What would you do if the NHRA banned timers in .90 (Super) class racing?

Originally Posted by Michael Pliska

This is the part that always puzzled me, after they swiftly banned stutter boxes back in the late 80's. Back then I was told by an NHRA official that they did not like the boxes because they made it appear that the car was broken, and that they did not want the super classes to become dominated by high-dollar big inch engines in the quest for the highest mph. Has anyone heard another reason for the stutter box ban?

Regards,

Timing chains and weird popping noises were the main reasons I heard. Since they did not have diapers back then NHRA hated to clean up the oil when the timing chains broke. I remember one in particular that oiled the track from 200 ft to the turn off. It looked like someone blew the timing cover off with a shotgun.

[H.A.A.C. Racing]

Don't forget the flat washers and locking nuts you use for a timer!

[CBS]

Its a natural progression to go faster.....live with it....We didn't buy big Reher Morrison engines overnight....we worked up to them....little by little....we started with a 427....and every year we stepped it up.... I can't go the same speed year after year...but some people don't mind it....(there are plenty of slower cars that are competitive)......the timers or engine size is not the problem...its going to the races and payouts................if you want to race in the past....go ahead....its not my problem........ ....Lets talk about something that is constructive...like payouts....class rotation...schedules.....points formats...etc...the timer discussion is a waste of keystrokes...8.90 and 9.90 are the strongest of the classes in NHRA...go to the super stock forum and suggest delay boxes.....see how that goes for ya...

CBS
(you can see I'm a little stressed these days)

[FOR REAL]

what we need is a 9.90 8.90 7.90 10.90 out the door

asta

[Michael Pliska]

Originally Posted by CBS jr

Hey Mike....WE ARE NOT RACING IN THE 80'S ANYMORE!!! Get up to date!!!
STOP WHINNING and get your bucket of bolts out and show us how you did it in the 80's.

I didn't think I was whining, just having an interesting discussion! My car will be out there soon enough.

Originally Posted by John Quinn

What makes .90 classes hard to watch is not the delay boxes, it is the size of the delay. Lower the indexes so that the cars do not appear to break off the line and they will be much more interesting to watch, maybe even more fun to do.

My guess is that if you lowered the indexes, you'd still get guys trying to be the top speed in the class. In other words, they would just find the next class that they can make the weight limit and still run ludicrous speeds.

Originally Posted by crewchiefpro

Timing chains and weird popping noises were the main reasons I heard. Since they did not have diapers back then NHRA hated to clean up the oil when the timing chains broke. I remember one in particular that oiled the track from 200 ft to the turn off. It looked like someone blew the timing cover off with a shotgun.

Wow, I hadn't heard about that part! I had some friends (John Hyland & family) that ran the stutter boxes until the ban, but I don't recall them destroying anything like that. They always had top dollar stuff, so they probably had Jesels or something which took the abuse.

Originally Posted by CBS

Its a natural progression to go faster.....live with it....We didn't buy big Reher Morrison engines overnight....we worked up to them....little by little....we started with a 427....and every year we stepped it up.... I can't go the same speed year after year...but some people don't mind it....(there are plenty of slower cars that are competitive)......the timers or engine size is not the problem...its going to the races and payouts................if you want to race in the past....go ahead....its not my problem........ ....Lets talk about something that is constructive...like payouts....class rotation...schedules.....points formats...etc...the timer discussion is a waste of keystrokes...8.90 and 9.90 are the strongest of the classes in NHRA...go to the super stock forum and suggest delay boxes.....see how that goes for ya...

CBS
(you can see I'm a little stressed these days)

I agree with the desire to go faster, but we all have our financial limits (or at least I do). The part I don't like about the timers is that it requires you to spend more money to be competitive in the class. In other words, it provides a distinct advantage to those who spend the most money. As you probably remember from the old days of Super-Gas, there were plenty of lower-dollar racers doing well. Sure, there were plenty of high-dollar cars being towed behind Class 6 trucks, but there were several people with open trailers and low-buck cars who did quite well (Dan Divita, Kris LaPoint, Seipel family).

It is interesting that the poll is running almost even. Maybe NHRA can create a new/old class, kind of like "Coke Classsic", with rules to have us racing the old way

Regards,

[CBS]

the problem is they want less classes not more......what is this distinct advantage thing.....the good racers win no matter what the rules are...or how fast the cars are.....what do you think, we just decided to spend more money on our motors....we worked hard to scrape the money together to make them faster....If you don't like what you have...figure out how to change it....changing the rules to suite yourself is not gonna do it....move on.....change the subject....I'm done

CBS

[CBS jr]

Please can someone put the rock over mikes hole. Who let him out?

[Michael Pliska]

Originally Posted by CBS jr

Please can someone put the rock over mikes hole. Who let him out?

The judge in the divorce hearing!

[SC1317]

I can't stay out of this anymore. I run a dragster that runs under 160mph. It's called a racer on a budget! We're out there and don't mind being chased! We are competitive! Bring on those 190mph dragsters! Drop changing the classes and start arguing about payouts and entry fees!
If you feel you can't be competitive in your current class because it's too expensive or whatever, maybe think about sticking to bracket racing or arm chair racing. Whatever fits.
By the way, my slow dragster breaks less than alot of the fast ones! LOL

[Michael Pliska]

Originally Posted by SC1317

I can't stay out of this anymore. I run a dragster that runs under 160mph. It's called a racer on a budget! We're out there and don't mind being chased! We are competitive! Bring on those 190mph dragsters! Drop changing the classes and start arguing about payouts and entry fees!
If you feel you can't be competitive in your current class because it's too expensive or whatever, maybe think about sticking to bracket racing or arm chair racing. Whatever fits.
By the way, my slow dragster breaks less than alot of the fast ones! LOL

Maybe it's a pipe dream, but I was thinking that a class which had more spectator interest would be more likely to have a decent payout/entry ratio. When I lived in Eastern NC I ran a few bracket races in my daily driver. These were little unsanctioned tracks, but the payout appeared to be more than the entry fee total. They also charged almost as much to watch as they did to race, and packed the stands. I guess it helps to be the only game in town besides cow tipping, but people really got into watching old fashioned bracket racing.

I'm not about to petition NHRA or anything like that, but I did want to get an idea of how the racers felt about the current state of .90 racing.

I may end up a first round duck, but I'll be out there next year running really slow mph in S/G, and I'll be having fun regardless of the outcome. Okay, I'll have a little more fun if I happen to beat some really high mph cars...