NHRA has an opportunity (6 Viewers)

[Mike]

Guys blowing up funny car bodies and destroying engines every other pass is not sustainable. NHRA has an opportunity after 2 more races to make meaningful changes to the nitro classes.

People have posted good ideas on here, many they've heard from crew chiefs. The question is: Will NHRA adopt meaningful rule changes, or sit idly by while their nitro classes dwindle away?

It's ironic that TF is struggling with entries on the pro side and it's TAFC on the sportsman side

 

[ironpony]

No they will not, the NHRA gets paid either way, their bread and butter is divisional race tracks. Nitro is the circus division.

 

[65 Goatboy]

You beat me to it, after this past weekend I was thinking exactly the same thing. What Alan said is interesting but that can't be the whole problem
since their is a rarely a national event where their isn't long delays. "THEY" can fix this if they want to. I remember when Nascar had to slow the super speedways down due airborne cars. If your in the stands or watching on tv can you really tell the difference between 190 and 220? In Nhra 340 or 290? Is Nhra afraid of reduced attendance if their are no 340 mph runs? I'm tired of bye runs in eliminations and long delays. Hey Nhra maybe I'll keep the 150 bucks that tv costs and maybe we won't travel the two hours to our nearest national event.

Alan Reinhart​

There is a valetrain issue, most think there is a bad batch of parts. But you can't tell by looking at them. Even the guys in Australia were talking about it last week.

 

[65 Goatboy]

No they will not, the NHRA gets paid either way, their bread and butter is divisional race tracks. Nitro is the circus division.

Don't disagree but with no circus division their will no longer be national events or mostly full stands. Maybe that's not a bad thing, we have a local 1/8 mile Nhra sanctioned track that is very popular.

 

[ironpony]

Don't disagree but with no circus division their will no longer be national events or mostly full stands. Maybe that's not a bad thing, we have a local 1/8 mile Nhra sanctioned track that is very popular.

Well being in Ohio we have multiple tracks running every weekend and some weeknight events, one gets a National event once a year. Probably makes them some extra money in the long run.
IHRA has two events now at one track and one at the other so they have it pretty well covered, we shall see time will tell.

Biggest factor is going to be IF nitro teams can continue to absorb the costs in NHRA. Sponsors are scarce now.

 

[Chili]

They have been blowing up engines and destroying bodies since day one. No matter what rules or limits NHRA puts on nitro cars, they will push them harder and harder until they cross the line. When they ran 1320’, most explosions happened the last 200 feet. Now that they run 1000’, most explosions happened the last 200’. You can slow them down a variety of ways but the crew chiefs will blow everything up trying to get the most out of the rules package they have. I’m sure most of them can run 4.0’s all day long without destroying parts. If you want them to stop the carnage, make it a 4.00 index. I’m pretty sure none of us want that.

 

[65 Goatboy]

They have been blowing up engines and destroying bodies since day one. No matter what rules or limits NHRA puts on nitro cars, they will push them harder and harder until they cross the line. When they ran 1320’, most explosions happened the last 200 feet. Now that they run 1000’, most explosions happened the last 200’. You can slow them down a variety of ways but the crew chiefs will blow everything up trying to get the most out of the rules package they have. I’m sure most of them can run 4.0’s all day long without destroying parts. If you want them to stop the carnage, make it a 4.00 index. I’m pretty sure none of us want that.

Been watching and attending for almost 50 years and you are spot on. But "back in the day" how much did a 426 complete Hemi nitro motor cost and between rounds maintenance? No fancy 18 wheelers (two per car), if you needed a cylinder head or a crankshaft someone would probably lend you one (pay me later). Today it's "The Big Show" and do the teams today even get as much as the famous teams back then in today's dollars? And no match racing for the big full time Nhra teams. Granted your not a racer if you aren't trying to go faster but the Nhra business model doesn't compute unless your a multi millionaire or billionaire who owns an airline, multiple new car dealerships or other auto racing teams.

 

[ch streetcars]

Back when Budweiser, Miller, Skoal , Winston, Pennzoil and Valvoline, ect. , ect. were footing the bills for blown engines and wrecked racecars, I guess it was sustainable. This year seems like the most chaotic yet, maybe I'm wrong, talk about a short fuse on a stick of dynamite, the drivers must be holding their breath each run! I doubt Jim Dunn or any other smaller teams can afford it , and even if you could, wouldn't Capps or Antron want to stretch the budget ? We have a four-alarm fire going on in the Fuel categories and hopefully changes are being discussed to back em down. Let's not wait until a handful of teams quit.

 

[Burnnitro1320]

They have been blowing up engines and destroying bodies since day one. No matter what rules or limits NHRA puts on nitro cars, they will push them harder and harder until they cross the line. When they ran 1320’, most explosions happened the last 200 feet. Now that they run 1000’, most explosions happened the last 200’. You can slow them down a variety of ways but the crew chiefs will blow everything up trying to get the most out of the rules package they have. I’m sure most of them can run 4.0’s all day long without destroying parts. If you want them to stop the carnage, make it a 4.00 index. I’m pretty sure none of us want that.

I agree somewhat but the big explosions are usually the same cars. Im not sure they've ever blown the body off Procks car since hes been driving and its obviously the best. Same with Kallita's dragsters. JR, Hagan, stewart, cruz, Millican and many others go through LOTS of carbon fiber

 

[Just Paul]

Guys blowing up funny car bodies and destroying engines every other pass is not sustainable. NHRA has an opportunity after 2 more races to make meaningful changes to the nitro classes.

When is the last time the quickest, fastest, I’ll say most powerful and most # of runs completed funny car out there did any of that the last 2 years?

 

[Custom Body Fan]

When is the last time the quickest, fastest, I’ll say most powerful and most # of runs completed funny car out there did any of that the last 2 years?

I totally agree with that. But since the other teams can’t figure out what Prock is doing and replicate it, they just keep blowing stuff up and costing themselves a lot of money, leading to the problem at hand.

 

[none]

It is fixable. But you have to A: Undertsand the problem and B: Want to fix it.
I'm still working in that direction, even after leaving IHRA.

Alan

P.S. A bad batch of parts will still cause problems from time to time. When's the last time a rear end broke?