Quote:
Originally Posted by misterp266
NHRA just moved the division 1 bracket finals to Lebanon Valley after being at Maple Grove for many years.
The only thing I don’t like about IHRA is all racing will be 1/8 mile. Maple Grove has a huge shut down area.
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I agree with the sentiment about the 1/8th mile. Being an old geezer and a traditionalist, I have never enjoyed 1/8th mile drag racing. But I get it. The amount of oil downs, engine failures, high speed/injury accidents, clean-up and down time is exponentially reduced, especially with the faster cars and nitro. In the many years we ran the Boss Bird, I honestly don't remember a single time we had a major engine failure in the 1/8 mile. We had 1 trans failure early when we rolled a sprag in the LENCO, and we had a blower failure right before the 1/8 mile once. Not to say the engine wasn't beginning to fail in the first 660 ft, but we will never know that for sure. It seemed for us at least, around 1000 ft. is where chaos would begin to show up if there was trouble.
It seems to me racers with trap speeds in the 1/4 mile of under 130-140 MPH would be the most unhappy with 1/8 mile drag racing. That would take allot of the fun out of it for me. But the younger crowd seems to have embraced 1/8th mile drag racing completely. That appears to be the future. Tracks and owners LOVE the insurance breaks for 1/8 mile.
I would also add this is a great opportunity for NHRA to make a bold move and say "we offer real drag racing, 1/4 mile ", unlike the wimpy IHRA. That's a gamble I don't know they will embrace. If NHRA folds and goes to all 1/8 mile like IHRA, they can really use that to show the IHRA is shaping the sport and NHRA is now the follower. Bring your popcorn!