Ford First "Stocker" Into The Eights

[Myron Piatek]

Originally Posted by Jack Matyas

Ralph - Thats the beauty of the whole thing - many fans ( and racers ) love the old school cars and many can't wait to see the new ones ........having them face of against each other is the best thing I know of to get people to watch and take notice .

I never thought of "Shooting fish in a barrel." as a popular spectator sport.

The concept of old vs new is great, but it's the way they are going about it. Until the AHFS does it's job after some length of time, the new cars have an overwhelming advantage even without the same amount of R&D that has gone into the old cars for decades. While these new cars get factored up through several classes, some of the old cars within those classes get sidelined from being outqualified in the limited fields or risk being outrun heads-up if they do qualify. Sure, there will usually be someone faster that can outrun or outdrive your car. But at least it was "apples-to-apples" before. Forcing people out because they can't afford a new car isn't right.

Can't really blame racers for taking advantage of the situation. Racers are always looking for an advantage. But some flaunt this pre-existing advantage while others go about racing without rocking the boat any more than necessary.

Just offering the perspective of someone who'll never have a "new" car or a top qualifying "regular" Stocker. I love the sport and the concept of class racing. I just hate to see it becaome an exclusive club. The roots of drag racing included the little guy, with enough "blood, sweat and tears", to be competitive with the big dogs.

[Phillip marvetz]

Originally Posted by Bruce Noland

Many of us called BS on this deal back in 2008. nhra is the lady of the streets on this deal. The oem's flaunted a little cash and nhra stumbled over any class it may have had left to grab the chump change. Where are all the new car enablers now? And, exactly how have the new cars helped the majority of Stock racers? What benefits have trickled down to them? Sure the little magazine writers, oem dealers and fab guys got a boost from it. But what the hell have these new cars done for the majority of Stock racers? Nothing! All the new cars have done is given the ego guys a chance to take advantage of their fellow racers and, in the end, they have chased off many dedicated racers. This scam was obvious to all of us from the very beginning. No matter which side a person supported we all knew it was a scam. nhra knew it as well and chose the cowards way out by hiding behind the ahfs. This sordid tale will not smell any better in the years to come.

Thanks Bruce. I started building my A car well before this all started and have given up on it now. NHRA killed my desire to pursue stock eliminator. My car is more fun at the old time drags now.