True meaning

[art leong]

In the first place. The way the eliminator was worded was "class winners and quailified losers"
Not quaified losers then class winners.
A bunch of whining pansies were jealous because they couldn't race. And got the rule changed.
Years ago if you didn't win class you went home. The racers then were winners not whiners. If you didn't win class you didn't get to race.
But now a bunch of you seem to think its your God given right to race.
I want to THANK you for doing your best to RUIN the sport I grew up with.
__________________

[Torque addict]

It really all pretty BASIC.

Drag Racing was started on the premise of "TOP ELIMINATOR".

All the cars showed up the best driver and usually the fastest car that passed tech won. Pretty Simple..
HE was the top dog, the fastest guy, the TOP ELIMINATOR that beat guys with slower cars, ones that were not reliable and broke and those who red lit or slept at the tree.

Clasees were subsequently created to try to give eveyone a chance and level the playing field.
You won your class, you went to elminations to fight it out with the OTHER Class Winners and eliminate them to show you were the best.

NEVER MIND how much you were under some arbitary index or record, many of which are bogus or soft and do not show who is really fastest. We all know there are SOFT combos out there, for oddball cars in less popular classes. Is that sort of not the same as one guy showing up in a class who took the time to tow and build the car and qualify but he is the only one? ...Hmmmm...Saying guys that run way under in a class that nationally has a handful of competitve cars running in it and a soft index or record, these are not the "fastest" guys and they BEAT NO ONE to get in the eliminator!
Saying these guys merit an entry over a class winner that BEAT other in his class is bogus.

GUYS it is a RACE!!!
Somewhere where you BEAT the other guy in CLASS then in ELIMINATIONS to win. If you are in a class with 43 cars or just two, you earned your spot!!
Drag Racing us NOT about being politically correct and making people happy.
It is about being the baddest *** guy with the fastest car that put the other guys on the trailer and WINS it all by BEATING them to earn the bragging rights...if Not WHY have a race?? Why not just compare qualifying times and reaction tines to select a winner?? That would be the polically correct (PC) solution.
That is what this new rule is suggesting,,,think about it...


Racing is NOT about being PC, it is proving that there is a Winner and that beat all the Losers. Period



Cheers;
Derek

[Dick Butler]

Derek,
I second your comments. Next what can be done to move it back to rewarding Class wins? to getting more people to buy into the fact it means something to BEAT others to earn Class standing and a place in eliminator. Conditions and statistics must change to make it possible.

[Casey Miles]

Art I'm with you!
Indy has been run the pretty much the same for 53 years and all of a sudden they want to change it! It's like baseball doesn't have 10 innings and there aren't 4 outs because someone wanted them changed. Traditions stay the same. A class winner was in the eliminator and the other racers were guests to the race. S/SS racers are getting a raw deal out of this qualified field and they just don't see it yet.

To make sure that the playing field in Stock becomes even. All of the 1+ under cars should be looked at and refactored to the where they carry 10 to 100 lbs. per .01 to .10 under that their combination runs. If you qualify and your ET doesn't match your MPH, here again there should be a penalty of 100 LBS added to the car for the next qualifing round. I don't want to hear about working on the combination either, there are racers out there that don't go to professional engine builders to BUY the latest trick of the day. There are racers that really work on their own stuff in their garages part time and with limited funding. Stock Eliminator is turning into a cheap mans pro stock! If you want a car with a modified motor, go Comp racing!
Casey Miles
248H E/S (because of 4 HP)

[Dwight Southerland]

I personally would like to see eliminator participation based on class winners. If it is desirable to allow more cars to make a bigger field, add the class runners-up. Then pair them for first round according to their fastest times and try to match cars that run close to the same ET. The "qualifying" board would have the cars listed in order by ET, not how far under the index. After all, NOBODY is going to race off their index. Maybe some of the big-ego whiners would understand racing smart instead of racing checkbooks.

