Ben Franklin once said something like everybody complains about the weather but no one does anything about it. For a long time that saying could be applied to NHRA’s troubled nitro classes. Virtually everyone, including yours truly, has complained about the state of Nitro racing, but no one did anything about the problem, until a few days ago. Then NHRA Pres Tom Compton announced that NHRA would implement new rules and regulations for the fuel classes for the 2000 season.

Basically, the rules were about time and it was about time these rules were announced.

NHRA really had no choice but to try and do something to fix nitro racing. The problems of racing’s marquee attraction, the nitro classes, are putting the entire sport in peril.

Just in case you spent last summer vacationing on Mars let me clue you in to some hard facts: Corporate sponsors for Top Fuel and Funny Cars have been disappearing faster than the free lunches in NHRA’s press room. Major corporate title rights sponsors for NHRA events have opted out of some of NHRA’s premier tracks and, despite what you read, attendance has suffered at most events. To make matters worse NHRA had no major television package and the races that did get televised generated poor ratings compared to other racing such as NASCAR. All of these problems contributed to a disastrous season for drag racing and it participants.

There are many mitigating factors for the above problems but the overriding factor is that drag racing, the quickest and fastest of the mainstream motorsports, has become boring because of the time required to put on a race. It wasn’t uncommon last year for a spectator to come to a drag race at nine A.M. Sunday morning and still be there at nine P.M. Sunday night. That is too much time to expect a paying spectator to spend at a race. Most observers and participants agreed that drag racing’s problem could be attributed to the time it takes to run Top Fuel and Funny cars due to explosions, oildowns and the resulting delays.

After consulting with owners, drivers, tuners, and manufacturers the NHRA brass came up with a set of rules to try and improve their show. The rules include limiting fuel to a 90 percent nitro mix, penalties for oiling the track including fines and points deductions and, perhaps most significantly, reducing the time teams are allowed for maintenance between rounds from 90 minutes to 75 minutes.

Almost as soon as the rules were announced, NHRA was pilloried by their critics on the bulletin boards and chat rooms of the Internet.

"The rules are stupid, unenforceable, unfair, and worst of all will ruin the Top Fuel and Funny car class and drag racing by slowing those cars down."

I’ve had a couple of days to consider what NHRA has done and I’ve come to this conclusion: While the rules and changes they have made may need some adjusting, making the rules themselves was exactly what this sport needed if it is going to survive.

If drag racing is going to compete with NASCAR, CART, and the World of Outlaws for fans, corporate sponsors, and television it’s going to have to re-invent itself. We are going to have to offer fans, sponsors, and television networks a fast paced, exciting event. One that features side by side, four second, three hundred mph races with both cars getting to the finish line under power. Two-hour sessions of Top Fuel or Funny Car on Sunday have to become the exception not the rule. We need to get the races over in four hours or less on race day.

The 90% nitro rule won’t affect the performance of the nitro burning cars at all. Every tuner I’ve talked to told me that to have an affect on the engine horsepower the rules would have to mandate a reduction of blower overdrive, and static compression as well as a reduction of nitro percentage. It’s my opinion that the nitro rule was more window dressing than anything else. It was done so that if we have another Herbert type explosion that injures people NHRA will be able to say in court that they tried to keep it from happening again.

The fact is that NHRA’s outlawing certain ground effects and improved wings have probably done more to slow these cars down than anything else.

As to the contention that slowing these cars down will ruin the sport I can only point out that about 35 years ago NASCAR had 3600 lb cars powered by 427 inch big block Fords, Chevys and Hemis. Race cars were circling tracks like Daytona, Talladega and Darlington at average speeds of around 230 mph. Big Bill France decided that was too fast and the next year the teams had to switch to 355 inch small blocks instead of big blocks and we all know how bad that was for NASCAR, don’t we. Just for the record, Formula One, Indy Cars and even the Outlaw sprints have legislated to control speed and cost without ruining their racing.

As to the reduction of down time between rounds I feel that this is really the most significant and best of all of the new rules. This rule forces the fuel racers to do one of two things. They will either have four engines or at the least four short blocks ready for installation between rounds on Sunday or they will have to have an engine tune-up that will keep the rods in the block until the finals. Whichever option the racer’s budget allows for, it is sure to make for a better race with fewer oil-downs and better racing.

In essence what NHRA is trying to do is get the racers to police themselves, which is really the best solution in the long run. If the 75 minute rule doesn’t speed up the program at NHRA I wouldn’t be surprised if NHRA didn’t reduce the time between rounds event further.

These rules to improve the sport are long overdue. In my opinion they will go a long way toward making the fuel racing better in the short run and in the long run could do something to cut the cost of fuel racing. The rules as they stand may not be perfect but they are a start. In the spirit of the season I’m going to reserve judgment and take a wait and see attitude.

I do know this though. This sport is like any other living thing. It has to evolve because if it doesn’t it will become extinct!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

photo  by Kay Burk

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