Wolf’s Word: Thoughts And Ramblings About The Sport Of Drag Racing

One of the beautiful things about getting the opportunity to pen these columns is that I, in essence, am given free reign to ramble on with my thoughts, in a public venue, about anything that’s on my mind — whether it’s positive, negative, or investigative in nature. And this month? Well, it may fall into the rambling category. 

Perhaps I’m a bit too much of a thinker, but like anyone else that loves this great sport, my mind is always running with concepts that could improve drag racing as a whole — what’s being done well and what could translate well to another venue, or what just plain isn’t working. So using this teeny tiny sliver of the world wide web this month, I’ve put some of those thoughts into words. And not surprisingly, I ran out to space without even trying, so tune back in for a second go-around in next month’s edition of Wolf’s Word. In the meantime….

Hard to believe, but at one time this was THE national event. With fewer races would come more prestige, more cars, more fans, and perhaps even greater payouts.

– The NHRA schedule is condensed down to no more than 7-8 national events a year. The two Pomona races, Indy, the Gators, and E-Town get to stay, with the rest alternating venues each season to different regions. With 24 races, national events have lost their luster, and for sportsman racers, they’re nothing more than glorified divisional races. These are major events, and they should all be prestigious. Want to get more racers to make a pilgrimage to a national event and make it truly ‘national’? Supply and demand.

– Top Fuel and Funny Car move to single mags, single pumps, with 100-percent pop, running on the full 1,320-feet distance. Cut the downforce by 50-percent, and outlaw the blobs that look nothing like the production car they represent in Funny Car. The most powerful wheel-driven cars on earth shouldn’t run on a string — they need to be manhandled. Less crew chief, more right foot. Two cars locked together at the finish, or John Force bouncing off the wall twice while a tire-blazing Cruz Pedregon comes from WAY behind to win? You’re sorely missed, 1992.

– The NMCA and the NMCA WEST converge in the middle of the country once each year for a battle royale between the east and west coasts. With so many similar categories, it’s an event that just needs to happen. Perhaps it may not drum up any additional interest from the spectators than a normal event, but so what. Someone get the staff at Gateway or Topeka on the phone and make it happen, stat.

With a transition of Super Comp into an all-run field in Top Dragster, we’d see quicker cars with way-cool combinations like this. Or better yet, how about an F-3 ProCharger on alcohol in Top Alcohol Dragster, along with some twin-turbo combos?

– Let’s make Top Alcohol Dragster and Funny Car a little more interesting. By interesting, I mean A/Fuel in the flopper class, and 500-inch twin-turbo combos or big centrifugal blowers on alcohol in both classes. Much love for the classic blown alcohol combos, but with so many very potent power adder combos out there with deep five-second capability, why not?

– Throttle ‘wacks’ in the pits from the nitro cars — just do ‘em.

– As a diehard fan of sportsman drag racing, I’ve always had an affection for the .90 classes — Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street — and as sad as it would be personally to see them go, it just might be that time. Rather than a set index (indexes that are entirely too slow these days, at that), combine Super Comp into Top Dragster and Super Gas into Top Sportsman as all-run fields. 7.50 cap for the dragsters, 8.50 for Top Sportsman. This is quick enough to make it interesting, yet still affordable. 10.00 for Super Street to keep it an entry-level class.

– Stock and Super Stock are still two of the greatest classes in all of drag racing, and the range of combinations made possible by the extensive number of categories is a thing of beauty. But there are just entirely too many classes. A five-year plan to condense down to 15-20 classes apiece will make heads-up races far more common and the class understandable for the average fan. At Indy, they run heads-up in class and the winners run off for Top Eliminator, just like the good old days. At the other races, the all-run format remains the same, so that lower budget racers still have a chance.

Any objections to 8.50 index as a universal category at race tracks across the country? 10.5W tires, full-bodied door cars — what’s not to like?

– The 8.50 Index class made popular on the East coast becomes a weekly class at every NHRA and IHRA member track in the country. Full-bodied cars on 10.5W tires, with an elapsed time just quick enough to be exciting for the fans but till within financial reach of most racers. Bracket racing makes the world go ‘round, but it doesn’t bring fans to the track. Time to change that.

– The NHRA Mello Yello Series stays put on ESPN. Sure, they might get more love from other networks, but ESPN is still the ‘cats meow’ of sports networks. Delayed 10 minutes for a ping-pong tourney? Good, time to make a sandwich and grab another cold adult beverage.

– I truly believe that ProMedia is on to something with their Coyote Stock and LS Stock classes, featuring sealed crate motors in a lightly-modified race cars, competing heads-up. It’s an affordable way to run heads-up, where a racer can’t spend the class into oblivion like, well, every other heads-up class in history. If they can get a Hemi crate motor class going for the Chrysler racers, then all that’s needed is an annual shootout between them all.

– NHRA Pro Stockers are required to use factory-produced engine blocks, cylinder heads, and crankshafts used in an actual showroom vehicle. Turbos, centrifugal superchargers, and EFI, or you can go N/A with carburetors and admire everyone else’s tail lights. Such engine combinations cost a fraction of a modern-day 500-inch Pro Stock motor, and have been 6.0’s in Pro Mod trim and 6.90’s in Outlaw 10.5-style cars. Speaking of, back-halved production rear wheel drive cars are in. If we’re gonna’ call them stock, something needs to be stock.

MMR’s incredible Pro Modified Mustang, featuring power from a production Ford Modular engine block, crank, and heads. Pro Stock, anyone?

– While on the ‘stock’ topic, Pro Street Motorcycle replaces Pro Stock Motorcycle. Real bikes, with no wheelie bars, and power adder-equipped engines making more power than they have any business making. They may fly or they may take flight — that’s what puts butts in the seats.

What are your thoughts on some of these suggestions? What do you agree with or not agree with, and if you had the power, what would you change about drag racing? We’ll have the continuation to this piece next month, but for now, let’s hear your thoughts!

About the author

Andrew Wolf

Andrew has been involved in motorsports from a very young age. Over the years, he has photographed several major auto racing events, sports, news journalism, portraiture, and everything in between. After working with the Power Automedia staff for some time on a freelance basis, Andrew joined the team in 2010.
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