Is it time to fix Super Class Racing?

[Chris Williams]

I'm sorry Bill, but going backward to the "old days" is just going backward. The sport is already stuck in the 80s (with carbs, pushrod V8s, and such), why make it even less attractive to people under 30?

In reality, a bunch of this is fixing itself, the bulk of the "testosterone" runners who insist on spending huge dollars want to run TD, where they can get in the 6s and maybe go 200. The SC fields in the Northwest are dwindling daily, while TD fields grow. Now that TD is showing up at the divisional and national level, this will increase.

People who like the tough challenge that is SC racing are still there, where we like happen to like it. You have to be deadly on the tree, damn good with the computer and the delay box, and very good at driving the top end. Tough racing, and fun as hell.

What I'd like to see is to knock almost a second off all the Super class times: go to 8, 9, 10. It has three great benefits:

1) The .90 may be cool for some folks, but it confuses the living heck out of the casual fan. Try to explain to someone who doesn't know racing that "we're trying to go 8.90 seconds" just gets a blank stare. And to explain to someone that 8.899 is too fast is just a pain ("how many 8s and 9s was that?"). If 8.00 seconds was the target, everyone would get it. 8.10 is clearly a 1/10 slow, and 7.999 would be too fast, that's easy to see.

2) It would also negate a lot of the MPH advantage. Because you'd be on the stop a ton less time, the ability for the fast car to come storming up on you would be greatly reduced. They'd still have some advantage, but it would be reduced significantly.

3) By being on the stop for far less time, it wouldn't look so ridiculous to the casual fan. Imagine what would happen if you were on the stop for not 25% of the run, but <10%?

One final change. Bag the car type restrictions in the Super classes. (You can run a door car in SC but not a dragster in SG.) That way, if I can't make 8 in my dragster, but run SC today, let me move to SG and still have a home.

I think this is the best plan, and fixes most of the issues.