[Rory McNeil]

Maybe I`m not very bright, but I really don`t see how lowering the indexs 2 tenths, 5 tenths etc would really accomplish anything , other than hurting the guys at the lower end of the food chain, and quite likely discouraging new blood from getting into Stock or S/S. By lowering the indexs, you are not really changing the qualifying positons, only the ET numbers at the end. If NHRA did lower the indexs, they would also likely lower the AHFS number as well, so what would the benefit be? Some of you guys are going on about these classes being performance based, yet many of you same people are also complaining about having to hit the brakes, or lift early to save your combination, that doesn`t sound very performance based to me. If you can run 1.40 under maybe, just maybe you may need a HP hit. My own Stocker has never been close to 1 second under (.830 under best for far), but I run it flat out every race, I`m not "holding" a few tenths in the bank, kinda seems that guys like me who run our cars hard all the time are more "performance based" than the sandbaggers! Personally, if NHRA did drop the indexs 2 /10s, iit wouldn`t really hurt me, but on the other hand, I can`t see it helping me either. I do believe that some of this sour grapes by the older racers is due to the fact that some of the more sucessful race winners in recent years have been newer guys that have come into Stock and S/S after years of bracket racing, and many of thier cars don`t run the quick ET`s, but with shrewd driving skills, they win a lot of races. To many of them, a consistant car that goes rounds and doesn`t break stuff makes more sense than shooting for a top ten qualifying position. Also, many of these "damn bracket racers" seem to be more concerned about winning a $10,000 + National event than picking up a few hundred (maybe) for winning class. Personally, I can see both sides of the coin, I have been a lowly bracket racer since the mid 70`s, & I have only been running my own fairly low buck Stocker for the past 5 years, even though I have been involved with various friends class cars for many years. As anybody can tell by taking a look in the pits at a NHRA Nat`l or divisional race, the amount of disposable income (or willingness to use the credit cards!) varies greatly amongst racers, some guys have 1/2 million dollar tow rigs, other use a 30 year old pickup and an old open trailer. Obviously a racer who can afford a 40 foot Monaco coach and a multi car stacker trailer is likely to also have the funds to purchase the newest and greatest pro built cars and powertrains, but I think that trying to push out the little guy will only reduce car counts, and I think NHRA could take that as a sign of dwindling interest in class racing, and does anybody really think that would be desirable?