[Greg Hill]

10.75 or 10.80 would be a fair index for AA. This hood business is interesting but it's not that big a deal either way. The big deal is the horsepower rating of the Challengers in question and the reduction in shipping weight. First the 392 SRT motor is 485 from the factory and had 105 hp taken off before it ever went down the track and is rated at 380. The 5.7 Hemi is 375 hp from the factory and is rated at 300 now. These ratings are at SAE net with all accessories, mufflers and cats. Also shipping weights were reduced by 5-600 lbs. As long as I've been racing the only thing that comes close to this are the extremely bogus hp ratings used on the factory race cars when they first came out.

One needs to ask who benefits from these hp and weight reductions and how things like this happen. Is this good for stock eliminator? What's this do for the guys who have a car that runs in the same class? In my opinion, Nhra, the manufacturer, and the folks that pushed for this are responsible. We get side tracked by issues like a hood, but the big thing is the hp ratings and reduction in shipping weights.