[Evan Smith]

The point for many S/SS racers is to build a fast car, because that is the original spirit of the class and many still get a thrill from out running the competition, be it during qualifying, Class Eliminations or during a random heads-up run.

Unfortunately, the AHFS has NOT kept up with the performance of the cars. It's just not that hard to run 1.15 under (just look at Indy qualifying), and NHRA hasn't made the necessary changes to keep up with the fact that today's Stockers are more advanced thanks to aftermarket brakes, radial tires, lightweight clutches, ultra-lightweight automatic transmissions, data-logging, etc. So widespread sandbagging has become the norm because who would spend all that time and money, just to add weight after a few months?

The SRAC tried desperately to make NHRA to understand that this was/is a big problem. We offered solid suggestions to help NHRA make necessary changes to the trigger system so those willing to spend money/time/brainpower/etc. were not wasting their time by improving their cars just to have them factored. We got nowhere! I can't tell you where in the chain of command it made it to, but somewhere our words fell on deaf ears. It's quite sad actually, because moving the triggers would not affect the slower cars, but would reward the fast guys.

I'm not on here to bash NHRA, but there is some work/changes that needs to be made to make racing better. There is talk of dropping the indexes, and i think that is a big joke. All that needs to be done is to modify the triggers a little so there is more incentive to run all out. Additionally, all runs need to count towards the AHFS. Of course more racers would get hit, but the current system doesn't represent the majority of runs.

MOST racers go to 1-3 nationals events a year, but many more Opens and Points races. It's easy to sandbag 1-3 times a year to save your average, but who is going to do that all the time? So, if you want the real data, you have to look at all runs, including factored tracks and mine-shaft weather tracks. Then make educated changes based on a bevy of runs, not one or two killer passes that don't represent the class or combo average.

Evan