Econo Modified

[1320racer]

Originally Posted by joespanova

apparently there's new blood in there all the time........at least based on the web sites I occasionaly roam thru.
There is still plenty of interest in drag racing , considering the world we live in today and smart heads could exploit it.

joe, websites are reality as much as the cable shows that claim to be. Lots of drama queens, dreamers and liars post on forums and interest based on a forums post count is far different than new blood spending the coin to build cars and compete!

Talk to high school kids and you'll quickly find they have no interest in organized drag racing of any kind no mind any $ if they did.

My son has been racing 7 years and not one of his friends, not one of his teammates in all these years have ever shown any interest or come to watch and find out what it's all about. Further, of all the kidsw that race jrs. each year for the past 21 years, few continue to race "big" cars after aging out for various reasons...college, trade school, military, full time job, marry, etc. but perhaps the number 1 reason is dad/mom are no longer paying the bill to build a car and race.

Like the NHRA or not, it's their game and their rules, always has been and will continue to be until it's no more.

[chris ok]

I have heard the index classes of 11.50, 10.0 and 8.50 have gotten very popular here in the northeast. I know of new cars and some new players in them in the last year.

[1320racer]

chris, the 11.50 and 10.0 index class are typically dominate by seasoned bracket racers. The 8.50 index classes are usually dominated by those that are well funded.

[joespanova]

Well Ed , I guess its safe to say drag racing will probably endure for the remainder of our productive lives and as long as we have a place to play as long as we're interested , I suppose thats all that really matters in the end any way , after we go.....who cares......

[SSDiv6]

Originally Posted by randy wilson

Good point on the heads SS. Was just curious was all. Not trying to stir anything up. Manns was an animal with the vortec, bowtie deal. I'll hand him that. But, at this rate, his stuff is already obsolete. My point again. Any manufacturer can keep producing a dominate head. So what? Proves nothing. Everyone playing on the exact same plane, proves a lot. There again, what's to stop GM or any others producing a killer head in cast iron, and peeing in everyone's post toasties?

Randy, I believe if NHRA created a class with a spec head, small block class, standard deck block, no short deck, 10.5 tire and lbs/CID with no break out rules, there would be many participants. Nevertheless, like always happens, someone would request a rule change and the class will go down the toilet.

Also, if NHRA approves the rule change for any aftermarket cast iron head, like said before, the class will be a Chevy engine class only. No aftermarket company will invest in creating a cast iron racing cylinder head for other makes in limited quantities when everybody prefers and easy to port and lightweight aluminum head.

The Pro Action heads were developed in Australia and then acquired by RHS. The cast iron LS-1 was only available two years in GM trucks and the aftermarket racing LS cast iron block is actually a GM truck production block.

All this said, this will force the Ford and Mopar products to race in the higher SS/Mod classes with aluminum heads, or race in the Super Modified class in Comp Eliminator.

[1320racer]

Originally Posted by joespanova

Well Ed , I guess its safe to say drag racing will probably endure for the remainder of our productive lives and as long as we have a place to play as long as we're interested , I suppose thats all that really matters in the end any way , after we go.....who cares......

Joe I suspect that is exactly the attitude the NHRA's board of directors have.

[randy wilson]

I did not know there was a cast iron LS head. If I was still pursuing SS\CS I would have looked at that hard, but the RHS head, I believe, has way more potential, and several CNC programs for it. The set we had flowed 368 at .800, and 263 on exhaust for the pulling tractor, and we reached almost 16 to 1 compression. And we didn't spend an arm, and a leg getting there. The best set of bowtie, phase 2's we had did 297, and 244 exhaust, and the best we did on compression was 12.6 to 1. And, I spent an arm and a leg.

[SSDiv6]

Originally Posted by 1320racer

Joe I suspect that is exactly the attitude the NHRA's board of directors have.

Well, they better wake up soon!

Strange Engineering will be sponsoring the Yellow Bullet Nationals that happen to take place the same weekend as Indy. Jeff Strange commented in Facebook that he will not be attending Indy for the first time since he was 16 years old.

He believes sponsoring the Yellow Bullet Nationals he is closer to the Sportsman racers than attending Indy.

This may set a trend on future of other manufacturers to support their real customer base; Sportsman racers.

[1320racer]

While I'm no fan of yellow bullet anything, it is far closer to NHRA's roots and what fans they have left.

[randy wilson]

To answer SS, I don't see how anyone wanting to change the rules is going to effect something with a board of racers making the call. I doubt there would be any money costing big changes ever. The most I see, would be figuring out different wt. breaks between auto, and clutch, and possibly newer vs. older chassis. By the way, anyone know if a 5 speed totally clutch assisted is faster then today's trick autos? Anyone?