2011 Stock/Super Stock Rule Changes

[bill dedman]

Originally Posted by Adger Smith

Bill,
I'm breaking one of my own rules with this post.
You, Bill, of all people should know better than go against a standard that has been with the sport from the begenning. yea, i'm calling you an old guy because you and I both remember running on flags. Yes, flags. Ok... Bill think back, way back. What was one of the things a good driver did to trick his opponent into leaving early? Remeber, he would pull to the line and give it a little hop to cause the other guy to jump, then wait on the guy with the flag. I know you have seen it done many times. Like me you have probably done it. What was that little hop? By today's standards it was "The First Red Light" Usually the guy running the flag caught the guy with the "Worst Red Light" because he was the guy that launched and was blowing down the track. Some where back in time someone at NHRA figured that out and guess what, made a rule.. First, not worst. Bill, I've even seen the guy that was on the line start a very slow roll when the "Spot" was Way out there, and the flagger was even farther out.
Bill, it's just going against the standard of our sport to change. The worst thing I can think of is it is just going to confuse the spectators that follow sportsman racing. Gosh we all know we need to simplify things for the spectator, not make it more complicated. Just look at how complicated Comp is for spectators. Not that many understand the CIC system.

Adger, you have said some things here that need clarification.

First, this "first red light" rule came about as something that NHRA didn't know how to fix, so they lived with it. Then, they had lived with it so long, it became a :standard" as you call it, but not for any other reason than they at first didn't KNOW how to fix it, and later because we had become so USED to it, that it seemed "right." Hell, it took myself a lot of thought and much deliberation to see anything wrong with it.

But, I finally did see the UNNECESARY downside of it; the free ride to the guy who, simply by luck, wound up racing a slower car (and, the dial-ins can be fractions of a second apart) and benefitted from that first-to-leave car's red light so HE didn't have a chance to redlight, possibly worse than the first car.

If there's anything fair about that, then 2 + 2 = 5.

The spectators will only see ONE redlight and ONE win light. If that confuses them, then maybe they should be at a NASCAR race, I dunno.

Thanks for your comments, Adger and everyone. I, also, am outta here.

Thanks for listening!