NHRA shortens track to 1000 ft for fuel cars

Racing would become the .189 (Fraction) mile drags? not the .250 (1/4 mile)

NHRA use your heads, cubic inch rules are easier to apply, 400 cubic inch limit etc. Blower Limit like Nostalgia Top Fuel (great racing) then Pro Stock and Funny car will need to be slowed down to keep them relative to each other.
Prostock? Maybe they should look like production cars again? That is a novel idea?

Do not use concrete barriors to stop cars, use softwall technology and larger sand traps. That was a pathetic set up at NJ.

 

Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe a Monster Truck style ignition cut off wouldn't work because the engines are basically "dieseling" once they are at top power. Cutting the fuel flow would probably be the only way to slow them down, but it all happens so fast.

 

doult that extra 320 ft would've helped scott. they need longer shutdown areas.

 

Once the motor explodes so violently that it shreds
the Carbon Fiber body,do you think shutting off the
ignition or fuel will make much difference ?

The generally quit running when they blow up.

 

remote??? who's gonna steer a dead horse away from danger ?
OR MISS HITTING THE BUTTON AS MONSTER TRUCKS HAVE PROVEN

Bonniville has problems too and it is way MILES long ..

a catch system net that gently deploys/grabs more parachutes / bungees with a brakaway point STARTING A T HALF -3/4 MILE and lets the car run out over a longer track no sand trap to flip it if no brake s or other problems
then having a safteycar that cruises up next to it like a rodeo horse used in bull/bronc riding LIKE BATMAN THOWIN A NET OVER THE RUNNER

adding current inovations like DEL WORSHAMS EXPLO D A BODY CHUTE LAUNCHER is great

maybe ab reakaway pod self contained system like hydro boats use ?

I SUPPOSE THAT THIS WILL BRING ABOUT A GO AND WHOA RACE ..
FIRST TO X SPEED AND THEN SAFLEY STOP ON THE MARKED SPOT

ALL THE NOISE AND NITRO FUN BUT WITH A HEAVILY CONTRLLOED STOP ON A DIME


1320 IS THE RACE
DUNNO TIMES ARE CHANGIN THATS FOR SURE..

 

I agree - Go to the NHRR Bowling Green or CHRR at Bakersfield, and you will see what racing is supposed to be. Standing room only, full pits, 30 dragsters trying to qualify for 16 car field, not 16 cars qualifying for 16 spots. There are more Nostalgia Top Fuel Dragsters than Current Top Fuel Cars now.

You gotta be there................to feel the excitement

 

Look for the economic component of this situation. When the smoke clears you can bet that whatever is decided that component will be satisfied. If, as a result, the people competing are ACTUALLY safer it will be a pleasant side effect. If that rubs you the wrong way give me one example where a professional sports related decision that addresses a specific problem resulted in a DECREASE in revenue.
I believe NASCAR is about to put this to the test. the NEW car that they've implemented (in an attempt to make a 500 mile race the equivalent of IROC) has a lot of die hard fans looking for something else to watch that will actually keep then awake for the duration of an event. myself, I watch the first 20 laps, take a nap, and if I wake up in time like to take in the last 20. whatever happens in the meantime has become (is becoming) totally irrevelant...........except to give sponsors a chance to spend a few million dollars peddeling their wares.

Frank

 

Seems to me a firewall configured to keep the concussion from knocking-out the driver is all that is needed to keep this from happening again. Had Scott not been 'out', he'd likely be here today.

Once you've experienced the noise and sheer speed of todays top-fuel, it gets boring pretty fast. Nostalgia S/S, gassers and Nostalgia T/F is waayy more interesting. No cookie cutter cars, varied powerplants, floppers that actually look like cars you can recognize....no contest!

Todays pro stock is boring as well. ZZZZZZZ

 

Frank; I think you did just give your example that resulted in a decrease in revenue. An eight car field just dosn't get it for me. Requireing the teams to spring for all new equiptment would likely result in such a deal. If you just pull the NHRA National events from Englishtown and simular strips, will they be able to remain open? I know the National event subsidises the rest of the years racing. Want to see more strips close? Pull the big meets. Sponsers don't want to be associated with tradgey. The insurance carrier want's to know what happened and what are you doing to prevent it from happening again? At least for now a 1000 mft track is a good answer. A good drag race is over before then anyway. That's why most of the Fans are at the start line.

