Changes 2016

[Carl Weisinger]

Originally Posted by Michael Beard

I have already e-mailed both Bruce Bacheldor and Dave Mohn regarding the arbitrary safety rules thrust upon the "Factory" cars. Bruce never responded. Dave said he would look into it, after I approached the argument from one of NHRA's highest priorities: "CYA".

What will the insurance company say if there is a SS/JA or GT/HA in an accident that is deemed "safe" by NHRA running 10.00 with a roll bar, -1 jacket/pants, no Competition License, etc., when at the same time they will have 10.50 & slower cars that are required to have a full roll cage, -5 jacket/pants, Competition License, etc. in order to be deemed "safe" by NHRA?

Which is safer, a 3350# car with a 275HP 360 running 10.50's, or a 3350# car with a 275HP 340 running 10.50's? When the safety requirements of a vehicle change based solely upon the decals on the windshield, there's a problem. Safety rules should be based on ET, MPH, and chassis construction, period. If they want to make every car in the country 10.99 & quicker require a full roll cage, -5 suit, Competition License, etc., fine, do that, but the rules should be the same for everyone, not arbitrary based on what year the body or engine is.


Last year, when NHRA created the new Factory classes, they combined sticks & automatics, and utilized the stick index, which resulted in various levels of index hits for automatics. There are a number of Super Stock classes that have sticks & autos combined, in which the autos get a 5% weight break. My question was: if they get a weight break, why don't I? *OR* If I don't, why *do* they? I don't really care which way it is, but I *do* expect consistent application of rules.

The worst thing was that despite numerous back-and-forth e-mails, NHRA absolutely ignored the question entirely -- not only refused to address it with so much as a "no comment" or "because I said so", but refused to acknowledge that the question had even been *asked*! Absolutely staggering.

Michael,

NHRA, as far as I know, specifically states that drag racing is a dangerous activity with the possibility of serious injury or even death . (Or something like that). Fact of the matter is that there is no such thing as a safe race car or a safe race track. Some are just less dangerous than others. I feel your pain on the class deals. My 290HP SS/JA car (no rocket ship I might add) falls into the category of not needing all the "stuff", as say the same car with a 275HP Drag Pak engine in the FGT/H class it will run. The 383 engine is out of the car with no plans to freshen it up or upgrade any components (like it would help Ha-ha-ha). I've put my money in the 360 combination. So, there you have it.

Over the years I have "collected" several Super Stock cars and will have a stocker next year too. I can run all of them in IHRA with the car and driver safety equipment they have AND without the hassle of a physical and the possibility that I may be taking a medication that NHRA doesn't like. At this point, I'll have to upgrade car or driver equipment in 3 of my cars and go through the physical/license process to run any of them in NHRA. I like the NHRA people and the racers just fine. I won't quit trying to comply with all they demand. But, if they run me off with rules I can't comply with for one reason or another I will simply have to go somewhere else. Or quit.

PS. Thinking about putting mufflers on my FGT/H car. What kind are you running on yours. (Not really. This part was strictly to blow smoke at Mark Tishken)