SUPERCHARGERS GIVE NHRA A PAYNE
The Alcohol Funny Car controversy almost got ugly at Houston with NHRA VP Graham Light reportedly prepared to pitch Jay Payne out of the event over a decal.

The issue is new NHRA rules which reduce the allowable boost in the Whipple screw-type supercharger to 1.36 while placing boost levels for the Roots and PSI superchargers at 1.70 and 1.92, respectively.

Payne is among those most adversely effected by the change. He estimates that it will cost $10,000 to change over his combination. As a result, Payne and others showed at Houston with a decal on the car comprised of a circle with a slash through it, the international symbol for no, and the phrase "New NHRA Rules" inside the circle. Light reportedly confronted Payne and threatened to boot him out of the race if he ran the decal, ostensibly because he used the NHRA oval trademark. Payne circumvented the smokescreen by taking the NHRA oval out of the circle and placing it atop the decal. The message still was quite clear - and not lost on those in attendance.

The NHRA's position is that the cost to operate a Federal Mogul Funny Car has increased dramatically in the last five years as has the rate of attrition. The screw-type supercharger's higher levels of boost was identified as the principal culprit in both instances.

"We cannot stand by and allow these classes to get further out of the reach of true Sportsman racers who aspire to race blown-alcohol cars," said Len Imbrogno, NHRA's Director of Sportsman Racing. "Have we done enough? Probably not, but what we are doing by reducing overdrive limits is a step in the right direction."

The sticking point for Payne, many-time champion Pat Austin, and others is that the new rules favor cars which no longer compete on the NHRA circuit while those who have been loyal NHRA racers are penalized.

According to the racers, at least one sponsor who wanted to up the money in the class had its proposal rejected by NHRA ostensibly because it didn't want to create another professional class. Of course, the Federal Mogul drivers already are paid more money than the Pro Stock Motorcycle drivers so that argument would seem to hold little water.

The real secret to participation, it seems, is the way racers are treated on the respective circuits. IHRA has the numbers, we're told by several who participate, because it makes it fun to race in the IHRA Summit Series. NHRA, we're told, still needs some work.

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