Parity in TA/D (1 Viewer)

[flapjack]

I've been trying to find stats for TA/D that would give the win percentage for A/Fuel vs. blown alcohol. Either I am searching using the wrong terms, or there is not much out there. Since I only recently started paying attention to TA/D, I am only somewhat familiar with recent national events (no divisionals). From articles I've read so far, A/Fuel has higher win percentage and the NHRA keeps lowering the percentage of nitro allowed in A/Fuelers.

Is this still the case?

 

[rocketman]

Seems like there is plenty of parity in top alcohol dragster. The championship is going down to the wire at Pomona against an A/Fuel team (Duane Shields) and a blown alcohol team (Joey Severance). I think the parity is there!

 

[Toejam]

How long has it been since a Blown car won the Championship? Parity, I don't think so, not yet!

 

[Wayne]

how long has it been since a blown car won the championship? Parity, i don't think so, not yet!

+1320

 

[flapjack]

Thanks for the info, guys. It's what I thought it was -- A/Fuel is dominant for the time being.

 

[twostep]

Thanks for the info, guys. It's what I thought it was -- A/Fuel is dominant for the time being.

Not quite so fast, Tom...

Last week's Vegas race saw a BAD qualify #1 - and a BAD won the race. Not a 1-sided deal by any means, in my opinion. What performance advantage the AFD cars possess seems to be offset by their (relative) lack of consistency, compared to their blown alcohol counterparts.

 

[4g63rwd]

How much harder does a blown alcohol team have to lean on their stuff to keep up with A/Fuelers these days? It seems to me that a blown car has to spin their stuff up to really high rpm's while the A/Fuelers are not turning nearly as many. Could some teams on here please elaborate?

 

[Al smith]

Not quite so fast, Tom...

Last week's Vegas race saw a BAD qualify #1 - and a BAD won the race. Not a 1-sided deal by any means, in my opinion. What performance advantage the AFD cars possess seems to be offset by their (relative) lack of consistency, compared to their blown alcohol counterparts.

final round ... adjusted altitude 4,332 feet,

semi final round, adjusted altitude 4,184 feet,

round 2 adjusted altitude 4,000 feet,

Saturdays first round adjusted altitude 3,859 feet,

Saturdays last qualifying round (barometric reading posted at beginning of FC session 50 minutes before alky dragster) adjusted altitude 3,774 feet

So if you are paying attention. you will notice the blown cars will outshine the naturally aspirated cars (but only slightly) at altitude tracks. I expect at Pomona you will see a pair of injected cars in the final.

Also the nitro percentage hasn't been hit for a couple of seasons now. But they are no longer allowed to make Nitro Flavored Slurpies out of fuel in sub zero chillers in their trailers. If the fuel in the lanes is colder that 50 degrees, yer out.


Of course what could be good for the goose could be even better for the gander in extremely hot weather
www.insidetopalcohol.com - Dry Ice in Methanol

 

[Toejam]

How much harder does a blown alcohol team have to lean on their stuff to keep up with A/Fuelers these days? It seems to me that a blown car has to spin their stuff up to really high rpm's while the A/Fuelers are not turning nearly as many. Could some teams on here please elaborate?

Very True, the numbers in TAD are half of what they are from 10-15 years ago! How Demke, Whitley, Thacker and Severance stay at it is amazing IMO! The cost to run 5.30's in a blown car have to be astounding! When the A/Fuel cars are turning 7,000 RPM's and the Blown cars are turning 10+ the cost differences are Huge! Jay Payne, Mic Snider, Jeff Wilson, Lee Calloway, Sean O' Bannon, and a couple of others who switched from Dragster to Alky FC for that very reason!

 

[rocketman]

if we keep changing the rules we are going to parity the class out of business. The cool weather favors the A/Fuel cars and the hot weather favors the blown alky cars. Nature takes care of the parity.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Should not run apples against oranges (alky vs nitro). Seperate them and parity solved.

 

[clwill]

Should not run apples against oranges (alky vs nitro). Seperate them and parity solved.

Where's the "like" button when you need it?

 

[twostep]

Should not run apples against oranges (alky vs nitro). Seperate them and parity solved.

I'd settle for calling the class something besides Top Alcohol, if they're gonna continue to use both combinations. Try to explain to a drag racing newbie, like I did in Dallas a month ago, why the two cars are so much different.

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

The poor newbie is right. How can you run nitro in a class called "TOP ALCOHOL"??? duh...
Form an "A/FUEL" class, and leave "T/A" alone

(the same could be done in TA/FC)

 

[Baron]

Not going to happen. More back gate revenue from throttle stopped "super" classes filling the pits than front gate revenue from putting on a good show, attracting fans, and growing the sport. Top Alcohol cars are the third (TAD) and fourth (TAFC) quickest cars in the NHRA structure. If promoted, these shows would fill the stands. The key word is: If.
A little reminder here: as the Titanic sank, the ship's orchestra continued playing.
Cheers,
Ed

 

[clwill]

More back gate revenue from throttle stopped "super" classes filling the pits than front gate revenue from putting on a good show, attracting fans, and growing the sport.

That math just doesn't work for me. Let's say their are 500 cars at an event (a lot these days) and they each pay $500 (way high, it's more like $300 for car/crew) that's $250,000 all weekend. All you need is 10,000 people in the door (low) at $25 a head (way low) to eclipse that in a day.

My guess is front gate revenue is 5-10x the back gate at a typical national event.

 

[flapjack]

I found Top Alcohol News on twitter. According to a few tweets this morning,
A/Fuel has won 5 out of the 7 division championships and that of the national
events, 9 of the 15 so far have been won by BADs.

So it seems there is no parity at the divisional level. But, at the national level,
things seem to level off.

Anyway, I like TAN as it gives good information regarding the world of TA/FC
and TA/D.

 

[clwill]

A/Fuel has won 5 out of the 7 division championships and that of the national
events, 9 of the 15 so far have been won by BADs.

So it seems there is no parity at the divisional level. But, at the national level,
things seem to level off.

Awfully small data set, with lots of uncontrolled variables. Could be that the better drivers in some divisions run A/Fuel cars, could be that some BADs couldn't make some events. Could be that some cars broke. Could be that some ran out of money. Who knows?

Again, tiny data set. I'd look over a few years, at least, before I'd draw this kind of conclusion.

 

[flapjack]

Awfully small data set, with lots of uncontrolled variables. Could be that the better drivers in some divisions run A/Fuel cars, could be that some BADs couldn't make some events. Could be that some cars broke. Could be that some ran out of money. Who knows?

Again, tiny data set. I'd look over a few years, at least, before I'd draw this kind of conclusion.

You're right, this is too small a sample with too many variables. I just wanted to get a feel for what was going on. I'll see if I can find stats from the past few years to get a more complete picture.