When do I get my National Event without AHFS

[boostedf22c]

Originally Posted by 442OLDS

For those upset at the AHFS,bracket racing,and slow cars........NHRA could always run off of the National Record like it used to be.

So how does that work? I'm not familiar with how it used to be?

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by boostedf22c

So how does that work? I'm not familiar with how it used to be?

Instead of indexes, we ran off national class records. Used to get points for setting records. We got 2 rounds worth of points for an ET record, one round worth of points for MPH records. Rounds used to be 10, instead of 100. Not sure why they are ten times as many now. Must appeal to somebody. We could only run 1/10th under without breaking out, except national event final rounds (under in a national final round was the new record) or during class. Was not a great lot of breaking out back then. Closer-to-the-record cars normally won. Bracket racing came along, and most of the slower guys went to that. Car counts dropped. If bracket racing had never happened, we might still be running off records. A lot of the time back then I was running off my own record. The first indexes weren't as soft as they are now. Evidently they slowed the indexes to get more slower cars back.

[Carguy49]

Originally Posted by 442OLDS

For those upset at the AHFS,bracket racing,and slow cars........NHRA could always run off of the National Record like it used to be.

When did they quit running off the National Record?? What was the reason in doing so?? Anybody recall. I know it will never happen, but if the NHRA went back to that format it would put an end to the 1000' qualifiers. I had a stock eliminator car briefly in the early 70's, but it was never fast. Just curious, and my 2 cents.

Just so you know, my car was a 1971 Torino w/ a 302 C4 combo - O/SA.

[Lee Valentine]

I would go back to running off records now,back in the old days I was at a disadvantage because I was short on money raising a family now I can afford the best.

[boostedf22c]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Instead of indexes, we ran off national class records. Used to get points for setting records. We got 2 rounds worth of points for an ET record, one round worth of points for MPH records. Rounds used to be 10, instead of 100. Not sure why they are ten times as many now. Must appeal to somebody. We could only run 1/10th under without breaking out, except national event final rounds (under in a national final round was the new record) or during class. Was not a great lot of breaking out back then. Closer-to-the-record cars normally won. Bracket racing came along, and most of the slower guys went to that. Car counts dropped. If bracket racing had never happened, we might still be running off records. A lot of the time back then I was running off my own record. The first indexes weren't as soft as they are now. Evidently they slowed the indexes to get more slower cars back.

Thanks for the explanation. So there weren't "minimum" records for the majority of the classes like now?

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Instead of indexes, we ran off national class records. Used to get points for setting records. We got 2 rounds worth of points for an ET record, one round worth of points for MPH records. Rounds used to be 10, instead of 100. Not sure why they are ten times as many now. Must appeal to somebody. We could only run 1/10th under without breaking out, except national event final rounds (under in a national final round was the new record) or during class. Was not a great lot of breaking out back then. Closer-to-the-record cars normally won. Bracket racing came along, and most of the slower guys went to that. Car counts dropped. If bracket racing had never happened, we might still be running off records. A lot of the time back then I was running off my own record. The first indexes weren't as soft as they are now. Evidently they slowed the indexes to get more slower cars back.

Ed. Those days were nice. But we only used to get 1 or 2 races out of our front tires. No shoe polish then just hit the brakes hard at the big end. Cars went a lot slower then. Our B/SA Challenger run a best of 122 mph ( at Fremont CA) And back then they used an extra 60 to calculate the mph. The shoe polish helps to stop that.

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

If bracket racing had never happened, we might still be running off records.

Ed, don't blame Bracket Racing for the demise of Class Racing. NHRA hasn't had the manpower to do proper teardowns on each Class winner and runner-up for longer that I've been Class racing! And the only way that we could go back to the old "ya gotta win Class to get in the field", "running off the National Record" days would be to have proper tech and teardowns again and that's not gonna happen.
Let's face the facts, NHRA was able to cut their work force AND increase participation by "dumbing" Stock and SS down. Bracket Racers just saw a good thing and moved in.

[Terry Cain]

BUT, How about just one National meet to run the way the did in the old days. Kinda like the ball teams wearing the "ole" uniforms. Never know til ya try.

[Harry 6674]

Originally Posted by art leong

Ed. Those days were nice. But we only used to get 1 or 2 races out of our front tires. No shoe polish then just hit the brakes hard at the big end. Cars went a lot slower then. Our B/SA Challenger run a best of 122 mph ( at Fremont CA) And back then they used an extra 60 to calculate the mph. The shoe polish helps to stop that.

I never had a problem wearing out front tires. I was never fast enough to worry about going faster then the record. It certainly was a whole lot more fun for me anyway. Brakes are for after you cross the stripe.

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Harry 6674

I never had a problem wearing out front tires. I was never fast enough to worry about going faster then the record. It certainly was a whole lot more fun for me anyway. Brakes are for after you cross the stripe.

Think of a Hemi Challenger running down a Vega or a Pinto. More smoke at the finish than the burnout box. Plus we had a slight oil leak on the header that looked like we tossed a rod out the side at around the 1000'. Won many a round that way. Competition would lift figuring we broke and we would go roaring by.
And remember you could only dial under once. You had to run that dial the whole race