 

The real problem here is not shutoff area length or car construction. You could build the car out of steel I beams and run them 1/8 mile and the result would be the same. If you have an engine that is a 500lb grenade that blows up into a mass of flaming shrapnel with amazing regularity, redering the driver a barley consuious passenger you are going to have problems. As much as i hate to say it the HP needs to be cutdown by a bunch. If you cut the nitro % way way back you could cut the occurance of engine explosions down with may be 7 or 8 tenths difference in ET. The racing would probably be better as it is now with 8000 or HP most of the races are pedal fests or somebody loses a couple of cylinders or tire shake etc. etc. etc.. How many races are actually decided at the finish line. Not many, way to few as a matter of fact.
Whatever, the NHRA needs to get their act together real soon because the fields are getting smaller and sponsor money is drying up fast. Big money sponsors don't want to be involved with a "death sport". Look at what happened to open wheel racing (for other reasons but a quick near death none the less) in the last 10 years. Riches to rags real quick. The NHRA needs to see this as a lesson. Like it or not big money is what drives this deal. Thats why my intrest in this level of drag racing diminished years ago
Yes it is racing and ultimately about absolute speed, risk and danger. But the folks who drive these things do not intend to be gladiators or kamakazi's.
NHRA step back take a deep breath think about what you are doing beacause if you are not careful the end of "PRO" fuel racing could end real quick!!!

 

alot like golf, baseball, football, ....

 

The 1/4 mile is 1320 ft period. Why don't you just run it with fucking hybrids too while your at it, pussies!

 

You know NHRA has now officially got people running that sanctioning body that has never raced a car or got their hands dirty, they've got a bunch of over paid desk jockeys calling all the shots. Wally Parks was the last one who knew what it is like to run a car, r.i.p. Wally. Now the fuelers are going to run 1000', no more 1320'? "WTF", how the hell is this going to make these cars any safer? Someone else on this thread had said, they'll have to run them harder in a 1000', I agree 100%! This is bullshit! This is my bitch and gripe of this thread! R.I.P. Scott Kalitta.

 

Well put my friend!

 

I wouldn't know...

If it aint Motorised, I dont need to see it.

 

Technology has ruined motorsports. In the 60s and on to 70..or so..the rush for speed in all types of racing was exciting..as builders pushed enginering limits..found unique ways to get speeds.
A builder found a "secret" that gave him more for awhile...until another guy found somethin' else.

Now it's prep and money..little guys can't play..even those with that unique spark that used to make it all so interesting.
Indy now is boring..F1 is a single file "no-passing" parade of hi tech ground effect cars..even without the traction control. Moto GP..same..now with size reduced motors..now running as fast as the 1000cc bikes.
NHRA was a great when we could build in a garage..and still compete with bigger names..that's gone at the top.

Primitive (in comparison) cars of the earlier days required ingenuity to get speed..now it takes the same to limit speeds.
Don't know the answer..but somethng simpler. Vintage racing of all sorts is more interesting. Racing is a victim of it's success..the technology genie is out of the bottle..
It ain't going back in easy..

 

they dont need to mess with the track length, they need to improve on the shutdown area and the beech at the end, they were made for cars doing 150 to 200 mph for back in the day, weve lost alot of great drivers in nhra and its a shame that because its scott now they will make changes

just like nascar pettys kid and how many others got killed, until it was dale - rip - they did nothing

its the same friggin thing here and its bull shit

 

Or hook a 1300' cord to it so it pulls the plug at the end to the track. Tractor pullers have one hooked to the sled, the pro stock bikes already have them hooked to the driver, just extend the cord a bit.

 

It’s drag racing and it is dangerous!

Thirty-eight years ago a blower grenaded on a funny car I was running. The blower kissed my face. Still have a scar on my nose. If it wasn’t for my helmet and cage I would have been decapitated.

A shorter track would not have prevented what happened to me and I don’t think a shorter track would have saved Scott.

Since NHRA is starting the new rules here I would like the State of Colorado to follow NHRA’s lead

1. Did you know that 17 people died on the slopes here this year??
Solution – Blast the tops off all mountains to make the runs shorter.

2. Five people have died so far this year rafting.

Solution – Build dams every mile to shorten the runs.


Hey if it works for NHRA

 

Bottom line for me, is that fuel racing was never about speed.

Fuelers are purely exhibition (as mentioned already). It fills the stands to pay for the rest of the track year. Most fans don't care who the fuel winner is. The same people who need nitro are the same people who need viagra.

The fuel winner is the team with the biggest moving van.

 

What a bunch of whining mouthbreathers. I only see one person in the bunch that attests to having ever run a fuel car, the rest are spectators who whine because they won't get to see the cars run that last 320 ft full blast.

