Stock/Superstock Combo Muncie Dragway

[Clay Arnett]

Originally Posted by Thomas Arnett

Sorry If no heads up it's a bracket race! Why would you want to run S/SS and not have the thrill of running a heads up? I will stay home and run bracket!

x3

[Mike Carr]

A lot of it will depend on the capability of the facility itself. Many weekly tracks do not have scales, fuel check equipment, etc, much like the tracks we have here (Pittsburgh hosts a Pro-Am, but do not have "real" scales--they have the ones you put into the ground and weigh one axle at a time, and are not 100% accurate, not like real scales are). Quaker City took theirs out. I've promoted/co-promoted, and put on S/SS combo races at ten tracks in four states since 1999--only two of which had good scales (Maple Grove and Numidia; two other had old scales that may or may not be accurate). If the host facility doesn't have quality calibrated scales, it won't work. A car could win a round (heads-up or not), and really be 50 pounds heavy, but a faulty scale reads as ten pounds light, and now you're DQ'd with a 100% legit car. You wouldn't be a happy camper. Case in point, 2003 at Pittsburgh IHRA race. Scaled that morning, was ten pound heavy. So I added a gallon of gas, plus twenty-five pounds of weight. Made my qual run, was fifteen pounds LIGHT, scaling twice. So the run was DQ'd. I was .04 slow from my best, but I would have been PISSED if it were an elimination round (wish my body lost weight on the scale like my racecar did...)

Likewise, the tech people. Most local tracks have tech people that are accustomed to teching local weekly bracket cars. While some of them may know what an A/SA '69 Camaro or SS/JA '65 Nova is supposed to have, they likely won't know in some of the other classes (SS/GT, SS/Mod, Crate Motor, etc). Which opens up the possibility of cheating. I could ''claim" my car as a 396/325 motor for, say, GT/DA, when it actually has a 427/425. So I'd qualify #1, make legal weight, win any heads-up and gain any bye runs, all while totally illegal. And most of the local weekly tech people wouldn't know. They likely just don't have the knowledge, the Classification Books, etc, to properly do the job needed at an event such as this. So now you're looking at hiring a knowldgeable, qualified tech person (in Indiana, I would see if Travis MIller, Bill Floyd, etc were available).

IF, and that is a big IF, the track has all the necesary scales, fuel check equipment, and qualifed tech person, I would say you could go towards allowing all the NHRA-type stuff people want.

Otherwise, it's easier, cheaper, less hassle, etc for the track and/or promoter, to run the event all on a dial-in, must dial the Class Index, car must fit an NHRA or IHRA class (Or Nost/SS, for those series that allow them and work the other rules out as needed. If the event grows and shows that participation will support it, then go to the expense and time to do all the other stuff.