[House of Darts]

Wow! What refreashing ideas. I have garaged my SE until NHRA gets their act together. What kept me involved in SE is the variety of cars. Look at any old photos of Sportaman racers and you will see some real combos from Stock to MP to Gas. It gives the newcomer a desire to shoot for someting different. Look and see that most of SE is won in classes above G. I run a lower class and I can kill the record if I want to. I can be competitive. So what is my incentive to race SE? Could it be the fees? Or the 3-4 days for an event to run? The tech? Or the sand baggers? Or whatever? Of all the sportsman classes I have ever raced, SE is the best. NHRA does not make it easy. IHRA seems to be better at it. If I want to bracket race I pull out my bracket racer, pay $50-$75, tech is 15 mins., get 2-3 qualifying passes, race all out and be consistant w/in .2, collect some $ and glory, be home by 9 PM and be happy with the day. There is way too much complaining on this site. This is a symptom of a larger more serious problem. We are racers and we are not happy with the present format. A dedicated effort is required NOW to resolve many issuses. A review of the rules that were and are for SE and the changing times must be attacked now. Although I have never met Dave Ley from Div1 he seems to understand SE. He has put together a series of races for S/SS and those that participate are happy. I assume that there are others like Dave in other DIVs. that can pull this sport together Drag racing is the only sport where the sexes and all age groups and participate together. I would hate to lose such a competitive sports format! I support your commentary.

[Bryan Worner]

I thought all you winers (not just you Dick) were complaining how you didn't want "sandbagging" or 1000 ft. racing!! Now you have a rule where you get rewarded for being one of the 128 fastest cars......not a .5 second under class winner.....and you are against it??? Which side are you on?

To be a class winner, your car should be fast! With today's indexes and low horsepower ratings.......as most of you have been stating on here for the past 2 years or so......a class winner should be able to qualify in the top 128! Indy is the only race where this usually comes into play......so I guess if you don't have a capable car you should speed it up or stay home......that is if you want to complain about it!!! Or, if you are a true "performanced based racer" you should go to Indy, let 'er rip and hope for the best! Isn't that what you were all crying for??? Now you got it and your crying!

I'm sure you'll have some great class racing as always at Indy, and the fastest car won't always win class. But I'm sure those cars that have a fighting chance will qualify!

I'll agree with one thing Dick said......class wins need to be rewarded......like they used to! I remember when you could win $2000 or so, now it's $800, if you're lucky, or unless you own a brand new car.

Good luck to all!

[Dick Butler]

Bryan, Thanks for your comment on rewarding Class wins. My point is if you continue to degrade the winning of class by not rewarding the winner of reasonable sized class to run eliminator then why would others reward it? Why would it be a goal? Why will they even be needed with rules on parts and specs?
If fast racers in their class or NHRA wants to correct the problem of Bye run classes they dont want in Eliminator then Consolidate it so you get Class winners who WIN by beating some cars. Winners who HAVE to work to be fast in the other classes. Winners who give some crowd appeal to Class racing day, not just a two car bye down the track and take a meaningless trophy.
FIX the overall issue of TOO many Classes dividing up the cars so TOO many Bye runs or No Show classes. Then the Class racing can be rewarded and maybe become more popular with spectators then more sponsors and etc etc... could happen. If you doubt it thats fine but IT IS PROVING it is NOT valuable NOW as it is so what is there to lose by trying another approach (which worked before the numbers of classes was doubled)
IT IS THE TOO MANY CLASSES WHICH IS MAKING PEOPLE PUSH FOR THE QUICK 128 successfully.

[Bruce Noland]

Art,
You are in a very small minority of racers who think they can keep this idiotic drum beat going. Regrettably, I'm going to add one more post to the beat.

I seriously take objection with your "God given right" comment! You are over the line now! People work very hard on their cars to go to Indy. I didn't qualify on my first two attempts at Indy. But that made me work harder and it took ten trips to get my car fast enough to win class and to EARN a good spot on the sheet at Indy. It's my favorite trophy - so don't run this phony "God given right" stuff on us. That spot on the sheet and class trophy took ten years of hard damn work and I'm not going to sit around and watch you malcontents run it down. There are hundreds of people who have been on this very same path and will be on it in the future and you will not get away with dumping on our achievements.

You guys don't even show up at Indy and you're out here taking a big dump on this site. You can see from Evan's response how the whole thing went down and you can also see that the majority of the racers agree with the new rule. So don't come out here and dump your angry garbage on us. You guys can go fast enough to win class and beat the bump but you want to stage this phony protest like you have been cheated. All you are succeeding in doing is making people angry.

[Matt Welker]

I'm with you Bruce, Winning Class at Indy is what S/SS is all about and they will always be the most special Wallys on my shelf. The eliminator is just a bonus. Bring your best and have the real possibility of being torn down to prove you are legal. Six D/SA cars this year, win or lose, I can't wait to compete.

-Matt Welker
D/SA 1741