National Records

[JP1738]

This conversation may turn for the better now! Bobby Fazio has announced that instead of pleading with National Dragster to put them in like they used to, he has teamed up with Drag Insights, Tim Stickles with his gutter company, and a few others to take out a full page add in this summer's and winter ND issue to post all the current and new records!!! Looks like we class racers will band together and get them in there one way or another. Thanks Bobby!!

It's lame that this is what it's come to, but if you set a record between now and July, it WILL be in ND thanks to Driver Interviews with Bobby Fazio.

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by JP1738

This conversation may turn for the better now! Bobby Fazio has announced that instead of pleading with National Dragster to put them in like they used to, he has teamed up with Drag Insights, Tim Stickles with his gutter company, and a few others to take out a full page add in this summer's and winter ND issue to post all the current and new records!!! Looks like we class racers will band together and get them in there one way or another. Thanks Bobby!!

It's lame that this is what it's come to, but if you set a record between now and July, it WILL be in ND thanks to Driver Interviews with Bobby Fazio.

This is a bad thing to do, once NHRA gets paid to post National Records in the Digger, that is the last chance for them to ever be posted for free. Same comment as before, not going to waste my time until the two year rule goes away.

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

This is a bad thing to do, once NHRA gets paid to post National Records in the Digger, that is the last chance for them to ever be posted for free. Same comment as before, not going to waste my time until the two year rule goes away.

Remembering back. The only way Pro Mod was accepted as a NHRA national event class was when the racers themselves funded the payout and expenses and a lot of things have changed after that. Pay to play was a bad thing back then, still is, and shines the spotlight that MBAs and not racers are now firmly in charge.

IMO, it started the NHRA thinking that things they once were supposed to do could be pushed off on to others or even monetized.

I am all for sportsman racers getting the credit they deserve and miss that a national record doesn't mean anything to the suits. I don't have a good solution - happy to see new listings happen, but sad to see them ignore the basics as it will only encourage them to continue that in any way they can. How else can bonuses keep increasing?

[DG]

National Records just won't have the status they once had, until every division has at least one National Open, whereas the AHFS doesn't apply, at a track location and time of year that record runs can actually be made. Division Directors need to understand this is a priority in the schedule or it won't happen.

[DG]

For those newer racers that haven't experienced the thrills associated with setting records at a fast track against your top competitors, "Four Days in May" is a great video capturing the excitement.

[MAURICE BLENDHEIM]

Four of the Most Incredible, Exciting and Interesting Days at Mission. MB

Hats off to the guys who still run hard and set records!

[MikeMoller]

Kinda off the subject, but I think anyone who goes 'too fast' and gets torn down by NHRA, if you have gone faster than the current record for the class you should get the record if/when you pass teardown.

[Robin Lawrence]

Originally Posted by MikeMoller

Kinda off the subject, but I think anyone who goes 'too fast' and gets torn down by NHRA, if you have gone faster than the current record for the class you should get the record if/when you pass teardown.

I was in a situation very similar but not really. At Indy last year I was #2 and was asked to make a visit to the barn. I had been helping a buddy who runs COMP so I was on the east side of the track most of the afternoon. I had a fellow racer friend tell me that tech was looking for me. I laughed and said I drove by them pulling Mark Kirkman's A/DA across the scales and for fuel check.
It was after 3:00 if I remember and Pete said the wanted to look at my cylinder head. Knowing that it was going to be a time crunch I agreed and went through the teardown.

We passed the teardown and with the help of Jimmy Ronzello and Mark Kirkman worked to get it back together for eliminations on Friday morning. At Midnight with about 3 hours of work remaining I pulled the plug and decided I wasn't going to continue.
In the morning I asked NHRA Tech if they would seal the engine. I had planned to set another record in FS/G since my old record and combination in FS/I was going to expire in October. I wanted to avoid needing to tear the engine down again at the Fall Classic after running record a record attempt.
After some discussion with other NHRA officials they agreed to seal the engine for the Fall Classic record runs. Typically this doesn't happen. One of the benefits is that the same tech team would be working the Fall Classic as worked my teardown at Indy.

I was going to run the car in Super Stock at St Louis. I changed the transmission to my clutchless and removed 40 pounds for Super Stock. After St Louis I re installed the clutch assisted transmission and added the required weight.

Pete and Dave had both put seals on the critical bolts at Indy. They both had the cell phone pictures of the seals. After the record runs they verified the seals and checked many other items that didn't require removing a head. They did check my transmission and wheelbase as well.

I think that like many have said earlier, the benefit's are not there to go through the process. I consider setting record and passing teardown a validation of the level of performance. I'm old school.


Robin

[DG]

Did anyone set a record at Gainesville this last weekend? Seems like with so many class records at the minimum, there should have been at least a few records set, if their willing to go through the tear down for the honor of holding the record.