Apples and oranges?

Ref Traction Compound. You are right about the costs, but what is the solution? I believe that most bracket dragsters need the compound to safely get down the track. These cars are running high six- and low seven-second runs. The problem is the regular Saturday night events at most tracks have half the cars running 200 mph and the others only 80 to 120 mph. To change the questions Burk asks, what will be the lawsuit if NHRA goes to 1/4 mile racing and someone gets hurt or killed? What happens if someone gets hurt or killed because of inadequate track prep?

Roger Nelson
Langhorne, Pennsylvania

How can Nicholson agree with Burk?

Jok, now you and the Burkster have both called for less track prep? In his case I attributed his bias to ignorance. If you have never driven a 7-second car and had it get loose at half-track then it’s understandable why Jeff could be so clever on this subject. But you, you have tried to apply 1000-1200 HP to a bad racetrack and you know what it’s like to get loose at 120+ MHP, so when I read where you are writing for less traction prep, well I’m dumbfounded. Really, Jok? Really?

You were correct when you stated: “I must admit we didn't have 7.50 bracket cars and Quick 16 shows where the bump was 7.60. Come to think of it, I booked in Funny Car shows and hoped they would run 7.40s” But the reality is that a large number of cars that quick do exist now and unless the sanctioning bodies get off their duff and legalize traction control (which they can’t or won’t police anyway), reducing track prep is going to get someone hurt. Yes, it true that some of us can and do manipulate our ignition timing to kill power down track, but almost all of us, unlike most funny cars, don’t have a clutch that we can adjust (or sacrifice) to allow us to get down a slick racetrack.

Don’t think that I am not sympathetic to the track owners. If they can’t make money then they can’t stay in business and we will have no place to race, so I definitely want them in the black financially. However, reducing track prep to save them money on traction compound while making their facility (for some race cars) less safe seems like recipe for disaster. Whatever we do, we need to do so universally and, more importantly, incrementally to allow all parties to make adjustments as needed over time. Simply reducing track prep and telling the racers to “figure it out” probably won’t work well. There has got to be a better solution; the number of fast bracket cars is not going to diminish significantly overnight, and those race tracks that don’t spend the monies to prep their track will lose some of their business to those tracks who do. Perhaps as I suggested before, it’s time to legalize traction control for everyone. I also would like to see throttle stops taken away. Do we really need 180 MPH S/C & S/G cars? (Oh no, I cannot believe I just poked that hornet’s nest again!) Perhaps in some cases (i.e. the faster classes) we need to revert to 1/8 mile racing, which would reduce the amount of track prep required somewhat. (I can’t believe I just poked that hornet’s nest too!)

There probably is no simple solution out there. Anything you do is bound to anger someone. But unless we make significant changes in the rules and our cars, the track owners will have to continue to spend the monies necessary to keep their customers happy and safe.

Billy Baer
S/C 3397
Northern Illinois