7/26/05

DO 10.5 RIGHT

I fully agree with you that the 10.5 tire racing is a cool thing right now and NHRA needs to look at it. I just wish they would start right now and start limiting the rules...  cubic inch limits... 2 stage limits. These cars can be fast enough without that extra 5 hundredths and burning the stuff up every run. Keep it where it won't turn into Pro Stock or Pro Mod and force everyone out.

Tony Christian

TALKIN' TEN-WIDE

Here is my post on a local bulletin board from last week about 10.5 racing:

Ya know it had to happen...every good thing has to come to an end, and I think the OPS thing is heading that way fast. Back in the day at tracks like 75&80 you had lots of guys with cars running OPS. Most of them were ill equipped to run faster than the 9-second brackets they were built for originally.

Lots of the cars had bracket motors rebuilt and fitted with a variety of power adders in the never ending quest for that low et and the payout that came with it. The guys had stacked plates/centrifugal blowers/roots blowers etc. All trying to figure the hot combo. Consequently there were lots of hoods flying through the air, blowers whining, bumpers grinding, wheelie bars breaking, cars running side by side pedaling the whole way through the 1/8th.

Sure they were only running in the mid to low fives on a good day but they were hanging on the cars as tight as the fans were hanging on to the guard rail. And speaking of guard rails, the cars were only 20 feet from you as they skated and wheelied their way down the track.

Now we have cars that could run in the sixes safely (chassis-wise) at any decent track, they are de-tuned to apply the power and most of them are using traction control (although MSD had enough sense to call it slew rate) even though a lot of the cars equipped with it have not mapped the curve close enough to use it. Still, if they lose traction, they have enough sense to abort the run since there is usually little chance of winning after a mistake.

Am I knocking these people for setting up this kinda car...heck no, I wish I had the money to build one myself.

My point is that the appeal of watching cars running a number from 80 to 100 ft away will fade quickly particularly if people know that the car would go 2 tenths quicker on a better track.

Seeing cars side by side sliding and riding wheelies from 20 ft away is what the fans have always loved about OPS, and it was something most people with a decent job could afford to do without a second mortgage.

Just my 2 cents.

Richard Gavle
Maryland

OPEN UP STOCK, SUPER STOCK

10.5 heads up? Possibly (although he who has the most $$ normally wins.) Stock appearing cars? DEFINATELY!! I say let all brands (including those imports I hate so much) into Stock and Super Stock. Then, mandate that all manufacturers have to submit ALL spec's to NHRA for classification (instead of racers fighting to get their car classified themselves). THEN you would see fans watching a Mustang/Charger/Civic/F-150 just like they own, going down the track.

Forget the circus, forget the shirt cannons, get announcers that understand S/SS racing and can explain it and hype it to the crowd like they do any other class they want to promote. Instead of saying the fuel cars are done, go get a hot dog (which empties the seats), they could hype the next class up, S/SS!! Fans have to see the cars and hear about them to get interested (instead of being treated as filler during pee breaks). Go back to what worked before, back when people drove what just won on the track.

How can we get people to relate to vehicles that they drive....IT'S THE CLASS CARS STUPID!

Jim Miller
Canada