Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Article
 

Here is the source: http://dragcoverage.com/factory-cars-pro-stock-2018/

No "sources" listed - looks to be all speculation. Written by by Mike (Shabs) Shabarek

Now while this isn’t the official Press Release that you’ll read from Glendora, it is very much so a probable reality. As most of us know Mopar has left Pro Stock. Now while it is the racers favorite class by far over T/F and F/C it is dying. That is no surprise. After losing several teams with the 2016 rules package this past season to say that this writers favorite class is on life support is a massive understatement.

Here’s my prediction, Pro Stock as we know it will not exist in 2019.

Why?

Well it’s simple, the cars have not related to the production model for over 15 years now. The cars cost too much money to purchase, engine cost and maintenance are astronomical, and it takes four guys to service a car between rounds. If I am an executive at GM or Ford or Mopar why on Earth would I support the NHRA’s form of Pro Stock? Now in the beginning the Pro Stock class emerged from the production-based Super Stock class in 1970 with a more liberal set of rules and an absence of handicaps. In that previous sentence the words “Production-Based” have incomprehensible weight. The early days of Sox & Martin, “Dyno” Don Nicholson, & Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins racing Super Stock cars with wider tires, bigger engines, and more elaborate chassis setups brought the crowds in by groves and the old adage of “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” became a way of life for racers & executives alike.

As Merle Haggard said “Are the good times really over for good?” I’d have to say HELL NO when it comes to Pro Stock.

So what’s gonna happen? Very simple. What if I told you there’s a “Pro Stock in Waiting” class? One with literally over 100 cars ready to go RIGHT NOW!! GM has produced 69 COPO’s every year for the past few years. Ford & Mopar have other ways of purchasing for customers but from our best educated guesses there’s about 150 Cobra Jets and Drag Pak’s floating around. Whether we see naturally aspirated or supercharged entries allowed are about a 50/50 shot.

But a few things that should not be changed are:
1.) 9″ Tires
2.) Factory Mass Produced Based Engines
3.) All Engine Blocks & Cylinder Heads Factory Produced
4.) Automatic Transmission Cars Get No Weight Break (encourages stick shift cars)
5.) Stock Style Front Suspension
6.) Stock Quarters, Roof, and Doors
7.) Stock Interior
8.) 48″ Wheelie Bar(s) Maximum Length
9.) 4 Forward Speeds Maximum For Stick Cars, 3 Forward Maximum for Automatics

What will this create? High seven second cars that look EXACTLY like Camaro’s, Challenger’s, and Mustang’s both inside and out that the customer can go buy seven days a week from the dealership. The racing on the track will be extremely tight and exciting with such a small tire and four speeds. Big wheelstands, pedal fests, and big time MPH from Factory Race Cars in a heads up format. What’s not to love?

Let the discussion begin.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

There's a lot of logic to it...plus Pro Mod plugs the performance gap up to the fuel cars. See pros and cons to sticking with 9" tires and should stay all stock body panels, otherwise go for it.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Well, anybody who liked Merle is a friend of mine. Agree with it, but leave the 5 speed in. Anybody crazy enough to try a manual, first should get mental help, but then again.......... I think that could well be a good assessment of the situation.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

I've stated the same here and elsewhere on the net, the only difference is I said it 2 years before this guy wrote it for an online magazine.:rolleyes:

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

A seven second car needs more than a 9" tire. The cars should be back halved and get 12" tires.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Or 10.5".........

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Why limit tires? I see no logic there.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

x2

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

This. Real fast small tire cars crash regularly. No need for that in Pro Stock. Put a 14"x32" slick on them.

Be careful what you wish for. NHRA will likely screw the whole thing up quickly.

NHRA will be fed up with multiple engine combinations and factoring really quickly. And the factories will grow tired of it as well. Not to mention race teams will quickly tire of the expense and hassle of changing combinations to whichever one has an advantage this month.

This is not 1970.

Maybe someone should ask Pro Stock racers what needs to be done. Dale Armstrong told NHRA how to fix the fuel cars and they refused to listen. Maybe they should ask David Reher and Warren Johnson about fixing Pro Stock. Because what NHRA did last winter sure as Hell didn't work worth a damn.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

The small tires make them look more like showroom cars. Also makes tuners more important as compared with brute hp. Just my 3.5Cents (inflation)

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Big Tire, 5 speed, 500 c.i. , 4L blower (or bigger) with you pickem pulleys. Must retain Production quarters,roof, doors. Make the wheelbase the same for all. They need to be in the 6 second range to look good on TV.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

I'd go with the 10.5 tire , 5 speed, OEM design engine, Stock Style Front Suspension & Stock Quarters, Roof, and Door.

