Is there a way of limiting fuel pumps in going to 90%?
Del: We had a tiny pump on it back then with very little damage.
Chuck: I think guys would figure out ways to pressurize the fuel tank and make the pumps work perfect. It would just be a matter of who could cheat the best.
Del: Like I said, we weren’t running the times in the beginning of 2004 that we were running at the end of 2004, so I don’t know if the engine damage would increase. It would be interesting for somebody to try it, to put in 90%, and see if we can run as good as we are today, to see if the parts damage is there or not.
You mentioned that you had a big meeting. Was that with other owners, was it part of PRO?
Chuck: Both, and it was with NHRA. It was split 50/50 between 85% to 90%.
Does Dan Olson at NHRA have an opinion?
Chuck: He was there at that meeting and there wasn’t any kind of consensus. The racers didn’t seem to have one side or the other. Like I wanted to have 90%, but the guy who sold the connecting rods didn’t.
How important is having a crew member like chassis builder Grant Downing in keeping your internal costs down? Does it also help you make changes based upon what happens on the track easier?
Chuck: Oh, tremendously! We are relying on absolutely nobody. Here, when most of the teams have to drive to Murf McKinney’s or Victory Chassis and get on somebody else’s schedule, we think up something we want to do, we change the way we want to mount our body, we just do it. It helps us tremendously.
Does Grant go out on the road with your team?
Del: No, he stays here and builds chassis, tanks, works on his own car. He pretty much keeps the shop going when we are gone.
Do you think the start-up costs of fielding a Funny Car team on the NHRA level is becoming too expensive for new teams to afford? Do you think that nostalgia nitro Funny Cars are an affordable alternative for start-up teams?
Chuck: I think you can still buy a team used from somebody who was quitting, but you can’t afford to run the car. Running the car is much more expensive than buying it in today’s world. Nostalgia cars are cheap enough to run, but you’d better be a good mechanic because they are still on nitro.
Del: I think that anybody who wants to come out and race on the NHRA circuit better have a lot of money or a great sponsor with a lot of money, because the cost of racing in the past three years has gone up 40 to 50%.
Give me an idea of what kind of money it takes to start a Funny Car team today.
Chuck: I’m sure for a half million dollars you could buy somebody’s truck, trailer, a car with a spare engine here and there and a spare used clutch… a running car, but then you don’t have the other million and a half to run it with the crew. And then you’d have to hire somebody to help you run it, because if you are just breaking in you wouldn’t know how to do it – no matter how good a racer you were in another class.
So $3,000,000 to get started?
Chuck: Just starting.
Del: I’d say around here we spend a couple of million on each car, minimum.
