NHRA slowly destroying itself

[Mike Gaines]

I raced at the 1965 NHRA Nationals at INDY with my 1963 Max Wedge Liteweight Belvedere.
I was a 23 year old kid that flat towed my race car behind my 1959 Chev Station Wagon.
Although the national record for my class at the time was 12.13 I could only run 12.25's BUT
it was genuine old time drag racing BEFORE all the hi dollar stuff of later years.

I was actually in the staging lanes right beside Strickler, Sox & Martin, Harrop, Leal, Landy, Nicholson, etc, etc.
It was a memory of a lifetime that I didn't truly appreciate until about 50 years later.

 

[mopar 3 B]

I raced at the 1965 NHRA Nationals at INDY with my 1963 Max Wedge Liteweight Belvedere.
I was a 23 year old kid that flat towed my race car behind my 1959 Chev Station Wagon.
Although the national record for my class at the time was 12.13 I could only run 12.25's BUT
it was genuine old time drag racing BEFORE all the hi dollar stuff of later years.

I was actually in the staging lanes right beside Strickler, Sox & Martin, Harrop, Leal, Landy, Nicholson, etc, etc.
It was a memory of a lifetime that I didn't truly appreciate until about 50 years later.

You were in a class by 73 racing in was but a dream without a sponsor. I spent way more on parts that year than earned. But yes it was fun but fun needed to be paid for ending a short racing past time.

 

[66Satellite47]

The theme with the NHRA seems to be that if someone other than them is making money with the sport of Drag Racing, they do all they can to end it until they get they’re slice of the cash. They no longer exist to promote our sport, they’re mission seems to be to fleece it for every last penny they can. Sad!

I came to that conclusion about 30 years ago. Especially for the "little guy, non - Pro".

 

[Fran Blacker]

Saw this ad on accu-weather, think google knows I like cars. Pretty tame not like Larry Dixon. Bet he dials the engine back and the clutch settings.

https://www.purespeedracing.com/adw...MIpOnjjNy31wIVExdiCh1hfwQcEAEYASAAEgI2C_D_BwE

 

[bobtile]

Saw this ad on accu-weather, think google knows I like cars. Pretty tame not like Larry Dixon. Bet he dials the engine back and the clutch settings.

https://www.purespeedracing.com/adw...MIpOnjjNy31wIVExdiCh1hfwQcEAEYASAAEgI2C_D_BwE

Those are comp dragsters. My kid drove one at Englishtown. They go 9.90's in 1320.

 

[biomedtechguy]

I raced at the 1965 NHRA Nationals at INDY with my 1963 Max Wedge Liteweight Belvedere.
I was a 23 year old kid that flat towed my race car behind my 1959 Chev Station Wagon.
Although the national record for my class at the time was 12.13 I could only run 12.25's BUT
it was genuine old time drag racing BEFORE all the hi dollar stuff of later years.

I was actually in the staging lanes right beside Strickler, Sox & Martin, Harrop, Leal, Landy, Nicholson, etc, etc.
It was a memory of a lifetime that I didn't truly appreciate until about 50 years later.

That life experience you had is GOLD!
I have come to enjoy test and tune night the most over the last 10 years. I went to the NHRA national event around Houston last year. I enjoyed it, except for I can't think of the classes-I haven't kept up (the cars that run based on a set time E.T.?) Anyway that kind of "racing" is annoying to me. Creeping down half the track isn't interesting to me.

 

[Darter6]

I got away from the drags for over 20 years.It was in the late 90's that I went to the track to watch.Super comp was what I saw first.I thought (Like the rest of you)What the hell is this? This ain't racin' !!. Hell the golf cart drags are more fun to watch.
My 2 cents on NHRA is the bread and butter of the sport is the Sportsman racers.And it's the Sportsman racers that they care the least of.
As far as the Pro class, what fun is it to watch team racers go against each other ? Where it the sport in that ?

 

[Darter6]

NHRA = No Hot Rods Allowed !

 

[64BEL]

So now they're going to allow any approved engine in any pro stock car regardless of manufacturer.
So look for Chevy mills in Darts and Mustangs. Sheesh. Not that there's been anything much "stock" in pro stock for years anyway, but just take the word stock out of the name already. Just call it pro door slammers or maybe just call it "The Class the NHRA Wants to Kill.

 

[PeteBell68]

It is happening to every sport if it hasn't already . Gone are the days of being competitive without a boat load of cash .

 

[Fran Blacker]

Funny car Chevy with a Chrysler engine. A Pro Stock Mopar With a Chevy engine.

https://www.nhra.com/news/2017/nhra-allow-any-accepted-enginebody-combination-pro-stock-2018

 

[64BEL]

Funny car Chevy with a Chrysler engine. A Pro Stock Mopar With a Chevy engine.

https://www.nhra.com/news/2017/nhra-allow-any-accepted-enginebody-combination-pro-stock-2018

Oh yeah, I've been saying for years that's equally ridiculous - labeling a Chrysler Hemi as a Ford, Chevy, or Toyota. But at least they don't call it Nitro "Stock".

 

[Rick62]

Obviously NHRA is trying to save pro-stock. I don't think this will work. We'll see. They have trouble finding enough pro-stock cars to fill the field while thirty cars try to qualify for pro-mod. Maybe they just need to let pro-stock die an overdue death and substitute pro-mod in the program?

 

[mmissile]

Pro-stock is dead. Let it stay dead. Personally, I think it died about 1982, with Cookie-cutter cars. Look at the variety of cars and drivelines, from 73-80. It was so diverse and exciting.

 

[Rick62]

Pro-stock is dead. Let it stay dead. Personally, I think it died about 1982, with Cookie-cutter cars. Look at the variety of cars and drivelines, from 73-80. It was so diverse and exciting.

NHRA and NASCAR have the same problem. They constantly modify the rules in an attempt to make everyone "equal". Doesn't that defeat the purpose of having a race in the first place?

 

[Ironbuilt]

NHRA has become the John Force show and not much else. Sad because the doorslammers is what the majority of fans can afford. I would go to Englishtown Raceway Park in NJ and leave after Pro Stock. I don't want to see a Top Fueler run 1000 ft. Especially since the majority of them spin the tires and get off the throttle...BORING!!!

 

[gtxracer]

I made my first pass in '72 at Sacramento Raceway and have been doing it ever since. I will continue until the fun goes away. I have seen and watched the changes in NHRA as the years passed as the car count dwindled at every major event. All the postings on this thread echo my thoughts and opinion as too where NHRA is headed. Way back when, the hemi was outlawed because the Blue Oval and Bow Tie racers couldn't compete and everytime someone dominates any class NHRA hands them a handicap for parity. Oh well....

 

[Fran Blacker]

Just like they did at the Indy 500 with turbine cars.