Peter Lehman's Mike Kloeber
tuned Top Fueler was just one of the teams that tested
the MSD designed and built rev-limiting device during
the 2004 season. Here driver Clay Millican and MSD
engineer Joe Pando discuss the devise during a test
session. |
I talked to Kalitta crew chief Jim Oberhoefer about the
device and he believed that at 8400 rpm it would limit the
top speed of their cars to approximately 330 mph, but he
had no real handle on how the device would affect elapsed
time. He thought that if the Kalitta cars were restricted
to a max of 8400 engine rpms then they won't go much faster
than 330-331 mph on their best day. Gear ratio, tire height
and growth, and engine rpm are components of a mathematical
equation can absolutely determine the maximum attainable
speed.
I'm one of those that got up on his soapbox and demanded
that NHRA do something about the tires and excess top speeds
of nitro cars after the Russell crash, so I'm happy when
NHRA goes in the right direction, and I applaud them for
doing so. I still think speeds approaching 340 mph are too
fast for the drivers, cars, and tracks. In a perfect world
NHRA and Ray Alley would have found a non-mechanical, non-absolute
way to slow the cars down that would still allow the possibility
of new records being set, but they tried a lot of options
and none of them worked. The racers, as they always have,
found a way to overcome the restrictions.
But I do have some reservations, strictly as a fan, about
the changes Alley and NHRA have made to the nitro classes
and how they will affect the class long term. Here is my
problem in a nutshell. If the rev-limiter device does what
it is designed to do, then apparently those days of sitting
at the top end with a hotdog and a beer anxiously waiting
for some magic numbers to flash up on the boards will soon
be just a fond memory.
It's a fairly good bet that a rpm limit combined with a
spec tire, gear ratio and nitro percentage will equalize
the speeds and perhaps the ET's in both classes. I can see
the possibility of a Top Fuel/Funny Car qualifying ladder
that resembles a current Pro Stock qualifying ladder with
six- or seven-thousandths of second separating the number
one qualifier and the number sixteen qualifier, and top speeds
being within a couple of miles an hour.
I've been told by several prominent racers that Tom Compton's
major concern is to deliver the fans more side-by-side racing.
I don't have a problem with that goal. Truth be told, the
sport desperately needs that to happen. One thing is sure,
the current society and Corporate America have no stomach
for any sport where the participants are regularly in mortal
danger, so drag racing will have to be made a safe sport.
If de facto speed and elapsed time limits are required to
accomplish that, so be it.
I won't quit watching or enjoying the class nor do I believe
that a majority of the current customer base at NHRA National
events will, at least not right away. However, one sad but
true fact is that in auto racing consistency, equality and
close racing without the adrenaline rush of an unheard-of
speed or a bad crash eventually bores the public senseless
and sends them home.
If NHRA or IHRA had to depend on bracket classes or Pro
Stock -- both of which are arguably the closest, most difficult
racing in all of Motorsports -- to sell tickets, they'd be
history but quick!
I personally like to see 4.40 laps at speeds over 330 mph,
but I'm convinced that NHRA is going to do what is necessary
to keep that from happening. For the first time in drag racing
history NHRA is going to truly give competitors in the nitro
classes a "level playing field." My guess is that
since horsepower is going to be less and less important,
the teams are going to do just what the racers in Pro Stock,
Pro Stock Bike and the Super classes had to do. If you can't
drive by them then you have to leave before they do. That's
right, nitro fans, reaction times are going to become much
more important in Top Fuel and Funny Car than ever before.
I don't think the nitro classes are going to turn into a
bracket class overnight, but I do believe that a mandatory
rev-limiter, that at least in testing appears to limit the
performance of nitro cars, will forever change the face of
nitro racing. Whether that change will be for better or for
worse will be determined by the ultimate judges, the fans.
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