NHRA ProStock changes coming!

[charlie westcott]

I sent this letter to NHRA today. Not expecting much out of it, but I felt it needed to be said.


As you know, I am in the process of building a PS car. I keep hearing these rumors online, and hearing the BS spewed by people that have no clue, "keyboard racers". It offends me when people slam the class that people like me have looked up to their whole lives.
I am well aware that your organization owns the sand box that I play in, and I will as always abide by the rules of whatever class I choose to run in, but it scares me when I hear that you want to make wholesale changes to a mainstay of NHRA drag racing.
I feel that it is opportunistic to say that it needs "fixing" because of poor car counts, when every class there has poor turnout. I remember when there were 100 ss cars at a points meet, when now there are 50. Does that need fixing as well?
If the class is made so the "average" racer can do it, what will happen is a bunch of people will jump in the first year, then after they figure out that the same people that dominated before, will continue to do so, they will go back to racing whatever they were before, or quit, which no one needs.
The argument is commonly made that "new cars dont have carburetors". Well, new cars also have 4 doors, and front wheel drive, so why dont the keyboard racers lobby for a class for them also.
The problem as I see it is, the people dont know about, or care about the drivers. There arent many driver/tuners/builders like there used to be. Everyone has a big wallet and rents a motor, or car, blows their wad, then when they run out of money, they quit.
If the rules are changed, the people with the most money/manpower are going to dominate, then rent motors to the others, and we are right back to where we are.

I have spent around 150K on my project so far, and am actually real close to putting the engine in the car to go test. I feel like now I have to hurry up before our class is gone.

I have listened to (name withheld by me) spew about how PS sucks, and the new cars are the way to go, and feel that as a marketing person, his arguments are self serving, and good for no one.

The new cars arent bringing "new" blood into the sport, how many young racers do you know that can spend 90k on a car to run stock? The buyers of those cars are more rich guys, that know nothing about the roots of drag racing.

I dont know if I will see you at indy this year, I think I am going to stay here and try to get my new car ready so I can run it before its obsolete.

thanks
cw