Quote:
Originally Posted by BKSG1198
You could also do what they did out on the West Coast a few years back and did a 7.90 class with a mix of dragster and roadsters. Keep the other classes the same with the indexes for those who don't have deep pockets and create a 7.90 class for those who want to go fast. I don't remember the results of the event but, I think it was held at Sonoma.
|
That's sorta what I was going to suggest, though I might change that up slightly. Just thinking out loud here...
You can't really just move all the indexes up 1 second because as somebody mentioned you would force out a lot of the S/St racers (that jump in index requires a lot of additional safety equipment, including chassis certification (not that they shouldn't have it anyway, but that's another topic altogether).
In my opinion, NHRA hurt S/St when the made it so that you could race more than one category if you raced S/St. A lot of really good, experienced S/G guys moved down the instant they were able to do that.
So, I would move S/C up to 7.90, S/G up to 8.90, S/St up to 9.90, and make a new 10.90 class with a few rules modifications.
For the new 9.90 S/St I would reduce the minimum weight requirement to 2100 lbs., but otherwise leave the class exactly as is.
For the new 10.90 class, I would use the current S/St minimum weight of 2,800 lbs., and go back to 1 entry only. I'm thinking stock bodied vehicles only (no fiberglass replicas). Maybe no chassis cars (back half cars only). I would also seriously consider electronics restrictions. No programmable ignition boxes? No data recorders / electronic dashes? Manually shifted cars only?
Again, just thinking out loud here and trying to think about the typical low 11 second bracket racer that is thinking that they'd like to dip their toe in the water and give .90 racing a try. You're not going to do that if you immediately believe that you'd have to go spend $5,000 in miscellaneous electronics to make your car competitive.
I'm sure all of you could come up with some good suggestions. I want to see these classes survive, but I really don't believe they will if they continue running the way they are. For now, NHRA is OK with it because there are still plenty of competitors. But the average age competing in each class is continually rising, because it's just us same old competitors getting older. We need to have a real entry-level class that your typical young, enthusiastic drag racing competitor can get into without:
1. Breaking the bank
2. Feeling like they're bringing a knife to a gunfight
3. Being embarrassed about the state of their racing operation as compared to the typical competitor in the class
Regardless, thanks for the initial, thought provoking post, John. It's good to see some familiar "faces" again...