NHRA rules meeting

I'd run alcohol in a heartbeat in our HA/GR if I could but its illegal for these cars. E 85 I guess you could get away with because its pump gas.

 

BTT Anymore info about NHRA acceptance?

 

Toymaker,

I got a call today from Bob Blackwell (NHRA) but I wasn't at home to talk to him. I'll call him tomorrow and see what he has to say. I have my fingers crossed. I'll let everyone know as soon as I hear anything.

Ron

 

Crossed fingers here too.

 

Ditto .......

Do crossed eyes help at all?

 

Bad news......

I talked to Bob Blackwell (NHRA) today and he finally got feed-back from "Brian" at NHRA headquarters regarding the HA/GR dragsters. Bottom line.....we have to meet the NHRA front engine, 10 second or slower chassis rules.

It seems NHRA is suffering a lot of lawsuits and will be making all their dragstrips follow the rules to the letter. Example: no more street roadsters running 1/8th mile without roll bars, no more renting the tracks for "nostalgia" events with anything being allowed to run, etc.

It sounds like IHRA and non-NHRA tracks for us. Either that or take a look at the 10 dragster chassis rules and see what we would have to do to meet those requirements. We can't even run on Grudge nights.

Sorry for the bad news guys....we tried.

Suggestions?

Ron

 

Thanks Ron for the effort, I'll get the 2008 NHRA Rule Book & put more thought into my ha/gr plans. I think there is a misprint in the 2007 rule book pertaining to the Rollcage specs, I mean all they show is 10.00 flat and slower Rocky

 

I guess throw a couple more (NHRA) bars in and build it! Rocky

 

Love your drawings Toymaker,looks like it's going to be killer.

 

Does anyone have the specs that we need or must we buy a NHRA rule book???
Also will this affect the Indy Goodguys race?
And are the Gas rails going to this??

 

Those extra bars to more good than harm.

 

Yep, I know your right. I just need to remember to build it in the spirit of the "BUG" (O.E. parts as much as possible) and safe enough not to hurt (or worse) anyone. I think we (myself included) get too caught up in the look IMO. Rocky

 

Thanx Mr. Mac! Rocky

 

When anyone gets their new 2008 NHRA rule book would they post the 10 second dragster chassis drawing so we can see what we're facing if we decide to go that route.

Thanks,

Ron

 

Here's the roll cage for 10.00 and slower front engine dragsters. Notice the driver seat is behind the rear axle. I doubt the changes for 2008 (this is from the 2007 rule book) are extensive. The rule book does not have plans for quicker cars. The builder has to buy plans from SFI in order to build the quick chassis. Those chassis must be certified whereas the 10.00 and slower ones do not need certification.

 

Ron,
I was shooting for hitting the rules last year with this cage...I hope that it is still in the ball park for the 2008 class rules. Zilla

LOOK LIKE NO BASED ON THE ABOVE

 

I have a reel hard time with the extra bars. I know its for safety but it will kill the spirt of this class. If you have to put the all the bars in to meet the rules for a 10sec class why not just build an altered.
Use one of them good cheap V8 chev motors(alot cheaper to build than a 6cyl or flathead) and be done with it.

 

bobw, could you post the Specs for the Altereds, Funny Cars? They seem to fit our build better IMO, I tried but you do it so much better

 

I do agree about the bars, but I guess if I want to play it has to be NHRA 's way out here.

 

Go To The Altered Section We Are About A /e Altered You Will Still Have Todo The Bars

 

YEP! looks like it's clandestine test runs and Mokan only for me. I'm building a HA/GR, not an NHRA/GR. Nothing on my build changes as of now.

 

Here's both, front engine dragster & Altered. They both don't reflect the HA/GR aesthetic. If I lived in HA/GR country, I would build one to meet current HA/GR rules and run at the tracks you guy have that welcome them.

 

Sorry to hear it Ron, you gave it an honest try.

After long consideration our team's decided to decline NHRA's rules (and their self induced financial dilemma) and run where & when we might. HA/GR means more to us than just the car. If it never goes "mainstream" that's OK, there're advantages to that as well. And if it goes mainstream in a form acceptable to them we doubt it'll maintain anything we were interested in up front.

Since NHRA's succeeded at chasing the money, others (as always) are now chasing the money they have. Now they have to try to keep it, and they'll sacrifice the sport to that effort. It's no more or less than what they're already doing and we have no interest in "Dragsneyland". Their own rule book says it: "resemble '60s drag racing". Only the resemblence of it, not the spirit of the thing.
Those who only want a picture of our history, but with airbags, are welcome to it. We have no quibble with others' fears and desires. They just aren't ours.

All said, for us it really is a rekindling of the spirit.

And of course we'll catch a ration or two of lip for our opinions. So be it, they stood then and they stand today.

 

To put it as plain as possible....NHRA can kiss my ass. I tried, but as always, big business won out over grass roots. They seem to have forgotten what made NHRA big in the beginning.

Mokan, Osborn, Mo. and Tulsa for starts.

See you guys on the starting line.

Ron

 

yaknow, when i first read that NHRA was even thinking about allowing ha/gr chassis to run, i was pretty stoked about it. now after seeing what they want to turn the cars into with the chassis and cage rules... screw em. better words cannot be spoken.

lets have FUN with these things. see you all in MOKAN in august


Wisconsin is gonna have PLENTY of HA/GR cars representing shortly...

 

Welcome to our world thats what we had to do to be able to race

QQ

 

I don't like the NHRA cage for these cars, but safety makes sense when I think about putting my son in the driver's seat. I designed my car with a second hoop in mind, but I'm on the fence. A lot of changes to our current rail is a lot of effort and expense. Might as well build a new car. I'm like Mac though; "I coulda hada (OHV) V8" for the bucks.

If someone had the talent. The NHRA spec cage could be hidden underneath cool bodywork. Do you remember the "Glass Slipper"?

 

A Glass Slipper type car would be a great looking car and would not be a slingshot. But I already have twice as much in this HA-GR than what I had planned on and I don't have the talent to make a body so it would have to be farmed out. I may still put an extra roll bar on the car just for my own peace of mind. I really wanted to go to Bakersfield next March for the 50th anniversery of the Fuel and Gas Championships. I will probably go any way just not take the dragster. NHRA has always been a planned corporation from the start. Wally Parks wanted to have something like Bill France had with Nascar. It is a show that fans pay Billions to watch just like baseball, football and the racers are the players. We can't play because we can only play in the pros and amateurs need not apply. We need to really support the maverick tracks or we will not have a place to race.Roy

 

Now your talking guys. I have been politely trying to say for some time Screw NHRA and the horse they road up on.
We can run Mokan twice a year and your welcome to come to Tulsa.
I feel for the Calif guys, but surely you guys can find an outlaw track there somewhere.

 

I am thinking about a 170mph drag bike, is that the cage that I will need, in nhra they even have a listing for snow mobil's, is this the cage for them? I guess that you noticed that I don't use capital letters for nhra. Joe

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