All major event s/ss winners undrgo tech inspection

[Bobby Fazio]

Chad I think you are on to something.. but I agree with Billy, the cheaters will simply stay out of the top 10. Why don't they go back to at the very least putting that cool orange paint on your carburetor like they did when I was a kid? Also, maybe NHRA could go out and find some retired racers who know the ins and outs of the old combos?

[tj310]

I thought the Big go at Great Bend was to eliminate the Heaters. Any heads up winner should be inspected. -Trevor

[danny waters sr]

I think you should have your engine sealed when entering a race.
Once engine is sealed the seal cannot be removed without a tear-down, except for a carb change and the carb should be inspected at this time and re-sealed.
As far as the engine seal goes ,once it is sealed it can be checked at random for any given race and should be told this. If seal has been broken before actual tear-down then it is considered to have been illegal in the first place and should be DQ'd on the spot.
The DQ time will be determined on how many races was run before actual tear-down.
If you know your engine is legal then you should not have a problem with this system.
If you want to make changes before you have been torn down then you still must go through tear=down. Say you went to 4 races before you actually got torn down and you were foung illegal, then the penalty should be 4 races and then come back and torn down before you race and get a diff (certain) color seal showing you have been torn down,.
Also let that seal be good for the rest of the season.

In IHRA ,we have gone to the engine builder's shops and checked engines. After engine was approved it was sealed on the spot and was good for the current year.And has to be torn down again for the next year......Kind of like a chassis cert,but a little diff.

Originally Posted by Mark Ruset

You ain't going to stop cheating so don't beat your head against a wall. What needs to be done is enforce the safety rules. I can tell you from my own experience, that the last time an NHRA Tech guy asked me to place my transmission in gear and attempt to start the engine was back in 2007 at Bradenton. I wonder how many cars are lacking the neutral safety switches. Safety right now is what we should concern ourselves about.

I obviously didnt tech your car this year.

I asked every driver this year to do this at the races I worked tech. Many said I was the FIRST to ever ask them to do that. Some guys looked at me like I was joking. Several almost flatout refused. Many thanked me for being thorough. Even sent a few back to the trailer because the neutral safety didnt work. Since I work tech AND safety I might look at things differently.

[THE LEGEND]

Back in the 80's IHRA would randomly pick either S-SS-or Modified. All class winners/qualifiers would go to tech. I remember several times we had to teardown at those races.
Chip

[boster]

Run what you brung , Limited tech , cubic inch and carb or trottle body super charger size for engine claimed for that year forget the rest . Nothing is stock anymore and nothing is super stock either . Tech cars when you ckeck in , when you win class and if you win or RU race

This would save the sanctioning bodies a lot of grief and the racers would sort it out on the track

[Byron Worner]

Originally Posted by Chad Rhodes

Here is what I would do. Remember, we are looking for the flagrant cheaters, not the guy with .004 too much lift, with these inspections.

1. Impound top 10 after qualifying.
2. Everyone pulls carb,a spark plug, and a valve cover.
3. NHRA acquires an inspection camera that can go down an intake runner or through a spark plug hole.
4. A visual inspection of carb, casting number check on heads, visual on intake.
5. Stick camera down a few runners, looking for obvious modifications, Ti valves, etc.
6. Stick camera in spark plug hole to verify piston configuration
7. do an approximate valve lift check on stockers using a pair of calipers (not terribly accurate, but if someone has a BOGUS cam, its going to be WAY bigger not .015)

All of the above could be done at the scales, and then seal the motors. If there is anything odd in this cursory inspection, it would not be grounds for immediate DQ, just grounds for a full teardown.

Another possibility would be requiring an inspection plug in the pan that the camera would fit through, just to look for AL rods or ultralight pistons.

I like this idea but instead of top 10 qualifiers this should be done for, but not limited to, Class winners, heads up run winners, bottom 10 qualifiers (people could cheat to run under the index) and any run a second under or a run that gets automatic horsepower.

[jmcarter]

Originally Posted by Byron Worner

....and any run a second under or a run that gets automatic horsepower.

The CJ guys and tech would get awfully tired if that was the case...a whole lotta work! Face it folks, NHRA is not going to tear down any more than they have to, they will be cutting staff before they add any.

[boster]

Billy , left that out by accident . Everyone put a dial on there car.

[Bob Don]

Originally Posted by jmcarter

Face it folks, NHRA is not going to tear down any more than they have to, they will be cutting staff before they add any.

I think you hit the nail on on the head, Jim.