Do you believe that the NHRA techs are doing their job?

[art leong]

Originally Posted by Toyotakid

I so wish this was the case. When the sport compact series went belly up because of monetary reasons in 2007, I knew to stay viable in the NHRA market I had to find a place to race in Super Stock or Comp. I found a couple classes that I could fit into but because my car is unique they referred to page 14 in the rulebook under how to use this rule book, "Unless modification is specifically permitted by this rulebook, it is prohibited." Needless to say it took till 2009 before I had the SS/EX class to run in.

Now after running with you guys for the past year, I don’t think the problem lies with tech, the main issue is with the index system. When really looking at Super Stock class indexes there is no "specific" guideline on base indexes and there is a HUGE inconsistency from one weight break to the next. For example, In the MX classification there are 4 normally aspirated classes.

SS/AX - 8.5 lbs per inch - 9.50 index
SS/BX - 11.0 lbs per inch - 10.55 index
SS/CX - 12.5 lbs per inch - 10.80 index
SS/EX - 11.5 lbs per inch - 10.50 index - Front Drive Only

The difference between AX and BX is 1.05 seconds. If you divide that by 5 (that breaks it down per .5 lb increments) it breaks down to .21 per .5 lbs of weight. The difference between BX and CX is .25. If you break it down the same way the NHRA factor drops to .08 per .5 lbs of weight when it should be the NHRA .21 per .5 lbs for the AX and BX class. Plus, the EX class index is .5 lbs heavier than BX and the index is .05 less! That is the only class anywhere in the rulebook that that happens. When I looked at all Super Stock classes I found many more of these discrepancies.

So long story longer, NHRA needs to come up with indexes that make sense and are on a level playing field for EVERYONE!

Scott 2 big differences fuel injection, and methanol, Plus the rules for EX are different than the RWD classes. I agree the index in EX is stiffer than the others. I believe that NHRA just took the AllMotor class and used that for a template. Et's included The half second they softened it wasn't really enough. A car would have a hard time at Indy, elswhere it does not really matter, except for the person building a new car.
If my index got hit it would not effect Tim or myself much. But the guy thats building a new piece would just have to spend that much more labor and money to run the car.
One thing about hitting the index or the combo does is cripple the slower cars. Not the cars that caused the hit.

[Stewart Way]

I started working in Div II and at Nats in 1970. Don't have my 70 rule book handy but the 71 book for S and SS says in the body section "Alterations or customizing to gain class advantage prohibited." I took that to mean that if someone, for example, changed a 70 duster grill to a 71 but still ran the car as a 70 then it was not to "gain" an advantage and it was OK. But if you were going to change the year of a car from 70 and claim 71 everything needed to be changed to be correct. This view was not shared by everyone in Tech especially at Nat events and my "reading" was not allowed. Sometime later the rulebook was changed to read "Alterations or customizing prohibited." At that point the incorrect tail lights, grills, louvers and other body parts needed to be correct, advantage or not.
I could not do tech today. I still know the older cars pretty well but 76 up I would be in trouble