Decisions from NHRA on Proposals

Ed Carpenter · 03-13-2018, 05:33 PM

Attention all NHRA racers. This is the latest email I received in response to my proposals. In the end not much of anything will change. It's disappointing. If you look at his responses it is clear he and nhra talked to other racers and SRAC reps and they are scared to hit their combo and don't want the inconvenience of being torn down hence they don't want to set any records. So the racers are a big problem here not nhra. I tried and I thought I had the support of the racers but that simply wasn't the case. So there will be no incentives to run fast or set records in a performance based class because the racers themselves won't support it. Amazing.....

Ed,
Again , sorry for our delay in getting back to you on your suggestions. We really appreciate hearing from passionate racers like you. We have talked at length about your suggestions internally and with the Stock and Super Stock SRAC. Below are the results of those discussions.

Bring performance back to Stock and Super Stock through incentives
There are a couple of things that we identified that discourage racer from setting records
The Automatic Horsepower Factoring System (AHFS)
i. Racers don’t seem willing to take the hit to their combination levied by the AHFS – this is demonstrated by the fact that a high percentage of the records recently have been at National Opens like Division 4’s Belle Rose, Division 1’s Dutch Classic and Division 3’s Fall Classic. As you are aware the AHFS is not in effect during National Opens. We encourage record setting at these events and at the Dutch they are even permitted to set records on the test day.
Racers don’t want to deal with getting torn down – It is not a big deal for us to tear down cars making runs (we do it at the National Opens I just mentioned), but racers are not as apt to want their cars torn down as in the past. This is particularly true of many of the newer combinations.

We discussed your idea of points and the general consensus was that it would have too much of an impact to the National and Divisional Championships.

The group did agree that more recognition (National Dragster, Social Media etc.) could help. I will personally look into this to see what can be done.

Combining Stick and Automatics
This has been discussed at length with the Stock and Super Stock SRAC. Below is a good explanation of why it hasn’t been done from an email we recently received from one of the SRAC members that I think sums it up well:
This will be at least the third time this subject has been hashed over. As much as I would like to find a way to do that, as we have already researched, it will be impossible to arrive at a fair and equitable way to achieve that goal. From memory some indexes were close or the same and others were as much as 3 tenths difference from Sticks to Automatics. There is no way you could ask someone to carry an extra 300 pounds in their car even if the weight restriction would allow it. The only way you could run class between a Stick combo and Automatic would be with a handicap start and that would undermine the Heads-up identity of class racing. At this time without re-writing all of the current weight breaks and combinations there is no way it will work and be fair to all.

Running Class at More National and Divisional Events
While we agree with you that it would be nice to run more class but the simple answer is that it is a scheduling problem and limited by the amount of time we have at an event.

I hope that these answers are not discouraging, but I have learned over the years that Stock and Super Stock are the most complex classes we have. What seems like a simple solution to improve the class many times has a negative impact in some way that we could never imagine. Working with the Stock and Super Stock SRAC representatives from all seven divisions helps us take more of a global view on these issues and minimizes the chance that we make a bad decision for the classes. Again, we appreciate you input on these matters and if you want us to address any other issues please feel free to communicate them to either your division SRAC representative or myself.

Regards
Glen Gray
NHRA
Vice President Technical Operations

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03-13-2018, 05:33 PM	#1
Ed Carpenter Live Reporter Join Date: May 2006 Location: Dripping Springs, Tx Posts: 2,697 Likes: 185 Liked 502 Times in 125 Posts	Decisions from NHRA on Proposals Attention all NHRA racers. This is the latest email I received in response to my proposals. In the end not much of anything will change. It's disappointing. If you look at his responses it is clear he and nhra talked to other racers and SRAC reps and they are scared to hit their combo and don't want the inconvenience of being torn down hence they don't want to set any records. So the racers are a big problem here not nhra. I tried and I thought I had the support of the racers but that simply wasn't the case. So there will be no incentives to run fast or set records in a performance based class because the racers themselves won't support it. Amazing..... Ed, Again , sorry for our delay in getting back to you on your suggestions. We really appreciate hearing from passionate racers like you. We have talked at length about your suggestions internally and with the Stock and Super Stock SRAC. Below are the results of those discussions. Bring performance back to Stock and Super Stock through incentives There are a couple of things that we identified that discourage racer from setting records The Automatic Horsepower Factoring System (AHFS) i. Racers don’t seem willing to take the hit to their combination levied by the AHFS – this is demonstrated by the fact that a high percentage of the records recently have been at National Opens like Division 4’s Belle Rose, Division 1’s Dutch Classic and Division 3’s Fall Classic. As you are aware the AHFS is not in effect during National Opens. We encourage record setting at these events and at the Dutch they are even permitted to set records on the test day. Racers don’t want to deal with getting torn down – It is not a big deal for us to tear down cars making runs (we do it at the National Opens I just mentioned), but racers are not as apt to want their cars torn down as in the past. This is particularly true of many of the newer combinations. We discussed your idea of points and the general consensus was that it would have too much of an impact to the National and Divisional Championships. The group did agree that more recognition (National Dragster, Social Media etc.) could help. I will personally look into this to see what can be done. Combining Stick and Automatics This has been discussed at length with the Stock and Super Stock SRAC. Below is a good explanation of why it hasn’t been done from an email we recently received from one of the SRAC members that I think sums it up well: This will be at least the third time this subject has been hashed over. As much as I would like to find a way to do that, as we have already researched, it will be impossible to arrive at a fair and equitable way to achieve that goal. From memory some indexes were close or the same and others were as much as 3 tenths difference from Sticks to Automatics. There is no way you could ask someone to carry an extra 300 pounds in their car even if the weight restriction would allow it. The only way you could run class between a Stick combo and Automatic would be with a handicap start and that would undermine the Heads-up identity of class racing. At this time without re-writing all of the current weight breaks and combinations there is no way it will work and be fair to all. Running Class at More National and Divisional Events While we agree with you that it would be nice to run more class but the simple answer is that it is a scheduling problem and limited by the amount of time we have at an event. I hope that these answers are not discouraging, but I have learned over the years that Stock and Super Stock are the most complex classes we have. What seems like a simple solution to improve the class many times has a negative impact in some way that we could never imagine. Working with the Stock and Super Stock SRAC representatives from all seven divisions helps us take more of a global view on these issues and minimizes the chance that we make a bad decision for the classes. Again, we appreciate you input on these matters and if you want us to address any other issues please feel free to communicate them to either your division SRAC representative or myself. Regards Glen Gray NHRA Vice President Technical Operations __________________________________________________ __________ Buckingham Confirms Unfortunate News risingstarnewspaper.com http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/...a99790est01vuc SponsoredBy Content.Ad __________________ Ed Carpenter 2005 Chevy Cobalt A/SM Race Engine Development Last edited by Ed Carpenter; 03-14-2018 at 11:53 AM.