[MikeFicacci]

I obviously don't have a dog in this pony show but it was pretty clear what was going to happen from the get-go and anyone who said otherwise was completely blind to the situation. I like to think I have a pretty good idea of the kind of horsepower it takes to run AA and A and at what weight. During my stint with Source Interlink Media, we were at E-town almost every weekend with brand new Mustangs, Corvettes, and just about everything else and guys were practically throwing on a set of slicks, headers, intake and a smaller pulley and running close to130+ mph. Let's also keep in mind that the factory boost on a GT500 is somewhere around 7 pounds and a typical street pulley change creates around 10 pounds of boost. The CJ's are at.....14-16 pounds of boost from the factory.

The main problem I saw was that some of the first hp numbers we were seeing from these cars was around 700, maybe a little more. Of course that is a lot of power but not enough for an 8-second pass (something these cars WILL DO and Bruce and I have been saying since 2008). What a lot of people seemed to forget was that the torque/power curve of these cars cars is a "box" meaning that a 700 horsepower supercharged motor at 15 pounds of boost is making AT LEAST 700 lb-ft of torque down low.

I think the CJ's are pretty cool and the fact that most of them are now only AA cars basically brings us right back to where things were 3 years ago before the class even existed. The Mopars however are a completely different story and I don't know enough about them only to be able to say they are wicked fast and hopefully will join the CJ's in AA. Let's not forget that Ford's whole plan two years ago was a class specifically for the CJ, new Challenger, and new Camaro and that's personally something I would love to see.

My general feeling is that NHRA just doesn't care enough to tell Ford the proposed horsepower ratings are ridiculous. (Take a look at the 2010 428ci fuel-injected motor rated at 378 for a good chuckle.) Unfortunately these crazy ratings are going to hurt the class in the long run. Gone are the days of searching for 5 horsepower over the winter. The gear heads getting dirty under race cars with blood, sweat, and tears between rounds tweaking every last nano-second out of his race car is soon going to be a thing of the past.

In the midst of a recession where people may not have sure whether to go to the far-away race, NHRA gave people without $80,000 sitting around a great reason to stay home.