Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

Wayne has hit a ball out of the ball. Spec motor has saved stock car racing(stock car track outnumber drag racing track nearly 10 to 1) something to think about.Claude Ruel

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

Spec heads will work.,sealed motors, or crate motors, not so much.

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

Part of the problem IS that two motors of different specs do not race heads up ANYTIME. With wt added or not.
For all the discussions of how new cars are too expensive, too fast, old vettes are wrongly factored everyone should seriously look at the fact NO on outside the front seat of your cars should have control of your HP, ets, etc but YOU the owner.
As it is run too fast with yours hard work and someone else kicks your rating up and you go slower, with less chance of winning. Then try to sell your over factored car you have worked so hard to make run..
When its same specs for all that is "the level playing field" we hear of....

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

Works for me Dick. I'm just trying to include everyone. I'm for one wt. one lbs. per cube, heads-up. Maybe I'm trying too hard. My opinion is, if a ladder bar car gets beat because he doesn't have a 4 link, he"s real close to kicking your ***.

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

Ladder bar is a different matter versus 4 link... Some prefer the ease of Ladder bar.
I think it ought to be based on which classification the chassis is legal to run...If you are legal for SS but not Stk you run with them. If you are legal only for stock then you choose.
This is why I liked the NMCA Chevy Spec motor class. Think of 55 chevy jr stocker with the spec versus the later car with same spec and /b /cubic.
Crowd pleaser and cheap basic car (unless its a collecter car)

Watch what happens when you bring that on an open trailer.

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

Stock and Super Stock racing is not broken. No major changes need to be made

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

Costs of racing are above the possible New racers.
Current cars are raced by people over 60 as average age.
Gas costs high for travel to meets.
Factory cars cost over $100K to start.

No one is proposing major changes. People mostly agree a start up class or entry level needs to take a new approach that makes it less costly, and more attractive to try..

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

You guys have to remember that back in the 60's and 70's a kid with a part time job after school could afford some level of a muscle car, put a set of slicks on and off to the track you would go. My brother bought a 70 340 Duster in 1970 for $2,750 out the door. A compairable car today is probably $40,000. A kid today can't afford those numbers. Also, I can remember when there were 2 dragstrips within a 1/2 hour of downtown Detroit, now there are none. Milan is the closest at about an hour away.
I think the high cost of a production muscle car and the closures of a lot of local dragstrips has hurt drag racing significantly.

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

The open trailer point probably has some validity to it, as does the modern practice of keeping the cars in the pits at night rather than taking them back to the motel. I have so many great memories of watching nightly maintenence in motel parking lots at national events....I'm sure it added interest.

That being said, you can't put the genie back in the bottle. The instances of theft almost dictate an enclosed trailer anymore, if one does any traveling.

Re: Part of what hurt drag racing
 

You want more racers and more cars?

Include EVERYTHING the manufacture makes (release all spec's for all cars into the guide) and then have a class like pure stock with index's that are acheivable with gears and slicks. Then whatever you showed up at the track with (a guy showed up with a vette and asked if he could run the "stock" thing, had to say no because he could never make the index and spec's weren't available at the time I believe)

So, somebody shows up with an original street driven car, no he can't get to the index. But if he brings it with lower gear and maybe a converter, throws on slicks, he can play in the local stock/SS series hitting the index. (although just barely)

Once he plays and has fun he starts getting more serious and builds it into a crate motor car.

Then he ultimately builds it into a Stocker (possibly a SS eventually)

The build progresses with talent and $$.


(the ones who won't like this are the ones who might get beat in their $100,000 car by a "slicked" street driven car)

Edit: Forgot to mention that $$$ is the biggest issue to get into class racing mostly because there is only so much you can do then you must farm it out to the builders. The young guy that shells out $1500 for nos and slicks to go 13.00 in a jap car won't spend $2500 to go 14's in a domestic. Make it $750 to go 15's at the index and you might be suprised who "tries it".