Interesting Thoughts-- Future of Stk/SS - Page 3

HawkBrosMav · 08-22-2019, 01:22 PM

For this thread I'm going to ignore the fact that NHRA has a new scanner and plans to change the enforcement of cylinder head rules... even if only for the Showdown cars at first.

Assuming NHRA will never die and will always control the class we love what changes could be made to entice new participation and help keep the classes relevant for years to come. The average age of competitors that aren't driving mom or dads car is only getting higher and higher.. I bet if someone sat down a figured it out it'd be around 60 years old... with less than 10% of cars running being from new blood to the class 60% being guy who've run for years and years and the last 30% being kids or even grand-kids of recently retired long term competitors..

Do we just let the class slowly die as these people pass or decide the cant afford or physically cant drive anymore? or do we proactively make smaller changes over time to reduce cost and drum up new interest in the classes... I know die hard 30+ year vets will hate any changes that effectively erase the classes they love so much.. I too admit that I love Stk/SS for what they are now.. but with technology where it has advanced in the past 20 years to the younger age groups not being able to afford anything let alone a $50,000 11.50 Stock eliminator car, maybe we should be opening these discussions to what the many people involved would be open to considering..I'll start with some changes that I would like to see some day but will be met with huge out cry from the die-hards.

For Stock:

-Must used all OEM part numbers or accept products (just like the current rules), BUT all head porting and intake porting in legal with no CC limits or limitations to modifications to the head or intake. Must use correct TB or Carb but any modification legal. Limits to Bore size say .080 over stays in effect. lifter and rocker arm rules remain the way they are now but I would change the camshaft rules to allow more lift than stock.. keep a limit of maybe .030-.050 over stock, but allow guys to run a cam they would have in their "hot rod" street car.

Essentially this class would turn into more of what the current state of SS is with a few extra limitations. We would have to find a new way to class the combos, but that should also be a task that is accomplish-able. People lose interest in this class these days because they want to go fast as cheaply as possible. They have all these cool parts on their street car and then they come to the track and can fathom spending $2000 on stock cylinder heads for a valve job and a car that runs 12.50s...

For SS open up the aftermarket heads and valve sizes... Make them pick from a list and limit them to ones that can be essentially a direct bolt ons. Pistons tops must not be changed from stock configuration which would limit the use of heads with crazy valve angles out there.

There are others that would make sense, but I want open it up to others at this point.

I think we have 2 classes that are amazing in what people are doing with essentially "Stock" parts.. we all know it's not really stock anymore, but the ET's and MPH people are running with the parts we are using is pretty fascinating to all of us. Sooner or later the number of people interested in will be lower and I think we can keep the ideology behind the 2 classes while opening it up to a newer crowd. Mark Lelchook has a car on the far extreme of what I'm thinking, but a 2015 4 cylinder turbo Mustang he is driving to the track, swapping tires and running 9's.. Nothing about the engine and turbo are stock, I get that, but this is the crowd Stk and SS need to be getting involved in the class. We are alienating them with our current archaic rules..

Just so everyone doesn't freak and denounce this topic. I'm thinking 10-15 year down the road would be the full transition to rules closer to this..with slow changes over time to get there..

Stk/SS are still fully alive and well in their current status, but what does the future hold if we keep these rules for 15 more years?

Brad

08-22-2019, 01:22 PM	#1
HawkBrosMav Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 362 Likes: 6 Liked 302 Times in 73 Posts	Interesting Thoughts-- Future of Stk/SS For this thread I'm going to ignore the fact that NHRA has a new scanner and plans to change the enforcement of cylinder head rules... even if only for the Showdown cars at first. Assuming NHRA will never die and will always control the class we love what changes could be made to entice new participation and help keep the classes relevant for years to come. The average age of competitors that aren't driving mom or dads car is only getting higher and higher.. I bet if someone sat down a figured it out it'd be around 60 years old... with less than 10% of cars running being from new blood to the class 60% being guy who've run for years and years and the last 30% being kids or even grand-kids of recently retired long term competitors.. Do we just let the class slowly die as these people pass or decide the cant afford or physically cant drive anymore? or do we proactively make smaller changes over time to reduce cost and drum up new interest in the classes... I know die hard 30+ year vets will hate any changes that effectively erase the classes they love so much.. I too admit that I love Stk/SS for what they are now.. but with technology where it has advanced in the past 20 years to the younger age groups not being able to afford anything let alone a $50,000 11.50 Stock eliminator car, maybe we should be opening these discussions to what the many people involved would be open to considering..I'll start with some changes that I would like to see some day but will be met with huge out cry from the die-hards. For Stock: -Must used all OEM part numbers or accept products (just like the current rules), BUT all head porting and intake porting in legal with no CC limits or limitations to modifications to the head or intake. Must use correct TB or Carb but any modification legal. Limits to Bore size say .080 over stays in effect. lifter and rocker arm rules remain the way they are now but I would change the camshaft rules to allow more lift than stock.. keep a limit of maybe .030-.050 over stock, but allow guys to run a cam they would have in their "hot rod" street car. Essentially this class would turn into more of what the current state of SS is with a few extra limitations. We would have to find a new way to class the combos, but that should also be a task that is accomplish-able. People lose interest in this class these days because they want to go fast as cheaply as possible. They have all these cool parts on their street car and then they come to the track and can fathom spending $2000 on stock cylinder heads for a valve job and a car that runs 12.50s... For SS open up the aftermarket heads and valve sizes... Make them pick from a list and limit them to ones that can be essentially a direct bolt ons. Pistons tops must not be changed from stock configuration which would limit the use of heads with crazy valve angles out there. There are others that would make sense, but I want open it up to others at this point. I think we have 2 classes that are amazing in what people are doing with essentially "Stock" parts.. we all know it's not really stock anymore, but the ET's and MPH people are running with the parts we are using is pretty fascinating to all of us. Sooner or later the number of people interested in will be lower and I think we can keep the ideology behind the 2 classes while opening it up to a newer crowd. Mark Lelchook has a car on the far extreme of what I'm thinking, but a 2015 4 cylinder turbo Mustang he is driving to the track, swapping tires and running 9's.. Nothing about the engine and turbo are stock, I get that, but this is the crowd Stk and SS need to be getting involved in the class. We are alienating them with our current archaic rules.. Just so everyone doesn't freak and denounce this topic. I'm thinking 10-15 year down the road would be the full transition to rules closer to this..with slow changes over time to get there.. Stk/SS are still fully alive and well in their current status, but what does the future hold if we keep these rules for 15 more years? Brad