NHRA The Gift-Horse (1 Viewer)

[nitro]

Force being Force.... get a hemi and paint it blue, turns into the Boss 500....so why not, Mustang turns into Camaro...The problem I have is two years ago a Kia Dealer in Pennsylvania wanted to pay me a pretty amount for a single race, to turn my Stratus into a Kia using decals, I got a flat out NO! Let's make the playing field level for everybody...

 

[Just Paul]

That's BS in my opinion. You have a right to be pissed there.

However, Kia is not the offical anything of NHRA, come on Paul.

 

[stitcherbob]

Don't forget the Chevy Zuma scooters. They're up to the task.

that's asking an awful lot of 70 cc

 

[mw6789]

Lets just make them run all steel body 66 Chevy II's, Mustang fastbacks, and 65 Coronets with altered wheelbases and injectors stacks. That would solve the problem. And make them weight about what that Zuma scooter guy does.

 

[stitcherbob]

hey.....so Force is going with the Mustang body for a little while longer....he'll figure out how to deal with it's inferi-FORD-ity and when the Chevy (aka Gubmint Motors) is ready he will have a wind tunnel fresh body that should do the trick

I personally would have liked a Chrysler - based body..... maybe a new Alfa

 

[yoda]

Force being Force.... get a hemi and paint it blue, turns into the Boss 500....so why not, Mustang turns into Camaro...The problem I have is two years ago a Kia Dealer in Pennsylvania wanted to pay me a pretty amount for a single race, to turn my Stratus into a Kia using decals, I got a flat out NO! Let's make the playing field level for everybody...

Again, its more than just a decal swap, folks. Considering the changes made to brand-swap a car in just two weeks, just to be there at the front end of the season, I have to give JFR (and Aerodyne) a ton of props for the changeover. Imagine Pomona with three of its biggest draws on the sideline based only on people whining that the body is a too similar to another one.

News flash- all of these cars in the class share very little with their parent vehicle.

Here's something nobody has mentioned- how JFR has kept one of its main sponsors, while now having that sponsor have to re-cast and re-brand part of ther product line.

Traxxas vaccu-forming Camaros yet?

 

[mike]

Maybe Traxxas will just print up some new stickers

 

[stitcherbob]

"Traxxas vaccu-forming Camaros yet?"

no, I heard they are going to adapt the front of their little Mustang bodies to look like a Camaro, just until the new bodies will be molded in 2016....

 

[Huge]

What kind of semi trucks is JFR using to tow their haulers now.

 

[mw6789]

WOW, what a cool video.

 

[Mike]

I just don't understand why all the negativity? These cars haven't looked like the production counterparts in years. Would everyone rather have his cars sit out the season and have short fields until they can get a new body, that more than likely is going to be damn near close to the modified Mustang? They are nothing more than a jellybean with decals anyway? I prefer nostalgia, but even they don't look like they did back in the day anymore.

 

[.]

Well, one thing is for sure. Force is getting exactly what he probably told Chevrolet. Which was "Love it or hate it, they are gonna talk about me and my new hotrod!"

There are more posts about this 1 (or 3 depending on how you look at it) body than all of the cars other testing combined.

 

[Just Paul]

LOL This is from an Ex Funny Car racers Facebook page.

Please excuse some of the language. This is not a true story but an Email that should be. My racing friends and Funny cars fans can relate to it.
Fwd:
Ok read this
Columbus, OH
Jim Head Racing has announced a change in Direction for the 2015 Mello Yello Drag Racing Series Effective immediately. Jim Head said "When NHRA told Force he could run the New ChevFord body this season I was excited so I decided to bring my Old Batmobile Oldsmobile back out from 1987"
The Old body will be branded now as an Audi S7.
Jim Head said " NHRA doesn't give a F#### about the Racers or Fans unless they get something from it so I told Chad I need a new car to drive, so he called Audi and made a deal for Two FREE Audi A7's, one for Jim Head and one for Tom Compton." When Tom got the news he immediately contacted The Tech Department and told them anything Jim Head runs will be legal, just like JFR.
Jim Head is overjoyed now that he will be able to save money by using his old body and mold again. Jim Head said" The past 2 years has been brutal on Jim Head Racing, since Chad started Driving for me, he wasted a bunch of money on a Nostalgia Funny Car I can't sell, I ##### up my foot, and Chad has spent twice as much from the O2O account than Jim Head ever spent Racing. The Old body looks way more like an Audi than what Forces is trying to pull off with his new ChevFord brand. And the Fans won't really know the difference anyway!"
Below is a Photo of Jim Heads brand new 2015 Audi A7 he will be running starting at the season opener in Pomona.
No Photo included.

 

[TooTall999]

Interesting read on the body approval http://competitionplus.com/drag-racing/news/29782-john-force-we-went-by-the-book-on-this-car

 

[none]

Interesting article, David... Thanks for the link.

 

[SoCal Racer]

So let me get this straight... Ford wins on Sunday, and Chevy sells on Monday. The GM marketing department couldn't have dreamed a better deal!

 

[Nick Name]

I read a story where Armstrong stated that they knew NHRA would say no at first look, so they made it super Crazy and when NHRA said No Way, they backed it up to what they really wanted and got approved.

 

[Nunz]

Have you guys seen the alky FC Camaro? Does anyone think it looks like a street Camaro? Does anyone think after a year of development, a brand new nitro version will look more like a Camaro? I almost think Force shouldn't have said anything and rolled his cars out as new Camaros, not modified Mustangs. I'd bet the worst criticism would have been, "I wish it looked closer to the stock Camaro".

 

[Randy]

I read a story where Armstrong stated that they knew NHRA would say no at first look, so they made it super Crazy and when NHRA said No Way, they backed it up to what they really wanted and got approved.

I posted that a while back here.

 

[cantdrive55]

I don't think anyone expects a '16 Camaro F/C to look anything like what's on the showroom floor. Especially considering how the bodies have evolved. I think the issue is that whether or not it was meant to be publicized that JFR is using their Mustangs to pass off as the "new" Camaro. So far from what I can tell the only differences are a new side window and a massaging of the nose. An argument can be made that had Force not said anything about it people wouldn't have the initial reaction that they do now, and maybe that's true. But, believe it or not fans aren't dumb and can tell the differences, or lack thereof, when they want to. To an extent, I think fans have lost some interest because everything looks similar. And, there's no way JFR was going to go the entire season without someone pointing out that this Camaro is actually last years re-worked Mustang, and I'm sure Force knew that all along. Look at how long it took Mopar to design, mold, and test their new Charger body. There was a link to all the facts and info for the new Charger, I can't seem to track it down, but I wanna say it was around 8 months. People that are in the know and competitors alike knew there was no nitro version of a Camaro, and so did John. Do I fault him for pursuing Chevy, not really. The man's looking for sponsors to keep his dream alive, anybody else would do the same thing. I do think his timing was terrible, he had to have known that there was no way of having a true nitro Camaro body ready for Pomona. The thing I'd like to know is would it have been possible to use the Alky Camaro with modifications for nitro use? I know it was designed with alcohol F/C in mind, but what makes it un-usable for nitro racing.