2008 Mid Year Stock, Super Stock Horsepower Adjustments Announced

[Ron Ortiz]

Adger, mister common sens is not very proficient at the English language, but I will attempt to answer your question. I believe what he was trying to say was to get rid of the trigger so that everybody could run it all the way out without being penalized.
A couple of years I recieved HP for what Clayton Wright and Dick Moreland did at Atco. Before that, I had been persuaded by friends to put my car on a diet so I removed alot of weight in alot of different areas. Thanks to Clayton and Dick I had to put all the weight I had pulled out back in. The day prior to them setting the record, Dick called me up and informed me of what they were planning to do at Atco and what my thoughts were, if they should go for it or not knowing that there would be a HP adjustment to my car, even though I have a smaller carb. My response was "go for it, records are made to be broken, we are in a performance based class" I was not upset with them and congratulations go to them. Maybe some of this camaradarie should be applied in other classes.
If you got a fast car you should be able to go fast.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA 6 HP hit

[Jeff Lee]

Guys & great friends I go to breakfast or lunch with here in sunny Arizona:
Kip Martin holds the SS/L record. He's been #1 qualifier several times this year. He's set and reset the record a few times in the last couple of years. He just received a weight penalty of 4 #'s on his 289. Some were mad at him. He says he's sorry but he's 64 and this could be his last hurah in a very respectable tenure in both Stock and SuperStock. He also builds his own engines and has won one NHRA national events. He raised two boys who are respectable engine builders for Reher Morrison pro-stock division.
Neil Smedley. He's had several record setting, #1 qualifying cars also in his outstanding tenure in NHRA drag racing. Most notably he has been very successful in his path with turbo stockers in the last few years. He also has won an NHRA national event after being #1 qualifier and winning class. I probably owe more to being involved in class racing to him than anyone else. He once lived a few blocks from me. He's about 16 years my elder and taught me a lot. Mostly about NHRA politics (nothing has really changed over the years).
Don Kennedy. Probably the worlds fastest Pontiac SS (NHRA verified that is). He's taken a combo and refined it with more testing on a yearly basis than most racers do in 5 years (or more). He's goal on every pass: "rotate the earth" as he puts it. He's also traveled the country racing and can prove to the doubters that altitude corrections are factored correctly.
Dana House. Has taken the 402/350 Nova from "it won't work" to top contender in D/SA after years of heavily budgeted sweat.
Dwight Southerland. He'd go to lunch with us but Arkansas is a little way's away. But we talk on the phone a lot.
Al Corda. He's a nice guy. Really. The rest of you just don't know it yet!
What do we all have in common? We all race to the finish line under full throttle. We look for the last ounce of performance. We would never sandbag to get a better average for the AHFS. And if we get hit with HP, looks like we did a good job. Well...maybe Al lifts a little. We're not sure about him...
I'll betch that our round table discussions are a lot more interesting about racing than who's selected as the "lay down" of the week. We're kinda proud of what we do...

[Scott Loge]

Mr. Hill,

We apologize for this huge infraction which must have cost your go kart several tenths of A SECOND. We do not lift at a 1,000 feet and do not have people with our combo that will go out and run .50 under time and time again. At least we traveled past the rocky mountains to find out we were slow so how does this reflect negatively on us because we are slower and still got hit. We lifted at Pheonix, just not enough. Anytime you would like to discuss our style or status please look us up, we do not run or hide, try coming past the rockies and looking us up, we'll crack a cold one and discuss how negatively this affected you.


Thanks for noticing our performance!!!

Performance Class!!!

[Chris Hill]

All we're asking for is be smart about when you go fast, you're not the only one who runs the 70-71 B-body six pac.

Going too fast in qualfying is just plain silly. Add weight, change the shift point, disconnect the vaccum to the secondaries, just do something.

The magic number is -1.15 under or 10.40 in B/SA and 10.15 in A/SA. Try to run slower than those numbers unless you absolutly have to.

[Real Racer]

I wonder who asked for a HP reduction on the 86 Chevy V-6 pick me up truck? Like it needs one?

[GENE BUELL]

Thumbs up to the guys who actually run their cars down the track like the race cars they are.

The AHFS is not fair for the combo's with small car #'s, period. It's NHRA's ignorance to "award" HP on different body types with same engines yet throw you in with others when they want to. You all know it's the owner/drivers ability to make the car go down the track, not the body type, the $$ (it helps) or East or West of the Rockys.

