The Future Of The .90 Classes

[Tom Goldman]

The "problem " with Super class racing is that when conceived Horse Power to run 9.90 or 8.90 was not easy to build or cheap.
It was a challenge that many of us embraced and rose to.
With the advent of modern cylinder heads ,cranks and blocks anyone can build a big or small block engine capable of HorsePower that Pro Stockers have !
NHRA failed to adapt the classes to the increased power at racers disposal. ....While other Sportsman classes, Comp ,Super Stock, and Stock experienced similar explosions in Horse Power ,their Class Indexes dropped accordingly while the Super Classes were left alone .
The time to lower the .90 indexes is LONG over due . ....There is no reason that all indexes could not be lowered at least one full second if not more . personally I would love to see them at 7.90 ,8.50 and 9.90 respectively

[63corvette]

Originally Posted by Tom Goldman

The "problem " with Super class racing is that when conceived Horse Power to run 9.90 or 8.90 was not easy to build or cheap.
It was a challenge that many of us embraced and rose to.
With the advent of modern cylinder heads ,cranks and blocks anyone can build a big or small block engine capable of HorsePower that Pro Stockers have !
NHRA failed to adapt the classes to the increased power at racers disposal. ....While other Sportsman classes, Comp ,Super Stock, and Stock experienced similar explosions in Horse Power ,their Class Indexes dropped accordingly while the Super Classes were left alone .
The time to lower the .90 indexes is LONG over due . ....There is no reason that all indexes could not be lowered at least one full second if not more . personally I would love to see them at 7.90 ,8.50 and 9.90 respectively

Tom, I agree with most of your thoughts except the lowering of the indexes.
I think that might hurt the participation of especially SST as there are several in that class that could not make the 9.90 et without spending more money to reach that et.
They might choose to just go bracket racing instead.
The lowering of the indexes was voted on at least 2 times in the Divisions I participate in over the past years and the vote was to keep it as is. My vote was I did not have a preference and I would go with whatever the majority decided.
I have competed in all 3 of the 90 categories over the years and I observed some in each class with not enough skill to run the class they were in to do so safely. That is one of my concerns when lowering the indexes also. I fear drastically lowering the indexes would cause more high speed accidents.
The last few years I helped with a TS car and I can tell you from my observations from the starting line in that class there are many in over their head in skills to be running that class.
Money can make you fast however, that does not make you capable of controlling that kind of horsepower. That is my concern with lowering the indexes drastically.
Maybe I am just getting old and my concerns may not be real.

My top concern with the 90 classes is the use of electronic controls repeating a programmed run. I have suspicions that is happening and is not being policed by anyone. There was another thread on Class Racer regarding that subject and how it could be done and available it was on the market. If it is available it will be used by some. That is just human nature.
With all that is going on with motor sports I just hope Drag Racing can survive.
Drag Racing has been my addiction since I attended my first NHRA race at Amarillo Dragway in the spring of 1963 or maybe 1964 which was the Winternationals with all the legends of that era. Top fuel cars on open trailers or ramp trucks. The good ole days.
Just My 2 Cents
Rick Cates
Canyon, TX. I now compete in SG and am licensed in both SG and SC

[ausby]

i hope it stays around a while. im new to the .90 stuff and like it alot better than bracket racing.

[Joe Shiver T/S SST]

I went from Top Sportsman back to Super Street and love it hope it stays around and car counts are great I say leave well enough alone. I also think that super street gives the ability for some drivers to drag race who maybe can't pass the physical to go super fast but still want to compete and have fun. So no I wouldn't want to see an index change.

[Maverick]

I think it would really mess up the class to lower the indexes. It ok if you have a mega inch motor in a roadster, and can 170. You want to change the index, then do it and I will retire for sure. The hi mph cars have the advantage most of the time, but there are a few racers that run the number at 100 mph. The problem with people wanting to change the index is they can't run without it. 9.90 hi mph car would run low 8's. They allowed the delay, throttle control boxes, which are just computers manipulating the throttle control, and release of the car. Too much politics in the class. Steve Williams. S/G 351N 1994 Ford with no throttle control, or hi moh

[Maverick]

I think it would really mess up the class to lower the indexes. It ok if you have a mega inch motor in a roadster, and can 170. You want to change the index, then do it and I will retire for sure. The hi mph cars have the advantage most of the time, but there are a few racers that run the number at 100 mph. The problem with people wanting to change the index is they can't run without it. 9.90 hi mph car would run low 8's. They allowed the delay, throttle control boxes, which are just computers manipulating the throttle control, and release of the car. Too much politics in the class. Steve Williams. S/G 351N 1994 Ford with no throttle control, or hi mph. You want to lower the index, jump move up a class. You run super gas, run super comp, problem solved

[BKSG1198]

You could also do what they did out on the West Coast a few years back and did a 7.90 class with a mix of dragster and roadsters. Keep the other classes the same with the indexes for those who don't have deep pockets and create a 7.90 class for those who want to go fast. I don't remember the results of the event but, I think it was held at Sonoma.

[Regan Wilson]

We all voted years ago on the subject of lowering the Indexes. The vote was not to change anything. I can't recall what year it was.

[Jason Oldfield]

Originally Posted by BKSG1198

You could also do what they did out on the West Coast a few years back and did a 7.90 class with a mix of dragster and roadsters. Keep the other classes the same with the indexes for those who don't have deep pockets and create a 7.90 class for those who want to go fast. I don't remember the results of the event but, I think it was held at Sonoma.

That's sorta what I was going to suggest, though I might change that up slightly. Just thinking out loud here...

You can't really just move all the indexes up 1 second because as somebody mentioned you would force out a lot of the S/St racers (that jump in index requires a lot of additional safety equipment, including chassis certification (not that they shouldn't have it anyway, but that's another topic altogether).

In my opinion, NHRA hurt S/St when the made it so that you could race more than one category if you raced S/St. A lot of really good, experienced S/G guys moved down the instant they were able to do that.
So, I would move S/C up to 7.90, S/G up to 8.90, S/St up to 9.90, and make a new 10.90 class with a few rules modifications.

For the new 9.90 S/St I would reduce the minimum weight requirement to 2100 lbs., but otherwise leave the class exactly as is.

For the new 10.90 class, I would use the current S/St minimum weight of 2,800 lbs., and go back to 1 entry only. I'm thinking stock bodied vehicles only (no fiberglass replicas). Maybe no chassis cars (back half cars only). I would also seriously consider electronics restrictions. No programmable ignition boxes? No data recorders / electronic dashes? Manually shifted cars only?

Again, just thinking out loud here and trying to think about the typical low 11 second bracket racer that is thinking that they'd like to dip their toe in the water and give .90 racing a try. You're not going to do that if you immediately believe that you'd have to go spend $5,000 in miscellaneous electronics to make your car competitive.

I'm sure all of you could come up with some good suggestions. I want to see these classes survive, but I really don't believe they will if they continue running the way they are. For now, NHRA is OK with it because there are still plenty of competitors. But the average age competing in each class is continually rising, because it's just us same old competitors getting older. We need to have a real entry-level class that your typical young, enthusiastic drag racing competitor can get into without:

1. Breaking the bank
2. Feeling like they're bringing a knife to a gunfight
3. Being embarrassed about the state of their racing operation as compared to the typical competitor in the class

Regardless, thanks for the initial, thought provoking post, John. It's good to see some familiar "faces" again...