Nhra shortens t/f and f/c race to 1000 ft.

[sc1153]

Was watching Denver Coverage and they asked Don Prudhome if he liked the 1000" deal and he said "give it six months and we will be blowing them up at 1000ft" They need to look elsewhere. NO NITRO (there is a shortage anyway) Tiny Blowers....anything I do not like watching 1000' passes this sucks.

[Bob Verwold]

It won't be long and they will have us all running 1/8 mi............O GOODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[WDCreech]

Bob, I like 1/8 mile, but I don't think that it will happen for fuel classes. If you blink, you'll miss it! 1000' is okay, though. Good competition, and just as exciting.

[Jeff Beckman]

Mark, my point is simple. Even racing to 1000 feet, a driver could get knocked out or have a heart attack, sucome to fumes, whatever. There is no way to stop the car. Give the crew chief the remote kill. I do like the anti lock brake idea, alot!
I am sure that I do not know enough about running a fuel car but, Don Prudohm appears to agree with me that in 6 months they blow them up at 6-800 feet.
Scott died because no one could shut his car off. New chute material is good, but without a remote deploy for a driver in real trouble, this 1000 foot, is politics with no function. So, the remote needs to, deploy chutes (BOFUM), set off fire bottles, again (BOFUM), cut off the FUEL!, I beleive this is the real solution. Not because I think so, anyone have a better thought? Mine are for the drivers survival.

[Truckracer]

Originally Posted by X-TECH MAN

I say keep the 1/4 mile and limit the fuel rules for closer racing and save some $$$$$ also.

I'm in total agreement.

I watched the Denver 1000' deal and was sick of the announcers hyping the shorter distance.

Cut the blower size, give em a single fuel pump, and take the big wing/greenhouse off of the cars.

And I really like the remote chute deploy, fuel/ignition shutoff idea. I would add one thing, a pressurized accumulator on the brake system, not enough pressure to lock the brakes at speed but enough to apply maybe 50 to 60 percent braking to slow the car.

[Nitro Joe Jackson]

make FC's look like cars again, not bat mobiles, take the big wing away from TF, make all run 55 gallon fuel pumps. That will do alot.
Mainly like Prudhomme and Garlits said on TV, it has gotten way out of hand.

[Jason Oldfield]

Garlits seemed much more PRO 1000 ft. than against it. Prudhomme on the other hand...well, he was definitely vocal.

I don't know what the answer is to slow the cars down while maintaining costs, but I'd love to see the body styles revised so that they much more closely resemble their production counterparts. I don't think its a coincidence that the nostalgia funny cars are so popular...you can look at them and immediately identify what model car it is that they are running. Take the headlight decals off of today's machines, and I don't think you could tell one from the other. They're all big bubbles with a huge wing on the back.

Alternatively, I'd say loosen the rules up considerably and let them do to the bodies as they like, so we could actually see innovation in action (ala Kenny Bernstein's Reatta). But, this would be a distant second choice IMHO as it won't do anything to curtail costs or slow the cars down.

[sc1153]

You know what......this is completely stupid......most of the fuel guys were running the cars to the 1/4 mile.....they forgot?.......i saw more cars with the chutes out past the 1/4mi than at the 1000'.......wow this rule is really working good.......pointless

[Mark Schmidt]

Jeff,

From what I saw, Kalitta had no chance. Once the car lost the body (original explosion) there was nothing that could be done to help him. Cars run 330, and now over 300 in the 1,000 ft, because they have the power and aero to do so. Take it away from them and they'll slow down. Shut down areas need improvement, no new technology in shutdown areas in years. Worsham has a good idea with the chute deployment with burst panel failure. I still like the 1,000 because it gives more shut down, like Chris said however, they're running the cars out the back door...big time as a result. Driver choice. If MPH really doesn't matter, take it off the time slip and the score boards. As far as what Snake and Kenny, or Garlits think, it shouldn't matter....ask the drivers.

Just my .02 cents

[Jason Oldfield]

Mark,

What Garlits thinks is inconsequential, but what Prudhomme thinks is another story as he's still a car owner. Sure, in the end I know NHRA will sample the opinions of the drivers, but it's the car OWNERS opinions that will really count (Prudhomme, Don Schumacher, John Force, David Powers, Ken Black, the Pedregons, etc.) The owners are the ones that control this sport, not the drivers as its much easier to find a pilot than it is to find somebody with deep pockets to fund one of these operations.