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Notes written on the back of my lobster bib
9/14/06
If you haven’t visited New England Dragway, I suggest you put it on your list. The IHRA Northern Nationals was my first time at the track. The track is located near Epping, New Hampshire, and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. It’s located in a beautiful setting and the local restaurants feature some of the best seafood I’ve ever eaten. As the locals say it is “wicked” good.
Anyway, besides a great facility, the track is owned by racers. According to one I talked with, there are currently about 200 shareholders, the track is managed by a board of directors made up of shareholders and one of them is the track manager. They schedule about 120 race dates a year. I learned that shares in the track are handed down from generation to generation of racers kind of like season tickets for Red Sox games in not-too-far-away Boston. He also told me that about every 10 years when shares do come available they offer them to younger racers so that the board stays relevant with the times.
It was a great race and a great facility. Thanks for the hospitality folks, I’ll be back.
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The wall banging accident involving Bruce Litton, who wasn’t wearing a HANS device and suffered a reportedly serious concussion and other injures, just reinforced to me the idea that it is way past time that the IHRA and the NHRA adopted a mandatory head and neck restraint device rule. The most recent reason I was given by one sanctioning body for not making the devices mandatory was that there was a possibility that the sanctioning body could be sued if they forced drivers to wear them.
That argument doesn’t work for me. The SFI folks have a spec for the devices and there are three or four different devices approved by SFI Spec 38-1. Among those sanctioning bodies that require their drivers wear the devices are NASCAR, Formula-1, Champ Car, and the Sport Compact NOPI series. In 2007 USAC will make the devices mandatory. Surely none of these sanctioning bodies would willingly adopt a rule that would put them in legal peril. I would think that they actually may open themselves up for a potential lawsuit from an injured party that wasn’t wearing the device. Please make the rule before anyone else is hurt because they weren’t wearing one.
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Both Evan Knoll and the IHRA have stepped up to the plate to provide a place for Top Fuel and Funny Car teams on a budget. Yet at New England there were short fields in both categories. Where were Jack Ostrander, Mitch King, and Gary Densham? Even the Torco-backed cars of Melanie Troxel, Mike Ashley and J.R. Todd didn’t make the race. It kind of makes me wonder what will happen next year when there are even more conflicting dates between the IHRA and NHRA. On the other hand, maybe they just need to move the date of the Epping event, but the numbers of non-conflicting weekends are very low. Whatever happened to all those folks who’ve clamored for an alternative fuel circuit?
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I used to think that NHRA Pro Stock with its 500 c.i. rule was the epitome of drag racing finesse and technology, but the recent performances I’m seeing from IHRA Pro Stock leads me to believe that the 822 cubic inch crowd is making a move on their NHRA brethren in the tech department. It’s hard not to be impressed by door cars that weigh around 2400 lbs., burn gas, use carbs, and do the quarter mile in 6.31 at over 220 mph!
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I think there is something wack about a points system that gives the same amount of importance to setting a speed record as it does coming to the starting line for a Saturday night qualifier. In the IHRA setting an ET record gets you five bonus points but so does making a Saturday night qualifier. C’mon guys, don’t you think you should reward those that set records a few more points than those that just stage the car?
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At a lot of the major event tracks that I go to they have a traffic control system that is half maze and half Gestapo (Indy comes to mind) and you sometimes end up being routed totally in the opposite direction that you need to go. At New England Dragway they had ZERO traffic control and exiting the premises on Friday night was fairly calm. Other drivers even allowed cars to cut into line to get in the lane they needed. Remarkable.
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The number of nitrous cars that qualify for IHRA Pro Mod fields keeps dropping. I believe that only three nitrous cars qualified at New England Dragway. Despite the fact that Harold Martin made the final round at New England, I believe it is just a matter of time before the two-year hiatus on supercharged Pro Mod rules changes will be history. The truth of the matter is a rule change may be the only way to keep the nitrous cars really competitive. With that in mind don’t be surprised if a 5-second ET shows up by a supercharged car at one or more of the last three IHRA events left in the season. Tuners on those cars know the rules will change by next season and if they don’t get that elusive 5-second lap this year they may never get it.
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With four of NHRA’s divisions already running Top Sportsman classes on the divisional level and the astounding number of those cars out there, I’m hearing that some inside the NHRA are seriously considering adding a Top Sportsman class to the rule book. That would be a good thing in my opinion.
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Don’t be surprised if sometime soon the NHRA does consolidate their seven divisions into just three: a Western, a Central and an Eastern division. I have nothing to go on here except a gut feeling, but what I see behind the scenes indicates they may be thinking in that direction. In many ways, from a financial and promotional point of view, the change would make sense. 
