Lack of track prep (1 Viewer)

I guess if the NHRA wants to slow some of the cars MPH some of the time, they can get all they want with just less traction compound. I'm guessing this is only a partial fix, and that they'd prefer to slow all of the cars all of the time without so many aborted runs.

You folks who think the lesser funded teams getting "lucky" (I use this word VERY loosely) and going rounds is going to last have probably got yet another economics lesson coming your way eventually. I'll admit that its fun to watch the small guys win, I just don't think its going to last (unless the big teams go away).

Jeff
If the track will only allow 3.90-4.10 in funny car, nobody is going to go faster or quicker. Same thing in top fuel. They are limited by what the track can hold. Take Dale Creasy as an example. He can run those numbers and be competitive. Same with Jeff Diehl, Jim Dunn etc. The big teams won't be able to push it harder as the track won't hold it.
 
"Also, for those that say NHRA hasn't done anything to slow the cars down, remember (1) rear end gear limit (2) nitro percentage (3) rev limiter (4) track distance."

"None of which have worked.......................until lowering track grip"

Ken I disagree with you. The rule changes over the years have most definitely slowed the cars down. It might not seem like it because they still run 330+ in only 1000', but without the above mentioned changes the E.T.s and speeds would be much quicker/faster with all of the advancements in technology. Here is the progression of the Top Fuel National Record speeds in approximately 15 year increments:
1970 Hendrickson 232.55
1985 Garlits 268.01 World Finals
2001 M. Dunn 330.55 Joliet

And here is an example of the Top Fuel E.T. progression:
1994 Shelly Anderson 4.718 World Finals
2006 Tony Schumacher 4.428 World Finals (The Run)

So in the 12 years from '94 to '06 the e.t. record was dropped almost 3 tenths of a second. The speed record was improved by 62 mph 16 years after Garlits set it! Now obviously, as the cars go quicker and faster performance gains get smaller and smaller. I contend, with all the advancement in technology and knowledge over the last 15 years, and if the cars were still running the same rules they had back in '01-'06, plus still running the full quarter mile, the e.t. record would be somewhere around 4.27-4.32 and the speed record would be around 350-358 mph. (I'm assuming Goodyear would have continued progressing with the tires. For example, the tires used to chunk pretty bad when the cars ran near 330 and now they don't chunk nearly as often)

Conclusion - Lowering the rear end gear, reduction in nitro percentage, mandating the rev limiter, reducing the track to 1000' have all played a part in reducing the speeds. Decreasing the glue on the track is just another next step. (A very good step in my opinion)
 
I guess I was looking at it from more of a "make it competitive" angle
yes NHRA has kept the speed in check, more than likely because of Goodyear, but the big teams with the HP have an advantage when there is more grip.
The track will hold what ever they throw at it, now they have to limit the HP and the smaller teams can make the same usable HP so they have a much better chance. Actually I would say the small teams have an advantage right now, they can run all out and the big guys have to figure out how to slow down.
 
I still think you will see the big teams gather data more quickly and begin to separate from the small teams.
 
Actually I would say the small teams have an advantage right now, they can run all out and the big guys have to figure out how to slow down.

I've always wondered about this particular dynamic, but actually in reverse. The fuel cars have always had more power than they could use, so I always wondered who else out there could and does make top-shelf power that we don't know about, simply because they haven't gotten a handle on the clutch.

Sean D
 
I've always wondered about this particular dynamic, but actually in reverse. The fuel cars have always had more power than they could use, so I always wondered who else out there could and does make top-shelf power that we don't know about, simply because they haven't gotten a handle on the clutch.

Sean D



Well they did reach a point where the track prep was so good they could throw all the power at the track. If traction was not an issue, the team making the most HP would "win" most of the time. Now with less prep and only able to use XX HP, the smaller team are able to keep throwing all the HP they have at it most likely as the always have to try and be competitive and the big HP guys have to figure out how to slow down and make less HP.
 
