[bill dedman]

Well, here's the anecdote 4-4-2Olds referred to, earlier.

In the '60s, the cars were weighed to ensure that the required weight was adhered to.
My car had a required weight weight of 3,105, (B/G coupe; 9 pounds per cubic inch/345-inch Olds) and brother, it didn't race that class, if it weighed 3,104.

I weighed 220... our "go-fer" wanted to drive it (he was 98 pounds, and was 16) so we all laughed and let him. He ran a tenth quicker than I had ever run, on his first pass.... We had a new driver!

This was back in the dark ages, so don't laugh too loud.

I had a good friend who had a KILLER "A Street Roadster." This was about the time that Judy Lilly was becoming well-known (about a hundred pounds.)

Unfortunately, the guy who built and drove the Street Roadster weighed about 350...

As it has been stated, the car was weighed, and if it was the correct weight, that was it; you could put a 400 pound driver in there (costing yourself about .4-sec) or, a 9-pound trained mongoose... your choice.

I did some rudimentary math, and put it in a letter to National Dragster regarding how much performance BIG people were losing on this deal by NHRA not weighing the driver and the car, together. I pointed out how much quicker my friend's roadster would be with Judy Lilly driving it, compared with him. It was something like 3+ car-lengths.

Bill Holland (I think he runs a company called "Holland Comunications," now) was the editor of National Dragster at the time (probably around 1973, or so???) and he printed my letter. His "editorial response" was one of comic-outrage, and feigned disbelief; he wanted to know how it would be possible to police weighing the drivers with the car, and asked in mock-sincerity, "Should we weigh these drivers in their Jockey shorts, or fully-clothed?"

In short he ridiculed the idea within an inch of its life, (probably at he behest of some NHRA Druid,).in an attempt to make it look like it had come from an inmate at Bellevue, in the last stages of dimentia... It was very clear that NHRA did NOT want to deal with this issue.

But, I wasn't laughing...

I don't remember the time that elapsed, but it wasn't long after that that a bunch of "big-guy" NHRA Pro Stock drivers demanded that NHRA start including driver weights with the cars.
I don't know how they got it done, but, they did. I have heard that "Dyno" Don Nicholson was one of the motivating forces behind that action.

Not long after that, NHRA started weighing everybody with the cars, and came up with the "shipping weight + 170 pounds" for cars classsified by advertised (or, factored) horsepower and shipping weights.

That was a long time ago; maybe 1974-'75.

Never have heard a word from Mr. Holland, to this day... lol!
To be fair, he was, like Adolf Eichmann, probably just following orders... LOL!!!