Has anyone changed their mind about AA/SA index?

[Dwight Southerland]

Originally Posted by Hagen Gary

I wasn't a Chevy dealer or even alive in 1969. But couldn't you get a cowl hood for a Camaro over the counter or installed on your small block car? I would think you could with all the other options you could get over the counter. So, why did all those cars have to change to the flat hood and try to match paint a few years ago? I'm just asking because I'm uninformed. Please do not curse me out or call me names. Btw, I ran AA this year, and would prefer 10.80.

Since no one chose to answer your question, I will try. The controversy came over whether the ZL-2 hood (cowl hood) option was available as an factory installed option on the 255hp 350 (LM1 engine option code). NHRA ruled it was not and there is some documentation to back it up, so those are the cars that were required to go back to the flat hood.


Supposedly, that ruling came with an indication that NHRA was going to start correcting the illegalities in combinations and allowed parts that had crept into use over time. We have not seen any additional rulings come down, so it's about time for the integrity issues to come back to the surface since it looks like politics, appeasing some whiners, and not a real attempt to correct anything.

[Mark Yacavone]

Back to the topic:
I don't have a chupacabra or even a dog in this fight, nor would I want one, but here's a suggestion:
The racers wanted the 10.60 index, right?
Now some of them don't.
So, somebody contact NHRA and suggest anyone who raced AA/SA or AA/S in the last 12 months, gets a vote via email from tech..
10. 60 or 10.75, at the half year point.
There..easy enough.
I suggest the big Cajun guy makes the contact with NHRA

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Back to the topic:
I don't have a chupacabra or even a dog in this fight, nor would I want one, but here's a suggestion:
The racers wanted the 10.60 index, right?
Now some of them don't.
So, somebody contact NHRA and suggest anyone who raced AA/SA or AA/S in the last 12 months, gets a vote via email from tech..
10. 60 or 10.75, at the half year point.
There..easy enough.
I suggest the big Cajun guy makes the contact with NHRA

No, that is NOT correct. The guys who asked for AA never asked for 10.60, not a single one that I know of, and most of us were discussing this with each other at the time.

When NHRA created the AA/S and AA/SA classes, the A/SA index was 11.30. Len Imbrogno asked the group of racers what index they wanted for AA, and the index agreed upon was 10.90, and no mention was made of lowering the indexes 3 tenths at any time. I'm not seeing anywhere in Stock or Super Stock where a 0.5 pound weight break equaled 4 tenths to begin with. But the guys who asked for AA asked for some room to let the cars run, that we all agreed on. The truth is, when the indexes were lowered, it brought most of the rest of the classes inline with the 10.90 index for AA. At which point lowering the AA index one tenth to 10.80 would have been reasonable, and pretty much acceptable to everyone.

And yeah, right now, we wouldn't vote, due to a myriad of reasons, we've been out for a year or two. However, we were one of the first to roll out with AA/SA on the windshield, and ran it consistently for quite some time.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by Alan Roehrich

No, that is NOT correct. The guys who asked for AA never asked for 10.60, not a single one that I know of, and most of us were discussing this with each other at the time.

When NHRA created the AA/S and AA/SA classes, the A/SA index was 11.30. Len Imbrogno asked the group of racers what index they wanted for AA, and the index agreed upon was 10.90, and no mention was made of lowering the indexes 3 tenths at any time. I'm not seeing anywhere in Stock or Super Stock where a 0.5 pound weight break equaled 4 tenths to begin with. But the guys who asked for AA asked for some room to let the cars run, that we all agreed on. The truth is, when the indexes were lowered, it brought most of the rest of the classes inline with the 10.90 index for AA. At which point lowering the AA index one tenth to 10.80 would have been reasonable, and pretty much acceptable to everyone.

And yeah, right now, we wouldn't vote, due to a myriad of reasons, we've been out for a year or two. However, we were one of the first to roll out with AA/SA on the windshield, and ran it consistently for quite some time.

I was afraid someone would say they have been out for a year.
Okay, make it two years then.
Carry on...

[Tom Moock]

GUMP, Jeff`s challenger Runs A,B,C/SA, is not racing as a Drag Pak car, Different rules on rear suspension on stock production cars per rule book, look it up.Tom

[GUMP]

Originally Posted by Tom Moock

GUMP, Jeff`s challenger Runs A,B,C/SA, is not racing as a Drag Pak car, Different rules on rear suspension on stock production cars per rule book, look it up.Tom

Understood. I'm just telling you what the NHRA allows for these cars. There is no way that you can make the factory control arms work. Have you looked under a late model GTO or Corvette stocker lately?

[Alan Roehrich]

No, Mark, we have been out a little over two years, again, due to various reasons. I'm not posting so much as a vote, but rather just to bring the facts about AA to light.

However, we do intend to return, it's just that the road back is not as short and easy as we'd like. We're a lot closer to the 396/375 aluminum head engine than the ZL-1, which went on the back burner. We do plan to build the ZL-1, maybe even as a stick combination. But we need to do the 396 just to get back on our feet and back to the track, it's been a rough couple of years.

And I can see the point some have about the 10.60 index. The problem is that at Indy, for example, you need to be solidly in the 9.70 zone, in hot and humid weather, to be pretty certain to make the field. No doubt that a few can do it, at least they have an 80% chance, if nothing goes wrong. Maybe if I work real hard, and we have some good things happen, we might be one of those that can.

As far as voting goes, I'll bow to Rayburn's rule, I respect the guy, we don't vote until we return.

[HR9121]

Must be past these guys bedtime, nothing for 5 hours now!