[Jeff Lee]

The reason some of the HP ratings are less for the stick cars is because less people race stick cars. It's a lot easier to be "king of the Hill" in a Stick class as the classes are so small. You may not be pushed very hard to go any faster.
The reason auto cars have higher HP ratings is because the class is inundated with automatic cars. More hot dogs with ego's equal more nips at the AHFS.

One MAJOR reason guys don't race stick cars is because they loose qualifying positions by racing a stick! Rob Youngblood can tell you how many sales he's lost because of this!

As I said in a recent post, SS/JA vs SS/J; Don Little vs. Rob Youngblood. Both seem to run comparable ET's in qualifying yet Don will qualify in the top 5 while Rob will qualify 10+ positions down the ladder. Same HP rating, same weight (or at least within a few pounds). Is that reasonable?
And some of you think this is nothing more than a bracket race so qualifying means little to you. Well, there are some of us that still adhere to the calling that this is a performance based class and qualifying higher than lower means something!

Now, I have proposed this on this board more than once. Sticks and autos should be combined. I have also proposed that points should be awarded for top 10 & #1 qualifying positions. That would encourage some of you to let loose of the throttle stops every now and again. If that were the rule, that there are points on the line, then why should there be a disparity between indexes on stick vs. auto?

I'll soon be back in D/S. Last issue of Nitro Joes (which every class racer should subscribe too!), Joe lists 8 competitors in D/S. Then look at D/SA. There's 63 in that class! Combine them and now we have 71 cars in a class and one less class. In D/S the two fast guys are Duzac & Byrd @ 10.35 each (wow!) but the two fast guys in D/SA are VanLant & Hill @ 10.51 each.
Apparently there's an advantage to the stick there. But look at C/S vs. C/SA. In C/S the two fast guys are Wenzel & McNeish @ 10.51 each but the two fast guys in C/SA are Dean & Ratcliff both @ 10.37 each. Apparently the auto has an advantage here.
In fact, I just went over all the Stock runs. Of the 25 classes from AA/S through W/S and AA/SA through AA/SA and looking at only the fastest in each class, the autos win 17-8! Stick wins in: B/S, D/S, G/S, O/S, Q/S, T/S & W/S (there are no R/S & U/S racers listed as participants). I didn't count the FWD classes.

So if your crying that the stick has a huge advantage, it just doesn't appear that way.

Combine the classes and I personally could care less how they split the Index. Take the high, take the low or split the difference. One way or the other, NHRA will say the AHFS will take care issues.

NHRA would cut 25 classes and save on trophies. I think this would also eliminate the "Stick / auto combos" which I'm still not sure what I think of that program. But that's for another thread.

More:
Of the 27 classes SHOWN:
7 are the same, stick / auto index
7 are .05 apart
6 are .10 apart
3 are .15 apart
1 IS .20 apart
2 ARE .25 apart

So in Stock at least, there's not the big gap of stick / auto indexes to be concerned about. Unless your one of the (very) few with sticks in the slowest classes.

Here's the index table:

Stock Indexes
Last Update: 9/4/2012
Class 1/4 Mile 1/8 Mile
AA/S 10.00 06.50 - Auto is SAME
A/S 10.95 07.06 - Auto is .05 SLOWER
B/S 11.20 07.21 - Auto is .15 SLOWER
C/S 11.35 07.31 - Auto is .05 SLOWER
D/S 11.50 07.39 - Auto is .05 SLOWER
E/S 11.65 07.47 - Auto is .05 SLOWER
F/S 11.80 07.57 - Auto is .05 SLOWER
G/S 11.90 07.62 - Auto is .10 SLOWER
H/S 12.00 07.68 - Auto is .15 SLOWER
I/S 12.20 07.79 - Auto is .10 SLOWER
J/S 12.35 07.89 - Auto is .10 SLOWER
K/S 12.55 08.00 - Auto is .10 SLOWER
L/S 12.70 08.08 - Auto is SAME
M/S 12.85 08.18 - Auto is SAME
N/S 12.95 08.22 - Auto is .05 SLOWER
O/S 13.10 08.32 - Auto is .05 SLOWER
P/S 13.35 08.46 - Auto is .10 SLOWER
Q/S 13.65 08.62 - Auto is .15 SLOWER
R/S 13.95 08.79 - Auto is .10 SLOWER
T/S 14.40 09.04 - Auto is SAME
U/S 14.65 09.17 - Auto is .20 SLOWER
V/S 15.25 09.51 - Auto is .25 SLOWER
W/S 16.40 10.17 - Auto is .25 SLOWER

FS/S 09.90 06.44 - HUH?
AAA/S 09.70 06.32 - Auto is SAME
BB/S 10.30 06.68 - Auto is SAME
CC/S 10.60 06.86 - Auto is SAME