[Nick Heath]

I think most racers appreciate the idea of reviving the pure stock of the old days. Buy a new Ford Mustang GT, drive it to the track, race for a trophy. Drive it home, work on it, drive it to the track again. It sounds awesome on paper. The problem is that I see too many external factors working against it.

We've discussed repeatedly how millennials don't care about cars, etc. Let's ignore that and limit our conversation to "millennials who have an active interest in cars" - how many can afford a brand new $40,000 Mustang GT? How many can even afford a used $20,000 Pontiac G8? And if they can afford the hot rod, can they afford a second vehicle (to get them to work every day), safety equipment costs, and the repair costs if they grenade an engine or transmission? I don't know how many 5.0 Coyote or 6.2 LS3 engines are sitting around in junkyards. And even if they can afford all of that - can they afford time off work, entry fees, fuel costs, hotel rooms, etc.?

This leads to the next problem - NHRA has been cutting S/SS quotas consistently over the last few years. They obviously do not care about the $$$ from the extra entries they're slashing. So if $$$ is not enough, what motivation does NHRA have to add these additional cars? Remember the additional work that goes into tech'ing a Stocker vs. tech'ing a Top Sportsman car.

On the flip side, why in the world would the hero of our story have any interest in driving his Pontiac G8 all over the country to get enough grade points to enter a national event? A national event, where he has to take time off work to show up on Wednesday or Thursday, sit around and watch as his category is bumped by rain, crashes, oil downs, Diesel Outlaw Snowmobiles, or whatever other sideshow attraction has been added to the schedule, and maybe get two runs down the track for the entire weekend? You see a lot of street cars at the Test/Tune days because it's easy. There is no tech inspection, no teardown, no grade points, no nonsense. Most tracks have good Test/Tune or Street Drag programs, so it makes a easy day trip, and you certainly get a lot more return (runs down the quarter mile) for your investment (time and cost).

I truly love Stock and Super Stock racing and want to find a way to expand its appeal and enable its survival long into the future - I just don't see how the worsening NHRA structure is going to accomplish that.