Sign of the Times ..........

[Old Coyote]

Looking at all four rounds of qualifying for today's NHRA event in Memphis, there were 19 Top Fuelers, 18 Funny Cars, 17 Pro Stocks, and 16 Pro Stock bikes which tried to qualify ........... that's a total of 70 professional entrants for the four classes .......... that's really sad

The 1969 U.S. Nationals had more Top Fuelers than that trying to qualify to get into the field of 32.

It's a sad statement on what drag racing has become

[Dave Severson]

Yuppers, takes a ton of money to even be close to competitive in the pro classes....

I guess you know you're old when you can remember when two guys with good jobs could afford to go racing.... Now it's a struggle to keep a bracket car going!!!!

[NTFDAY]

Garlits’ ideas are simple and harsh. Make the rear wing smaller and lower it to take away downforce. Have Goodyear build smaller racing tires to take away grip. Disqualify any team that blows an engine and drops oil on the track. The engines right now, if they’d cut them back to about 1,000 or 1,500 horsepower, they would run forever,” he said. “And the problem about slowing the cars down would be solved. It would also bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The competition would be a lot closer, and that’s what’s going to bring the fans back.”

I think these are good ideas, but NHRA and the powers to be will never go for it.

[BigTruckDriver]

Garlits’ ideas are simple and harsh. Make the rear wing smaller and lower it to take away downforce. Have Goodyear build smaller racing tires to take away grip. Disqualify any team that blows an engine and drops oil on the track. The engines right now, if they’d cut them back to about 1,000 or 1,500 horsepower, they would run forever,” he said. “And the problem about slowing the cars down would be solved. It would also bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots. The competition would be a lot closer, and that’s what’s going to bring the fans back.”

I think these are good ideas, but NHRA and the powers to be will never go for it.

You mean Don Garbage,lol. Don knows nothin.
I dont think that will do much for drag racing. IMO , they need to limit teams and sponsors. How can a new comer compete with the field dominated by 2 teams , there no chance at all. You can slow them down all you want but when a team is dominating the class their dominating the class. If your going 50MPH or 300MPH theres no room to get in. Its been that way for years now. The teams and NHRA have lock them selves in and locked everyone else out.

[NTFDAY]

You mean Don Garbage,lol. Don knows nothin.
I dont think that will do much for drag racing. IMO , they need to limit teams and sponsors. How can a new comer compete with the field dominated by 2 teams , there no chance at all. You can slow them down all you want but when a team is dominating the class their dominating the class. If your going 50MPH or 300MPH theres no room to get in. Its been that way for years now. The teams and NHRA have lock them selves in and locked everyone else out.

Put your money where your mouth is, Garlits has forgotten more about drag racing than you'll ever know.

[BigTruckDriver]

Put your money where your mouth is, Garlits has forgotten more about drag racing than you'll ever know.

It was a inside joke , calm down. Hes done a lot.

[34_40]

You mean Don Garbage,lol. Don knows nothin.
I dont think that will do much for drag racing. IMO , they need to limit teams and sponsors.

I'll take offense to your statement above!
I think Don has forgotten more than you've ever known!

As far as limits are concerned, it's nothing new! I remember when Mark Martin and his wife "technically owned" the number 17 driven by Matt Kenseth. And even today did you know the "technically" Jeff Gordon owns the # 48 driven by Jimmie Johnson? So go ahead, add some team ownership limits, there are ways around that one!

And you want Sponsor limits too!?!? How would you expect guys to pay for all this? I think you need to think this one over some more!

[BigTruckDriver]

I'll take offense to your statement above!
I think Don has forgotten more than you've ever known!

As far as limits are concerned, it's nothing new! I remember when Mark Martin and his wife "technically owned" the number 17 driven by Matt Kenseth. And even today did you know the "technically" Jeff Gordon owns the # 48 driven by Jimmie Johnson? So go ahead, add some team ownership limits, there are ways around that one!

And you want Sponsor limits too!?!? How would you expect guys to pay for all this? I think you need to think this one over some more!

Well some thing has to be done to level the playing field. How does one go up against one of the "giants", you cant? For instance how many chassis can you take, complete cars? Most probably have about 4 complete cars and 8 complete motors and 6-8 18 wheelers. Is that neccesary? Hell if you cant do it with 2 chassis you should go home for the weekend. Not be allowed to keep throwing cars in to win. That takes a lot of the challenge out of the game. The challenge is to make sure that your 1 car is consistant enough to take every one out.
Its just turned into a gaint money monster and pretty much has locked everyone out and everyone in. Heck its even predictable and anyone that knows fuel cars knows they are a long way from predictable. heck I havent paid attention to drag racing in years , it just got boring. I do love the older stuff though with a passion.

As far as Don goes well I have seen better and there is better ,even though he has done a lot. He just dont do it for me.

[Dave Severson]

I second that, Ken!!!! We used the same block, heads, crank, and blower for 3 seasons in top alcohol.... We weren't the biggest horsepower operation there, but I sure did drive around a lot of those 'built on the edge' engines when they gernaded at about 1,000'!!!!!!

Along with the smaller wing, cut the nitro percentage back to about 70% and parts will last a lot longer, too!!!

I've gave some thought the last few years to going back to where I started out in drag racing, a B/SS Mopar.....Man, you wouldn't believe what it would cost to put together a super stocker that can run on index!!!!! and I originally did it working in the service department at a Dodge dealer!!!!!

[gassersrule_196]

they should run them like the nostalgia fuel funny cars motors 70-90% 6-71 blower small pump 2 speed trans those motors like a long time for being fuel motors

[nitrowarrior]

they should run them like the nostalgia fuel funny cars motors 70-90% 6-71 blower small pump 2 speed trans those motors like a long time for being fuel motors

"whaattt???"

[Jetstang]

If they take away all the latest R&D and put the teams in ill handling, low HP cars, won't it become NASCAR? Or crate model racing? Teams are already limited, that is why Outlaw Pro Mods are cool, very limited rules, but makes it hard for the lower budget teams.

[Dave Severson]

If they take away all the latest R&D and put the teams in ill handling, low HP cars, won't it become NASCAR? Or crate model racing? Teams are already limited, that is why Outlaw Pro Mods are cool, very limited rules, but makes it hard for the lower budget teams.

You think NASCAR is affordable??? Limiting rules on the pro classes are necessary to keep the big money teams from turning it into a money race....

Look at the qualifying times in the Pro Classes, can't get any closer!!! 30 or 40 cars qualifying within thousands of each other would just be better!!! Why not make it affordable for more teams???? From first hand experience, it's absolutely no fun racing where the biggest check book wins......

[JeffB2]

Looking at all four rounds of qualifying for today's NHRA event in Memphis, there were 19 Top Fuelers, 18 Funny Cars, 17 Pro Stocks, and 16 Pro Stock bikes which tried to qualify ........... that's a total of 70 professional entrants for the four classes .......... that's really sad

The 1969 U.S. Nationals had more Top Fuelers than that trying to qualify to get into the field of 32.

It's a sad statement on what drag racing has become

There are links on www.hotrodders.com posted yesterday the entire Memphis racing facility is going to be shut down,NHRA has announced that there will be one less event for 2010.

[Dave Severson]

There are links on www.hotrodders.com posted yesterday the entire Memphis racing facility is going to be shut down,NHRA has announced that there will be one less event for 2010.

Yup, saw that. Another victim of the economy....