Let's take a look at that "decided advantage" the nitrous cars had the last 1/3 of 2013 and so far in 2014. Here's the facts. You make the call.
Indy Nats, 2013: #1 qualifier was Smith, by .02. A blower car won the race.
Carolina Nats, 2013: #1 qualifier was a blower car, #2 a nitrous car and the next 9 qualifiers were blower or turbo cars. 2 blower cars were in the final round.
Midwest Nats, 2013: 1 qualifier was Castellana. He also won the race, but with a 6.08/194, hardly an example of superior performance. The quicker-running blower car (throughout eliminations) in the other lane lost because he blew the tires off.
Toyota Nationals, 2013: The quickest nitrous qualifier was #7, down by .13 from the #1 qualifier, a blower car. A turbo and a blower car were in the final round.
Gainesville, 2014: A blower car qualified #1. Castellana did win the race.
Houston, 2014: Laurita, a nitrous car, qualified #1. A blower car won the race.
Atlanta, 2014: Rickie Smith pretty much dominated the event.
3 nitrous cars won races. 3 blower cars won races. One turbo car won a race. Since Indy 2013. Nitrous cars did qualify #1 50% of the time. So, what say you? Is the nitrous penalty fair?
Nice summary Carl, but did you take into account the reaction times? Let's look at the ETs on the various cars in isolation.