Crate Motor Class

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by bsa633

Most of us like the "shoepolish part" mainly because thats the only way to keep racing all these different make's and models against each other in a fair way ..otherwise it could probably be an "all Camaro race" or similar
..some always call this a glorified bracket race. but thats NOT TRUE...I guess.thats mostly guys that dont care or dare to take the challenge "to win thier Class"..
there is nothing really wrong with the way NHRA class is run and what classes we have now..the factors and rating will allways be "the talk in the pits"..part of the fun? New Ford's and Challengers in the breed now..soon something new to "bitch about"
Pomona is filled in S and SS too!

I would agree with that. Sort of a "necisary evil", to create a relatively level playing field for all. I've heard suggestions that we should go back to the old days, of running off of the record, or run like Comp, off the Index, both with first-to-the-finish-line wins. It would certainly be a lot of fun to watch. Every year at Indy, when it came time for Class, I was always the first pair down, so I could hurry back and watch the rest of the racing. But, participation would definately decline severely if the Eliminator were to be run by either of the ways mentioned above. Case in point: In October 1998 at the Dutch Classic, Div 1 came up with a "fun race". Pay a fee (I think twenty bucks). The eight drivers with the best reaction time of those that signed up, got into an eight car race. Participation was very good, I think twenty or more cars signed up. The next spring, D-1 decided to expand to sixteen cars, run similar to Comp Elimintator. They took the average ET of the cars that qualified (in relation to the Index) and set that as the CIC (using a second under, on a one-to-one ratio), to begin for first round. So, if the average ET was -1.037, and you had a GT/DA, your Index dropped from 10.80 to 10.77 for round one, and CIC hits would accumulate. First one there was the winner. The three events under this format (Delmar Open, Atco Open, and Maple Grove FMDRS), the car counts were five, seven, and nine respectively in Super Stock, and not much better for Stock. I think this would be the case if the eliminators were turned into a first-to-the-stripe wins. Some would be all for it, many would be against it. I guess no matter what way it becomes, not everyone will be happy. I guess the easiest, cheapest (?), and fairest way would be to leave it as it is. Seems to have worked for the past twenty years. Some will race no matter what the rules, some will complain no matter what the situation. Like Terry Bell or someone said earlier, the main things we should be arguing are far more important that bracket vs heads-up, crate vs regular Stockers, etc. Payouts, entry fees, poor event scheduling, track conditions, class rotation, cost savings fairness of rules interpertation and application, etc etc would seem to be the more important issues right now.

B.D.