2023 NHRA "Silly Season" Announcements and Rumors

[ocdart]

I thought I had posted this thread last month on FBBO but guess not.
Following are copies of the posts I did on FABO under the same thread name:

(11/14/22) The first day following the completion of the 2022 NHRA Finals at Pomona and the 2023 announcements are starting!

Tony Schumacher will have a new Crew Chief in Mike 'Zippy' Neff on the Maynard Family Racing Scag Power Equipment Top Fuel car in 2023.
Mike Neff joins Tony Schumacher for 2023 NHRA Top Fuel championship bid

No mention of where Todd Okuhara may be headed, and no mention (yet) of who will be taking over as Crew Chief for Bob Tasca III on his Funny Car.


(12/09/22) At the PRI show, Alex Laughlin was announced as the new driver for Jim Dunn's funny car. They will be running the full 21-race NHRA schedule in 2023.


(12/09/22) Elite Motorsports will be fielding half of the Pro Stock ("Pro Camaro") fields at NHRA national events in 2023 with the following drivers on their roster:
* Erica Enders
* Bo Butner
* Aaron Stanfield
* Troy Coughlin Jr.
* Fernando Cuadra Sr.
* Fernando Cuadra Jr.
* Cristian Cuadra
* Jerry Tucker


(12/20/22)
An announcement posted today on nhra.com that KB Racing and Titan Racing Engines have merged to become KB Titan Racing. They will field a total of four Pro Stock cars during the 2023 NHRA season with the following drivers:
* Greg Anderson
* Kyle Koretsky
* Dallas Glenn (2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year)
* Camrie Caruso (2022 NHRA Rookie of the Year)

There should be some momentous Pro Stock battles between Elite Motorsports and KB Titan Racing!

 

[Outlawd]

I was hoping to hear Don Schumacher would put "Fast" Jack Beckman and Tommy Johnson Jr back in them Mopars and kick butt.

 

[Frank Mopar]

Time to dump pro stock. This is the reason I’m no longer interested in NHRA.

 

[65Bel]

IMHO, Pro Stock cars & motorcycles should have their own venue(s). Between them and the non-stop commercials, there's not enough air time left for the Nitro cars & teams to really make current NHRA TV worth watching.

 

[Budnicks]

I thought that the NHRA rules stated;
to paraphrase;
4 cars max./per owner-per team, in any sanctioned NHRA pro-class
to keep away from only being a couple of 'superteams'
& with no true independents anymore, or cutting out the lil' guys,
the self-funded or small sponsored operations, single cars/teams
(even 2 car teams), locals that are running in most every race/s,
during the NHRA schedule

There will be none if none can qualify, because of an unfair advantage
of data sharing & buying/producing parts, tires clutches, parts availability
to even make enough horsepower, to be competitive
& FUNDS (unless they are billionaires out blowing csah) to run in any pro-class,
with a huge conglomerate "superteams"

like what was going/starting down that road, anyway in the early 90's
Joe Gibbs Racing, Don Prudhomme The Snake's teams
& Don Schmacher Racing, now also John Force Racing,
were/many still are, almost the only team owners running cars in Pro-classes

I'm sure some of the Elite'ist' team Cars are rentals/leased combo/engines etc.
I loved pro-stock at one time, was the reason I built doored cars
all thru the 90's, into like 2007

I just assume get rid of them (P/S now the Pro-Camaro class, & 2) Mustangs
all of which are running 'chevy engines' & 1 sole MoPar'd engine entry)
all together
It no longer represents the factory or stock in any way shape or form
they need more downforce too,
going way too fast for the amount they have now/currently,
& now there's only was like 16-18 races of 24-ish of late, for Pro-Stock car or Bike

I'd much rather see Factory Showdown cars now,
running 7's on 9" tires, real cars mostly steel bodies (Stocks Appearing Professional Cars)
that actually look like a car you can still buy from Chevy, Ford or Dodge
&
then show Pro-Mod instead of P/S, get back to real NHRA drag racing

or open it up to mountain motors, lets see who has the balls/sack
wiyth a weight penalty maybe (still need more downforce)

IMHFO, the NHRA should be spraying the tracks with traction compound
out the back door full length of the 1/4 mile out to like 1400-1500 ft
so the cars don't go crazy after the finish lines too, like skates on ice
all NHRA cares about is seemingly the 2) 1,000' classes in T/F & F/C,
when it comes to track prep...
Cars running the 1/4mile/1320' in 6 seconds 'in sportsman classes' or faster,
need the traction compound too...


I'm done bitching for today