[Billy Hampton]

So, a return to "first one to the finish line wins" is not wanted? When my dad ran, it was off the records and no break-out, Class Racing, not "bracket racing".

You could do this today by implementing a strict HP factoring system to automatically factor all runs for a season, (and get EVERY combination corrected to about -1.1). NHRA could reset to "even this out" for all combos so, no more break outs, no more ridiculously under-factored combos, etc.

THEN you could run- no breakout to the finish line.
You could always have a bracket race combo event if you don't want to compete in a performance based event. I bet all the races would be within a few hundredths after this was allowed to "run-in" for a couple of seasons.

Accurate HP factors would return Stock and SS to its true roots.