Originally Posted by cutta (Post 448160)

Anybody have a legit plan for the transition from "current" Pro Stock to what Pro Stock should be? How do you soften the blow of telling teams to sell off millions of dollars of product(ie their current engine programs) to start new engine programs with current production engines. Also, a rule set has to be formed as well between all the different combos and a decision has to be made on whether things will stay naturally aspirated or go boosted(that could be a major talking point as most PS guys are faithfully NA). Considering the people that are already pouring millions of dollars into Pro Stock, you most definitely need their support in whatever plan you come up with because if teams like Ken Black and Allen Johnson decided to retire, your program could be in serious jeopardy because there's no guarantee you could replace their support and money.


In my opinion, I think NHRA needs to develop a 3-5yr transition plan to make Pro Stock more appealing. The first change that should be implemented immediately is a move to carbon fiber stock dimension bodies and rules to adjust for any aerodynamic disadvantages OEM to OEM to maintain parity. The next rule change(within a year) should be a move to fuel injection. Third, they need to develop a plan of how to bring the engines being used closer to OEM production platforms that way teams don't have to throw away all of their current parts. It will still be expensive but it will soften the blow.

At the end of the day, its not a simple fix because you still are having to convince millionaires to trash their current programs and build completely new ones. Thats a hard conversation to have and even harder to keep teams from calling it quits.

Originally Posted by joespanova (Post 448163)

Then let em go.......go do something else for fun. Nobody held or holds a gun to any of these guys heads to Pro Stock race. Most of the guys do something else for income and these are just fun toys , albeit expensive ones.....time for a "changing of the guard" as they say? Bring in the new blood from the legions of 10.5 heads up camps that would be more than willing to fill in the gaps left by the vacating current N.A. camps. Replace Pro Stock with 10.5 cars.
Yeah.....let em go , cry babies anyway.

Originally Posted by cutta (Post 448175)

The only problem with your resolution is that most 10.5 legends wouldn't be able to afford to go coast to coast with a national series. That is a big "what if" that you are suggesting. Replacing the millions of dollars of support that your talking about getting rid of is not an easy task. Even now, 10.5 and X275 are not nationally supported. 10.5 is pretty much only supported in the Northeast and Canada. X275 is pretty regional as well. When you have a vested group that have roots in a class like PS, you need to work with them not write them off which is why I think the change to occur needs to happen over 3-5yr span. It can't be knee-jerk or abrupt.