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The basic format for this year doesn’t
excite me as much as most people, because I’m one of
the goofy people that actually like to travel to the races
but I’m not going to complain, it’s WAY better
than nothing! Basically, the six “in division”
races will be comprised of three 2-day races. It is apparently
an approach IHRA experimented with in 2005 in other divisions
with success so they are going to give it a try in Div. 5.
What I don’t understand is WHY they didn’t try
it in 2005 instead of just pulling up stakes and leaving everyone
who HAD supported them in this area twisting in the wind.
I feel personally they have done some serious long term damage
to the “grass roots” reputation they have been
trying to build over the last few years. I sincerely hope
this season goes well and the IHRA decides to stick around
for years to come.
By combining the events into two-day races the intent is
to attract more racers from NHRA and re-attract former IHRA
racers into a tow vehicle gas saving weekend. It will also
save on hotel bills for some that don’t have motor homes,
like me this year, and other miscellaneous expenses racers
accrue on a racing weekend. I’m all for saving some
coin so I guess I shouldn’t complain. The problem for
me is that means I will only be traveling three times to an
“official” event unless my wife and I decide to
throw in a couple of national events. But hey, I made my bed
when I built an IHRA-only class car and I guess I’m
going to have to accept it. As long as the new format works
and IHRA comes back I’m all for it!
Now for some not-so-good news, at least for me. As of this
writing, the powers that be at IHRA have decided the 302/320
hp crate motor that currently resides in Muscrate deserves
to have another 20 horsepower added to the factor bringing
it up to a rating of 340 hp. In other words for those of you
who may not be familiar with how the system works, I have
to add 200 lbs. to the car to stay in I/CM or move up a class
or two with a faster index.
In plain English, I’m screwed! Currently Muscrate is
set up to run in I/CM at a minimum weight of 3170 lbs. with
driver. I qualify against a national index of 12.15. If the
newly factored hp increase remains I will be forced to re-classify
to be a natural G/CM with an index of 11.85 at a minimum weight
with driver of 3050 lbs! What’s worse is if I run H/CM
I would have to weigh 3210 lbs. with driver and have an index
of 12.00! That’s an additional 40 lbs. to carry and
the index goes down to 12.00 flat! If you use the trusty old
formula of one hundred pounds being worth a tenth the extra
weight would slow me down about 4 to 5 hundredths. Then you
subtract the index difference of .15 and voila! I just slowed
down in qualifying about TWO TENTHS!
That is totally not cool. Two tenths can easily move you
down the qualifying “ladder” 20 to 40 positions.
For someone who is really only interested in the “dial
in” part of the program they may not care. And in my
opinion they are in the wrong class, they have bracket classes
you know? However, for someone like myself that takes a certain
amount of pride in actually making the car as fast as possible
within the rules, and hopefully the faster car in a heads-up
race, it sucks! Poor Muscrate’s little 302 will have
to race against 360 cubic inch Mopars! And some of them have
a lower HP rating! I hope I’m not the only one who sees
a problem here. I could go on but I won’t, at least
not for now. I am currently in “negotiations”
with IHRA Tech and hopefully they will re-think the increase.
Next up is a brief summation of the current plans for more
“tech stuff” and less “fluff.” The
rear suspension on Muscrate has served me well over the years
but it is in need of a retooling. For you Mustang guys, I
will be demonstrating how to properly install and adjust new
heavier duty upper and lower control arms and beef up the
factory torque boxes. Also, I am going to install an aftermarket
anti-sway bar made specifically for late model Mustangs and
other FOX chassis Fords.
Engine wise, I will for sure be removing the heads and addressing
some issues that I decided to live with last year such as
loose valve guides, combustion chamber cc’s that can
be brought down to minimum for a modest compression increase,
and a few other items along the way. I would like to have
Hughes Performance loosen up the static stall of my converter
a little more so I can hold it at 4000 rpm on the line. I
will also be doing a comprehensive test of different intake
manifolds with apples-to-apples results. And I’m sure
as is always the case something will pop up along the way
to cause me tremendous grief. And probably money.
So, strap in, hold on, and together we will enjoy the ride,
no matter how FAT poor ol’ Muscrate becomes! Remember,
there’s always hope. And, when in doubt….
DO A WHEELIE!
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