MAJOR NHRA ANNOUNCEMENT
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
The NHRA has announced a major change in the way the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes will race, to be put into effect beginning at the next stop on the POWERade tour, the Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver (July 11-13)
Beginning in Denver, Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers will compete on a 1,000-foot race track, rather than the historic standard of a quarter-mile (1,320 feet).
The change is an interim step designed to immediately improve safety while the sanctioning body and the professional teams continue to investigate and analyze ways to permanently enhance the safety features and procedures at every race. It comes in the wake of the tragic death of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta in Englishtown, where his car went off the end of the track at a high rate of speed.
Quote from Del Worsham:
"We all talked about this a lot, last weekend in Norwalk, and the 1,000-foot idea was the one we were all discussing the most. We need to do something while people analyze how to make the sport safer for the nitro cars; we can't just close our eyes to what happened and hope it doesn't happen again. I know this is pretty radical, but we have some issues with 330-mph race cars and tracks that weren't built to hold them, and until we settle those issues we have to be aggressive and not just stand by.
"By going to 1,000 feet, we've just added 320 feet of shutdown area to every track, and we've successfully slowed the cars down in terms of the speed they're running at the finish line. A 300 mph run in a Funny Car now will be an absolutely huge lap, not a run-of-the-mill deal, and we'll all have more room to get stopped. If they tried to just slow us down, whether it was with aerodynamics, or tires, or whatever, there are smart people out here who would immediately find ways to go faster again, because we're all trying to win and that's what we're here for. 1,000 feet is 1,000 feet, no matter who you are. It will be the same for all of us.
"I'll admit I have some mixed feelings, because drag racing has always been a quarter-mile deal and this is really a big change, but I know in my heart that this is the right thing to do while we figure this all out for the future. It's going to be strange, but we're all in it together so the playing field is completely level, and I'm happy to see that NHRA acted so quickly and strongly on this. At the track, the fans are still going to see the most powerful and quickest-accelerating cars on the planet, and we might just find out that the racing is even more exciting."
<img src="http://www.nitromater.com/gallery/files/5/d_worsham.jpg" alt="d_worsham" align="right"borders="0"/>
The NHRA has announced a major change in the way the Top Fuel and Funny Car classes will race, to be put into effect beginning at the next stop on the POWERade tour, the Mopar Mile-High Nationals in Denver (July 11-13)
Beginning in Denver, Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers will compete on a 1,000-foot race track, rather than the historic standard of a quarter-mile (1,320 feet).
The change is an interim step designed to immediately improve safety while the sanctioning body and the professional teams continue to investigate and analyze ways to permanently enhance the safety features and procedures at every race. It comes in the wake of the tragic death of Funny Car driver Scott Kalitta in Englishtown, where his car went off the end of the track at a high rate of speed.
Quote from Del Worsham:
"We all talked about this a lot, last weekend in Norwalk, and the 1,000-foot idea was the one we were all discussing the most. We need to do something while people analyze how to make the sport safer for the nitro cars; we can't just close our eyes to what happened and hope it doesn't happen again. I know this is pretty radical, but we have some issues with 330-mph race cars and tracks that weren't built to hold them, and until we settle those issues we have to be aggressive and not just stand by.
"By going to 1,000 feet, we've just added 320 feet of shutdown area to every track, and we've successfully slowed the cars down in terms of the speed they're running at the finish line. A 300 mph run in a Funny Car now will be an absolutely huge lap, not a run-of-the-mill deal, and we'll all have more room to get stopped. If they tried to just slow us down, whether it was with aerodynamics, or tires, or whatever, there are smart people out here who would immediately find ways to go faster again, because we're all trying to win and that's what we're here for. 1,000 feet is 1,000 feet, no matter who you are. It will be the same for all of us.
"I'll admit I have some mixed feelings, because drag racing has always been a quarter-mile deal and this is really a big change, but I know in my heart that this is the right thing to do while we figure this all out for the future. It's going to be strange, but we're all in it together so the playing field is completely level, and I'm happy to see that NHRA acted so quickly and strongly on this. At the track, the fans are still going to see the most powerful and quickest-accelerating cars on the planet, and we might just find out that the racing is even more exciting."
