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OVERTHROW
Can I get a big AMEN!
Frank Oglesby
SENSE AND SENSIBLITY
I have to agree with everything you say in this month’s column. In the US you are in a better position with regard to track numbers than we are over here. We race at tracks that are more sensible than the major tracks when it comes to safety. Places where we are treated as adults who know what we are doing. This doesn't, of course, apply to Santa Pod, which follows NHRA rules.
Our most local track is about 160 miles round trip. They had the bright idea of forming their own sanctioning body, with the ability to issue licenses and still get insurance in order to carry on racing. The system works well, it has brought lots of hot hatch (import for you) racers out of the woodwork and they basically finance the track for us old school drag racers to race. Spectator income is practically zero but the promoter continues to give us a safe place to run at a reasonable cost without going bankrupt himself.
We run a 9-second dragster with a little 215" engine; hoping to get into the eights this year after switching to injected alky from carbs. The car is blown and carbs have always been a problem.
Here in the North of England we appreciate our track; the racers from the South didn't seem so keen when there were Northern rounds in the National championship, hated to have to trailer so far. Also they usually got beat and, of course, blamed it on the track being inferior. Very strange when you consider that Super Gas racers who are normally very sharp on the dial in usually broke out first pass and had to calm the car down to run the index!!!
Glad to hear some sense on the sanctioning safety subject. Maybe one day someone will listen.
Best wishes.
Alan Grimes
UK
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TWO-TENTHS OFF
Will Hanna’s info is incorrect. (He said) “There is no rule governing dial ins, so the norm for some racers is to step on their combo’s to get higher on the qualifying list and get the points, then back their cars down and run significantly slower dials. It only seems fair to make competitors dial no more than a tenth off their qualifying time.”
You can only dial 2 tenths off your qualifying time.
Regards,
Todd Barton