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Time for everyone to switch to heads up racing. its the only way to race

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i would if i had $$$$$$$$$$$$$$

by the way Index = Bracket

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I'm not surprised a lot of you guys don't understand that there a bunch of younger racers or those without a bunch of money who don't run that far under the index, but enjoy racing at divisionals at the like. All NHRA has done is raise the cost of entry into an already expensive sport.

And its plain ignorant in my opinion to say that you're a door stop, or that you didn't belong if you can't run a second under the index. Apparently no one knows who Jody Lang is, even though he led both stock and super stock points this season and finished top 5 in both nationally. Having a slow car might not win you class, who cares, its just a wally. Eliminations are where its at and what all the real racers are there for. The purse itself might not be large, but factor in contingency payouts and everything, and you can easily win 10K plus if you know what your doing.

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Time for everyone to switch to heads up racing. its the only way to race

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I never said anything bad about having a slow car, just stating the fact that IF you can not run at least .5 under you are nothing more than wasting your time.

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You also have to remember that you are competing against "professional" sportsman racers at any national and most divisional events.

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That's the idea, I enjoy the competition win or lose (winning is usually a lot more fun though). They're all beatable. I know a few of them personally and I'm not scared to race them.

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I never said anything bad about having a slow car, just stating the fact that IF you can not run at least .5 under you are nothing more than wasting your time.

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I guess I still don't understand what you mean by this. In eliminations if you can go .1 under you've got as much of a shot as someone who goes 1.10 under, its just bracket racing. This 3 tenth bump changes nothing really other than a couple of the big boys have room to go faster now if they want to during qualifying. Everyone is still going to back down the timing, add weight and go into "bracket mode" for the race.

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You also have to remember that you are competing against "professional" sportsman racers at any national and most divisional events.

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That's the idea, I enjoy the competition win or lose (winning is usually a lot more fun though). They're all beatable. I know a few of them personally and I'm not scared to race them.

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At a national event you have to run at least .5 under to win class and qualify, even if you're the only one in your class. After all the class winners, they fill the field with the rest of the ladder. The bump is usually at least .75 under. So, if you're not running at least .5 under you will be on the trailer and on the way home after class.

You can normally get in the field at most divisionals even if you can only run Index because the fields are usually short. If you can't run Index you will still have to dial Index in the eliminator.

Don't be fooled, the NHRA really does have a decent handle on most of the HP factors and indexes. Some are still way soft, but the AHFS will eventually take care of them. That's why you see all the 1000' runs, they are trying to avoid getting HP.

Mike got HP taken away by keeping exceptional records of what he had in the car and what it ran at every track he went to. He also had one other racer with his combination who was actually slower than him document everything too. They submitted everything to the NHRA for review, and as a result got 12 HP taken away.

Unfortunately, when Mike was #1 qualifier at Topeka, that triggered a review and he got a couple back.

If you don't have a big wallet or a big ego you can still race Stock pretty cheaply. You have to research for combinations that are either indexed soft, or a good combination to find parts for. You have to be willing to do a lot of work yourself, and not be afraid to try new parts without getting sucked in to the "trick of the week" mentality.

My buddy picked up .15 on his car just by changing to a converter he had laying around. Everybody told him it wouldn't work, but it must have been just what the car wanted.

The days of putting a pair of slicks on your street car and being a player in Stock are long gone. In heads-up racing there will always be someone willing to outwork or outspend you.

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At a national event you have to run at least .5 under to win class and qualify, even if you're the only one in your class. After all the class winners, they fill the field with the rest of the ladder. The bump is usually at least .75 under. So, if you're not running at least .5 under you will be on the trailer and on the way home after class.

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Another from the second hand file........I heard one stock racer tell of running two quarts of oil in the motor so it would be sucking air for most of the pass and the motor did not have the drag of an oil pump doing it's job , hence freeing up a few ponies.
That " what ever it takes " mentality just seems too expensive to me.

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and all this to just be first round cannon fodder

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I know that to run at Indy or some other places you have to run the .75 under if not faster to make it in, but that was never the point. The 3 tenth hit won't effect races such as those where all the cars are faster to begin with. This is about the little guy who might not be able to race at divisionals or a local national event unless they spend the bucks to find some more HP.

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Unfortunately that is the risk you take when you build a class car. Class racing is about going as fast as you can given a certain set of restrictions, not being just fast enough to get into the bracket part.

Besides, if you can already run .3 under, you'll still be able to run index. In a short field you will still get in.

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Unfortunately that is the risk you take when you build a class car. Class racing is about going as fast as you can given a certain set of restrictions, not being just fast enough to get into the bracket part.

Besides, if you can already run .3 under, you'll still be able to run index. In a short field you will still get in.

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I don't doubt this was the original intention of the class many moons ago when it originated. But I think it has changed, times have changed and having the fastest car isn't important to the majority of class racers. If you really wanna try to get everything out of a combo you belong in comp.

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I don't doubt this was the original intention of the class many moons ago when it originated. But I think it has changed, times have changed and having the fastest car isn't important to the majority of class racers. If you really wanna try to get everything out of a combo you belong in comp.

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That is not even close to true. There are many Stock racers who only care about being the fastest in their class. They will usually be the same ones whining about guys off the gas at 1000' to protect HP. Follow the S/SS board and you'll see what I mean.

If it was only about bracket racing why not just eliminate all the classes and rules and put the shoe polish on the windows.

FYI-You can't run all out in Comp either. Anything faster than .5 under gets you an index hit at least for the day.

Class racing is still about making your car as fast as it can be within the rules. (Or outside the rules if you are like some) You wanna play, you gotta pay.

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There will be a handful of guys who won't be able to qualify at all now because they don't have the resources to find .3, or qualify above their index, which is a minimum dial" for eliminations.

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That is not even close to true. There are many Stock racers who only care about being the fastest in their class. They will usually be the same ones whining about guys off the gas at 1000' to protect HP. Follow the S/SS board and you'll see what I mean.

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Yes there are guys who care, but the amount whom actually invest that much time/money and can run 1.40 under are few and far between. Maybe 10% at best.

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If going fast is not that important anymore, why even bother to class race at all?

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