NHRA 2023 Rule change- Rip off the band aid (2 Viewers)

[Mike]

Last year, there may have been 2 (3 tops) national events with full TAFC fields.

This year looks even less promising.

I propose allowing a-fuel TAFC for 2023. That may be the only way to give the class a shot in the arm it badly needs.

Why does TAD consistently draw more numbers than TAFC these days?

 

[Nunz]

Pretty old discussion. I know for a fact NHRA has been close on making this happen. My only fear is that it ends up having teams switch over more than attracting new teams. I would hate to see TAFC become predominantly A/Fuel over time, like what has happened TAD.

 

[handsome]

beating a dead horse..... even if they allow it, you may get 5 new teams in the whole country that try it... that's not gonna take 7 cars and make it 20 at each event. the class is so over priced and underpaid is why is failing.. I got out in 2007 and the payouts are still the same plus hardly any matchracing and primarily only 1 sanction to run them at...

 

[Cliff]

Is TA/FC more expensive to run than T/AD? There are only 2-3 competitive blown alky dragsters in the country & am thinking their costs are same as A/FD cuz of developing a combination to run with the nitro cars.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

I am a big injected nitro fan. But, most racers realize that only a couple of "new" or "returning" teams will happen, as well as a half dozen AFD teams switching to AFC. That is most likely why the NHRA killed the proposal last year.

THE YEAR AN A/FUEL FLOPPER RAN TAFC

 

[scratch]

Let the Heritage Series N/FC run. There is your nitro.There may be a few teams that would enter,but even with that it would still fall short of full fields.There is no one way to fix this issue to the exclusion of all others.That is a fact.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

If the Heritage Series wasn't a left coast series, that might be an option. The Midwest only has BG and Tulsa out of an eight race series. If they brought back Indy, Columbus, the couple of East coast tracks they had, and maybe added Denver, it would be much more appealing. The Cali teams don't want to leave Cali, Idaho, and Washington. The East and Midwest teams don't want to go over the mountain. It has always been that way.

At the end of the day, NFC is not AFC...

 

[scratch]

I do know there are still a fair number of cars here in the central U.S. Ten that I can count. Some match race,some run the Heritage Series,some run the Funny Car Chaos,some do all three as we do. Would be a place to start if they are concerned about car counts.

 

[Nunz]

I forgot who, but an alky FC racer posted on FB about this discussion, and said he had friends with alky cars that would come out and race but NHRA has a limit on body age. He even said they may not be top tier cars but they would certainly add to the fields. And the bodies is another discussion. Allow some older bodies, and encourage something besides the newest style Camaro. The biggest thing is, as Bruce said, there needs to be some money injected into the class that would help offset costs. But, that's all classes.

 

[Chili]

No matter what series you run, the cost is more than the winnings. If your not one of the fastest cars in the country and just want to go race, why not run Fuuny Car Chaos or Mid West drag racing series. Your not going to make money doing either but I’m sure it’s still fun to run. Unfortunately it has been a declining class for year

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

I grew up in early '90's on a TAFC team. Ten years ago I was crewing on an NTF car. So, I have a love and connection to the alky, nitro, and nostalgia classes. I think the NFC teams in the Midwest need to follow Jim Young's lead and form up a group for match races, now that the DRO series is gone. In the '90's we ran IHRA, NHRA, MWFCA, and UDRA. TAFC needs a group like MWFCA and UDRA to give them a place to run more. I think the Mid West Drag Racing Series adding TAFC could do that. FCC is also a great platform for all floppers.

 

[scratch]

What is the model year body cut off for TA/FC ? Last I looked,many years ago it was 1972.

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

What is the model year body cut off for TA/FC ? Last I looked,many years ago it was 1972.

National events is 1992+. Anything else is 1972+.

In comparison, FC is 2000+. NFC is 1979 and Prior.

 

[sammi]

Outward appearances seem to indicate the cost and complexity of running a 5.40s TAFC or 5.20's TAD are pretty immense. Once you learn how not to harm yourself or your pit neighbors, a junior fueler looks much cheaper to run and maintain.

 

[MM]

I think the NFC teams in the Midwest need to follow Jim Young's lead and form up a group for match races, now that the DRO series is gone.

We had one. The DRO series killed it along with a large percentage of the car count.

 

[Mike]

Valid points on all sides. Here is my rationale for wanting to allow a-fuel TAFC (this coming from someone who usually cheers for the blown car in TAD when the two fuel types race against each other):

At some point, if car counts dwindle, then there is no point in having the class any more. It we're going to average 10-12 cars per event in 2022, then imho that's about at the line where the class could be cut.

By allowing another fuel option, that should help the numbers pick up to where there can at least be full fields again. I asked earlier why there are more a-fuel TAD than blown cars, but nobody answered. I don't want the blown tafc to go away, but if the rule change is made, allow at least 2-3 years then judge how it's going. Nobody is mandated to change fuels, but if some racers want to, or if an a-fuel TAD driver wants to try it in TAFC, why not?

Put another way, even if numbers don't change, NHRA has not lost anything (ie - they would be at the same point). I believe after a couple seasons, the #s would rebound to between 16-20 cars on average, or in other words, be similar to the TAD numbers (BTW, this would also have a positive effect on TAFC entries at Divisional races).

 

[Sherman, Sherm, & Sherm Gun]

#1 - Rules aren't going to change the class. The economy has and will. That is the magic answer that the NHRA won't figure out on their own.

#2 - Furthermore, shut down FCC and the MWDRS, and the NHRA will be the only place for everyone to play, and the car counts could raise. If they do not, see Option #1.

 

[Mike]

#1 - Rules aren't going to change the class. The economy has and will. That is the magic answer that the NHRA won't figure out on their own.

#2 - Furthermore, shut down FCC and the MWDRS, and the NHRA will be the only place for everyone to play, and the car counts could raise. If they do not, see Option #1.

Why are there more TAD than TAFC right now?

 

[qualified17th]

Look at what's happened with Pro Mod. They have way fewer cars now than they did when only 3 power adders were allowed. I feel like it would be a similar result in TAFC. In Pro Mod, they gained next to nobody. All the PDRA/NMCA/NEOPMA guys that NHRA has been trying to attract basically decided they weren't as interested in running quarter mile with NHRA as NHRA thought they were, and stayed with what they've been doing for years. All the rule changes did were cause a new combination to look like the new best thing, and everybody that was already running NHRA spent a bunch of money to switch. Rinse and repeat each time a new combo gets introduced, and you've driven everybody out of business that isn't sponsored by some filthy rich guy in the middle east, or is a filthy rich guy themselves (Salinas, Gonzalez, Chad Green, etc)

 

[z28]

open it up to some of these nostalgia guys and you would fill the fields. Just limit blower size and fuel pump size to what it takes to run a 5.5 or so to be competitive.