Lets go forward by going back in time!....a little.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

I had proposed a Jr. Pro Stock concept to NHRA over 10 years ago when word got out that Chrysler was going to build a Hemi Charger (and before it was to be a four door car). Similar rules, no superchargers back then. 6L CID limit, EFI, stock steel bodies, etc. I was told by one of the tech guys at NHRA that they had proposed similar ideas and that management had no interest in it at the time. I think I had proposed the 10.5W slicks instead of the 9" stocker tires.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Why not current Super Stock rules with lower minimum weights. They are already in the 7's ar 170. With development and 400 lbs less weight it would be interesting.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

The heck with this nonsense. Bring in the imports, lets make this real competition, what you all afraid what the scenarios could be. Is an American production power plant better than an import, who is quicker, or faster, let the fun begin. it is called competition.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA bring it on.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

x2

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Why small tires? Big tires look more like a real race car, and are safer. I've seen too many "10.5 shootout" cars crash. People come to maybe see them crash, (and they only run 1/8th mile around here), but it is not safe.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Hey Ed, I also watched the 10.5 and street tire cars while I lived in Missouri....they are crazy and extremely dangerous. Most of them are tube cars with twin turbos or nitros. Probably 6.50 cars for a quarter mile at over 200 MPH.

We are talking about cars that might run high 7's....180. I like the 9" X 30" tire because it adds "tune up" to the equation and not just high dollar horsepower. In other words, you have to tune your car to get down the track before you can win. Could always run them 1,000 ft.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

....and the class would still be boring to watch to the casual spectator.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Sorry, not seeing how small tires will make good racing in Pro Stock. They merely make track prep and lane differences a bigger factor in deciding the races. Aborted passes do not make for good racing, and soon the fans will tire of it.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Gary, seven second capable new cars (when turned loose) on 9" tires tried to set the record at the National Open last weekend, and could hardly get down the track.
As a couple of guys have already mentioned, nobody would watch them anyway.
It would be too dangerous.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Ed, my friend, I respectfully disagree, in order to get down the track...you do what you have to do. You and I run about the same?...launch RPM and high gear retard are essential.
The notion of big tires takes all of the "want a be" racers out of it...that is wrong.
Keep it 9 inch and watch the results..About the time you turn it to a 14 or 15 inch tire......it is all over. My 2 cents

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

This is it and maybe like the old Top Stock a 10 inch tire would work.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

I don't see the 9'' tire working for NHRA. remember its about the television show. aborted runs and downtime from crashes, won't work for live TV. or the national event type fans in the bleachers, they won't be happy with aborted runs and breaks in the program . anyone who has been to one of the so called 10.5 races or whatever outlaw race they are calling it this week , knows that while the racing can exciting. the numerous crashes , blow overs. ect. that occur at these small tire events, would be a disaster for NHRA. plus just think about how much more the entry fees would go up for us sportsman racers, having to cover the rising insurance costs associated with it. . I like the idea of the current factory shootout cars, but let them run a 14x32 and any rear suspension.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Agree!!

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

By letting them get away from the stock configuration of the 9 in tire they would not be stock legal anymore, and could not fall back into the class if you did not make the cut. What does it pay to win Pro Stock now days, I am sure the payout would not be the same. Tom

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

We're all still missing the point. Cars will still cost $100 to $200 thousand dollars.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

that's peanuts for a pro operation.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

This.

Seriously, I have no idea where this fixation of making someone (especially someone else, because I doubt any of us will run the class) effectively race on an ice rink comes from.

Putting 14"x32" slicks on them will only make them look more like race cars, and effectively make them back half cars. It would make them viable race cars that can be raced, instead of wrecked constantly.

However, we just saw what massive rule changes over a short period did for the class. Parity went to Hell, and so did the cost, not to mention the car count. Does anyone really think this entire rewrite of the class will work? A small tire wreck fest, which NHRA and the fans will hate, and a factoring nightmare, which NHRA will despise, not to mention handle poorly, is not the salvation of the class. It is merely replacing the class with something else, which is entirely unlikely to survive.

The cars themselves could be reigned in by giving them until 2018 to comply with a new body rule (templates, exactly like production cars, roof and quarter panels based on a body in white) and some common sense engine rules. But what can't be done, it seems, is convince Ford and Mopar to invest in a cylinder head program.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

With the 14x32 tire, they still could fall back into Super Stock.

If the current competitive Pro Stock crop decided to run this proposed new configuration, there will several that will "fall back".

