Prediction (Top Sportsman/Dragster @ US Natls) (1 Viewer)

[Mike]

At some point, probably within the next few years, Indy will include top sportsman and top dragster, but the total # of entries will be unchanged.

Why do I predict this? Look at the entry #s for the other sportsman classes. They have been trending downward for reasons detailed many times on this board, and are not going to head back up unless changes are made.... which I'll believe when I see.

Indy will still be the Super Stock haven, along with Stock. However, getting to the 180 quota may be pushing it. Perhaps 140ish-160 (at the outside), but the trend is against it.

However, the Comp/SG/SC #s will fall and to pick up the slack, I predict NHRA will add TS/TD, with 40 entries allowed for a 32 car field.

SG/SC have 140 entry quotas, but 100-120 seems more likely, and Comp? I don't believe the 64 car field was filled last year, and I'd bet the entries will be (at most) 50 this year, possibly in the 40s. I look for Comp to be a 32 car field like every other race in the near future @ Indy. I would love to be proven wrong with full quotas, but $5 or $6 a gallon gas running for peanuts is going to make lots of racers think twice.

On the flip side, TS/TD could be a great addition, and would introduce lots of fans to their high speed bracket world.

 

[cdag]

Maybe there's hope!

NHRA Story » NHRA car counts up nearly 5 percent over 2011

By the way, T/S and T/D would be a welcome addition to any event in my opinion.

 

[SoCal Racer]

Maybe there's hope!

NHRA Story » NHRA car counts up nearly 5 percent over 2011

By the way, T/S and T/D would be a welcome addition to any event in my opinion.

Not to sound skeptical, but when you have an average of about 20 cars show up at each race for the fuel classes, 5% more is 1 car. Still, I was a little surprised to see that the largest growth sector was in the sportsman ranks since they don’t get the same level of love as the pros do from NHRA. Also, they don’t say if that’s an increase in SG/SC type cars or in TAD/TAFC, which obviously is a huge budget differential. Regardless, growth is good! And add me to the list that thinks TD/TS would be a good add.

 

[clwill]

I'm fine with the addition of TS/TD, they are fun. But those classes have gotten wildly fast in short order. When they started just a few years ago, you could qualify running 1-1.5 seconds under the comparable class (SC -> TD, SG -> TS). Today the HP arms race has gone crazy. The Q1 bump in TD today was 7.0, almost 3secs faster and that's pretty common in many divisions.

All this means huge $$$. To build a competitive TD car today is well into six digits. About twice what you can spend and be competitive in SC. Pretty soon you're talking about real money...

 

[Nunz]

Yeah I wouldn't mind TD/TS at Indy either. To me, they are a great alternative to Comp and say, Pro Mod. Comp is still awesome, but, it fell a few cars short of 64 at Indy last year. Simply economics. Pretty strong field of TDs at Houston this weekend.