Quote:
Originally Posted by Dean Roberts
Jack, your response is bitter and you missed some important facts so I will fill in the blanks.
1. bob found a car that was actually built and had been in the book for 20 years, GM did not put a paper car into my class
All cars in the guide are built, at least 50 of them. There have been GM paper cars. Ford and Dodge did, in fact, build these cars by the letter of the NHRA rules to fit in Stock, and anyone had a chance to get one, or you can build your own. Who cars how long they have been around? An underfactored car is just that, and it doesn't matter which class or how long it's been hiding in the books. I'm not arguing that they are underrated.
2. bob has not been helped or encouraged by GM to kick my ***
Only because it he runs cars that no one cares about. He picked a class to take advantage of the system, good for him. BTW, Ford and Dodge did the same thing. If you don't think GM was thrilled about racers kicking butt with underrated LT and LS cars you are misinformed or one-sided.
3. bob is a great racer and a nice guy, if someone was gonna end my reign as U/SA hitter at least it was bob... not some prick with a couple of million dollars and a Ford racing jacket.
So someone is a prick because they have done well in life and have money to spend? Have you been to an NHRA race lately and seen the rigs, cars and paint jobs? That would account for 3/4 of the sportsman pits, so 3/4 of the racers are pricks? I think there are a lot of DP and CJ racers who love the brands and want to be a part of history. They may not understand NHRA racing they way you do, but they spent the money and want to run the balls off these cars. Wasn't that the original intent of the class?
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I agree that Bob is a great racer and like Billy Ness and Neil Smedley, they are good at looking at combinations.
The truth is there is a different angle to the inception of Bob's combination that only a few know.
Bob's combination, although the car was manufactured with the EFI Oldsmobile engine, was never in the books from the beginning. Neil Smedley is the person that came up with the possibilities of how such combination would run in Stock.
I did some research on the combination and got all the data sheets from the engineers at Cadillac Motorsports at the time. They were still involved in drag racing with the FWD cars. During a discussion with Bob Dennis, he said he would like to explore this combination in SS class. I provided Bob with copies of the documents and we both submitted the information to NHRA.
NHRA did not approve the engine combination and said it was too old of an engine to be approved. Even Travis said the same thing on this board when this subject was brought up on this board many years ago.
One year later, Randy Mans approached me as asked me if I still had the data because he had talked to his division director and also Bob Lang and they told him they would take a look at it for approval. Randy got the information and later on, the engine combination was added to the books. Neil Smedley also talked to Bob about this combination and I consider Neil the person that came up with the combination.
So, in a nutshell, it is who you know at NHRA to get things approved.
As regards to those that spend money in their cars, there are many successful racers outside of this sport and have the money to do and build whatever they please. Many of you would be doing the same if you had the resources. Therefore, I consider criticism of the way their spend their money on their cars out of context.