Well they did reach a point where the track prep was so good they could throw all the power at the track. If traction was not an issue, the team making the most HP would "win" most of the time. Now with less prep and only able to use XX HP, the smaller team are able to keep throwing all the HP they have at it most likely as the always have to try and be competitive and the big HP guys have to figure out how to slow down and make less HP.
The track prep was causing the tire chunking because they were being ripped from the track...which is different from burning the centers out from lack of traction.
 
Bob Tasca just said it best...........LET THE TUNERS TUNE AND THE DRIVERS DRIVE. Everyone needs to seriously quit whining bout track prep. If you don't like it as a fan don't watch, problem solved!





be careful what you ask for, people will leave and you will not have any fans to pay the bills.............
Oh wait thats right Nitro is just a bunch of rich kids playing in the sand box they built.
They do not "need" fans.
Tasca just got put on my "list"

PS is this not what some of the NFL players said too, look at their ratings drop


What list is that? Because he said "let the tuners tune and the drivers drive"? Are you serious? Lmao. Wow. What exactly is it about that sentence that gets your panties in a bunch? And why would you attribute the second sentence to Tasca? Wouldn't it be in caps, too, if that were something he actually said?


I would surely think so.
 
What list is that? Because he said "let the tuners tune and the drivers drive"? Are you serious? Lmao. Wow. What exactly is it about that sentence that gets your panties in a bunch? And why would you attribute the second sentence to Tasca? Wouldn't it be in caps, too, if that were something he actually said?


I would surely think so.
the whole quote was

"let the tuners tune and the drivers drive and if the fans do not like it they do not need to watch
the live version not the edited for tv replay version where the interview was cut short

which apparently has been edited out of the original post when i went back to look at it
 
I'm just curious if any of today's Crew Chief's could tune a car to get it down the cowpath tracks we used to match race on in the 60-70s
 
I guess the NHRA could simply do no track prep and let the tuners and drivers figure it out on their own.

As this been tired before at any tracks other then local drag strips who seem to just let everyone figure it out on their own.
I understand that the NHRA must just from a safety point of view make sure the drag strip is safe to drive on.

Jim Hill
www.nostalgicracingdecals.com
 
I have never race on track that has been preped. Door cars that run in 8s may notice it which is what i ran . When did they actually start prepping tracks, i quit racing NHRA in 86 after Texas race?. I have noticed they're still spaying track, maybe less product in mixture
 
I have never race on track that has been preped. Door cars that run in 8s may notice it which is what i ran . When did they actually start prepping tracks, i quit racing NHRA in 86 after Texas race?. I have noticed they're still spaying track, maybe less product in mixture
They were using a 75/25 glue/ alcohol mixture just before the nitro cars ran. They went back to the 65/35 glue/ alcohol mixture.
 
that would be called a "burnout contest"
Bob Reese you are right but it also puts everything back into the tuners hands to figure out how to get down the track.

Right now I think the tuners are doing the exact same thing so the only difference is to figure out the track conditions and then make you tuning and clutch adjustments based on how much track prep they do and how good it is.

Trying to create a level playing field is never an easy thing to do.

Jim Hill
www.nostalgicracingdecals.com
 
I think the technology, which was developed little by little over years, couldn't handle a complete drop back to square one (like when they smoked the tires all the way down)...the multiple disc clutches with their adjustment of clutch weights and fingers has all evolved as the engines and tires have.

In other words, if you dropped Courtney Force and her car into 1960's Lions dragstrip, the old cars would run circles around the new tech.
 
I think the technology, which was developed little by little over years, couldn't handle a complete drop back to square one (like when they smoked the tires all the way down)...the multiple disc clutches with their adjustment of clutch weights and fingers has all evolved as the engines and tires have.

In other words, if you dropped Courtney Force and her car into 1960's Lions dragstrip, the old cars would run circles around the new tech.

Courtney could smoke the tires and pedal it 2 or 3 times and still coast to an ET quicker than they ran all out in the 60's.
 
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