FORCE DISQUALIFIED. . .AND NOW THE REST OF THE STORY

At the St. Louis race you hard core fans may have noticed that John Force had his first qualifying pass thrown out by the NHRA tech department for a rules infraction. Force’s pass was disallowed because his Mustang carried an illegal ride-height sensor -- at the request of the NHRA. Force’s car wasn’t the only one carrying one of the sensors. The Agent was informed that other prominent Fuel Coupe and Top Fuel teams also had the sensors on board (again at NHRA’s request). Reportedly the Worsham Funny Cars and Kalitta Top Fuel cars had the sensors.

There is a very specific rule in the NHRA book that prohibits the use of ride-height sensors. The rule was written apparently to keep Pro Stock cars from using them. So, while it is true that Force’s Mustang was in violation of the NHRA’s rules, that only happened because he and other racers were asked to install the devices by NHRA!

Interestingly, Force’s lap was the only one thrown out but there were a lot of teams taking the devices off their cars after Force got penalized. It’s obvious to the Agent that there seems to a lack of communication at NHRA at the highest levels and this little incident once again proves the DRO credo of “No good deed goes unpunished.” (Jeff Burk photo) [6-27-2005]



The Agent was told by a GM source that they are moving heaven and earth to make sure their Pro Stock teams get GTO race cars to debut at the next stop on the NHRA tour at Denver in a couple of weeks. The GM source told the Agent that the GTO is much more aerodynamic than the current Cobalt body.

The new GTO’s for the Warren Johnson teams are being finished up at the Jerry Haas shop in St. Louis. A more aero car for Warren and Kurt Johnson has to have the rest of the Pro Stock posse nervous since the Johnsons obviously have a performance advantage right now. [6-27-2005]

WATER THE TRACK?

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The Agent thought he had pretty much seen everything at a dragstrip when he witnessed NHRA’s Ray Alley directing his crew to WATER the track surface at St. Louis when the track temperature was hovering around 130-140 degrees. It was the first time in the Agent's memory that any asphalt racing surface was watered to improve it. The motivation for the watering was the drastic drop in track temp on Saturday night after a brief shower that the track crew had witnessed.

Ray Alley told the Agent, “We want to do everything we can to give the race teams a good track and until we’ve tried everything we haven’t done enough.”

The Agent thought intentionally watering the track was a historical first but Huntsville track owner George Howard said that he waters his track when the conditions warrant. Howard said that putting cold water on the surface not only takes the heat out of the track but makes the traction compound work better. [6-27-2005]