Most Pro-Mods are VERY similar aero wise to Pro-Stocks, especially the nitrous cars. Same basic body in many cases, same chassis albeit stiffer and the same wing. If it's loose, you add wing or wickerbill. It ain't rocket science. One of the last cars I drove WAS in fact an ex IHRA pro-stock car with a big nitrous motor. I have driven Top Sportsman cars that are as fast or faster than Pro-Stocks and most of them ARE ex Pro-Stock rides, so "billboard" wings don't apply here. The point is, most of the time the car can be as stable or unstable as you care to make it, with the amount of downforce you choose to apply to the wing.
The problem exists because of trying to prep a track for two radically different types of cars and what they need. The Pro-Stock guys want lots of grip on the top end and the fuel guys don't because they chunk tires if the track is too good at the top. This has been an ongoing battle for years with NHRA. GOOD for fuel is bad for Pro-Stock and vice versa, so the answer has always been somewhere in between. Now does the NHRA prep crew ALWAYS get it just right, of course not. But if it is not just right, the answer is not always the "track is junk". Sometimes you have to race the track and what it presents, not what you think it "should be".
Now like I have said repeatedly, IF WATER WAS COMING UP, that is an entirely different discussion. You can't fix that in the moment.
As to the concrete coming up...........that is nothing new. Not sure I have ever been on an all concrete track that did not have chunks missing here and there. That is just the way it is. Now if the fuel cars were pulling up chunks, that is not great, but again does not mean the track is junk or needs dug up and resurfaced. Two of the fastest tracks the Pro-Stocks run on in testing are SGMP and Bradenton. Both have numerous and BIG chunks of surface missing. It is just something you have deal with on an "all concrete" track. But those tracks always have a VERY TIGHT prep for testing and the cars fly...........the fuel guys would HATE that type prep.
Just a few weeks ago there was an instance when big chunks of concrete were coming up at a NASCAR track. It just happens on those surfaces from time to time. Sometimes you patch it, sometimes you just seal it and go, sometimes you do nothing but sweep the loose off. I don't recall anybody calling for that track to be "dug up" and redone. It is just something that generally has to be dealt with
It is the same thing we as small tire radial racers deal with. A track GOOD for us, is TOO GOOD for slick tire cars and the perfect slicks track is hard for us to get down. I know you are familiar with this. So if both type cars are present, it is always a compromise, same as NHRA has to deal with on a weekly basis.
Most people can't comprehend the fact that a track can be "TOO GOOD" for a certain type car, but it is a VERY real thing.
One more time, if water was coming up at Zmax, this is all a moot discussion, as you can't fix that when it is happening
Monte
