Sounds to me like...
Tech. missed it....they're only human. (Happens in all sorts of racing).
"They"... caught up to the car and wanted the correction before it ran again.

I don't believe it was anything personal....stuff happens, jmho.

 

[dave]

Not sure about the strap, but I do believe there have been some bad vibes toward the low buck guys over the years. It's almost like they don't want to acknowledge them. I found it rather interesting that The Greek has run at Gainesville and Atlanta and he hasn't been seen on the qualifying shows yet. Sure, he didn't make the show at either race but hey, this guy is a living Legend, and he's quite a story. But no, they couldn't even show him making a run but they managed to get a couple shots of some little girl that used to drive, just standing on the starting line watching. Are they not for the low buck guys, probably.

Dave

Like you said Dave, not a word of the Greek, but Paul Page made mention of Angle and Shirley and how it would be nice to see them again. I am not saying that these racing Legends should not be mentioned, but what about the ones that were actually racing there like the Greek and Luigi Novelli.

 

[Guppy]

For anyone who has not seen one, The afore mentioned strap is a near useless P.O.S. It mounts to the injector with ONE tiny bolt and nut (10-24 I think)

 

[Chuck]

It doesn't matter if it's useless or not, the rules say it has to be on there. Hell, I think it's BS that I have to replace my seat belts every 2 years, but that's the rule. so I do it.