The Future of our class

[nwebber]

We continue to complain about our future of stock and superstock but seem to do nothing about it. We have "rules" that make us different from bracket racing yet seem to ignore them when we see fit. You all know what I am talking about. We all seem to agree that parts should remain "stock" yet we have tons of "enhancements" to various parts of our cars. It is frustrating to see visible violations to rules even if non performance related being ignored. I do not claim know the rules completely but walking through the staging lanes even I can spot deviations from the rule book yet we all seem to accept them. Either we accept our fate of becoming another bracket class, or begin changing our rules to what the perception of our rules are, or start self policing our current rules. The NHRA is understaffed and we can not rely on them to perserve out class. We need to take care of ourselves. I realize the devil is in the details yet something must change soon or our class as it has been will soon be gone. We need to stop complaining an really ask "what can I do to help?" If we can all become ambassadors and regulators of our sport it will become what we want it to be. I would be proud to lead such a change but I believe we have much stronger leaders within our ranks that most of us already follow.


Most of you do not know me. I have been racing in stock for only 10 years (I have been involved with S/SS since birth in 1965) and by no means have a fast car. I enjoy the competive nature of our sport and will only continue as long as we are having fun doing so.

Happy Holidays to everyone.

Norm Webber
LSA 6635

[Chris Barnes]

Hi Norm

I am afraid that racers like you and I are mere pawns in a game that we cannot control. We can bitch and moan or take our toys home or just try and enjoy ourselves while we still can. I honestly don't know what the sport will look like when my young kids are old enough to jump behind the wheel.

Not to be totally negative--it seems that Stock has always been a dynamic, quickly evolving class and it has been around longer than us. Also, "self policing" does exist believe me! Most of the racers that I see in Stock take the class rules seriously. I'm not going to waste my time bitching about it but I think it's the NHRA's responsibility to meet us halfway.

Congratulations on your great season. Between you and Jody there were two wagons in the top ten!

Chris Barnes
Wagons of Steel
Stock 6621

[fordteacherguy]

The issue of checking stocker legality is tough pre-race. Too many combinations, too many cars, not enough tech people to enforce. The real enforcer of legality for most racers is the paranoia you might get caught or personal integrity to adhear to the rules.

I have suggested to NHRA that perhaps they just need to add enforcement at the end of the race, and inspect the winning car post race, besides the usual safety check for everone that we go through now.

Just add the policy that all winners undergo technical inpection. Leave it open to what that means, driveshaft check, carb check , cam check who knows?. The policy might weed out illegal stuff through out the system by requiring "if you get a check, you will be clean". I would rather pull my car down if I had to at the end of a race and put it back together at home. Not a big deal if I took home a check.

By the way,

Have a great holiday too you guys!

Brian Thompson
P/SA 6665

[Ed Fernandez]

Originally Posted by fordteacherguy

The issue of checking stocker legality is tough pre-race. Too many combinations, too many cars, not enough tech people to enforce. The real enforcer of legality for most racers is the paranoia you might get caught or personal integrity to adhear to the rules.

I have suggested to NHRA that perhaps they just need to add enforcement at the end of the race, and inspect the winning car post race, besides the usual safety check for everone that we go through now.

Just add the policy that all winners undergo technical inpection. Leave it open to what that means, driveshaft check, carb check , cam check who knows?. The policy might weed out illegal stuff through out the system by requiring "if you get a check, you will be clean". I would rather pull my car down if I had to at the end of a race and put it back together at home. Not a big deal if I took home a check.

By the way,

Have a great holiday too you guys!

Brian Thompson
P/SA 6665

There are quite a few guys out there that are flying,that for one reason or another don't
go a lot of rounds.They would only get torn down based how fast they go.And we all know that there are very few teardowns for any reason.
When the last pair go down the track it looks like rush hour in the Tokyo suway for everyone to get out of there.The last thing you'll see is a teardown session.
My opinion/solution?
Remove sportsman racers,up to and including Comp. (if the comp guys want to),from
nationals and run us at two sports nationals in each division.That's 14 races.Make the
points counting towards the W/C consist of the usual 5/8 divisionals and 2/4 sports nats.
The tourers can still run all the races they want.The budget guys get a bit of a break.
That,and a little budgeting work on the part of Glendora would free up enough caash to pay the divisin tech people what they deserve for what they do.It would also pay for the equipment needed to do the work.
Hell,they just voted two more cash cows to the board,so they could figure out a way to come up with the cash to fund a quality tech dept.
Lastly no more East coast/West coast rule book.
I'll put the bong down now and retire to my bedroom.

[QUOTE= I'll put the bong down now and retire to my bedroom.[/QUOTE]

Hey! That's really rude of you not to share!

[art leong]

Originally Posted by fordteacherguy

The issue of checking stocker legality is tough pre-race. Too many combinations, too many cars, not enough tech people to enforce. The real enforcer of legality for most racers is the paranoia you might get caught or personal integrity to adhear to the rules.

I have suggested to NHRA that perhaps they just need to add enforcement at the end of the race, and inspect the winning car post race, besides the usual safety check for everone that we go through now.

Just add the policy that all winners undergo technical inpection. Leave it open to what that means, driveshaft check, carb check , cam check who knows?. The policy might weed out illegal stuff through out the system by requiring "if you get a check, you will be clean". I would rather pull my car down if I had to at the end of a race and put it back together at home. Not a big deal if I took home a check.


By the way,

Have a great holiday too you guys!

Brian Thompson
P/SA 6665

They used to do just that. We won two national events in two weeks and came apart both times post race. It was the way they did things they were not picking on us.
We were surprized they did not take us apart after the world finals.
In 73 (I believe) both winner and runnerup were tossed at the E'town national event. There was no winner.

[Bob Bender]

ED, are you off your MEDS again ????????????????

[X-TECH MAN]

Originally Posted by art leong

They used to do just that. We won two national events in two weeks and came apart both times post race. It was the way they did things they were not picking on us.
We were surprized they did not take us apart after the world finals.
In 73 (I believe) both winner and runnerup were tossed at the E'town national event. There was no winner.

Thats how we did it in IHRA back in the 70's. I remember checking Dave Boertmans 383 several times after he kicked butt after the finals.

[Bill Edgeworth]

Ed,
As much as we all complain about the pros I think most of us would not want to be removed from the “Big Show” even though most of the spectators don’t even know we exist.
I think what they should do is after final qualifying pick a set number of competitors at EVERY race seal their motors and tell them to report for a tear down after their eliminated or if their lucky after the final. That way it does not affect anyone still in competition and it spreads the work out for the tech guys.
I also think the tech guys jobs in some ways could be made easier while allowing them to be more through. For instance they should have a photo album of cars and trim options to ensure everyone is racing what they are claiming. I go to the trouble of changing hoods depending on what combo I’m running while I hear stories of people rebadging cars that are not even built on the same platform that they are claiming.

[Ed Fernandez]

Bill,that was my solution.As long as we go to nationals,as they are structured now and the type of spectators who attend,we'll continue to be treated like ***** and used like the cash cows that we've become.