4/4/06
SOLUTION: LESS TRACK AND HORSEPOWER
WOW!!! Great Blast, Jeff. I for one agree with the "over prep." (If) they want to slow the cars down, take some track away from them and some horsepower and give us side by side qualifying and racing again. I've stopped watching the events on TV because they're just smokefests.
I also know that one of the main reasons that has been said about the tire chunking problem is that the tracks are being over prepped.
Perhaps if we get back to a little tire haze on the top end we won't have to worry about the tire ripping apart and looking like a square instead of being round like they're supposed to be.
Mark Brewer
Pennsylvania
SOLUTION: LESS HORSEPOWER
Here's a thought on how you can solve two problems with one change. Take 100 inches away from the fuel cars. Cap them at 400 cubic inches, then let them do anything they
want, 98%, you name it. Hot rodding has always been about who could solve the problems and have the baddest hot rod on the planet. When this great concept was first thought up no one could have predicted that these cars would produce 7000+ HP.
The issue today is they got so fast that no one can keep a tire on them, and you can't build a track long enough to stop them. The speeds are the issue. In an effort to slow them down NHRA first cut the nitro percentage and then they put rev limiters on the engines, sort of a "throttle stop" for the fuel cars. Years ago when NHRA settled on 500 cubic inches it seemed like a good idea; well, that size engine isn't a good idea any longer.
Let's get back to the basic concept that started this whole "hot rod" deal, ingenuity, or in other words who can out think the other guys? Goodyear is at a point where the cost to produce a safe 330-MPH tire is well beyond the return on investment that it produces. NHRA is at a point where their heads are against the ceiling and unless they reduce the size of the engines in these cars this sport will move further away from the basic concept that made it grow: Ingenuity. The best way to stop the insanity and recapture the interest is to reduce the size of the power plant that propels these cars. NHRA outlawed rocket cars; they need to do the same with the 500 cubic inch fuel cars.
Bob Mendenhall
Lakeside, CA
LESS PREP, MORE DRIVING
Sounds like a thing to do. Spokane is a good example of this type of race. Hardly any track prep, asphalt starting line, and the speed record is held by Force at 281. (We are second at 271). Not a lot of engine failures, but a lot of driving. A lot less fuel volume is used and tire chunking is not a problem.
Dave Benjamin 617FC
SOLUTION: 1,000 FEET
If I could make fuel racing safer, give car owners $200,000 back each year, keep the visual aspects of drag racing perfect for fans, and keep innovations abounding, would I get one of your hats for free?
Change the quarter mile to 1,000 feet. That's it. Speed, tires, etc. are going to take another life soon. Let's make a change BEFORE that happens.
Terry McHardy
British Columbia