Classification Help Requested...

[bill dedman]

Nowadays, it would seem that "NHRA TECH" feels no obligation to be pro-active in obtaining necessary specifications and other pertinent classification information, and just sits back and waits for the manufacturer to provide them with it.

I find that a considerable shirking of their resposibility to racers like Brett's friend, who would like to race (and, SPEND MONEY WITH NHRA) but ~can't~ because NHRA refuses to get off their collective butts and get this information. (They don't need his money, right???)

Is that how every car got into the Stock Car Classification Guide?

Did AMC send the specs in for Ed's Gremlin, so it could be properly classified, or did NHRA routinely request them from the factory, along with those of every other American car?

The malaise and apathetic attitude at NHRA TECH belies the article in my current National DRAGSTER that trumpets "Showing Our Love for the Sportsman Racer," and, makes a mockery of Phil Burgess's headlines... all the coverage in the world won't help you if NHRA won't let you run your car!!!

NHRA TECH aparently can't (0r, won't) actively seek out new car specs from the manufacturers to allow them to do their jobs... which is to properly classify cars.

Wally wouldn't think much of that... nor, do I. Nobody cares what I think, but Wally had a pretty good handle on things, vis a vis Sportsman racing. Right from the git-go.


Where is the "LOVE"??????

[Paul Merolla]

Bill, it's always been up to the factories as far as I know.

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Paul Merolla

Bill, it's always been up to the factories as far as I know.

That is correct. It seems that in the last few years the factories only submit the combos that they want or feel has the greatest advantage and they build special cars for that purpose.

[GUMP]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

Where is the "LOVE"??????

I would ask you the same question!

I have had a lot of help from the NHRA tech on my new car. They answer the phone 90 % of the time. They have returned every missed call. They have answered every question clearly and curtiously. They have approved new components in a very timely manner. What more could you ask of a business?

You are off base with your remarks. As stated by others, the factories submit the specs.

I would add that at the moment the focus seems to be on factory drag packages. In truth they have been pushed into that corner. The rules and government requirements for safety, etc. have changed so much over the years that most street packages built in 2012 would make lousy race cars. I'm not sure how easy it would be to get the V6 into the guide.

Bret,

He needs to contact the GM Racing rep and ask them to submit the specs for him.

Jackie

[bill dedman]

I was never an employee of NHRA. But, since I was the Stock line tech inspector at Carlisle and Little Rock drag strips (they ran on alternating weekends) Dale Ham deemed me an "Area Tech Advisor" and provided me with the Stock Car Classification Guide and gave me copies of all the official NHRA Tech bulletins of the day, and those came in every week, by mail, and went into a loose-leaf notebook with references to which pages they superceded (pages to be discarded.)

Virtually EVERY car that came in the gate, and wanted to race, was in that Class Guide. There was no "spotty" coverage... Cadillacs, Nash Ramblers, Studebakers, Max Wedge Mopars, and everything in between, were in that Clasification Guide... because NHRA had gone to the manufacturers and GOTTEN that information.

In ten years of classifying cars at four different drag strips, I don't remember EVER seeing an example of a car that wasn't in "The Guide."

Are you guys saying that ALL those manufacturers were pro-active in sending in the specs, without being asked? I don't think that the engineering department at Nash was much interested in what their cars did at the drags in 1965. (Discounting the '57 Rambler Rebel.) But, they were in the "Guide." How did they get there???

No, I am sure that NHRA actively went after that information, so that EVERYONE could race, not just the cars that the manufacturers wanted to see "out there." Just good bidness...

Guess you had to be there...

[rickseeman]

Wish they would bring back Carlilse or Little Rock

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by rickseeman

Wish they would bring back Carlilse or Little Rock

There's not a quarter-mile drag strip anywhere in Arkansas. There's not an NHRA-sanctioned strip here, either.

A shame, for sure, but a sign of the times.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by bill dedman

No, I am sure that NHRA actively went after that information, so that EVERYONE could race, not just the cars that the manufacturers wanted to see "out there." Just good bidness...

Guess you had to be there...

Then came "bracket racing " ,where local tracks didn't have to be concerned with "rules"

[Lew Silverman]

Another reason why they should open up Stock Class to any vehicle made by an automotive manufacturer for the general public, available in quantities of 50 or more and distributed through a recognized dealer network.

The shipping weights are available through a number of sources as are the advertized horsepower figures.

Lew