What's wrong with Stock?

[Lou Jeffery]

This post started as" What's wrong with stock?"
In my opinion the only thing wrong with stock is perception. Stock is faster and cooler than EVER. ALL racing from junior dragsters to Top fuel evolves and for the most part gets better.
I absolutely feel for the guy that spent $31,000 on his 1970's carbed Stocker engine that does not qualify where he or she expects. However the Hatred being spewed at the really good guys who stepped up to NEW hardware has to stop!!
PLEASE remember the Pony Express died the day after the Telegraph wire was stretched across this country. Not because the young men on horseback were bad guys or didn't work hard. It got replaced because of efficiency!
The current situation in Stock today is NO different than being at INDY in 1995 when we witnessed Tim Ferguson pounding the tree in G/sa all day only to run Woodro in the final!

[jmantle]

Originally Posted by Jim Caughlin

So Jim, if they move the late model cars from Stock to SS, do they get to keep the bogus HP ratings and indexes or do they get fixed? Isn't that kind of like moving the drug dealers and pimps to a new neighborhood and saying you fixed your crime problem?

From what I understand, the factory guys want to keep there FX cars in stock so I don't think NHRA is going to move them to SS. Factoring the HP of the new cars to a more realistic number right from the start would certainly help cut down on the bitching.

Coming to Mission?

Jim Mantle V/SA 6632

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by Wayne W

How about. New cars in Stock and older cars in Jr. Stock ??

Just a thought.

Good post but a lot of the older car racers have the "EGO" thing. Not a bad thing but its there none the less about being in a "lesser" program. Local racing years ago split the cars into Top Stock, Middle stock, and Jr. Stock. NHRA had Top Stock and Jr. stock because of minor rule differences and tire size but today we have Super Stock. The older cars and the new stuff (2008 and newer) just needs to be factored correctly. The speed difference could be a safety issue. The win and round money wont improve with a new eliminator either. Just thoughts of a long time ago vs today. I hope NHRA gets their act together soon. In my opinion (I know.....that dosent mean poop) the new car factors are not even close yet. Just mentioned some things for the young guys who were not there in the "stone age".

[Kenny Wigington]

Just a suggestion, from my little brain. Since the factories have successfully lobbied and gotten the HP ratings they wanted, and they are at the forefront, where they wanted them to be to begin with,let's all get together. All that see this as a grave disservice to the racers that have supported Stock and SS, lets put together a list of names, and comp #'s, and all stay behind it, and send it to NHRA. All of us, realize, that all 3 wanted and got what they wanted, so do us a solid favor, to keep us here. Give us all say.75/second( or something like it) back on our indexes. Lets square this , for all of us. You had an extra $18K from non qualifiers from Indy. That's your icing. Let's share the cake , we all enjoy.

Talk is talk. Lets all do something, and or scuff our shoes in the dirt.

[Jim Bailey]

Just do what Tavis and Bruce proposed four (4) years ago...( before it was shot down by the SRAC ). Make the AHFS instant hit at 1.0 second under. Then apply it across the board for all cars in Stock and SS eliminator. This will help factor all soft combos and speed up the process tremendously!

[FireSale]

By the numbers a C/SA running 1.0 under the index is a 10.40 car. The B/SA index is 11.25, so the C/SA car is still a competitive 0.85 under the B/SA index.

How about a variation of the breakout rule where qualifying 1.0 or greater under index bumps the car up a class and 1.0 or more under during eliminations is a breakout loss?

Let the cars at the top of the class ladder qualify against the National record since there's no upper class to bump them to. Or would that just tick people off?

Dale

[Alan Roehrich]

Originally Posted by Lou Jeffery

This post started as" What's wrong with stock?"
In my opinion the only thing wrong with stock is perception. Stock is faster and cooler than EVER. ALL racing from junior dragsters to Top fuel evolves and for the most part gets better.
I absolutely feel for the guy that spent $31,000 on his 1970's carbed Stocker engine that does not qualify where he or she expects. However the Hatred being spewed at the really good guys who stepped up to NEW hardware has to stop!!
PLEASE remember the Pony Express died the day after the Telegraph wire was stretched across this country. Not because the young men on horseback were bad guys or didn't work hard. It got replaced because of efficiency!
The current situation in Stock today is NO different than being at INDY in 1995 when we witnessed Tim Ferguson pounding the tree in G/sa all day only to run Woodro in the final!

No one is spewing hatred at the people who bought new cars. Quite the reverse, several of them are good friends of ours, including Jeff Teuton, the Beattie family, Doug Duell, and others, we have no hatred toward them, none at all. There is no animosity between "us and them".

There are those who would like to make the disagreement over how the new cars have been put into Stock a personal issue. That is their choosing.

[AlanPetersJr.]

Hi guys, this has been an interesting read. I'm glad that i grew up in a time
when i watched my dad Al Sr. build and machine his own engines,4 speeds
set up rears cams(you get the picture) I was also fortunate to go to many
Div. 1 races and learn watching all these TOUGH racers work on their cars.
This helped me to prepare my own stock elim. car (thanks Barry & Gary
Parker, Don Scinto, Eddie Bednaz and the rest) To me, making your car
run under or set the record (I did 3 times) is half the fun! The other fun
part is turning on the win light! If I could turn on the time machine I'd proabally
set it to 1970's stock elim (with a 4 speed of course!) I feel that ALL
stockers should play with the same set of rules. Also what about IHRA?
I know the payout is not there,but when the car count goes up, I'm sure the
money will follow.One final thing,I have always felt that NHRA has always
treated the stockers like 2nd class citizens. My form of class racing will
consist of stock / super stock all-star type races, have run racing your
friends. making new ones and maybe win a few bucks.Not feeding the NHRA
money machine... Just my 2 cents Al jr.

[Marty Knox]

What's wrong with Stock? The fact that someone who's smart, and willing to work hard, but can't spend a lot of money has little or no chance of winning.

[442OLDS]

Originally Posted by Marty Knox

What's wrong with Stock? The fact that someone who's smart, and willing to work hard, but can't spend a lot of money has little or no chance of winning.

I don't know what you mean,but except for Indy,you can win (eliminator,NOT class) in Stock Eliminator with any car or truck that can simply run the index.