New cars, old cars and horsepower ratings.

[Marvin Robinson]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lee

Could we stay focused on the subject? Start a thread in tech about tunning your carbs or FI. This thread is supposed to revolve about ideas to keep the older cars in attendance.
Right, wrong or indifferent to NHRA adding the Super Cars, they are here to stay. I firmly believe (again, right or wrong, that's my opinion) NHRA doesn't want S/SS to go away, nor do I believe they want to see the "traditional" cars to fade away. I'm of the opinion NHRA is somewhat concerned about the top heaviness of the Super Cars and are open to debate amongst the S/SS committee to find a reasonable solution. As stated earlier, no solution is foolproof but I believe something can be worked out which will benefit many.
Logistically, I can't see any way NHRA would want to ad another class such as Stock GT to park, much less police.
I believe the factories are behind seeing more heads up runs and do not like the combo races based on my own conversations and also hearsay.
All issues combined can be resolved with combining sticks and autos & lowering the HP of the older vehicles. Things like Stick or auto HP standards can be worked out (those I've spoken to & myself don't care which HP is used or split the difference) and a 5% drop in HP would find a lot of cars approximately 150#'s lighter.
To summarize, the face of Stock doesn't change with HP changes. It's easy & across the board.
Combining sticks and autos leads to more heads up runs and most likely an increase in competition and less lifting.
For it or against it, let your representatives know your thoughts.

Jeff, I mostly agree, but I think adding HP to the newer cars is a far simpler, easier and fair way to balance, compared to making changes to hundreds of older cars (although i would LOVE to take wt out of my F/SA). It might work if the percentage was applied universally to all older cars, but that might not be fair. Combining sticks/autos together would make for larger classes in runoffs, a good idea if the proper adjustments are made for the two... maybe we can get a consensus on that and move forward with it. How effectively can this be worked thru the current committee(s), or do we need to develop a new forum to get the relevant parties working together?