1/3/05

WHAT IF?

What would happen if...every style, type and kind of performance enhancing box was outlawed and enforced...in every class, bar none - RIGHT NOW!

Gee, maybe we'd see Super Classes running flat out. Gee, maybe we'd see drivers proud of...or working to improve their R/T's. Gee, maybe we'd see cockpits that look like cockpits instead of electronic data centres. Gee, maybe we'd see winning by ability and tuning skills.

Gosh, that would be too much like real racing....

Phil Nedham
Toronto

A MATH MAJOR?

While I really LIKE Matt and Jay Scranton, come on, 6.60s aren't even in the same parking lot from a performance standpoint as the 6.1-TEEN's that will be required to qualify for the AMS/TLR show. While you're at it, what makes you THINK that Moran's Turbo combination is gonna DOMINATE? No consistency and NOT quick enough yet. While the MPH is IMPRESSIVE and WAY COOL, it is ET that makes the show AND goes rounds. The turbo combinations are JUST NOT READY to DOMINATE. MAYBE qualify in the bottom half of the field on a GOOD DAY.

Now, about those 5.80's @ 240 that the Blower guys are gonna pull
out? Wasn't Barklage one of the fastest last year at 232 and change? You think 300 HP and 100lbs less is gonna give them 8 MPH? No way. Stott was running 29% overdrive, weighed 2600 lbs, on a well prepared track, in IDEAL atmospheric conditions and went 5.98 @ 232. IHRA Alcohol Funny cars run 5.80's at 240-something on good days and they run that with the same pulley ratios and 300 lbs less than the Pro Mods.

Man, ya gotta work on your MATH skills cause the NUMBERS don't add up.

Gene Anderson

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OH NO, MORE MATH

Is there the possibility that the imports, who qualified in Pro Mod at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals, could actually be competitive in AMS Pro Modified? I think not. If you look at the qualifying numbers from IHRA this past season, the bump was typically a 6.30 or better. Now look at the effort the imports put forth at the Snowbirds, a 6.664. With the new rules for AMS Pro Mod, Troy Coughlin says they expect a 300 horsepower increase over last season, and combine that with a hundred pound weight reduction, some say that's a conservative 3 tenths off of E.T. That is if they can get the horsepower to the ground, which I don't believe will be a problem for many teams.

Assuming the learning curve, the bump spot will probably end up being at least a 6.15 or better. Do the math, and that's half a second in E.T. that the imports would have to pickup in order just to qualify. Of course, all of this is just "what ifs," but if I were an import racer, I'd cut my losses and stick to what I know. One thing I'd like to see in Pro Mod...nitro injected doorslammers.

Chris Crosby
Summerville, SC

P.S. - Erica Enders rocks my socks off.