Top Dragster and Sportsman at Pomona...

[Toejam]

If they have been there before, I haven't seen them. Glad NHRA is expanding the Program.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Way cool !!!

 

[mgty3whlr]

My question on these 2 classes is, Why can't you click on them and see who is entered for the event unlike all of the other classes?
I noticed it last year and it seems like they are doing it again.

 

[Jeff]

They've been doing that "hidden entry list" for several years now. While I don't agree with the logic at all, when I called Glendora it was explained to me that there were games being played with the entry list and last minute cancellations causing people to look at the entry list and think they had no way to qualify in the field and not even try, so they blinded the field until it was locked. It really makes no sense to me at all. We race this class and it is fairly consistent, if 36 people enter only 34 show up and there are usually at least two "broke can't race" cars such that the alternates end up racing if the broke cars don't officially withdraw (which I think you would only not withdraw if you were chasing national points). I like seeing the entry list, and if someone was playing games I'm certain the rule book has a broad rule that would allow officials to sit them out for a time period and stop that.

Nice to see Pomona added, while it would be very tough on my work schedule to make either, many of us would love to see Indy and the Fall Vegas race rotate TS/TD through the allowed classes.

 

[Reese]

Hey Jeff, really enjoy watching you and your class. Any changes to the dragster this year? Had a couple of top dragsters testing at No Problem yesterday but had trouble getting down the cold track.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks Armand! We were hoping to tickle it a little harder at the Vegas divisional (trying to run mid 6.20's on two stages and high 6.0x's on three) but we had a trailer issue about 1/4th the way to Vegas and had to call it a season early. So we'll start the season trying that, and I've already warned Nickens to get the next set of pistons coming this way now (he's the greatest at taking care of my propensity to sporadically hurt rings/pistons with a different tune up every pass! .... get him the motor on Monday and it'll be 100% fresh in time for the next race, no matter what it takes). Airgas is refusing to sell any non-medical nitrous due to one of their plants in Florida having an accident and the plant being shut down until just recently .... so I scrambled to find a new supplier (took longer than I thought) and increased my supply at my shop (600 lbs now! was about 150). The billet Chance converter is going back for some stuff that has to be done on their CNC, Racepak getting pulled for some upgrades that require soldering on new boards (and I'm sure Jen will be thrilled when their new wireless heart rate monitor comes back with it), and I'm finally going to put the fiber optic pickup on so I can do individual cylinder timing on the 762. Mickey is supposed to send a few sets of the latest Bubba tire .... Aside from trailer mods that's about it (each axle stub is going to get a partial gun drill in the back and temp probes embedded .... next time there is a failure it'll be known well in advance with all of the trailer axle stub temps being shown in the dash. Tire pressure monitors told me ... but way too late. and I'm going to play with the trailer air ride and make it have a "flat mode" where it takes 5 of the six airbags up to sort of a max pressure then sucks a vacuum on the tire with a flat to lift it off the ground for changing .... still never had a flat on this trailer but always wanted to see if I could get that to work!). Sorry, I'm sure you got more than you wanted!

 

[Reese]

Thanks Jeff, Sounds a little busy to me.

 

[Diesel Funnycar]

It is great to see , the top dragster class is growing fast .. The bumps keep getting faster & faster each race , im betting we will see some 6.30 bumps this season .

 

[n/a]

T/D rule question regarding parachute mounting:
Can the packs be mounted to the mono wing?
I found an 06 Spitzer with the old style wing and the chute mount molded into the wing.
Is it legal?

 

[Jeff]

I'm more for you reading the rule book yourself, but I think the rule book focuses on the number of chutes and where/how the other end of the chute is mounted (bolts/sleeves/etc.) If the bag holding end fails it just means the chutes deploy early (but I'd read the wing rules too if I were you, because if its not allowed that's more likely where the rule will be).

 

[Nunz]

Lots of TD and TS cars at Pomona. 11 Comp cars. My dad ran Comp in late 60s yo early 70s, so I've always loved the class. I'm usually a glass-half-full guy, but Comp's future looks as solid as Pro Stock's. Like PS, it's just pricing itself into extinction.

 

[Chili]

It's a shame it's almost extinct. I loved the class for year but the payouts vs. cost makes it almost impossible without sponsorship. Hard to get sponsorship with very little ink.