Return to 1/4 mile (1320ft.) (4 Viewers)

[Ponyhntr]

Alan, you know me, I'm just a major fan and don't know a ton about the tech part. Why can't they just use smaller fuel pumps and slow the blower down enough to take a bunch of the boost away? Can't they still use the same heads, rods, pistons etc...? Would that not slow them down and make for less dropped cylinders and lower costs and wear and tear? Would that also take about 30 miles an hour away? To the outsider it seems to me that would be a great place to start and see what happens, but I pluck strings and have no idea....

These are race car owners/drivers/tuners. If you take away blower and fuel, they are going to work on other areas of the engine to try to make up for it. They are going to change pistons (compression), rods, and possibly even crankshafts. All of this equals $$$$. You could mandate that they can’t change that stuff, but then you have to be able to tech it, which becomes increasingly difficult with the limited staff.

Take away 30 mph from the current combo, but send them to the 1/4 mile and they will re-gain 15-20. Again, that puts them right where they were in 2008 when the switch was made to go to 1000’. Net zero.

 

[Nitro Bass!]

These are race car owners/drivers/tuners. If you take away blower and fuel, they are going to work on other areas of the engine to try to make up for it. They are going to change pistons (compression), rods, and possibly even crankshafts. All of this equals $$$$. You could mandate that they can’t change that stuff, but then you have to be able to tech it, which becomes increasingly difficult with the limited staff.

Sounds like a circular firing squad to me, meaning it could be so out of control that it can't be fixed unless everything was scrapped and the entire sport started over, and that ain't never gunna happen!

 

[Ponyhntr]

Sounds like a circular firing squad to me, meaning it could be so out of control that it can't be fixed unless everything was scrapped and the entire sport started over, and that ain't never gunna happen!

BINGO!

 

[nwspeedshots]

I remember someone once saying, "Slowing them down would be easy...; just take the wheelie-bars away".

 

[handsome]

man, you all seem to always have the cure for cancer.. why can't people just accept NHRA run the nitro classes to 1000ft. PERIOD. accept it , be thankful and move on! IHRA will be running 1/8 mile. Accept it and be thankful there is a different sanction to run at. keyboard warriors do nothing but complain . racers pick a place and adapt.

 

[Just Paul]

Why can't they just use smaller fuel pumps and slow the blower down enough to take a bunch of the boost away? Can't they still use the same heads, rods, pistons etc...? Would that not slow them down and make for less dropped cylinders and lower costs and wear and tear? Would that also take about 30 miles an hour away? To the outsider it seems to me that would be a great place to start and see what happens.

So, if the magic number is 300 mph-ish, and A/Fuel cars have run over 285, why the all the hassle to have 2 classes run within 15 mph?

 

[T.Smith]

 

[twostep]

Don't you think if someone like Jimmy Prock got ahold of that combo they could go much faster? Probably knock on the door of what they were running back in 2009. Take that to 1/4-mile, and bam, right back to the speeds and ET's that were being run 1/4 mile in 2008, before the move to 1000'.

If the idea is to slow the cars, taking them back to what they were running in 2009 won't do it. Schumacher was running 330 in 1999.

Isn't NHRA introducing a supercharged nitro combination in TA/FC for 2026? That'll no doubt be a 1 mag/1 plug/less OD setup and it'll be 1320 feet. I'll be curious to see what the rules are and how well they perform. 5.30/280 perhaps, for the top teams?

People constantly say "racers will always find a way to go faster" and that's been the case in nitro racing over the past 20 years. We have 304 to the 660 and 343 to the 1000, which would have been considered Star Wars malarky when the 1000 foot switch was made in 08. Still, I maintain that if NHRA wanted 1/4 mile nitro racing with TF runs in the 4.50/320 range and FC's in the 4.70s, they should be able to mandate rules to the point the cars simply don't have the ability to go quicker and faster no matter how good the parts are. Can't be done? Oh, yes it can. Should it? That's a big question if for no other reason the whole idea of a drag race is to go faster and quicker than the guy in the other lane....

