Index Change Rumor

[MEXJOE]

How about this: Leave the indexes the way they are. And have NO AFS for any CLASS elimination or HEADS UP at all. (HOWEVER!). 1.20 under is MANDATORY complete tear down, at that race immediately at the conclusion of class eliminations. If found to be good then add a certain percentage hp to that combo? I this would kinda put all parties involved responsible and accountable.

[Mark Yacavone]

Originally Posted by MEXJOE

How about this: Leave the indexes the way they are. And have NO AFS for any CLASS elimination or HEADS UP at all. (HOWEVER!). 1.20 under is MANDATORY complete tear down, at that race immediately at the conclusion of class eliminations. If found to be good then add a certain percentage hp to that combo? I this would kinda put all parties involved responsible and accountable.

Glen, What if the heads up is in the final on Sunday? Nobody wants to go to work at 6 pm Sunday, least of all, the tech guys.
Too many 1.20 under runs lately..Raise the trigger ..then no more goodies for five years.

[Jim Wahl]

Originally Posted by Mike Pearson

Cant see how that would help our classes. I know some that quit when the indexes were lowered last time. Probably raising the trigger would be a better idea. Not everyone in our class is a millionaire and it should not be a millionaire club.

Exactly what they want Mike. Then they will turn around and say there aren't enough racers to support Stock and Super Stock and drop them. Stop me if you have raced IHRA and have heard this story before. JIm



.

[Lee Valentine]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Glen, What if the heads up is in the final on Sunday? Nobody wants to go to work at 6 pm Sunday, least of all, the tech guys.
Too many 1.20 under runs lately..Raise the trigger ..then no more goodies for five years.

seal the engine and must tear down next race. Horsepower dosen't happen until then.

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by B Parker

Billy have you noticed most of the new young blood that have started racing Stock are in new 100,000 plus cars. Or they are second or third generation class racers. I don't know anyone under thirty whose remotely interested in getting involved in our type of racing. They would be nuts to. Why spend the money it cost to buy or build a car. Then buy tow equipment. Tow how many hours away and pay the entrance fee and now need a place to stay for several days. With no chance of getting your money back. There is nothing cheap about our type of racing. If your going to start drag racing why wouldn't you go to the local track with a car pay 1/3 the entrance only race for the one day and have a chance to win just as much. With almost no set of rules other than safety. It's just not the same car generation we had years ago. The only new blood NHRA seems to be interested in getting involve in class racing are with the new cars. They changed the rules that helped bring the cost to where it is. Then chased most of the sponsor's off that paid money. And if that wasn't enough now let only 50 cars in each class at national events. Unless of course your in a new car that you can race in Factory Stock. Our class is a pain in the #ss for them. Our type of racing has a shelf life that we can agree on. And at my age I don't really care about what my car is worth 5 to ten years from now. Not sure how long that is but as you said look at the ages of us guys racing. But even more important look at the ages of the guys and girls involved in it from the NHRA side Do you see many young people getting involved in that side of it. The money is about the same as it was when I started racing stock in the seventies. What does 25k equal to money in the seventies? BP

Barry, you're right. Stock Eliminator is now officially for the rich. No one else need apply.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Nor should it become so easy, it becomes like spec bracket racing...

Already is.

[Billy Nees]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Nor should it become so easy, it becomes like spec bracket racing...

If you can aff(fff)ord the boutique prices.

[B Parker]

Originally Posted by Billy Nees

Barry, you're right. Stock Eliminator is now officially for the rich. No one else need apply.

Billy I hope your not telling me that 25k makes you a rich person. And if someone really wants to go Stock racing there are still several combo's and cars out there for under 15k. But unless you already have a trailer and a tow vehicle along with a nice tool box you need to add that into the picture. Not to many today have your talent to build a car themself. And not many have a friends that owns a machine shop. If anyone asked me about getting into Stock racing for cheap money. I'd say they need to see my wife. Yes she has a Psychology practice. The second person I would tell them to get ahold of would be you. I just haven't seen many new racers to start with but the ones that have started racing in the last few years don't seem to have any lack of money. When you and I started racing Stock most local tracks ran a Stock/ Super Stock class every Sunday. Today not so much. We picked Stock back then because it was one of the few classes that paid money. Now unless you live in a hub with several tracks around you that have Divisional's traveling and time off from work is a factor. If I remember right years ago you could show up on Sunday at a Divisional and still race. Today most are getting there on Wednesday. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE RICH TO RUN STOCK, but if you are just staring out with nothing it's far from a poor mans game. You know what I really think is nuts the cost of Super Stock. A group of Super Stock racers were talking at one of the last races I went to. The Super Stock racer was buying a new Big Block motor and it was going to cost him 55k. Now to me that's the RICH MAN'S CLASS. BP

[tstickff]

Hey Barry Parker, I’m one of the younger generation guys racing stock and super stock, I don’t have a 100,000 dollar race car, I run M/SA, about as lower class as you can get in these days, we work very hard in our stuff, and to me 25k is a good chunk of change, I think your outlook on us younger guys is a little jaded, remember when we raced each other at Lebanon valley this year and you beat me which gave you a bye to the final, and you told me you were all done cause you were just testing, I told you that you had a bye to the final, and your response to me was “I don’t need the money” well here’s my opinion on that, that’s what test and tune is for! so if you weren’t planning going more rounds in a gamblers race where some of us could have used that money to either buy more fuel, tires or whatever, could have been a better outcome then just giving up and taking others out of the race.

[Dave Muller]

Originally Posted by Myron Piatek

Even if you get a deal on a reasonably fast race car, you have to have the time & money to maintain that level. This becomes harder if indexes keep getting lowered. All that does is steepen the learning and financial curve needed, which can get discouraging to start or even maintain a racing program. Slower cars can still be competitive in regular eliminations by (not easily) achieving the current "minimum performance standard" (index), but they have to accept the odds in possible heads-up runs.

There has to be a balance for Sportsman racers because too much emphasis on having to be among the fastest brings it closer to a Pro-like atmosphere ($$$) and it's obvious that many can't maintain that level there even with sponsorship. Pro's barely have full fields. Luckily. Stock & SS still, usually, do.

I know at least two racers in stock who might have little choice but to park the car until they come up with enough money for some upgrades. While lowering the indexes .2 would have no significant effect on most of us, it'd be a shame to lose guys like that, even temporarily. And it just might become permanent.