Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

I agree with most of your post but I do believe the Big 3 can influence class selection if they were inclined to do the right thing for the sport.

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

Hey Billy, How about new cars with old motors?
I would love to see you in lets say a 2010 Camaro with the 230 and a PG!:)

As an incentive to update to newer body styles put all of the old combos back to the original HP maybe 10 % less!

I like all of the stockers both new and old but but I think NHRA wants to give the class a fresh look!

A quick look on the net shows many "salvage title" new cars for a lot less money then some of the new "Crate motors"

This way guys could run a combo that they put so much hard work and time into and still be able to sell the old car to a bracket racer or put it back on the street.

Crazy idea but this is what happens when I think out loud !:)

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

Absolutely. But which of the big 3 will "do the right thing" and be at a disadvantage to the others if the rest don't follow suit? Everybody is always looking for an advantage.

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

Greg, at what point in time does Stock get watered down to the point that realistically we are a flat hood and 9" tires and dems da rules? We are already ET-2 for crying out loud. i can actually understand why the manufacturers did what they did, because they can't build drag race type cars anymore. The Feds won't let them. Too many regulations and requirements. Better off to build some one-offs and sell them as what they are, not for street use. Now the way they are rating them is another story. NHRA has always given new cars a softer rating to encourage racers to build them. Now, with the AHFS in play I feel that NHRA should be doing just the opposite and factoring them on the high side until they are on the track. At that time, after some cars have actually raced, they should be reviewed just like all other combos and lowered if needed.

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

Factoring them on the high side will assure that no one will build them. Just look at how many of the late model LS3s for example have been built.

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out an average multiplier for any engine family rating, and start all new combos of the same family using that same multiplier. By engine family I mean LS, or 3 valve N/A etc, and by multiplier I mean factored hp vs factory hp.

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

That combo is already legal to run in IHRA Stock GT ;)

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

IHRA already does this.. sort-of.

Any 1980 and newer Stock body with any 1979 and older Stock engine.

All they have to do is eliminate the "1979 and older engine" in the rule book. ;)

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

Greg, I kinda like your idea, but I'd vote for bringing back the FI classes and combining sticks/autos. Then the newer cars can battle it out amongst themselves and we’d have more cars in each class. It is hard for a guy to want to spend big bucks to find .05 in a 40 year old engine when the guy with the newer car can turn a screw and pick up .50. It really takes all the fun out of class racing. Hidalgo told me last year when I was icing my car for a race with Teuton…”should have saved the ice for the beer”… Boy, he was right!

Re: New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.
 

Im sure that with enough letters and phone calls to Mike Baker he would eliminate the "1979 and OLDER" engine requirement AND the 1980 and newer body styles in the rule book for GT stock. I put that in place many years ago and I think its time to be updated. Probibly would NOT work very well to put them in stock with the regular stockers because of the bogus HP factors they have. GT stock dosent have very many cars running in it anyway.These combos didnt even exist when I was writing the rules for stock. many years ago. He is very in tune to what the racers want and really a good guy. Only thing I see is the cars would be an IHRA ONLY combos like the crate motored cars and the existing GT stockers but that is a good thing for IHRA. Better car counts are always a good thing. Let the NHRA "die hards" keep what they have and go for it. They dont race IHRA anyway. Improved car counts would ensure that "Stock" type combos would still have a place to race in IHRA for years to come and it might surprise some of you how popular it might be. If enough want to try to get it pushed thru I will try to call him and see how it "flys" with him.