TAD's fastest speed ever was 286 (2021) and before that it was 285, set 21 years ago. The rules don't allow them to run faster. TAFCs, same thing. Pro Stock, same-o; their speeds are actually a bit slower in the EFI era. Nostalgia nitro, same deal; 5.50/260s is it. Slowing the cars down IS doable - and maintainable.

Like Alan mentioned there's ways but people won't like it. I'll bet if you interviewed 1000 fans and asked them "would you prefer slower times and speeds to 1320 or 340mph 1000' racing?" the majority would take 1000 feet. Only the diehard purists will say "HELL NO TO 1000." The vast majority of national event racing is still 1320 so enjoy it and shaddup.



Ain't that horse dead yet?

 

[twostep]

And how much quicker / faster could you run if the rules allowed better clutch technology?

Faster, no; that's more of an aero issue. The recent increase in speed showed up when the mud flaps came off. Quicker, perhaps. Not that I'd know what better clutch technology would entail. Seems like they do a pretty good job of managing 11000hp (or is it 15,000 now? ) as it is.

 

[Ponyhntr]

If the idea is to slow the cars, taking them back to what they were running in 2009 won't do it. Schumacher was running 330 in 1999.

Isn't NHRA introducing a supercharged nitro combination in TA/FC for 2026? That'll no doubt be a 1 mag/1 plug/less OD setup and it'll be 1320 feet. I'll be curious to see what the rules are and how well they perform. 5.30/280 perhaps, for the top teams?

I only brought up 2009 because I had real numbers to quote, and that's what the combo I was referencing would roughly run.

The supercharged nitro combo for Top Alcohol actually got pushed back to 2027. I honestly don't see it happening at all. I was heavily involved in that ruleset in late 2024, early 2025. There are only a couple differences from what Dan Hix ran in the IHRA. The NHRA combo is limiting blower OD to 16%, running on 85% nitro, and mandates a 4 disc clutch with only 6 levers and no cannon (management). In fact, when McKailen Haddock and Del's second car (driven by Jake Slater) ran in the IHRA this year, both cars were set up with the NHRA blown nitro Top Alcohol combo.

 

[Under_Pressure]

It is kind of insane how they have gotten to where they are with 1000' and the other limitations that have been put in place. Considering I remember them talking in the early 90s (when I was first old enough to pay attention) about how they had to be nearing the limits of what was physically possible in getting to 300 mph in a quarter mile from a standing start. Sometimes it really seems like no matter what you do, as long as the guys who really understand nitro are dedicated to it they will be right back to where they were in amazingly short order and then continue to advance.

 

[ironpony]

According to Don Garlits back in the day, no one will ever go faster than 9.00 in the 1/4, just not possible.

 

[aakar]

According to Don Garlits back in the day, no one will ever go faster than 9.00 in the 1/4, just not possible.

I am still looking forward to the day they go supersonic and sonic booms shake the grandstands!

 

[twostep]

I only brought up 2009 because I had real numbers to quote, and that's what the combo I was referencing would roughly run.

The supercharged nitro combo for Top Alcohol actually got pushed back to 2027. I honestly don't see it happening at all. I was heavily involved in that ruleset in late 2024, early 2025. There are only a couple differences from what Dan Hix ran in the IHRA. The NHRA combo is limiting blower OD to 16%, running on 85% nitro, and mandates a 4 disc clutch with only 6 levers and no cannon (management). In fact, when McKailen Haddock and Del's second car (driven by Jake Slater) ran in the IHRA this year, both cars were set up with the NHRA blown nitro Top Alcohol combo.

Like you, I don't believe it will happen based on what you're saying. Appreciate the information.

 

[none]

Just as a point of reference, the faster you are going the harder is it to go faster. And the degree of dufficulty goes up exponentially.
Pro Stock speed used to be a direct correlation to horsepower (it's different now with the rev-limiter) over 200 MPH it would take about 40 more HP to pick up 1 MPH.

It's not linear, but again just as a point of reference. A Top Fuel car considering mass and drag needs better than 100 HP to gain 1 MPH. So if you want to slow them 40 MPH, that's 4000 HP.

Alan