If you watched race coverage last week on the Speed Channel or what ever Espn channel it was on the person calling for the shorter track was John Force. If you have a complaint forward it to him because I'm sure he will be happy to give you a response.

You also have to consider that many of the tracks don't own enough land to lengthen the shutdown area the necessary amount. That alone is probably the biggest issue. If you don't have the room to make the shut down longer and it isn't available for purchase you don't have much choice but to shorten the track for the fuel cars or not run them.
I don't get too excited over going to the "pro" class races, I'd much rather go watch a staging lane full of High School kids do the High School drags at the local track. Just watching them improve a bit on each run makes it worth going even if the fastest car in the bunch is a 12 second car.

It will be interesting to see what happens in qualifying and the racing it's self this weekend. My bet that there won't be a lot of differences to see except the cars will shut down earlier and the et and mph will be a bit lower.
What will happen will be that the driver and crew will have be on top of their game as they won't have that last 300 ft to power around someone.

Just a side shot, when I raced my G stock 69 Cutlass at Temple Acadamy raceway 39 years ago I won every race I won in the last 300 ft and lost every race I lost in the first 30 so the 1000 ft thing would have been the end of my racing real quick then.
Even then with a 14 second car and drum brakes the shutdown area was too short and I went around the curve at the end of the track and out the gate on one occasion when my brakes faded. One reason that the new owner went to a shorter track this year.

 

what happens if someone gets hurt or god forbid killed with this thousand foot rule,are they gonna try runnin fuel cars to the 1/8 mile next??? wont that be exiting!!! when eric medlin got killed last year by hitting the wall, nobody suggested widening the lanes did they? drag racing is what it is and every driver knows the danger. as for you guys who think that the team with the biggest trailor and most funding wins, you better take a look who's leading the points in funnycar. the single car and lightly sponsered team of tim wilkerson.

 

Put the fuel cars on a narrower tire, and dont give them a new better one every year, The tire dictates fuel cars,period.

 

It seemed fairly obvious to me that there were several failures in Scott's mishap. Everybody else is able to stop...but with a catastrophic failure, odds go way down! The nature of mechanical machines says there will be failures at some point(s) in time, and I'd have to say that the lives lost are quite few considering the numbers, speed, etc. It's a bit ludicrous to expect perfection...when you are trying to "stretch the limits". Just my .02

 

1000 feet was a great idea Before Scott's accident..
Good Move by nhra

 

Read through all 4 or 5 pages before I found a post I agree with.

Drag racing is an acceleration contest.

Fuel cars will be accelerating just as quickly next week as they did last week, just for maybe 3.8 instead of 4.5 seconds. It will be just as exciting (or boring if that's your opinion).

I always thought 1000 ft was the best place to watch nitro cars anyway.

 

Why is it that everyone is looking to CHANGE something???!!! This is not extreme basket weaving! It is DRAG RACING!!!

Slow em down, shorten the track, smaller back tire, 1 mag, less nitro, blah fuckin blah. Yep Scott died. That sucks. He knew the risks as does every single one of the other drivers. The same risks that we ALL take every time we twist the key of our cars, be it daily driver or hotrod. The possiblility is there.

Of course there are gonna be some drivers that bitch about it. DUH!!! The vast majority of us have jobs. If an instance presented itself where we felt we could bitch about something and have a "safer" job or work less or any other advantage we could come up with, we would try to jump on it.

"What? What? The same pay and less work? Sign me up!!!!"

This all a bunch of crap. Let's be totally honest here. IF his chutes would've opened up correctly, he would still be alive. And I stand by that statement, REGARDLESS of how long the shutdown length is / was. Chutes = slow. His didn't open, so here we are.

It's not like drag racing has always been the safest occupation on the face of the earth and I am all for making it safer... BUT changing a major factor of the sport because a set of chutes didn't deploy correctly?? That's just fuckin stupid.

Flame me if you want, but changing 1/4 mile drag racing from what it is and what it was founded on is just crappy all the way around. I'll step down off the soapbox now.

 

RIP Scott. He's not the first driver to die in competition and certainly won't be the last. Times have changed and the track owners must adapt the facilities to the progress of the cars or lose the event. Is it just me or is there more fireball motor explosions since they quit running 100%? No matter what steps are taken, or rules changed, the speeds will increase over time. Even though I still love it, I haven't paid as much attention in the last few years.

 

Everyone has stated excellent opinions here and I could not agree more. I suggest that everyone here please let your opinion be heard by the overthinkers that are ruining our entertainmant. Here is the address and by al means please tell your friends, maybe they will reconsider or at least realize the lack of logic in their decision.

[email protected]

 

After all, that's where John saw Elvis at!