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Nick Heath · 09-04-2014, 01:27 PM

Mark, I think you have a lot of great ideas!

The idea of having all "FX" cars in a separate eliminator is nice, but aside from Indy, how often are the "FX" cars preventing others from making the field? How often are there enough of them to make a quality show?

I think that NHRA wants to grow the FSS into something bigger, maybe even a professional or semi-professional category outside of Stock. The catch is, the FSS needs to be heads up, or with a limited number of categories (e.g. FS/A and FS/B) to put on the best show.
If we have FS/A, FS/B, FS/C, FS/D, FS/E, FS/F... for every factory combination and run them together like Comp Eliminator, would that really appeal to the masses? We would end up with Luke Ubelhor beating Chris Holbrook or a 352 CJ with a stick beating Bruno Massel...

I say, keep the FS/A and FS/B categories in Stock and run them like a SS Modified class, where the AHFS triggers an index reduction rather than HP addition.
Then maybe you have A/FX, B/FX, C/FX, D/FX for today's A/SA, C/SA, etc. combinations. But I guarantee you there would still be complaining when a factory combination that hasn't been touched (e.g. a stick combination) goes -1.40 under, even though it's in an FX class!

I'm still of the belief that if the HP ratings were correct from the start, 75% of the problem would be gone (how you get them correct is an entirely different discussion...).
Case in point - after Indy, the aforementioned B/SA COPO is now a natural BB/SA COPO. That particular combination will never again beat up on an older car in A/SA or B/SA. Could Chevrolet come out with another "FX" combination @ 380hp that runs B/SA next year? Absolutely, but doesn't that just prove that the entire system is flawed, far beyond the factory cars?

Forgive me for going off topic here, but look at any of Bob Shaw's combinations over the years, the 350 Chevy trucks, Larry Hill's truck with a stick, the fleet of 302 Ford 2bbls, the Dodge Dakotas from the early 00s, the LS1s and LT1s...
All of those guys deserve all of the credit they've ever gotten for going fast - but you can't convince me that those combinations didn't benefit from being in the class guide at their OEM HP rating.
Just like if I built a 352 Cobra Jet tomorrow, I would benefit from it being in the class guide at the so called 285hp "OEM" HP rating.

09-04-2014, 01:27 PM	#4
Nick Heath Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Jersey Shore Posts: 359 Likes: 1,444 Liked 566 Times in 135 Posts	Re: What's wrong with Stock? Mark, I think you have a lot of great ideas! The idea of having all "FX" cars in a separate eliminator is nice, but aside from Indy, how often are the "FX" cars preventing others from making the field? How often are there enough of them to make a quality show? I think that NHRA wants to grow the FSS into something bigger, maybe even a professional or semi-professional category outside of Stock. The catch is, the FSS needs to be heads up, or with a limited number of categories (e.g. FS/A and FS/B) to put on the best show. If we have FS/A, FS/B, FS/C, FS/D, FS/E, FS/F... for every factory combination and run them together like Comp Eliminator, would that really appeal to the masses? We would end up with Luke Ubelhor beating Chris Holbrook or a 352 CJ with a stick beating Bruno Massel... I say, keep the FS/A and FS/B categories in Stock and run them like a SS Modified class, where the AHFS triggers an index reduction rather than HP addition. Then maybe you have A/FX, B/FX, C/FX, D/FX for today's A/SA, C/SA, etc. combinations. But I guarantee you there would still be complaining when a factory combination that hasn't been touched (e.g. a stick combination) goes -1.40 under, even though it's in an FX class! I'm still of the belief that if the HP ratings were correct from the start, 75% of the problem would be gone (how you get them correct is an entirely different discussion...). Case in point - after Indy, the aforementioned B/SA COPO is now a natural BB/SA COPO. That particular combination will never again beat up on an older car in A/SA or B/SA. Could Chevrolet come out with another "FX" combination @ 380hp that runs B/SA next year? Absolutely, but doesn't that just prove that the entire system is flawed, far beyond the factory cars? Forgive me for going off topic here, but look at any of Bob Shaw's combinations over the years, the 350 Chevy trucks, Larry Hill's truck with a stick, the fleet of 302 Ford 2bbls, the Dodge Dakotas from the early 00s, the LS1s and LT1s... All of those guys deserve all of the credit they've ever gotten for going fast - but you can't convince me that those combinations didn't benefit from being in the class guide at their OEM HP rating. Just like if I built a 352 Cobra Jet tomorrow, I would benefit from it being in the class guide at the so called 285hp "OEM" HP rating. Last edited by Nick Heath; 09-04-2014 at 01:30 PM.