Some really heavy stuff in Jim's comments! Said this has made him rethink putting a driver in his car and being responsible for that person's life.
Also, interesting stuff about running 335 mph on racetracks that were built for 200 - 250 mph cars and now cannot be modified for shutdown safety.
And more. If you saw this, I'd be interested in your opinions! - Jim

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"The Counterfeiter"

I love an unsponsored driver with an intelligent point of view who can speak his mind. that's Jim.

I think he's right. The shutdown area had a problem . It's worthless. The support pole didn't belong there.

If they can't extend that shutdown area or make it so it works, shorten that track.

Indy car and stock car and F1 all race on different length tracks, Why can't NHRA if they need to for safety reasons. Places like pomona, e-town race to 1000 ft. Gainesville, 1/4 mile. You 'll have a whole new category of records.

Do I like 1000 ft racing ? No. I'd rather see the cars slowed down a little and the circuit only race on tracks that can handle them.

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I'm still DamnYankee

"A Friday night run in a Funny Car is just really intense" - Whit Bazemore

IHRA shortened a race because there was not enough shut down area and you would have thought the world was coming to an end. They really took a beating on here.

I think part of it was that the 1/8 mile racing wasn't planned at that IHRA event. Fans paid for a full show and got, well, half of it. If they market it right, like a speciality race, go for it. Maybe it'll catch on.

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Super Comp Dragsters and Super Gas Roadster for Sale, See my classified ad for more info!

Last year at our local IHRA track, they ran a National event 1/8 mile. Lots of griping at first, but the show was actually quite good. The view of the finish line wasn't blocked by all the people jumping up. The really fast cars like Pro Mods still carried their front wheels high, some all the way to the 1/8 making a spectacular show in my humble opinion.

As Jim Head stated, "all the scary stuff happens after the 1/8" so why continue to tear things up and make things extra risky?

Costs would go down, (I hate to think how much it costs every time the heavy smoke pours from the fuel cars when they cross the finish line), safety would be THE huge plus, more room to stop an errant race car along with probably a hundred other good reasons to shorten the distance to the finish line.

With the shortage of nitro, ongoing tire problems and the current level of carnage, it simply is time to be open to a change. I'm no expert in nitro racing, but common sense just tells me it's time to shorten the race to something, 1/8 or 1,000 foot.

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Pontiac Powered Pontiac........

NHRA, the national event host tracks, and the professional nitro teams must come to a solution for the problem that has been growing since we started running 280+ back in the 80's. Many of the tracks are too short when a problem arises. NHRA owns one of the worst ones on the tour. Jim Head is, as he always is on the subject of safety and innovation, dead-on right. The three main entities that bring professional nitro racing to the rest of the world have some very tough decisions to make in the coming weeks and months.

If there cannot be an across the map solution to standardize and improve the shutdown area lengths at all national-event caliber tracks, then they have choices to make.

1. Shorten the racing distance at all tracks to 1/8 mile or 1000'.
2. Shorten the racing distance at the tracks that do not have adequate shutdown area to an appropiate distance.

Of course, the most logical answer is, and has always been, to slow the nitro cars down. The debate has raged on and on and on. NHRA tried to do it with piss-poor track prep for tire issues. NHRA has tried to do it with reducing the nitro percentage. IHRA tried to do it with limiting blower overdrive. The results were less than favorable.

Here's my viewpoint on slowing them down...and reducing costs.

1. Remove the superchargers and open up the rules...lower the minimum weight, 600 CID limit, fully-electronic and live fuel/clutch management systems, 95% nitro, etc. A/FD on anabolic steroids.

2. Reduce the amount of fuel that a car can carry on-board. Leave all the rules the way they are as of today but restrict the amount of nitromethane that can pass through the fuel pump into the engine. If each car had a 10-gallon maximum capacity it would be the teams' duty to engineer a fuel system that would burn cleanly all the way down the track. That would inevitably lead to smaller fuel pump capacities which in turn would reduce the amount of power output. A nitro motor makes power with nitro. Reduce the volume and you reduce the power.

Wilk said he was tired of burying his buddies. I'm tired of being sad about the sport I love.

Actualy they took a beating online after announcing last year .. that it would be 1/8th again this year....

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I'd like to know what Jim Head thinks about concrete walls in Sandtraps? And since Norwalk has a shorter shutdown that E-town, will he and Tony Pedregon sit that race out?

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Shift for Brains!!!!

Joe, you know the answer without having to ask the question!!!!

Norwalk goes into a field, just like Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, Vegas and more. The k-rail was not the finale of this. There was much more!!!

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Nancy Matter
Nancy Matter Racing, Inc.
http://www.nancymatterracing.com

In addition, what about going back to a single fuel pump, single magneto, single spark plug per cylinder? Like they ran 'em in the 60's and 70's?

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"I never said most of the things I said."

You are 100% right.

E-Town has probably the most vicious shutdown of ANY NHRA track.

The catch net does not do its job you are going to literally become a "tree hugger"

And that is no joke, it has happened there before.

I have walked that track, as was taught to do at any racetrack I was ever going to run. E-town is the worst I ever saw.

I know there is worse out there, but that is no excuse to NOT do something NOW.

Not knee jerk either.

Fix your issues or accept a shorter distance.

REX

Go a couple hundred mph+ in a racecar Joe, instead of snapping eye candy shots, and getting driver autographs.

Maybe you'll reconsider your driveby opinions.

REX

Not gonna' happen.

Who's got that "beating a dead horse thingy"?

REX

Nancy, I'm joking to make a point! Jim Head has been going 320+ for 10 years just like everybody else at E-Town and other so-called "unsafe" tracks. Yet it wasn't unsafe enough for him to quit the sport, and know because a racer got killed by circumstances that I think could've been avoided, the sports just to dangerous to continue! I'm sorry but that sounds just to hypocritical to me.

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Shift for Brains!!!!

What really needs to happen is the drivers need to band together and do what the F1 guys did 14 years ago when Senna died.

Stand together and tell the nhra they aren't racing if the track is unsafe.
And they will decide what's unsafe.

And oh yeah , their owners and sponsors need to support them. Not replace them.

I watch how the F1 drivers handle this stuff and they just don't put up with it.
They 'd be down at that top end demanding changes before a car ever was fired.

Look what happened at Indianapolis a few years ago. 6 cars started the USGP.
A disgrace I supposed but guess what ? They are going back next year, and the high speed turn that was a problem?

It's been reconfigured. Supposedly for the Moto GP but I doubt F1 would have done back without the change.

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I'm still DamnYankee

"A Friday night run in a Funny Car is just really intense" - Whit Bazemore