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IHRA Penalizes Supercharged
Pro Mods . . . Again

By Jeff Burk
4/29/04

t approximately 2:18 p.m. ET on April 29, 2004 the IHRA once again penalized the supercharged contingent in Pro Modified and at the same time gave the nitrous oxide-injected racers yet another tool to allow their cars to be quicker and faster. This writer, magazine and the supercharged Pro Mod racers got sucker-punched at the same time.

Over the last several years the IHRA tech department has continually penalized the racers using supercharged engines. They have issued rules that made the cars weigh nearly 300 lbs more than the nitrous cars; frozen the cubic inch limit for supercharged cars at 526 cubic inches; restricted rear gear ratios, transmissions, and numbers of clutch discs; outlawed ignition improvements; and reduced supercharger overdrive several times from 32 percent over crankshaft speed to the just-announced 20 percent over crankshaft speed.

During that same time the nitrous oxide racers have basically been allowed to do whatever they wanted.

In the middle of the 2003 season, the IHRA rule makers again reduced the maximum over drive for blower equipped cars from 29 percent to 25 percent. At the same time they gave the nitrous oxide teams an additional 25 cubic inches increasing the cubic inch limit of their engines from 715 to 740.

The question an outside observer has to ask is why, after just two races into the 2003, did IHRA penalize their supercharged racers again? From the outside it appears that the cars seem fairly well matched. During the 2003 season nitrous cars regularly dipped into the six-teens with a best elapsed time of 6.155. The quickest lap for a supercharger-equipped car (with the 25-percent overdrive rule) was a 6.111. Both times were recorded at Rockingham Dragway at the last race of the 2003 season.

At the first race of the 2004 IHRA season at San Antonio, Texas, the Pro Mod racing couldn't have been closer. After the first round and into the finals there were exactly the same number of supercharged cars and nitrous oxide-assisted cars in the field. A nitrous car and a supercharged car met in the final round. The blown car won. At the second race, five nitrous cars made the field but only one advanced past the first round.

So, I suppose in some nonsensical way a case could have been made for tweaking the rules to help the nitrous Pro Mod racers but certainly not for issuing what could amount to the death penalty for many of the supercharged racers. What IHRA's tech department did was to take 20 percent of the overdrive away from the supercharged racers, reducing the maximum overdrive from 25 percent to 20 percent, which means the blower turns 20 percent slower than it did. At the same time the nitrous cars were approved to use the MSD 7531 ignition that has the capability to function as a traction control device. I talked to engine builders Jim Oddy, Mike Janis and Darren Mayer who all also tune supercharged Pro Modified cars and they were all of the opinion that the overdrive rule would immediately cost them a minimum of 200 horsepower.

All three men opined that it would cost them $80-$100,000 in research and development costs just to get back to where they are now.

"After the rule change last year I spent 14 days on the dyno and blew up two engines to get the horsepower back that the last rule change cost me," said Oddy.

I spoke with a half dozen of the better supercharger racers and they all expressed basically the same thoughts. One racer who didn't want to be identified said, "We've gone through so many rule changes designed to slow us down and I've spent so much money trying to keep competitive that I'm seriously thinking of quitting. I just can't spend the time and money anymore. Maybe I'll just park my stuff."

The other sentiment the supercharger racers shared was their disgust with the way that IHRA seems to go about making rule changes. Mike Janis told me that Saturday (April 24) at Rockingham he confronted IHRA Tech Director Mike Baker and asked if the rumor of a rule change had any truth to it. According to Janis, Baker replied, "No! That's just a rumor that Burk put up on his website (Drag Racing Online). We aren't thinking of making a rule change."

Just for the record, I heard the day after the race at San Antonio that a member of a prominent nitrous team was telling anyone who would listen that before the IHRA race at Virginia there would be a rule change that would put the blower overdrive at a max of 20 percent. I emailed IHRA's Mike Baker on the April 19 and left a voice mail with Skooter Peaco the same day about the subject and got no answer. We put up a 1320 note on the 20th stating that a 20 percent overdrive rule change could happen before Virginia.

I then asked both men about the rumor while at Rockingham and got no answer. It appears that IHRA had made up their minds about some of the rule changes prior to then, doesn't it?

IHRA president Bill Bader told me at Rockingham that he had instructed Mike Baker that he wanted "both supercharged cars and nitrous cars in Pro Mod."

As far as I can tell they had a mix of both powerplants, but evidently the mix wasn't right and rules were made apparently to ensure that more nitrous cars not only made the field but qualified in the top half of the field.

For the supercharged racers there are two big questions. What will be the cost to get back to the performance levels they had before the rule change and, if they do get back, what will be their reward from IHRA for all of the hard and expensive work? The new rules may very well accomplish what was desired, but the question is at what price?In the meantime NHRA Pro Mod racers will have a couple of events at 25 over -- Bristol and Chicago -- and the nitrous racers will have the same two races to test and perfect traction control. The IHRA race at Virginia Motorsports Park could be the beginning of a new era in Pro Mod and the end of another.

The supercharged racers have repeatedly had to bear the enormous cost of all of the changes mandated by IHRA. After each restriction they have worked to improve their performance. The nitrous racers have made improvements in their on-track times and speeds, but at considerably less cost.

If the nitrous racers cannot or will not increase their performance to keep pace with the supercharged vehicles, perhaps it is time to separate into two classes rather than slowing down the majority so the minority can keep up. Nobody suggests slowing down Larry Dixon because Arlie Langlo can't make the field.

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