Factory Showdown and SS/AH allowed in Comp

Straight from NHRARACER.com

Competitors in the popular SS/AH and Factory Stock Showdown (FSS) will now also have classes within Competition Eliminator in which to compete at all NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series divisional and national events. All rules for FSS and SS/AH will apply and competitors will be required to utilize the Sunoco spec fuel for Competition Eliminator. In addition, competitors will be need to acquire a Competition Eliminator license.
The class designations and indexes will be as follows:

- AH/SM (Hemi cars) will run off a 8.75 index
- FS/SM (FSS cars) will run off a 8.47 index

I'm not sure how I feel about this.
I don't have a horse in the race , literally.
But as a fan , me thinks they simply provided more opportunities for the FS cars , and probably at the behest of the manufacturers.
Sell on Monday rings kind of hollow when they don't race every Sunday.

I haven't raced at a NHRA division or National event in the last ten years so Comp Eliminator may now be short on racers as I seem to remember a race last year in National dragster that had only 3 cars in Comp Eliminator
It use to be a 16 or 32 car field only and not all racers qualified to race at those races that exceeded the field size I can remember 50 + cars enter for a 16 car feild 130 stockers, 130+ S/G and so on
You needed to be at least .55 under to qualify, then the instant comp adjustment if you ran more than .58 under would make your car obsolete from one run
A lot of those racers where holding .85+ under their indexes to make sure they wouldn't get factor out of the race before the money runs

If that means they have to run off CIC? No No NO
Doug

NHRA clutching desperately at vanishing market.

Sportsman ranks, NMRA growing, NHRA shrinking.

this is because comp is a dyeing class. I think at the columbus divisional we had like 15 car in comp. Comp now has personal indexes to help get some more people to show up and be competitive.

A lot of the Hemi guys don't like bracket racing. The FS and AH guys like to race first to the finish wins, hence the popularity of the Shootouts. I believe Welker and Comella have run their cars in Comp in A/SM last year. This year they have their own class. The 8.75 index is not going to allow them to be competitive though, if they have to run SS/AH legal..

I looked through some qualifying sheets from last year.

The Comp fields are dwindling big time.
I saw one event that had a field of 3, another was 5.

I don’t see how it’s feasible to keep that going.

By comparison, at the same event that had 3 cars in Comp, there were 42 in Stock.

The 8.75 is a starter. I would say it is based primarily off half of the Indy field for the AH Shootout being able to run 8.75 or better, which would have put 13 cars under the index in Comp at Indy.

The key to getting the index raised in Comp is for a few guys to show up and NOT run at least .4 under. At the end of the year, they can request a review, and NHRA will raise the index so the fastest guy is .4 under. So If the fastest guy goes 8.65 in Comp, and the review goes through, they will change the index for next year to 9.15...so the "fast" car is at least .4 under. At this point though, two different cars running quicker than 8.39 the following year (2020) would cause the index to get lowered depending on how fast the slowest pass under 8.39 was. IE: An 8.38 pass would change the index to 9.08.

I really don't see it as a bad thing. The CIC will definitely help the slower cars gain a little advantage in the long run if the index goes up.

CIC will always be in affect in Comp. Don't think the AH guys will care given the index the FSS guys that may be a different story. Im sure it has a lot to do with input from the big 3 getting those cars more exposure. As for AH I think its already been mentioned those guys for the most part don't wanna bracket race, so this would give them another option.

I thought if you went quicker than .6 under the index, the index for the class got changed before the next pass.

That is for the "personal" index, and does not apply until the following event. It is also only based upon runs in eliminations. They still grade the overall index based upon all the passes made in that class for the year, at year end.

If you ran 8.05 on the 8.75 index at Orlando this weekend, it would change your "personal" index to 8.65 for the next race you entered. The index for everyone else would remain 8.75.

Yep there is a personal and a class index. Not sure how successful it has been as most the guys running comp want to be THE fast guy, but its been in place for a few years now.

From what I just read(don’t know if it’s current or not), the personal index hit starts at .50 under.

The permanent hits start at .610 under, and are on a sliding scale.

https://www.dragzine.com/features/car-fe...ion-eliminator/

Edit....... that appears to be out of date.

The new rule seems to be personal hit at .610, permanent hit at .710 during eliminations.

The fuel is the key. How much better is the Comp spec compared to the Stock spec. fuel? If it allows more compression then? Well? Those indexes might not be so far out of reach. Comp is still a bracket race. Ask Dan Fletcher...

The way I read it, the cars must remain in ss and fs legal trim........ so raising the cr wouldn’t be legal.

If you can't go .50 under, you won't go far in eliminations. That's 8.25.

The way I read what I believe is the current incarnation of the CIC........ you want to run(as good as) .609 under........ and have that be quick enough to get it done.

I looked through the Hemi challenge times for Indy and the Dutch....... I didn’t see any 8.20’s.

If you run over .50 under in eliminations, you get hit with the amount that you went under for the rest of the event. Over .50 under that and you get hit again. It's not permanent until you go .60 under. They are always tinkering with the CIC, but I believe that's correct.

Qualifying doesn't count. At the last race in Pomona, 23 cars showed up, #1 qualifier went .72 under and the #21 guy was .488. So a Hemi car in AH/SM, the new class designation, going .35 under at 8.40, is going to need some help.

It appears the current CIC doesn’t kick in at all until .610 under, in eliminations.

At .710 under, during eliminations, there’s a permanent index adjustment.

It certainly doesn’t look like a ss/ah car will be very competitive at the typical ET’s they run.

I wonder how many takers they’ll get.

As per nhra 2016:
“A new “Personal Index” is being added to the CIC system, to decrease the potential for class index adjustments when favorable conditions at an event may contribute to extraordinary performances that may not be the case in other parts of the country. The personal index will be applied when an individual records a .610 under or greater run during eliminations. The class index will only be adjusted when a run of .710 or greater is recorded during eliminations. Both will be adjusted on .01 increments with no plateaus up to a .10 maximum adjustment per event to a class index.”

What isn’t clear to me at the moment is whether this particular CIC rule only pertains to runs made during what are deemed “mineshaft” conditions, of if it’s just the way the CIC is now being done.

Yes this is correct.

NHRA isn't doing the AH cars any favors with this move.

And the manufacturers aren't looking to move any AH cars........coincidence ?
I'm not so sure.

Well Mr. Fletcher has forgotten more about all of drag racing than I will ever know. However I don't see where anybody can say Comp is a bracket race.

1. You don't set your dial.
2. There are no breakouts.

Its handicap racing for sure, but not bracket racing.

Another observation is that I think this makes sense for the FS/XX cars as they only have eight races a year in FS/XX trim. However the SS/AH cars can run Super Stock at every national event. Between that and the tough index that does not make much sense to me but I might be missing something.

After reading all these 100% legit comments and observations- NO WONDER- why COMP eliminator is dying !!

Hell ... it was on semi life support when I was a NHRA major sponsor!

Wally Parks would have a HEART ATTACK if he was still alive if he could see what the higher ups in the NHRA have done to that association

It's a high dollar class for sure. It becomes like Pro Stock when they are trying to find any .01. Then somebody in Canada goes .800 under and it's back to the drawing board. The game is the same as a bracket race. Cut a light and take as little stripe as possible.