Great article! Why is it that the team with THE most chassis problems over the past 2 years has all the imput about what are Necessary Chassis changes???? Things that make you go hmmmmmmmm.........

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Shift for Brains!!!!

what's going to be bull sh&t is when the mandate happens at denver, you will see alot of teams struggle to figure out the new design, while the force team will have had all year and will walk away smiling.

'Cause they are the goose that lays all the golden eggs, Joe, and you know the Golden Rule- those with all the gold make the rules....

If this had been Team Schu (which, oddly enough, was the early victims of chassis issues in another class), Team Torco or... well, that might be it for the super-buck teams, I wonder if there would have been wide swept changes? We all know that the Yorba Linda boys are (and have access to) amazing engineers- so much technology has trickled out of their doors over the years. The issue seems to be that the trickle has been pried open to become a wave, and alot of folks can't surf...

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I am sure NHRA was a little nervouse after JFR crash as they almost lost their Dale Earnhardt of drag racing...so whatever their group says they concur..
On the other hand there will be alot of top-shelf, nice quality f/c chassis' for sale very cheap come summer time...

I did get a call first thing this morning. They stated that the new FC spec was decided on and finalized. It is going out in the mail to me immediately.
Then they stated something that I was NOT aware of in the least. They told me that the brand new ALCOHOL spec was released today as well. Then asked which one I wanted. Of course I wanted both. Since I was the first name on the list, (as far as I was told), these should be going out tomorrow morning to all who have pre-ordered.
At least they are letting us know so we can get to work. Can't wait to see the changes in the alcohol spec.

Looks like a GREAT year to go 6.90-7.50 racing....

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why are they listening to the Force squad??? name one other team that has the resources and researchers from a multi-billion dollar company working towards building the damn thing

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Motown Shaker '08

There are teams that have the same resourses as JFR but if something is not broken then why waste your money and energy re-inventing the wheel?
We have discussed this before here: This chassis situation seems to be an isolated problem w/ only JFR cars...

If force builds a better mouse trap, let the individual teams decide. (Actually, most of the rumors have that tripple rail design coming out of a smaller known funny-car shop not affiliated with JFR- but that is another story for another time.)
Let Force and the Ford camp build the greatest and safest car on the planet. Let them use billions of dollars and all of the technology they can find. Do testing on materials, designs, etc. No one has the resources of Ford and JFR, but why would that matter? Let JFR build the latest and greatest, then let the teams decide when and how they will build them to catch up to JFR. But why make the Denshams, Worshams, Downings, and Hadmans, etc. of the world go back to square 1 because JFR wants to try something different?
It goes back to a religionists statement. Something like 'Don't burn their house down. Build a bigger house and invite them to move in.' But it appears that in the shuffle, the powers that be burned alot of houses down.

I really should wait two days to read all of the SFI specs before I spout off, but I do feel strongly about this.

Although JFR is the only team that has had problems of a great magnitude the subsequent analysis of those problems has proven that the current design is right on the edge of its design limits.
JFR and John Medlen are not doing this simply for their own benefit--they are genuinely concerned that someone else may get hurt in one of these cars and they are probably right. The frame is basically a 35 year old design that has been crutched over the years as the perfomance level has gone way beyond what was ever though possible in the early 1970's. Medlen has devoted his life to making these things safer since Eric's passing and anyone who thinks that this is a ploy to get a leg up on the opposition had better not try to push that point of view in my presence as I would be real tempted to feed them a knuckle sandwich.
Neither NHRA nor SFI have anything like the capability of engineering anything of this magnitude and they never have done that in the past. All the chassis specs have been racer/builder driven--SFI has merely analyzed what has been proposed and signed off on the end result. Who came up with better firesuit materials (or even asked for them), certainly not SFI. Who developed the new head restraints and the latest roll bar pads--manufacturers of those products who saw a a need.
When it was obvoius that the Pro FWD sport compact cars needed a different version of the SFI 25- spec, who came up with the proposals, not SFI but the chassis builders involved. I know because I was part of the group that sat down with SFI and developed the new spec. Likewise for the new street roadster cage gussets--Richard Earle of Suncoast was the prime mover behind that deal.
The point is that it is obvious that the data provided by JFR and the Ford engineers, McKinney and some other highly qualified people that are currently flying under the radar has obviously convinced SFI that a change is needed.

Roo

Mike, with all the Resources over there. Why were the cars coming apart? I'm still waiting on a good answer for this! Grant Downing hasn't had ONE Chassis failure!

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Shift for Brains!!!!

because they just started doing in house chassis designs AFTER eric passed....it's a shame that it came to that (a DAMN shame) but now JFR knows that they were short sighted on the safety issues....look at any of the interviews john has done post Gainesville and he'll tell you that in his own words....why does everyone think that JFR is spending 10s of millions of dollars to get a leg up on the competition to win a 400 grand check....come on folks get with it

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Nostalgia Racing is where it's at folks!!!

Motown Shaker '08

The higher ups at the NHRA are too busy lining their pockets to worry about a new chassis spec. All these cars have to rewelded or repaired throughout the year, you just don't hear about it because no one but JFR's accidents because two of their failures resulted in two horriffic accidents (with the current big show nitro chassis their playing russian rulette out there). If you think one of these chassis can go all year without having to be fixed in some way your kidding yourself, I'm sure Grant Downing's chassis have to be fixed or repaired sometimes during the year. Everything has evolved alot on these cars for the last 35 years except the chassis that has had only minor changes throughout the last 35 years, now that someone has the resources, and technology to hopefully build a better mouse trap you start crying about it, I guess you really want to see your favorite driver get killed to satisfy your thurst for blood. Eventhough not having the spec completed yet is driving teams and chassis builders crazy, could it be that JFR, and Ford, want to get it right instead of putting something out there that may not be any better than what's out there now! Since JFR, and Ford are footing the bill for all the research their putting into it why are you all so worried about it, it's not your money.

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GD hasnt ran faster than 5.00 either Joe. I agree that it seems to be a JFR issue but as a whole something needs to be done. If it saves one person it was worth it. And I agree with Mike M, who else is going to do it? NHRA sure isint. Though I understand the arguement from both sides.

GD has run a 4 at Pomona. His built cars have also gone in the .70 zone.