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

A new class, "Factory Back Half"

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Aside from the debate on tire size and back-half. It was brought up about Ford and Mopar cylinder head program.
I think that is partially to blame for lack of new interest in P/S.
As much as I like the DRCE and Hemi 06 engines, they do not interest the young street guy...The demographic the Pro Stock used to play too.
If there is change in Pro Stock, it would be imperative to utilize OEM engine design that the street crowd could relate to and have pride in.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

I agree, but it still puts more people on the outside looking in.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Stephen Bell current Super stocker is exactly how they should look. That car is bad azz. With so many of those out there including the current pros you could have 32 car fields. Probably 50-60 trying to get in the show.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

You're not going to make that happen without the old weight break system that was killing Pro Stock 35 years or so ago. Weight breaks and factors are not going to work for Pro Stock. NHRA has neither the desire nor the ability to deal with it, and the racers will despise it. The weight break fiasco was the exact reason for the 500 cubic inches and 2350 pounds format, without which, Pro Stock would have been dead 30 years ago.

We were told how the new cars were going to bring in all this "new, young blood", and yet, it hasn't happened. You have a few guys who have the resources to buy and race the cars, and most of them were already racing. The new cars should have brought these "young street guys" people keep talking about, but they didn't. Trying to make Pro Stock into a class for the new cars won't bring the "young street guys" in, either.

The "young street guy" is never going to care about Pro Stock. Pro Stock is a hard core racers class, only hard core racers and hard core fans will ever really care about it.

For years, I worked in a shop that did work for all sorts of customers. I still, in my own business, do work for a broad range of people. I can tell you that around 95 out of 100 of today's "young car enthusiasts" do not give a damn about classes with "all those stupid rules". They care no more about Pro Stock than they do about Stock Eliminator and Super Stock, and you're not going to convert even 10% of them without wholesale changes to the classes, from Stock Eliminator on up. Changes that completely replace the character and style of the classes as they are now.

Make Pro Stock a healthy class for the hard core racer and fan, and then you can draw a small percentage in, and convert them to hard core.

NHRA started letting the bodies get out of control around 1977 when people were "drooping" the front clip. It went down hill rapidly from there, just like when NASCAR started with all the goofy body rules, instead of making the teams run a body in white. Now both NHRA Pro Stock and NASCAR cars look like blobs with no character. That's the first trend to reverse completely, in the next year or two.

Then, with some common sense rules, they can reign in some of the over the top money in the engines. Doing that might even make it possible for some of the stuff Ford and Mopar already have to be competitive. One 1350 cfm throttle body for the fuel injection system. Pull the maximum bore size back. There are several easily policed rule changes that can get the class back under control.

Make them look exactly like the current production street cars, with the exception of a reasonable scoop, and 14"x32" tires, and reign in the out of control engine insanity, then you might have a car the fans like and identify, the teams can afford to race, and the factories can support.

Otherwise, you can create a new class, call it Pro Stock, drive off most of the current shrinking support it does have, and wonder why no one else showed up. NHRA got a good start on that for 2016.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

9 inch tire is the equalizer. Over powering the track will get a lot of aborted runs but when its race time everyone will race the track and detune enough to get down it. If some of the lower HP cars are around they may benefit with having a 9 tire racing against a over HP cars. That way you may not have to keep re factoring some cars and get the weight out of control. My under HP 10.5 racing no prep has made my middle of the pack car capable of winning as I'm throwing everything at it and hooking while others with to much HP have to de tune down to my level. Makes racing equal and closer racing. Thanks to running Super Stock for years and getting suspension science figured out.

I know a lot of you look down on no prep but the fans come and being a equalizer helps car count. I think that is the goal correct?
And the fans didn't come out yesterday to watch cars crash. If they did they were disappointed as nobody crashed and racing was very close with a lot of different model cars and different power adders.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

x2

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

See how many entrees you get if you make FS/XX a 16 car field compared to a pro stock field. compete this at a few more national events with the same rules and you will have double the cars trying to qualify then you do at a pro stock race.

If you turn this into a big tire stock body pro stock class, you will get the same participation and TV audence that you have now for Pro Stock. Let pro Stock die on the vine. Its a dying class and concept. Just watching bodies with a Chevrolet sticker on it make boring passes down the track is played out.

For all the " Its to dangerous to race on a 9 tire " crowd how many crashes have we had? These cars weigh 3500 pounds and have a long wheelbase. These cars are pretty stable going down the track at 8.30's and 8.10's other than launches with the spinning and long wheelies at times the cars get down pretty regularly on National Event prepped tracks.

If this really comes true, why not run it in XX form and same rules. See how it goes from there. Let the Pro Stock guys run Pro Mod, or adapt, their show is what is dying and not popular with the fans and that's why there is a discussion for a change.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

Okay, at this point, this has devolved into guys, including myself, who don't race a class, not just trying to adjust rules for a class that we don't race, but either suggesting wholesale changes, wiping the class out completely and starting over, or just plain suggesting letting the class die, and screw the guys who run it. That's just bad form, and totally uncool, I'm out of this.

Re: Factory Cars to Pro Stock in 2018 - Speculative Web Arti
 

I agree to 16 qualified cars for FS/XX at more National Races First, and see how that goes. If it goes well, maybe have a 32 car field, but Keep It Simple !!!