Mr. KNOLL, WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD FOR A/FC IN THE IHRA (1 Viewer)

[The Waste King]

Mr Knoll, my son and I had the pleasure in meeting you and Latrell in Rockingham in October at the World finals. I was the guy who mentioned Carl's name from Montreal. Just wondering what your thoughts were on the future of the A F/C in the IHRA. There are many rumours floating around, as far as I am concerned what ever you say is the truth, so thats why I am asking for your thoughts. I have asked Lotrell on an email what his thoughts were on the idea that Rico Elmore mentioned to him about our team. We are hoping that we can talk one on one in the very near future.
Happy Holidays to you and your family and a Happy and Healthy New Year, God Bless.

 

[Marco]

Great competition great people, class should not be on the ropes! We have all been loyal and should not be left in limbo!

Mark

 

[The Waste King]

Hopefully Someone Has The Right Answers

 

[luxexpress]

Great competition great people, class should not be on the ropes! We have all been loyal and should not be left in limbo!

Mark

Mark, how would you and the other teams feel about allowing screw blowers in? I would think it would be good for everyone to have the same rules in the IHRA and NHRA, but I know a lot of teams have been loyal to the IHRA and its rules for a long time and would understand if they did not want to allow the screw blower in. Probably would increase attendance at some of the most western events though - San Antonio, Edmonton and Tulsa. It seems like only a couple of years ago 25 to 30 plus cars would show up and try and qualify, I remember almost 40 at NYIRP one year. I sure hope the IHRA keeps this class alive.

 

[Thurston]

Screw Blowers

I have been lurking here for a few day, but feel it’s time to voice my view on screw blowers in AFC. Having raced IHRA since 1990 and now a crew chief on an AFC in IHRA, I have to say screws are a very bad idea. Many racers and many fans go to IHRA races because they offer something different then NHRA. Pro Mods are a prime example of why fan consider IHRA a great alterative, so much so that NHRA has adapted the class and now offers a Top Sportsman and Top Dragster class to tap into that customer base, why, because they have fan and racer appeal. If the AFC in IHRA look, sound and run just like their NHRA cousins, and does not differentiate themselves, the whole deal becomes homogenized, then spectators and racers can just go to NHRA races to see the same things. The same goes for Alcohol dragsters; making them part of IHRA will only make a great organization look more and more like NHRA. IHRA has always been a leader in many areas when it came to putting on great shows for fans. IHRA needs to continue to lead not follow.

Jim Thurston
Crew Chief
TNT Motor Sports
Mich Fab Dodge Stratus

 

[handsome]

unfortunatly i feel its too late to try to save the class. if you look at the past history of classes that have disapeared, a/fc will soon follow. i hate to say that but ihra started putting the nails in the coffin years ago. first was not allowing the screw blower. racers screamed about the cost of screw blowers and now an ihra racer needs to spend $7000 - $10,000 on a roots blower. the performance of a few select racers is great, such as atchison , tigges, and thomas. you also have some good racers that are consistant and win such as carter, noakes and some others. but when ihra went to 8 car fields and big payouts, the cut out guys that have good equiptment and give their heart and souls for the class but can only run 6.0's . now it is a snowball rolling down hill , picking up speed. it would have been so easy to regulate a screw blower car with weight and even a wicker in the rear wing so the class would have kept up with the excitement of close raceing and strong performances. people have had the wrong info about screw blowers for years. i have always said "screw blowers don't hurt motors, tune ups do". i tore up alot of stuff for 3 years without any help. some good info last winter helped me. i ran a bunch of 5.80's at 247 mph this past year with the best of a 5.69 @ 251 and only hurt 1 piston due to a piece of trash in a nozzel. i also never turned the motor over 9500 rpm all year. so how bad could they be. i would love to see ihra keep the class , allow screw blowers and go back to 16 car fields. wouldn't it be worth it to spread the pay back to 16 cars to keep the class? i think so. just my 2cents..

