Ricky Smith talks (1 Viewer)

sammi

Nitro Member
Ricky really addressed what I have been feeling about ProMod. What once was crazy Mercury Zephyrs and Scotty Cannon's early model tomato cars, now has become ProCamaro. When the cars look alike, the fans head out of the grandstands for a churro. The thing that has been saving ProCamaro has been the fact the cars have been going all Fuel Altered lately. Once they fix that, more churros.
 
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Sorry, I just could not help myself... Pro Camaro... really?
But I do agree with getting some help from NHRA for older body styles.
 
Ricky really addressed what I have been feeling about ProMod. What once was crazy Mercury Zephyrs and Scotty Cannon's early model tomato cars, now has become ProCamaro. When the cars look alike, the fans head out of the grandstands for a churro. The thing that has been saving ProCamaro has been the fact the cars have been going all Fuel Altered lately. Once they fix that, more churros.
For any heads-up rules package, there is going to be a combo/setup that is superior. Fun and interesting combos happen while the racers are still searching for that combo, but in a mature class, once it's found, others will gravitate to it. You can't blame them; after all, who wants to deliberately be at a competitive disadvantage by not running the best available? I definitely want to see a variety of bodies in PM, as well as all power-adders strong, but it's going to take some pretty significant rules-adjusting to make people move away from the proven winner (and when that happens, cue the fans complaining that the slower guys should just work harder, the best are being punished for being too good, etc).
 
As much as Rickie may have valid points I feel, and this is my opinion, he should have chosen his battles more wisely and not constantly complained every time things were not going his way. At this point what he says may go in one ear and out the other. I also don't agree with him saying the issue with the firmware was 50% on him and 50% on the NHRA. Maybe I am wrong or misunderstood something but how is he not 100% at fault just because the NHRA didn't catch it in previous events. To me if one of the longest running and most successful drivers in the class doesn't know the rules who does?
 
I don't disagree with anything any of you have said, but do notice that fans are much more brand-loyal than racers. And that matters. While I don't think the sky is falling, I do think some classes have an overabundance of one body style.

In the late 70s I went to an IROC race, which ironically in those years was all Camaros :) For those who don't know, IROC racing features one model of car, identically prepared, with the only difference being the drivers. But being a drag fan and not really familiar with the road race drivers my choices were to root for either a name I had heard of somewhere, or, "Oooooh, that one is a nice shade of blue. I'll root for him." My point is sameness is neither interesting nor engaging.

Yes, there is an ideal aerodynamic form for each class, although I'm not convinced the Camaro is it. The prevalence is more because racers in general tend to be more often followers than innovators. "Hey, that guy is winning with brand X. Let's do what he's doing." We saw this happen in NFC when the "Big Show" version of the '69 Camaro was released and won CHRR right away. Many cried foul saying it is not in the spirit of nostalgia racing, and I agree. But the body was not outlawed and the result has been a higher percentage of '69 Camaros running in NFC now than there ever was in funny car racing of that era. To be sure an internet search of period floppers will find some Camaros, but it was not disproportionate to the number of different brands and bodies out there. With probably a dozen different body styles everybody had something to root for. Now I hear fans saying things like NFC means 'Nother Freaking Camaro. That's not good for the sport.

While evolution towards the ideal form is going to happen, it's not necessarily the best path for the sport. For example, FC has three brands but once you remove the brand identifications they are homogeneous blobs. Turns out the blob is the best form for cutting through the air. But that leaves newcomers in my IROC predicament. Root for the name you heard of somewhere, or, "Oh, that one has cool graphics."

Part of what made drag racing great was variety. As the French say, Vive la difference! Although they were not thinking about drag racing :D
 
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I liked the IROC series at first but it did get old pretty quick and probably even quicker if I didn't like the Camaros at the time.
 
For any heads-up rules package, there is going to be a combo/setup that is superior. Fun and interesting combos happen while the racers are still searching for that combo, but in a mature class, once it's found, others will gravitate to it. You can't blame them; after all, who wants to deliberately be at a competitive disadvantage by not running the best available? I definitely want to see a variety of bodies in PM, as well as all power-adders strong, but it's going to take some pretty significant rules-adjusting to make people move away from the proven winner (and when that happens, cue the fans complaining that the slower guys should just work harder, the best are being punished for being too good, etc).
Great post Brad, I’ve said this numerous times, over time racers gravitate to what works the best. Think back to the class that had the most variety of any for a headsup category: Pro Comp. When it started in ‘73-‘74, there were more combos than I care to list. Ultimately by the end of the decade, the blown alky dragsters were the best way to go. And that led to Pro Comp becoming the 2 Top Alcohol categories we have now. It’s inevitable with headsup racing, but fortunately Pro Mod, at least for now, still offers a great variety of bodies and engine combos.
 
For the last few years, Ricky has complained how big an advantage the turbo cars had so he was switching. He switched and now the blower cars have a huge advantage. He will switch to a blower car and then the nitrous combo will be the best.
 
Door Slammer Plus is reporting the following changes

· · NHRA made adjustments for parity today. E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Changes Blowers drop from 16.5% down to 14.55% overdrive Turbos boost reduced from 36lbs to 33lbs No changes to Nitrous.
 
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For the last few years, Ricky has complained how big an advantage the turbo cars had so he was switching. He switched and now the blower cars have a huge advantage. He will switch to a blower car and then the nitrous combo will be the best.
Wasnt he retiring like 5 years ago lol
 
Wouldn't work. The class would still be overrun with first-gen Camaros with the occasional Mustang and whatever the hardcore Mopar guys want to run. Old vs. new is one of the more interesting aspects of the class (to me, anyway), and the rules should incentivize racers to choose a variety of bodies, not attempt to mandate it. It wouldn't be hard to give the Studebaker a little extra blower OD. Besides, why 1971? There are plenty of interesting bodies through the decades and that would arbitrarily eliminate a lot of them.
 
This has been going on since the beginning of Pro Mod...have we forgotten the 40/41 Willys, the 63 Corvette ? Once a body of any generation shows an advantage the switch will be made. Someone makes a more aero 79 Malibu it will become Pro/Malibu. That's Professional level racing, chasing the purse makes the decisions. The more potential you have the more mainstream you become
 
Door Slammer Plus is reporting the following changes

· · NHRA made adjustments for parity today. E3 Spark Plugs Pro Mod Changes Blowers drop from 16.5% down to 14.55% overdrive Turbos boost reduced from 36lbs to 33lbs No changes to Nitrous.

So, Rickie got what he wanted ????........................................Definitely Tricky;)
 
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Great post Brad, I’ve said this numerous times, over time racers gravitate to what works the best. Think back to the class that had the most variety of any for a headsup category: Pro Comp. When it started in ‘73-‘74, there were more combos than I care to list. Ultimately by the end of the decade, the blown alky dragsters were the best way to go. And that led to Pro Comp becoming the 2 Top Alcohol categories we have now. It’s inevitable with headsup racing, but fortunately Pro Mod, at least for now, still offers a great variety of bodies and engine combos.

And to your point over the past several years we've seen a few A/F combos grow to a handful, then half or more of the field was A/Fuelers as they bested the blower cars. Now we're seeing a swing back towards more blower cars (at least earlier this year) as that combo is working well. It will be interesting to see when, or even if, this class coalesces into a uniform combo.
 
NEW column ccming RICKIES RANTS Not too long in the making-check in often-so you can be on top
 
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