STATE OF DRAG
too, ‘cause you can’t blow the motors up so much.
That’s the truth.
At this point in 2016 we have 330-plus
MPH nitro cars on the 1,000-foot, 5.7-second,
260mph Pro Mods, 3.4-second, 220mph Outlaw Pro Mods and 210mph eighth-mile street
cars. Generally speaking, what is
your opinion on the incredible performance of today’s top race cars?
Natural evolution of the sport? Out
of control? Good? Bad?
AJ: For Top Fuel and Funny Car – I
don’t have much to comment on the
other classes – it’s something that we
are constantly addressing. I think the
main focus for us it the cost that it takes
to produce those numbers. I don’t think
we’re in an area where it’s not safe, but
the cost that it takes to perform those
numbers – when that outweighs what
we can charge a sponsor for the exposure that they receive from it we have to
address it. That’s an important balance.
We’re constantly discussing our options.
RC: Considering all that we’ve seen
in recent weeks and months in terms of
the performance of Nitro Funny Cars,
specifically, that’s a great question. I
guess in the last few weeks some teams
have complained about the Funny Car
headers being laid back, and they’re
claiming it’s unsafe and that NHRA
needed to step in and do something
about it. Of course, it’s just some of the
teams that ran real well last year during
The Countdown, which none of us complained about, that are now struggling
to run at the front. They’re talking about
the cars being more difficult to drive
and being unsafe. After Hagan went
335mph in Topeka they hit us with a
couple things – more rev limiter and
ignition timing. You can’t put timing
back into the engine at a certain point
that is more than what it was at that time of the
run. In other words, they’re definitely trying to
slow us down right now. Honestly, we love to go
fast, and we’ve got the best racing that we’ve seen
in decades, not just years. I believe they will slow
us down a little bit, but I don’t want NHRA to
have so many static rules on things that nothing is
left to the imagination of these crew chiefs. More
than anything, I don’t want to see rule changes
made in the name of safety when it’s really about
competition amongst all these great teams. Don’t
get me wrong, it’s a compliment to hear these
guys complaining because of what we’re doing
and, yeah, we’re melting some decals off the side
of the car, but we have the same set of headers on
that all these other teams have. I’ve had bad days
at the track. Last year in St. Louis, I crossed the
center line, took out cones, went through the gate,
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almost ran a guy over because I didn’t want to go
in the sand trap – one of the hardest weekends
I’ve ever had as a driver. It’s not that I couldn’t
drive, and I certainly didn’t want to slow the car
down to make it easier to drive. I wanted to be
able to drive a car that was on the edge of being
ROLLERCOASTER RIDER
Leah Pritchett has certainly experienced the
highs and lows of professional drag racing
in the last 12 months, but she remains as
positive as ever about the value she can
bring to her sponsors as a Top Fuel driver.
out of control. I just don’t want to see these crew
chiefs handcuffed completely.
LP: I don’t believe that any more limitations
should be set on Pro Mods at all. That class is the
epitome of extreme and hardcore drag racing –
giving it all you’ve got and being creative. When
you start putting unnecessary limitations on
that, you’re taking away from that class – no way
around it. I get it with the speeds, but this is drag
racing. We’re all about going quicker and faster
sooner than the next guy. I do not agree with the
additional weight put on turbo cars in NHRA,
nor do I agree with them decreasing boost. The
weight is an issue because these cars need to stop
– it’s math. I’ve been in them and I see it. I don’t
know why NHRA hasn’t let the Pro Mod series
blow up to what everyone knows it could
become, but I do think there are things
in the works. Those cars are makin’ bacon to the eighth-mile and I understand
that in the quarter-mile there probably
needs to be some limitations because of
the limited down force that is available.
The thing about Pro Mods, specifically,
is actually kind of a rule that I’ve always
had in those cars – you can make almost
any move in a Pro Mod car before the
eighth-mile and you can probably save
the run. If you start driving the car past
there, though, it’s going to be disastrous.
I’m really only speaking on Pro Mod
here, but I just don’t want to see one of
our sport’s most promising and exciting
categories lose its spirit.
JS: It’s drag racing. Honestly, that’s
why PDRA believes so strongly in
eighth-mile racing – because of the safety element. If we can go 240 or 250mph
in the eighth-mile one of these days,
well, I think we need to do it. That’s
what it’s all about. It’s racing for a reason. NHRA has brought the fuel cars
back to 1,000-feet and, yes, they’re still
running 330mph like they did in the
quarter-mile, but they have much more
room to stop. As long as the tracks are
safe, I don’t see a problem. Truthfully, I
think the cars need to go fast – as fast
as they can possibly go. I’m a racer, but
that’s what the sport was built on. You
can’t go backwards.
SJ: Fuel cars are their own animal.
All these cars are limited by the tire. Fuel
car racing, they’ve pretty much decided
that about 330 to 335mph is what NHRA wants
them to run. They’ll take whatever steps are necessary to keep them there. That’s just because
having a hard time keeping tires on the back of
the thing, and that’s fast enough. As far as Pro
Mods, at least quarter-mile Pro Mod racing, when
they start getting to 250 and 260mph, it starts
scaring me at the weight that they’re at. A lot of
times what you’ll have in door car racing that you
won’t have in nitro racing is you’ll have fairly new
drivers come in, guys who have not been in and
did not grow up racing. They’ll have the budget
and funding to run what they want to run. Pro
Mod is an entry-level class to get to nitro, and
driving these cars is no joke. You don’t want to get
a car that weighs 2,800-pounds and be flipping
at 250mph. I think keeping the cars around that
speed is a good idea. As far as the radial tire stuff,
Issue 111
PHOTO: DON SCHUMACHER RACING
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