Should Indy be an All Run Field in Stock?

[Mike Carr]

What about a racer who has 10-12 cars in his/her Class in the country. All but one live east of the Mississippi. Two years in a row at Indy, he is the only one who shows up. **** it, penalize him, he showed when no one else did and was only -.73, he can't race.

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Mike Carr

What about a racer who has 10-12 cars in his/her Class in the country. All but one live east of the Mississippi. Two years in a row at Indy, he is the only one who shows up. **** it, penalize him, he showed when no one else did and was only -.73, he can't race.

How is that guy any different than the guy who shows up, races 3 rounds of class, doesn't win, and doesn't go far enough under to get in on time? If they both go 0.730 under, and the bump is 0.770, they were both too slow to make the cut.

If we're going to call it a "performance based class", why should anyone not have to qualify based off of their index?

Everyone qualifies off of their index, everyone competes for a class win, the cars that are alone in their class race in the combo, and everyone is subject to the AHFS. So everyone has to perform to the same standard to make the final eliminations, either win your class or class combo, or be far enough under the index. Seems fair enough to me.

We plan to be back at Indy soon, if we don't make the cut, it means we didn't get it done, we'll go home.

[Mike Carr]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

How is that guy any different than the guy who shows up, races 3 rounds of class, doesn't win, and doesn't go far enough under to get in on time?

Driver A won class (NHRA's definition of a Class Winner)
Driver B lost in class

Hell, with today's rule, you could get a racer who WINS class, winning 3-4 rounds, but is only -.80 or -.85 and not one of the 128 quickest (-.88 bump I think this year). He's getting screwed too. He would not have been ten years ago.

It worked for fifty-plus years. You won Class; you raced in the race. The field was then filled with the quickest non-Class winning cars to make 128 (or whatever number back in the day). Then those who could not do either spoke up and we have what we have now (if you're not rich or have an under factored car or a modern car, stay home).

Maybe we should just make it Class Winners ONLY (and ALL Class winners) run eliminations. Forty or fifty Class Winners = 40-50 cars for round one. That would speed up the AHFS process a bunch. And piss a lot of people off I'm sure.

[james schaechter]

Good point about class winners since there are no freebies any longer anyway. Win your class or combo. Not likely to be many bump ins anyway and if there is, there racer fought their way in.
All run makes it easy for NhRA and some guys that would like to just show up, but Indy should always be performance oriented. Indy is not broken. Breaking out the factory cars or getting some of the factors within 100 hp of reality would do it.

[Bobby Fazio]

Class winners should get in, solo or not, go back to that .5 under to win class rule. Most of the time Indy ruins the obscure combo for the rest of its life anyway so who cares. Let the FS cars duke it out for a spot in the eliminator, traditional HP rules better apply. It takes a few spots away from factory race cars eating up the top half of the ladder and opens them up for some 60s muscle, it also lets the AHFS do its job because people will be mashing the index to win class. It will also diversify the field a little bit and I think the crowd would like to see different makes and speeds going down the track. PS this is coming from a guy who has never won class.

[Wade Mahaffey]

I have the most respect for the "fast guy" that's for sure, that is if he built it and made it fast himself. To me, the fast cars in "Class" is more about the builders and tuners, more than the driver. And in many cases it's simply more about the money. I see the veterans on here say that people should work on their combination so they can go fast. But then I see folks spend 150K on a COPO or Mustang or a Challenger that can't build anything. So to me, I can see that you can buy your way toward the top of the qualifying sheet. And the poor guy that has worked his combination for 20-30 years...and was toward the top at one time...can't race with the new cars. Now if that same guy...that was on top...showed up to Indy in a few years where there were 128 of the new cars, his 20-30 years was for not. And now this ole veteran that spent his life dedicated to class racing is on the outside looking in....I don't think so! Show a little respect! What if a racer is in points contention and needs that race to maybe win a championship but qualifies 129...whoa, you gotta be kidding...can't race? WTH The fast guys have a chance to show how much money they have, or how smart they are at tuning during "Class ". OK there you go. Now if one has the Grade points, and your car fits the rule book....and you pay for the event entry, You should be able to race the Eliminator. Don't forget, we should be trying to retain racers, and recruit new racers! Not do anything that would/could push someone over the edge of quitting. If you only get to participate during a portion of the event...then you should only have to pay for a portion on the entry. Yes it should be all run...the more the better

Wade Mahaffey