|
 If
you can't beat 'em, join 'em
I just can't understand why there is so much
resistance by some auto racing sanctioning bodies and participants
to the use of traction control devices. The fact is that,
like it or not, traction control devices are being used
in all major-league U.S. motorsports and that includes NASCAR
and NHRA/IHRA drag racing. There are several companies that
blatantly advertise traction control devices for drag racing
applications and claim that they are undetectable. A quick
look at them on these companies' web sites and you understand
why. And it is not just one company making one kind of device.
There are many different devices and as quick as the overworked
tech officials at NHRA or IHRA figure one out the manufacturers
make a replacement even more sophisticated than the last.
With all of the electronic and pneudraulic devices currently
in use on drag cars, from the slowest bracket car to the
nitro burner, and the talent level of the dedicated people
working on those cars, only a fool would believe that traction
control devices aren't being used.
In F-1, where some of the most sophisticated and knowledgeable people in auto racing work using budgets that are in the $300,000,000 a year range, they finally just threw their hands up and basically declared they weren't as smart as the racers and couldn't keep traction controlling devices from being used. So, instead of spending an enormous amount of money trying to detect and defeat traction control devices, they issued rules to control how the devices were used and what they controlled, and then went back to their real business of entertaining their fans.
For some reason that I cannot fathom, drag racing's major sanctioning bodies and a few old mossback racers are up in arms about "traction control" devices. They act as if traction control devices were something new to the sport and that they were going to be the ruination of the it. For the life of me I can't figure out what the hell they are talking about or trying to prevent. The fact is that traction control devices of one sort or another have been part of drag racing from almost the beginning. The fact is that without them drag racing wouldn't be as popular as it is today.
Think not? Well let me give you just a few examples of traction control devices that are used by every Sportsman and Professional racer at every race from the U.S. Nationals to the Wednesday night test and tune.
Drag slicks, slipper clutches, automatic transmissions, torque converters, clutch management systems on Top Fuel cars, ignition retarding devices, ladder-bar and four-link suspensions, electronically controlled shock absorbers, tube-chassis, track preparation, and jet dryers are all designed and built to aid and abet traction. And I bet if you readers think about it you can come up with a few--no make that a lot--more examples.
Yet for some reason a few Luddite racers have decided that electronic traction control devices are going to destroy drag racing as we know it. They have also come to the irrational conclusion that banning new electronic devices will somehow ensure that no one will have any form of traction control devices. That might work if we make every class of car use a magneto and be push started but I doubt it. They also seem to think that banning any new or improved electronic monitoring or ignition devices is going to make it less expensive to race.
Excuse me, but if that's the purpose for banning any type of electrical device that might be used to control traction, let's just outlaw the use of drag slicks, transmissions, slipper clutches, and track preparation. Make all of the classes put on treaded tires and quit prepping track surfaces. That kind of action would really level the playing field and put the driver back in the game. Racers would save a lot of money because they wouldn't be buying those $100,000 Pro Stock engines, $1500-a-set slicks, or $10,000 transmissions. The tracks could save a lot of money by not buying starting line glue, rice hull ash and track dryers. The only problem would be that the racing would just really suck. No four-second, 300-mph nitro burners, no six-second, 230-mph Willys Pro Mods and, of course, no television, no sponsors and no spectators. Fortunately, none of those things are likely to happen because no one wants to see that kind of racing.
What fans and racers really want to see, I believe, is faster cars; fewer aborted runs, engine explosions, and oil downs; less down time for track clean-up and prep; and, most of all, the end of the stagnant performance levels that have been the standard since Eddie Hill broke the four-second barrier and Kenny Bernstein broke the 300-mph barrier.
In Top Fuel and Funny car competition today great performance strides are measured in hundredths of a second and tenths of a mile per hour. The fact is that some form electronic traction control can help all of that happen. The other fact is that electronic traction control is in play in the "sportsman" classes already.
NHRA and IHRA tech officials, in my opinion, cannot control or detect the electronic devices that are available or are being used without expending a lot of effort and money. Usually the only time officials find out one racer is using a traction device is when another racer goes to the officials. Drag racing's tech departments have too many classes to monitor, too many things to look for, and not enough time in the day to do them all. Adding the unenviable task of ferreting out traction devices in today's highly complex cars seems an unfair task to ask them to do, in my opinion.
So, I say instead of trying to hold back the tide, it's time for the sanctioning bodies to throw in the towel and join 'em cause they can't beat 'em. Traction devices available to racers on the open market right now cost the racer no more than a pair of slicks, a new clutch, or a new alky carb. As for the nitro ranks, the argument that traction control is going to put the "little guy" racer out of business is just indefensible and not provable. And since when was drag racing really concerned about the little guy or what racers have to spend to race? I offer you the Pro Stock Truck class as an example of that.
I say give the racers and manufacturers who want to use or sell and manufacturer traction control devices the opportunity to prove in controlled test sessions that traction control can help prevent engine damage and explosions, control costs, decrease time between rounds, and improve competition and performance. Make them pay for the session; I'd bet they would gladly do it. If it proves out then put a limit on what the companies can charge for the units. They'll figure out a way to build and sell them at a profit and their fellow racers will police the program. There are no secrets in drag racing -- as we all know.
The fact is that spectators at the track, corporate sponsors,
and the people watching the races on television want to
be entertained and they really don't care how it is done.
If traction control is what it's going to take to do that
in the professional classes and it is already being widely
used illegally in the sportsman ranks...as I've said a couple
of times earlier, If you can't beat 'em join 'em.
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