NHRA Expands Factory Stock Showdown

[Nick Heath]

Why are we spending so much time comparing the rules of last year's showdown to this year's showdown?

The 427 COPO/427 or 428 CJ/6.1 DP/6.4 DP will all run CC/SA (10.60 index) at 3350#-3500#.
So, at 3350#, is a 10.50 index REALLY that outrageous?

The blower cars and the V-10 are all around 500hp. So they'll run BB/SA (10.30 index) at 3670#.
So, at 3500# (or 3200# for the V-10 which probably isn't realistic), is a 10.20 index, while soft, REALLY that outrageous?
And who says NHRA won't adjust the index between now and September? They did adjust it last year.

I don't see how the showdown cars will qualify much different than if they were in their natural Stock classes. I do think there will be better participation from the N/A cars this year. And didn't everybody want these cars in their own class in the first place???

[Larry Hill]

In my case last year at Indy I was within .055 of not qualifing. So every pound remove from my competion or adjustment of index pushes my well thrash combination closer to not making the show. The cold hard facts of life for me is I have only a few Indys left.

[Bruce Noland]

They won't do it but Indy should become a 144 car field if they keep finding creative ways to make the eliminator tougher for the carbureted cars. 8 round race with bonus points for the winner.

[442OLDS]

Originally Posted by Bruce Noland

They won't do it but Indy should become a 144 car field if they keep finding creative ways to make the eliminator tougher for the carbureted cars. 8 round race with bonus points for the winner.

Best idea yet.Allow a provisional start like Nascar does.Larry Hill won a National event in 2012 and was in the top 50 in points,so he should get in automatically.

[Ed Wright]

I don't run Stock, but am just curious. Since those cars are SO under factored, why would they have a softer index than the stock class they fit?

If somebody wants to run the cars & engines like they came, do they really deserve to qualify at Indy?

Seems like guys like Patterson and Barton have shown how fast those things are if prepped like the older cars. Todd Patterson pushed that CC/SA COPO in neutral at 1000' first pass at No Problem last week and went 1.27 under. I guess the 427" COPO racers are glad it was test & tune day, the race had not started.

Yeah, they need a tenth softer index. LOL

[GarysZ24]

Originally Posted by Larry Hill

In my case last year at Indy I was within .055 of not qualifing. So every pound remove from my competion or adjustment of index pushes my well thrash combination closer to not making the show. The cold hard facts of life for me is I have only a few Indys left.

Larry, I hope you qualify for each and every one of them too! See, considering how the rules have changed in Stock over the last three decades, to even make carbureted Stockers quicker and faster than OEM, there's only so much power you can extract from a carburetor. However, ever since the f.i. craze got started in the '90's, with the tuneable computers (and now cars with superchargers in them), yeah those things can be tweaked more easily than a carburetor can to increase power (just like adjusting boost levels in turbos), so here you get that luxury and a .3 second index reduction? Where's the fairness in that? It sure isn't here with this new Indy class!!!

[Ed Wright]

Tuning the computer on a normally aspirated EFI engine is NOTHING like adjusting the boost on a turbo. How in the world did you come up with that?
You can only adjust spark advance and air/fuel ratio. Like altering the advance curve in a distributor (something we have been doing for over 50 years) and changing carburetor jets and air bleeds, again something we have been doing for over 50 years. Biggest difference is the air/fuel ratio can be adjusted every 500 RPM or so. That, and no dirty hands. There is no magic there. I've been in business since Feb 1972, other than the incremental fueling adjustments, and incremental timing adjustments (very little-to-zero gains there if everything else is right) there is no power advantage to EFI computers.
The newest stuff is just crazy under-rated.

[Bobby DiDomenico]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Tuning the computer on a normally aspirated EFI engine is NOTHING like adjusting the boost on a turbo. How in the world did you come up with that?
You can only adjust spark advance and air/fuel ratio. Like altering the advance curve in a distributor (something we have been doing for over 50 years) and changing carburetor jets and air bleeds, again something we have been doing for over 50 years. Biggest difference is the air/fuel ratio can be adjusted every 500 RPM or so. That, and no dirty hands. There is no magic there. I've been in business since Feb 1972, other than the incremental fueling adjustments, and incremental timing adjustments (very little-to-zero gains there if everything else is right) there is no power advantage to EFI computers.
The newest stuff is just crazy under-rated.

Ed,
Can the computers on these cars be adjusted cylinder by cylinder for things like retarding timing providing a better launch where a carb/distributor combination cannot?

[boster]

Bobby , FAST and Big Stuff 3 allow you to control timing at the launch, so you could retard your timing say 6 degree's and ramp it back in over a 2 or 3 seconds . Some system's you can control A/F for individual cylinders however most cars are not doing that yet but some are . These are all legal as all the newer 2008 -2013 cars came with computers and can make these adjustments

[KRatcliff]

Originally Posted by Bobby DiDomenico

Ed,
Can the computers on these cars be adjusted cylinder by cylinder for things like retarding timing providing a better launch where a carb/distributor combination cannot?

Not Ed, but a carb car can do all these same adjustments through the MSD either with an 8979 box, MSD digital, or the MSD Grid.