I talked to Wayne last night, and he wanted to go on the record and explain why the 7.49 or quicker is what the T/D series will be based off.
I have been helping with the details on this so I speak for what Wayne and I have talked about.
Two reason why this came to be the maximum E.T. break.
First; One problem that has always occurred with having a 7.50 or slower car is the chassis cert and the license are different then going 7.49 or quicker. What has happened many times all over the country and happened to me at the first T/D race last year is a racer who goes 7.48, and isn't licensed, or chassis certed to go that quick. So now we as a series have two different set of rules, two different sets of technical requirements, and face the issue of a 7.50 racer going 7.48 and getting a win light. When that happens, they disqualified by the NHRA rules.
Knowing that all cars are licensed and chassis certed to 7.49 or quicker, we will never have "two sets" of rules to make sure we follow.
Second, and the biggest argument with cars going 7.70 to 7.50 is that if they
really wanted to run Top Dragster anywhere they went, the money and parts would be invested to get there car to run 7. 20 or 7.30. The track has asked that we produce a Top Dragster series with FAST cars. We know by the responce Wayne received that over 20 cars that are 7.49 and quicker are interested. This is another reason thet the 7.49 or qucker has been created.
Some of the sponsors of this class rely on racers upgrading there cars to quicker. By racers spending money with our sponsors, the two to three tenths they need to go 7.49 and quicker show that they are investing in the "Advanced ET" aspect of NHRA drag racing.
We are going into this knowing that we may have a few short feilds based on weather, or the economy. The fact is that we could look at every class and say, why don't we allow a 9.99 car to run Super Pro, even if they don't fall into the spec, or why not let some Top Sportsman cras into the Top Dragster feild so we can have a full feild. When does it stop?
Ask any racer who has built a Top Dragster how much effort and time they put into building there car. They will all tell you that they created a TOP DRAGSTER, not a weekly bracket racing car, or a Super Comp car, but a Top Dragster. The same agument is that racers who have a 7.50 to 7.70 car didn't build a Top Dragster, they built a reliable weekly bracket racing car or a Super Comp car with no throttle stop.
Wayne and myself can't bracket race on Nitrous because we go 6.99 or quicker. Can the rules be changed so we can at least bracket race in the 6 second range? No. So we find Top Dragster races to run instead.
We know the people who don't care for this ruling. And I'm sure they are saying that we will have short feilds because of it, but the class needs to have set standard that it can grow from. We know from the races at New England Dragway that the quickest 16 cars are in the 7.30's anyway, so we felt that when the class is up and running, the 7.49 or quicker will not even be a consideration.
Wayne will be back in a few weeks from Florida. I can be contacted at
scott@tedblackmotorsports.com
Any e-mails I get will be fowarded to Wayne and the possibilty of meeting could be made. Any responces I get will be made public so others can be aware of counter acting points that have been. We are not here to only give one side, but have respectful discussions.
Scott Hall