You seen what the 396 guys did for their combo, make some calls, play some games. Works out as long as you have enough cars in the combo and races to go to. Stock racing is not just racing anymore with a "performance based race car" but how to play a game.

Keep your eye on the "six pack" hit, I don't think it said "B body only", and if it did, well, NHRA could lump all the six packs together as they have for other combos.

If everyone would just remember why they race S/SS, performance, flat out drag racing, and run their cars like a "real" race car not a reality game show maybe NHRA could do away with AHFS and support the racers like years ago.

Just how many of you like to see guys "lifting", it sucks to be there and see that, might as well be a ".90"class. I remember when everyone actually ran them out the door, now it's the "class" in class racing thats gone out the door.

[RPinoski1]

THANK YOU JOHN

By the way did you find the problem with your engine?

Thanks Again
Rich

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by GENE BUELL

Thumbs up to the guys who actually run their cars down the track like the race cars they are.

The AHFS is not fair for the combo's with small car #'s, period. It's NHRA's ignorance to "award" HP on different body types with same engines yet throw you in with others when they want to. You all know it's the owner/drivers ability to make the car go down the track, not the body type, the $$ (it helps) or East or West of the Rockys.

You seen what the 396 guys did for their combo, make some calls, play some games. Works out as long as you have enough cars in the combo and races to go to. Stock racing is not just racing anymore with a "performance based race car" but how to play a game.

Keep your eye on the "six pack" hit, I don't think it said "B body only", and if it did, well, NHRA could lump all the six packs together as they have for other combos.

If everyone would just remember why they race S/SS, performance, flat out drag racing, and run their cars like a "real" race car not a reality game show maybe NHRA could do away with AHFS and support the racers like years ago.

Just how many of you like to see guys "lifting", it sucks to be there and see that, might as well be a ".90"class. I remember when everyone actually ran them out the door, now it's the "class" in class racing thats gone out the door.

Actually, the FEWER cars there are running a certain combination, the EASIER it is to keep it under control. Look to see who DID NOT get hit among the fast cars to see this is true. The iron head 396 ALMOST got hit, and the more popular aluminum head 396 DID get hit. There are a LOT more 396 cars than there are Shelby Mustangs, the only Shelby that got hit this year ran more than 1.4 under. That's ONE example, showing that the Shelby guys have an easier time protecting their combination for the most part. They've been smart, and done a good job of protecting their combination.

The number one most obvious and fatal flaw in the AHFS is that some of the softest combinations that have small car counts never get hit despite actually being faster than more popular combinations with a higher car count that do get hit.

There is no way to do away with the AHFS with the current make up of Stock and Super Stock, and you sure as Hell don't want to replace it with a bunch of people, because you are not going to find enough honest people representing a broad enough cross section of the classes to give fair representation to everyone.

Racing has always been a game, and the really fast guys don't show you what they have on every pass, they never have. Sandbagging will NEVER leave class racing.

[Bruce Noland]

I agree with Alan.

[GENE BUELL]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

Actually, the FEWER cars there are running a certain combination, the EASIER it is to keep it under control. Look to see who DID NOT get hit among the fast cars to see this is true. The iron head 396 ALMOST got hit, and the more popular aluminum head 396 DID get hit. There are a LOT more 396 cars than there are Shelby Mustangs, the only Shelby that got hit this year ran more than 1.4 under. That's ONE example, showing that the Shelby guys have an easier time protecting their combination for the most part. They've been smart, and done a good job of protecting their combination.

The number one most obvious and fatal flaw in the AHFS is that some of the softest combinations that have small car counts never get hit despite actually being faster than more popular combinations with a higher car count that do get hit.

There is no way to do away with the AHFS with the current make up of Stock and Super Stock, and you sure as Hell don't want to replace it with a bunch of people, because you are not going to find enough honest people representing a broad enough cross section of the classes to give fair representation to everyone.

Racing has always been a game, and the really fast guys don't show you what they have on every pass, they never have. Sandbagging will NEVER leave class racing.

Well, some people never seem to figure out how to make a car "run", so they favor "games", I guess that's so they can have a chance. It's not the "class" racing I respected and always wanted to be a part of anymore. Why should you have to go slower than your car is capable of on the race track? If your scared of speed and ET, try a lower class, don't lift.

If you look at the races and parts of the country they are run in you will see for the average guy in a low car count combo it's impossible to "save" your combo, fast runs happen, and you can't take them back.