"Indy Observation" In Stock Elim.

[Chuck Norton]

Originally Posted by Mike Fuller

It won't be to much longer until these will be the only cars in stock at Indy if this is not addressed.

In 1972 NHRA attempted to legislate an arbitrary "10-year rule" for Stock Eliminator. It was a poorly conceived plan that failed for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was the first OPEC/Big Oil-engineered fuel shortage crisis and the ensuing horsepower reductions across the American car market. For over 20 years very few high performance cars were manufactured for the domestic market and most of them were at a competitive disadvantage when paired against existing combinations. The "classic" muscle cars ruled in Stock Eliminator. Eventually, only cars manufactured in 1959 and earlier suffered banishment from the eliminator bracket.

In either 1997 or 1998, the Official Rulebook included paragraph inviting OEM to create "special production runs" of vehicles that "need not be showroom available" to be included in the Classification Guide. It only took ten years for manufacturers to avail themselves of this opportunity and begin licensing outside vendors to begin spitting out cookie-cutter models and kits of race-only "Stockers." (That brings to mind the old joke about a football game during which one team retired to the locker room and it only required eight plays for the inept competition to find the end zone.)

Fast forward to 2014 and finally someone has devised a means to the ultimate goal of a Stock Eliminator field composed only of late model factory Stock cars. Give a few models of very expensive, purpose-built factory race cars a free pass to compete without the artificial ceiling of the AHFS and we're only a heart-beat away from Nirvana, a field composed of only cars that are newer than 10 years! It's funny how things work out.

c

[Mark Yacavone]

Well stated ,Chuck..Wish you would post here more often.
Of course, there are a few "renegades" like Larry Hill, Gary Summers, and Paul Wong
mucking up the works.
Will we see another "rule change" soon? Most likely!

I remember being in high school and seeing Mike Walters at Quaker City on Friday night for test-and-tune with his '67 Camaro Stocker changing converters in the dark trying to squeeze out a few more hundreths. That has stuck with me for 30 years. In my humble opinion that is what Class Racing is all about. When you can go out now, spend 6-figures, and buy something that has to lift at the 1000' mark and still qualifies in the top of the field it makes me think NHRA is missing the point. I don't begrudge the folks that run them and Lord knows if my wife and I could afford one we'd buy it but I don't think it's healthy for the sport how they're doing it and believe it will be the demise of Class Racing. We have a 2004 Corvette that is legal for IHRA Pure Stock but why would I spend the time, effort and money to go run B/SA in IHRA when Wilkes is now running solidly in the 9.80s with his new COPO? That makes zero sense.

Scott

[John Nechiporchik]

Since the beginning of Pro Stock, it was my favorite class. Over the past several years, as the Pro Stocks have gone the route of Funny car....perhaps a slight resemblance to a production body, my interest has deteriorated.
Why not re-engineer Pro Stock based on these new factory muscle cars and reinvigorate the excitement in doorslammer racing that was the basis for this great sport. Hell, have a 64 car field and get the juices flowing.
After a 43 year career in the auto industry, the one constant was change. If your organization did not constantly look ahead and navigate the ever changing marketplace, you were doomed to fail. Creativity and a bit of risk taking are ingredients to success.
The new cars are a great addition to the sport. They just need to find the right home for them to compete in. I hope the leadership (another key success factor) of our sanctioning bodies is equipped to deal with this need. If not, like in other businesses, get the right leaders in place and move forward.

[Paul Precht]

Originally Posted by Tar Heel

I remember being in high school and seeing Mike Walters at Quaker City on Friday night for test-and-tune with his '67 Camaro Stocker changing converters in the dark trying to squeeze out a few more hundreths. That has stuck with me for 30 years. In my humble opinion that is what Class Racing is all about. When you can go out now, spend 6-figures, and buy something that has to lift at the 1000' mark and still qualifies in the top of the field it makes me think NHRA is missing the point. I don't begrudge the folks that run them and Lord knows if my wife and I could afford one we'd buy it but I don't think it's healthy for the sport how they're doing it and believe it will be the demise of Class Racing. We have a 2004 Corvette that is legal for IHRA Pure Stock but why would I spend the time, effort and money to go run B/SA in IHRA when Wilkes is now running solidly in the 9.80s with his new COPO? That makes zero sense.

Scott

Mike used to run all the Div 1 races, If you came over to say Hi, you were talking to his feet because he was under the car and many times after the sun went down.

Originally Posted by Paul Precht

Mike used to run all the Div 1 races, If you came over to say Hi, you were talking to his feet because he was under the car and many times after the sun went down.

To me that was the cool part about class racing. Guys and gals thrashing on the car between rounds to squeeze every last bit of ET out of their combination. I'm not familiar with the new cars other than from a spectator's viewpoint and don't know if they require as much "parts testing" etc. but I just don't see it being the same. Mike was laying on the asphalt that night between testing hits changing the converter on his back with a flashlight late at night. If I remember correctly he was alone. I was impressed by that.

Scott