What's up with comp ?

[rboyle]

I think one of the biggest factors in lesser fields is that the CIC and permanent adjustments to indexes has made it unaffordable to remain even mildly competitive. You build a typical C/ED and spend roughly $60,000 with the hope of being competitive. You live on the East coast and test some and the numbers aren't bad lets say you run .48 - .50 under but the weather in early spring is misleading and the season starts out west. By the time June comes around your index has been hit .05 from a few races and the weather has sapped your combo another .05. You're sitting at about -.38 under at Englishtown and now either have to funnel more funds into this money pit or find some ET somewhere.
This is why half of the comp field is comprised of combo's nobody can duplicate. VW dragsters, 4 cylinders and 6 cylinders galore. It's harder to get parts for and research these engines than your typical V8 that so many teams were ordering from some of the engine shops and plugging them in. If you have the only E/D in the country for example (not sure how many there are but just an arbitrary class) and you can run that same .50 under in the heat well at least you don't have to worry about someone else beating up your index before you get a chance to run.
I don't know the right answer on how to fix it but there is NO comp car in the country that can run 1.15 under it's index yet there are in SS and Stock.
I think the CIC is a place to start if they want to save Comp, but pretty sure NHRA doesn't care and would just as soon see it gone sadly.

[randy wilson]

Toughest, most interesting sportsman class out there. If it goes, drag racing as a sport ain't far behind.

[rognelson777]

Originally Posted by rboyle

I think one of the biggest factors in lesser fields is that the CIC and permanent adjustments to indexes has made it unaffordable to remain even mildly competitive. You build a typical C/ED and spend roughly $60,000 with the hope of being competitive. You live on the East coast and test some and the numbers aren't bad lets say you run .48 - .50 under but the weather in early spring is misleading and the season starts out west. By the time June comes around your index has been hit .05 from a few races and the weather has sapped your combo another .05. You're sitting at about -.38 under at Englishtown and now either have to funnel more funds into this money pit or find some ET somewhere.
This is why half of the comp field is comprised of combo's nobody can duplicate. VW dragsters, 4 cylinders and 6 cylinders galore. It's harder to get parts for and research these engines than your typical V8 that so many teams were ordering from some of the engine shops and plugging them in. If you have the only E/D in the country for example (not sure how many there are but just an arbitrary class) and you can run that same .50 under in the heat well at least you don't have to worry about someone else beating up your index before you get a chance to run.
I don't know the right answer on how to fix it but there is NO comp car in the country that can run 1.15 under it's index yet there are in SS and Stock.
I think the CIC is a place to start if they want to save Comp, but pretty sure NHRA doesn't care and would just as soon see it gone sadly.

Indexes are only looked at by NHRA in comp when 2 cars in class make runs better than .70 under where Stock, Superstock is 1.00, so Index setting runs are not comparable.

You have to be able to run .60 under in heat to be competitive in Comp, Chicago more than half the cars are .60 under with bad weather A Correction factor of 1.0606.
It is the allstars,(only 8 allstars) but 15 cars out of 28 faster than .60 under.

Englishtown is almost at sea level and had a correction factor of 1.0270 and 1.0351 during saturday elimination rounds. Higher correction factor means weather is worse/

[FED 387]

track prep at Joliet is FANTASTIC----on a bad day you cannot walk on the starting line without your shoes being pulled off its got that much hook---FED 387

[MR DERBY CITY]

Teddy Yacavone called this one ....only 5 comp cars at Belle Rose .M.J.

[MR DERBY CITY]

Wow, only 15 comp cars entered for the big go....Where did all the comp cars go ?? M.J.

[jwsamuel]

Cecil County has never had the strongest Comp field in D1 because of its place on the schedule. A lot have always skipped this race to get ready for Indy.

[Superfan1]

Originally Posted by rboyle

I think one of the biggest factors in lesser fields is that the CIC and permanent adjustments to indexes has made it unaffordable to remain even mildly competitive. You build a typical C/ED and spend roughly $60,000 with the hope of being competitive. You live on the East coast and test some and the numbers aren't bad lets say you run .48 - .50 under but the weather in early spring is misleading and the season starts out west. By the time June comes around your index has been hit .05 from a few races and the weather has sapped your combo another .05. You're sitting at about -.38 under at Englishtown and now either have to funnel more funds into this money pit or find some ET somewhere.
This is why half of the comp field is comprised of combo's nobody can duplicate. VW dragsters, 4 cylinders and 6 cylinders galore. It's harder to get parts for and research these engines than your typical V8 that so many teams were ordering from some of the engine shops and plugging them in. If you have the only E/D in the country for example (not sure how many there are but just an arbitrary class) and you can run that same .50 under in the heat well at least you don't have to worry about someone else beating up your index before you get a chance to run.
I don't know the right answer on how to fix it but there is NO comp car in the country that can run 1.15 under it's index yet there are in SS and Stock.
I think the CIC is a place to start if they want to save Comp, but pretty sure NHRA doesn't care and would just as soon see it gone sadly.

There is a Comp car in the country that can run 1.15 under because John Mihovetz did it 3 times at the D7 race last November. In BB/AT, in Q1 and Q2, he ran 6.009 which was 1.191 under the 7.20 index. In Q3, he ran 6.006 (1.194 under). Just stating the facts.