1,000 Foot Racing in Nitro Ranks

NHRA mandates 1,000-foot racing until changes can be made.

NHRA announced yesterday that effective immediately, all Nitro racing will be conducted as 1,000-foot races until further notice. The decision was made after many meetings and conferences between NHRA management and the Nitro teams. Ultimately, they want to move forward and address a host of topics before the decision to move back to 1,320 feet can be made.

The two leading topics are shutdown area safety regulations and better braking and parachute systems. They also want to address the recent rash of engine explosions on the top-end. As for track safety, there is talk of working with the Navy and associated engineering firms who develop catch systems for jets on aircraft carriers. Another avenue NHRA is looking at are safe walls, like in NASCAR, for areas behind sand traps. On the topic of sand traps, they are also looking to make standards from size to type of material. There are many other issues they will address to help contain and keep drivers safe in a runaway race car situation like at the NHRA national event at Englishtown.

Car safety is another topic that is being explored, just as NHRA's new Funny Car chassis rules go into effect at the Denver event one week from today. The new rules mandate driver tubs and other chassis upgrades. But the sanctioning body is working with race teams and outside consultants to possibly develop new cars that address some problems that were seen in the Scott Kalitta accident. The NHRA wants to address down force when the body is blown off. It seems as if Kalitta had a hard time stopping possibly due to no down force on the car, making it much harder for the brakes to do its job. Also, the parachute mounting, deployment, and type of chutes will be changing if a better system can be designed.

I was watching NHRA race from Norwalk on ESPN2 last weekend and I applaud Del Worsham for designing a emergency parachute release system on his Checkers, Chucks, Kragen-sponsored Funny Car. It was a cable system that would yank the chutes open if the blower pop-off hatch was knocked open from an engine explosion. It was a simple system that team built at the track with a little ingenuity and basic items carried inside the trailer.

Another area that NHRA will address are the engine explosions that are getting more and more common. Some Internet racers are blaming the rev-limiter. I certainly don't know what the problem is but to say it is the rev-limiter without being a Nitro racing expert is a little quick to blame something. Some teams are exploding engines more so than others. I don't remember the last time that Tony Schumacher exploded a blower and he always posts really quick speeds, so it might not be the rev-limiter.

There are some challenges ahead for NHRA Nitro racing but the good thing is the they are working with the teams and other consultants to bring Nitro racing to a safer level and still maintain 1,320 feet of drag racing with 300-plus mph speeds.