I heard the penalty isnt just for pros! that would be hard for me to take to blow up my motor and get a 2000 dollar fine too!
Yes the penalties are for everyone. You get one free oil down. an Oil down is only is the trucks need to roll and distrupt racing, Small spots aren't penalized. Most of us have to run Diapers now anyway. Most sportsman can throw a rod and leave very little on the track these days.
I also think that the penalty for sportsman class is alot lower than for the big boys. I think sportsman is like 250ish not 2 grand.
The heck with brackets run what ya brung against any and all comers. You can whoop a funny car in a grocery getter if he blows it at the line!
Having done a little research on this, I think we will all have to wait and see what happens next. It is the nature of the beast to be better than your competition is. 3 years ago I was talking with Connie Kalitta about the specs of the motors and he told me that they were getting 8000 hp out of the them and that the head temps were reaching over 1400 degrees during the run. Sunday Massey said something about 10,000 hp now and they said that the heads were hitting 1,500 degrees in the first 2 seconds of the run. Looking at the bolt pattern of the heads, which is the same as it was when they were getting 5 to 7,000 hp, and taking into consideration the compression ratio and these temps it is a miracle that more of them don't come apart. It is to my understanding that the new oil down rules is another attempt by NHRA to pressure them to slow down. This is their immediate answer to the same problem everytime something happens which may be the answer but the beast rears it's head, all bets are off and we go again. Just to mention a few of these attempts, when Darrell Russell died in 04 from head injuries caused by an exploding tire, resulted in NHRA cutting the nitro by 15%. Then when Scott Kalitta died in 08 they shortened the track by 320 ft. It has been mentioned in a prior post about running slower that nobody wants to watch that. This is only more proof when even the spectators/fans are driven towards the ultimate goal, quicker and faster. For me it is the saddest of all that is sacred when someone loses their life however I can only respect them for what they were and what they did. Racing like any sport, or anything in the spectrum of living, has it's known risks and percentages are that at somepoint the premiums of those risks will be collected. I admitt that I don't have the answer to this problem but I do think that if NHRA wants to slow them down then just set a maximum speed and if you go over it you lose. Just like running against the clock. Umm, don't like that idea? I didn't think anyone would. I really believe that a lot more money needs to be invested in creating a better gasket material and redesigning parts to handle what they are now being pushed to do. Just some ideas?
