[Bob Mulry]

Originally Posted by Bpozzi

Bob, with all due respect and I may be ignorant here, but how does under the index mean "crap" in a heads up race? If 2 of the same class cars , granted they are IHRA crate motor cars not NHRA crate
Motor cars (most all factory stock cars, that can be furthered argued later and mean no disrespect to FS owners) line up to make a heads up run... wouldn't logic say the car that runs further under the index for that class have higher chance of winning? Also, how many guys under the age of 40 do you know competing in this sport right now that can afford to build any "nhra" specific fast class car? a fast crate motor car (fast = how far under the index) is fairly inexpensive to build and run. Achieving 7-8 tenths under the index is completely attainable on a youngsters budget. I say that to go back to a point made many threads back..... when all the old guys with money move on and retire, the young guys that can afford crate motor cars and have fun will still be around...... I guess they will just give there money to IHRA. I respect your views, but I argue that anyone that works hard and is able to put a class designation on the window of there car shouldn't have there car/motor/class called a POS regardless if it barely runs the index or a second under and spends 6 figures on a motor program.

I'll slow it down for you.....

You build what you want, when you want because that's the beauty of racing. If you don't care about performance, just build a car that will run under the index. There have been many World Champions that have taken that route. They gamble that there won't be a heads-up with a faster racecar and usually there isn't.

If it costs $20,000 for a killer NHRA Stock Eliminator Engine and it cost $2000 to build a killer Crate Engine, then all of the people with $20,000 or $2000 will have killer motors in their own Eliminator...

In a heads up race the only thing that counts is who gets there first, with a green light with legal fuel and weight....

You find out what the car in the opposite lane has for you when the tree comes down...

So apples to apples and oranges to oranges whoever has the bigger commitment (money, knowledge, time or whatever) to the project, will be the faster car in relation to their index or record or whatever yardstick you wish to use....

As for under the index, the IHRA has a different set of numbers than the NHRA and a whole lot more classes. In IHRA racing it appears that the chance of a heads-up in IHRA is less then in NHRA racing...

Even at INDY there are a lot of single car classes and that is with over 200 entries.

So the reason that Crate Motors are popular is because you can be faster against your own index than a Stock Eliminator car can be??????

By the way if you wanted to build a fast car vs. the index, why wouldn't try a lower class Stock Eliminator car??????

That way your dollar would go further without the need for a lot of exotic ($$$$) parts..

I mean no disrespect to the lower class cars (I race a J, K & L/SA), because they can be very fast against the index.....

How much does it cost to build a competitive heads up type engine in a Crate Motor class????

The cost of an engine is a very small piece of the complete racecar....

Have at it and whatever puts a smile on your face is the correct answer.

Bob