Mark:
Everything you suggested seems to be related to one tragic incident- a series of "what could go wrong did go wrong". Horrible as it all is, the fact is, at the moment, we have not seen the results of when something occurs tragically at 600' (not unheard of in this sport- Bob Edwards accident DID help facilitate the change from Armaco to Concrete Barriers). As we get closer to the end of the season and the nitro tuners start screwing around with that "999 foot" tuneup to squeeze out that win from all this "close racing", it is inevitable, since they havent had to win without that extra 320 feet, that some guys are gonna miss the trick and the fireballs will come earlier.
Alan- I know you've spoken with AJ, and know his tuneup is probably similar to his 1320 one, but the fact that the car is already running at 315+ makes me wonder: Is there more to come once the rest of the pack figures out how to make a race close for the kid? And if there is, at what point does mechanical/ structural failure come back into play, especially for some of the less technically equiped teams that may make the Countdown?
Mark has got a point: If the sport has progressed past the point where particular tracks can't safely accomodate the cars, isn't it time to "retire" that track, and possibly that race if a suitable replacement cannot be found? At least temporarilly, until new racetracks are built or old ones are refurbished to a common standard? And if we are so steadfast on continuing "tradition"
of having a 20+ race season (and growing annually, it seems... silly, as the sport used to have 4 Major races a year..), and have no intention of making ALL tracks meet a common safety standard (trees in Memphis come to mind..
), why has an edict not been announced already stating that the cars will be slowed down next year by restricting them to a common 426 CI, pump flow restrictions and blowers back to 12-71 size (or even putting the Armstrong suggestions into play)?
They obviously thought that they would be safer at a 1000' because they wouldn't be going as fast or blowing up so much- the speed thing has been blown out of the water already by a couple of teams, so the premise of them being safer because they are slower is now moot, as the potential for AJ to have the car at 320mph by Dallas is not out of the question, and you cant tell me that 15mph is going to make that huge a difference in the event of something going horribly wrong. And as they start to run harder to the Chase, the other lesser funded teams will have to decide whether to stay home or keep up, whether they know how to or not and the boomers can occur WAY sooner...
Just a historical note for those of you that still can't get past the 1000ft thing: Quote from Bob McClurg's book "Diggers, Funnies, Gassers and Altereds":
"In 19th Century America, farmers used a dragline to pull a team of horses. At State Fairs, one of the most popular pastimes was sled pulling, or dragging. More often than not, the measured distance of a drag was a thousand feet or more. As suburban America encroached upon the vast wilderness and city streets were mapped out, the measured distance from block-to-block was usually a quarter mile, or 1320 feet. Business districts in these cities quickly became known as "main drags". And who used to cruise the main drag? Hot Rodders!"
Take that for whatever you want to take from it, but the history of the organized sport has been based on 1320 feet. Is it time to release our history like we did with front-engined dragsters, fiberglass flopper bodies and aluminized breather masks?
