Stock Suggestion # 1

[Jeff Teuton]

Bill, I owe you a beer or 6.

[Qwikpony]

Teuton and Rayburn are exactly right. Take power off of the old engine combos. We all know that increased horsepower ratings=heavier cars=more broken parts=LESS money to race with. The re-emergence of the "FI" classes is the way to go. The LS-1s could then run in C,D,E "FI" to avoid the supercharged cars and crate engine combos. We should thank the BIG 3 for putting their money back into our classes and the new cars are flat out awesome. But they are a little to radical to compete "heads up" with the 60s and 70s musclecars. We should race apples and apples "heads up" and apples and oranges with shoe polish.

[SS Engine Guy]

Ok, here is the edit for easy understanding. Fix the problem.
- problem: factory experimental cars being placed in Stock and S/S
- solution: place them where they actually belong which Is Comp in some cases and SS in others. And even when placed in SS they will have to be factored with in reason.

- clarification on factoring: if you took a 427 Chev. running legal under current super stock rules and added a much better race only head, 14-15 to 1 compression, 1000 cfm of pure airflow(not air and fuel), fuel and timing control in milliseconds. Surely it wouldn't be rated the same or lower than before those add ons.

[Qwikpony]

Your point illustrates why Rayburn has the best solution. If NHRA is going to take the time to reclassify the new cars, they could do the same thing and still keep them is Stock. The supercharged cars are reflective of what can be bought from the dealer (Shelby GT500 and/or Super Snake conversion from Shelby) even though they are making big power. NHRA could also consider putting the blower cars into SS and leaving the N/A cars in their own class(in Stock) so manufacturers still have an arena to showcase their product. They only problem with taking power off of the old combos is that a 10% reduction could result in the removal of too much ballast thus creating traction problems on the mostly marginal tracks we race on. I doubt the A,B,C cars want to have to worry about spinning.

[Lee Valentine]

Take the horsepower off , I'll worry about hooking it.

[Qwikpony]

Or, leave your cars where they are at and ressurrect the "FI" classes(with an index adjustment). NHRA would only need a few and if the manufacturers are building these to compete with each other then no one should mind a 360 DP,a 352CJ and a 350 COPO all running in the same class. This is essentially an IHRA "crate engine" class and is very similar to the GT classes in SS. What about those that could not find 200 lbs. to take out that comes with the 10% reduction ? Let's not complicate it too much. The right answer is a separate class within Stock for the DPs, CJs and COPOs.

[442OLDS]

Originally Posted by Qwikpony

Let's not complicate it too much. The right answer is a separate class within Stock for the DPs, CJs and COPOs.

This thread sure got off base.I don't even know what it is about any more.

I thought the discussion was about Indy.At Indy,there was a separate class for the majority of these cars called Factory Stock.If not Factory Stock,they created all kinds of new classes with so many A's and B's that I don't think any old cars even run in those classes anyways.

Some were upset that they were not eligible for AHFS.However IF they were,they simply would have slowed them down.They still would have qualified.

Maybe Comp isn't such a bad idea.I ran a Copo at Earlville in Round one that ran 8.79.

Comp only had about 17 cars in Earlville,so they could certainly use more cars in that class.

What is the main issue that this thread is attempting to fix again?

[Qwikpony]

The fact that so many of the newer cars did qualify ( 1.2+ under) and bumped out some older cars is part of what this thread is trying to fix ( I think). The other part is the "older" BB and CC cars that have to run the "newer" EFI cars "heads up".

[442OLDS]

Originally Posted by Qwikpony

The fact that so many of the newer cars did qualify ( 1.2+ under) and bumped out some older cars is part of what this thread is trying to fix ( I think). The other part is the "older" BB and CC cars that have to run the "newer" EFI cars "heads up".

The first part is easily fixed with an ALL RUN field........Done.

The second part is the luck of the draw.

I race a 1970 Olds that is rated 10 horsepower less than the factory rated it.

I could have to race a 1970 Chevy LT1 that is rated 35 horsepower less than the factory rated it.

Is this fair? I really don't think so,but if it happens,you take your lumps and go to the next race.Stock will never be "fair"

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Jeff Teuton

Too many opinions on too many topics by too many people. This stuff on this thread is great reading, but then Mark Twain was too. We might get a couple items done, but a couple hundred items have no appeal to NHRA. I think we need to edit what we can, and not rewrite Tom Sawyer.

I agree with you there, having seen how NHRA operates for some time now.

Now, what could be simpler than adding a couple of vinyl X's in front of the FX cars' class designation?

No heads up between non -X and X cars ,ever.

X cars run their own Combo class.

FS special shootouts subject to AHFS regs.

Jeez, I'm beginning to sound like Bill Dedman here.

But, what's the problem with this ?
Only thing I see is FX cars don't get to beat up on older, well thrashed muscle car combinations for the factories' benefit.

Maybe that IS the problem with this simple solution.