Vandergriff Shuts Down Team and Retires (1 Viewer)

[rit]

I read a story with Jim O, and he made a lot of sense, just limit the size of the intake valves and everything else falls in place.

That is the most simple and inexpensive fix. It would greatly reduce head maintenance as a smaller intake valve would allow more meat on the seat. NHRA has allowed at least two increases in intake valve size since their supposed moratorium on engine development a few years back.

 

[MHayes]

[URL='http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/540655-beating-a-dead-horse'][/URL]

 

[flapjack]

Yep, and I helped perpetuate it. Mea culpa.

 

[Pete]

I believe the problem started when the Pro classes were removed from the Divisional meets
And the addition of too many National meets. Then a normal working guy could miss work
On a Friday and still run a Pro Class in his division and still save vacation time for an occasional
National meet near by. Think back of all the two & three person teams, mostly all blue collar type.
The loss of occasional Match race also didn't help with these small time racers.
In all I believe that the times / economics have all helped kill off the Backbone of Pro Racing

Excellent point Harry!! Without matchraces, how can an independent expect to make it. At least you had a chance of making a living at it back in "the day". I think NHRA can "detune" the cars and the team owners would see the ROI pretty quickly. It could help revitalize the matchrace scene, seeing it wont require 15-30K per fuel car to bring some in and some of these tracks can add TF or FC's to their shows....maybe even go back to 1/4 mile...everyone wins JMO

 

[mick]

it's often asked what would happen if a larger team/s would fold, would there instantly be short fields?.......one of the best answers IMO that i remember reading and can't help agreeing with is 'no, it would make room for other independent teams to show up knowing they have either a guarantee of qualifying or real good odds.

on the TF entry list for this weekend's charlotte race are..... terry haddock / dom lagana / pat dakin / the greek / paul smith (ontario, ca) and scott palmer.......anybody who loves the little guy, here's the race to be at, sure hope some from this group advance into rnd. 2. nhra needs to pay a lot of attention to guys like this if they want to continue their 16 car fields. i could easily see each of these guys refocusing their efforts for IHRA

 

[Ice Bucket]

There are a few things NHRA could monitor/limit in terms of performance improvements. Things like the set back blowers and # of clutch disc. If everyone switches, then there is not really an advantage, except for the teams that can test get a head start. The low buck guys have to spend a ton to retro fit their set up to keep up. This throws their note book out the door and they sacrifice qualifying runs to get caught up. Safety improvements on the other hand are a no brainer.

 

[Toejam]

That's evolution in motorsports. I don't think a couple of blue collar buddies can combine their resources and go run an Indy Car or NASCAR effort either. The "backbone" of professional racing of any type is money. When gearhead buddies ran fuel cars back in the '60s, it was just the fastest category in the drag racing hobby.

I saw an an interview with Benny Parsons about the cost of racing. He mentioned in 1975 his budget for the year was $300,000! And while that was Miniscule to Current professional racing. How many weekend racers had that kind of money to go racing?

 

[Jeff]

Interesting Joe. Inflation from 1975 to 2016 is roughly 4.5 .... rounded up to $1.5 million, Bennie would be missing a zero in his area today. Motorsports has always had a monetary evolution, its like the idea guy at a tech start up .... rarely the same person running a mature company. It'll be fun to follow Dave running TS this weekend.

 

[Boo]

Not one to read anything into things.....but............

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...ouston-celebration-with-shell-oil-company-dsr

 

[Just Paul]

There are a few things NHRA could monitor/limit in terms of performance improvements. Things like the set back blowers and # of clutch disc.

2 things unrelated to big performance gains. There is a difference between making things more efficient, and just plain looking for more power.

 

[Muddy]

I still insist the easiest way to limit performance and cost is to limit the capacity of the fuel tank. You could over a period of time reduce fuel tank size from 30+ gallons to 10 (?). This would eliminate to need for dual fuel pumps, large blowers etc. Make it evolutionary not revolutionary and spread the cost and change over 3-6 years. Teams could plan for it and it would be easily enforced.

 

[Mike_in_Toney]

Not one to read anything into things.....but............

http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...ouston-celebration-with-shell-oil-company-dsr

Yeah, I thought Leah was a Quaker State Girl, or did that deal finish up?

Also as far as Mike Larson's comment about the small teams I just saw this...
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...sports-to-debut-road-rage-dragster-in-houston

 

[MHayes]

Yeah, I thought Leah was a Quaker State Girl, or did that deal finish up?

Shell Oil acquired Pennzoil-Quaker State in 2002.

 

[Boo]

Shell Oil acquired Pennzoil-Quaker State in 2002.

...Yep....beat me to it....

 

[MM]

I still insist the easiest way to limit performance and cost is to limit the capacity of the fuel tank. You could over a period of time reduce fuel tank size from 30+ gallons to 10 (?). This would eliminate to need for dual fuel pumps, large blowers etc. Make it evolutionary not revolutionary and spread the cost and change over 3-6 years. Teams could plan for it and it would be easily enforced.

Whose fuel tank is 30+ gallons??

 

[MHayes]

Whose fuel tank is 30+ gallons??

Are they currently around 15 gallons Mike?

 

[Muddy]

Whose fuel tank is 30+ gallons??

Ok, whatever they are they should be less than now. I'm not wise enough to know what it needs to be and it might need to be reduced as the CC's adjust to the reduced fuel available. This is probably the least expensive way to slow the cars down although as with any change there will be a transition period that could cause some breakage of parts, Make it a phased reduction as oppose to an abrupt drastic change. I know you don't agree with this but its still by far from a policing and control perspective the easiest way to slow the cars down and control it in the future

 

[Tony]

Shell Oil acquired Pennzoil-Quaker State in 2002.

From Wiki: Quaker State is an American brand of a motor oil made by SOPUS Products, a division of Royal Dutch Shell (RD), and the successor of the Pennzoil-Quaker State Company. Quaker State gets it name from the nickname for Pennsylvania, the state founded by William Penn, a Quaker.
www.quakerstate.com Page has a good write-up about Leah under Motorsports and Drivers. Could be why DSR is expanding their shop.

 

[MM]

Are they currently around 15 gallons Mike?

Most are between 15 and 18

 

[Pete]

Yeah, I thought Leah was a Quaker State Girl, or did that deal finish up?

Also as far as Mike Larson's comment about the small teams I just saw this...
http://www.competitionplus.com/drag...sports-to-debut-road-rage-dragster-in-houston

ITW Brands owns both Shell and Gumout. I'm not sure if Quaker State was Leah or BVR, but she is still associated with the Gumout folks.