 

[The Waste King]

Guys The Responses Are Great So Far, But We Need The People Who Run The Show To Come Out And Say Whats What. I Have Been Talking To A Lot Of Guys Over The Past Few Days And They Are At A Stand Still Also. We Need The Right Answers Now So We Can Get Our Cars Ready Or Else Think Of Running Something Else For Next Year.Hopefully Some Major Sponsor Will Step Up And Offer The Ihra Major Funding To Help Save This Class. Lets Keep Our Fingers Crossed.

 

[Thurston]

Hi Bruce, I watched you post the same reasoning on ITA also. I understand and agree with you that a screw blower isn’t any harder on part than a roots blower, and tune-ups (bad tune ups) destroy more part than anything. The biggest concern I have is making the AFC and Top Dragster a clone of NHRA, the uniqueness of IHRA is a large selling point to racers and spectators alike, I would hate to see them lose that and become another NHRA by a different name. Look at the issues in the Alcohol ranks in NHRA, which you really don’t have to deal with, running IHRA's current rules. I also would like to see the return of a 16-car field more competition is always good for any class but I don’t think allowing screw blower will make that happen. Running any combination is expensive and anyone who puts out the effort and the $$$$ to be competitive has my greatest respect. Thanks for your comments.

PS: Rumor has it, that a class sponsor has been found, they just need to agree on the price.

Jim Thurston

 

[luxexpress]

PS: Rumor has it, that a class sponsor has been found, they just need to agree on the price.

Jim Thurston[/QUOTE]

I hope you are right. I kind of thought that maybe the Ethanol Association would step up and sponsor the class. Certainly would be a good marketing tool with E85 and they have signed on to be the official fuel of the IRL. While I would like to see a return to 16 car AFC fields, my gut tells me that no matter what you will never see it in the IHRA again.

 

[Thurston]

Say it an't so

Wo, Mark I'm going to have to send Tim out to New England, and have him sit down with you guys have a few barley pops and talk about this.

 

[The Waste King]

I Guess Nobody Has The Right Answer Yet, So We All Must Wait And See What Happens In 2007 ?????????????????????.

 

[Marco]

No straight answers as of yet here ethier !!!..LOL

 

[Drake Simmons]

Well, the Top Alcohol Funny Car class is in the rule book so I guess that it's a go for this season. Also check out this Message Board: insidetopalcohol.com - The Pit Buzz there are two IHRA TA/FC threads going on that asks questions about the future of IHRA TA/FC.

 

[The Waste King]

Mark
The only response that I have gotten is that there are 2 drivers trying to get sponsorship to save the class. The other word is maybe we will know by the time the first race in San Antonio-Tx happens. Nothing like leaving it up to us to make it happen.

 

[luxexpress]

Well, the Top Alcohol Funny Car class is in the rule book so I guess that it's a go for this season. Also check out this Message Board: insidetopalcohol.com - The Pit Buzz there are two IHRA TA/FC threads going on that asks questions about the future of IHRA TA/FC.

I hope you are right, but Nitro Harley was in the rulebook the year IHRA dropped them for a lack of a sponsor.

 

[Drake Simmons]

Mark
The only response that I have gotten is that there are 2 drivers trying to get sponsorship to save the class. The other word is maybe we will know by the time the first race in San Antonio-Tx happens. Nothing like leaving it up to us to make it happen.

Spiro, you might want to re-think selling all of your Top Fuel Funny Car stuff as I cannot see that class leaving any time soon since Mr. Knoll sponsors it.

 

[The Waste King]

Hello Drake

I just can't understand why this is a such a hard decision for them to make. I think that they should make this class compete at the same level as the rest of them. People love these cars just as much, you can ask anyone who knows anything about drag racing. Thanks for your advise, I need to sell a bunch of this stuff and I can always buy new stuff if I decide to come back to this class. You never know whats ahead for my team and I, time will tell.
Thank you for posting these pictures, It was a fun summer.
Happy Holidays to you and your family.

 

[Evan Knoll]

Its all good watch for the press realease soon. Thanks Evan.

 

[Suzanne]

I like these paint jobs better than most of the NHRA ones, dont know why, but that black cars nice!

 

[luxexpress]

Its all good watch for the press realease soon. Thanks Evan.

Great news. Are you going to be selling ethanol soon?