Larry Santucci: Is Naturally Aspirated Racing Dying?

There is a popular thread on Yellowbullet.com pondering the question “Is NA Heads-Up Racing Going Extinct?” They are speaking of all motor, heads-up, small tire, street car racing. The top cars run in the low 8’s at 160+ mph. There are 5 or 6 classes for these cars to compete but they all have different rules.

Racers have suggested coming up with one set of universal rules for the majority of classes to adapt. This would allow racers many different places to compete with there combinations. The east coast X275 Drag Radial class has done this and has come up with a set of rules that are used at about 5 different tracks. Getting to the top in this type of racing requires a lot of expense and effort. Building a car for one class and spending all the money and time on a combination is somewhat risky. With the stroke of a pen, a combination or an entire class could be gone, leaving a combination with with nowhere to compete.

Right now we have the NMCA/NMRA, PSCA, OSCA, RAM (NA SHOOTOUT), and Milan Dragway as the most popular N/A 10.5″ classes. Each series has it’s own positives and negatives. What some racers are asking for is a set of rules that will allow many cars to compete and be close to each other in performance with maximum effort combinations. This is easier said than done with all the different combinations out there. Some NA racers have actually crossed over to the dark side, changing there combo and running a power adder like nitrous. They feel it is less expensive and there are more places to race. Here are some of the current rules out there. There is also another thread on Yellowbullet asking racers to chime in about there thoughts of this universal set of rules.

What’s Left of the Supporting Series

The National Muscle Car Association (NMCA) has there Pro Stock class. This class has been extremely successful in the past but recently they have not been drawing many cars. The rules are long and they do this to even out the different combos that are permitted. They also have the Mean Street class for an even more restricted form of this type of racing.

The National Mustang Racers Association (NMRA) has there Hot Street class that has been very successful over the years. It is a small block Ford only class with many rules. They also have there Pure Street class that is much more restrictive.

The Ontario Street Car Association (OSCA) Pro Stock. This Canadian class has been pretty successful. They are expecting an even better season next year with a new sponsor and new cars being built.

The NA Shootout (RAM) NA 10.5 class. They feel they have a set of rules that allow for all combinations to compete. They have had much success with there series and have had some very close racing. NA Shootout also has a Drag Radial class that is more restrictive, requires a 275 radial tire and stock suspension.

The Pacific Street Car Association (PSCA) Hot Street Class. They also allow for most all combinations.

Milan Dragway’s All Motor Class. While this class is only run at Michigan’s Milan Dragway, it has been very successful. The rules are very simple and allow for almost all combinations to race. Many feel the rules are too basic and give an advantage to a specific combination. This doesn’t seem to stop many racers from competing since they have had very good turnouts.

The Outlaw Small Block Association has a couple small block only classes. They hold races in Virginia, North Carolina and Maryland.

What Needs to be Done

In my opinion, having a universal set of rules is a great idea and would be beneficial for this type of racing. The rules are the biggest thing. I really like the most of NA SHOOTOUT (RAM) rules since the cars are very close in performance and they get a good number of cars. Some say if a maximum effort big inch motor car showed up, they could have two tenths on the fastest car. If this happens I would think there would be weight added to the big motors. RAM allows for any combination and the rules try to equally them all out. This is extremely difficult to do and you must use a maximum effort combinations to compare.

One of the problem you see is racers asking for a weight break because they don’t want to use the faster components. For example, if one transmission is faster than another, you can either run or choose not to. If you choose not to, you will probably be giving up some performance. Some feel that since one transmission is slower, they should get a weight break. There are two ways to look at that. You could say, “If you want to be competitive you have to use the fastest stuff out there.” You could also say, “That you would have to spend a small fortune on every ‘trick of the month’ part to get ahead of the other guy who will try to outspend you.” Both are good arguments and most series give the weight breaks to get more cars to compete and be competitive.

Many say it makes no sense spending $7,000 on an item to go out there and race for $1,200. They are right and the complete car probably cost over $50,000. The people who do this type of racing are not in it to make money. I think they just love to compete and the challenge of what they can do with a combination. Many just love the screaming engines, wheel stands and grabbing the gears at over 9,000 rpm.

I like some of the Milan rules. They really seem to work good in getting cars but i do not like the way the weights are. They favor the big inch, small block and big inch, big blocks. I like most of the PSCA rules but I feel there weights are too light. There rules are probably allow the cars to be the fastest of all the series with the possible exception of Milan. All of these classes work and they are doing well. The OSCA rules are also well thought out. They are more restrictive than Milan and have a list of heads they do not allow. They also allow for a W tire, which most other series do not allow.

The NMCA’s Pro Stock class allows for a variety of combinations but rules are too restrictive in my opinion. They do a great job of keeping the cars close in performance but the long list of rules excludes many cars from competing. The NMRA has always had a good thing going with there Hot Street class. It is kind of like a mini-Pro Stock class which, for many years, has had large turn out of cars with close to the same combinations. This class is obviously a small block Ford only class with a long list of rules. The OSBA has a small block only class that some of the top guys compete in but is limited to a small block. You could also go back and look at the classes that are not around any more like NSCA’s Real Street and FFW Street Bandit.

I feel that if a unified set of rules were made for NA 10.5 racing they would have to be kept very simple and it would make it very easy to check each vehicle. The more rules the less number of cars that can compete. Also some argue that more rules make it more expensive to keep up. A quick visual inspection is all that would be needed and it would not be hard to pump the engines to check displacement. Each car would be weighted after each run. To allow every combination to be competitive would require a mile long list of weight adjustments. I would keep it simple and yes, some combinations would not be fast enough. That is just how it is. Over time, there will be a few combinations that will prove to be the best and that’s what the top cars will be running. You could always go with one combination like NHRA Pro Stock has but this class would be something that many existing combination can run.

After looking around and getting some other opinions, I put together a set of rules for an extremely fast class, that would allow many to compete. Most were taken from the series that are already out there. I would think something like this might work:

.400 Pro Tree – 16 Car Qualified Field – Pro Ladder

ENGINE:
400 cubic inches at 3000 pounds.
Add 3 pounds per inch for over 400. Deduct 3 pounds per inch for anything less than 400 inches.
One carb or Throttle Body

HEADS:
Two valves per cylinder maximum.
One spark plug per cylinder
No billet cylinder heads

FUEL / FUEL SYSTEMS
Gasoline & Alcohol only (No Nitromethane)

Oil Retention Device:
Required. Device may be custom-built ballistic blanket-style or metal-style (I.e., bucket) device. Metal pan may be no longer than the engine from the front of crank shaft to the rear of the flywheel. Pan must be inside the frame rails and fabricated to retain oilliquid. Pan must attach to the frame via conventional fasteners or straps. Pan must be a minimum of 3 inches above ground.

Diapers:
They do not have to be SFI rated.

Transmissions:
Auto Transmissions: Any OEM American automatic transmission or a replica of an OEM American automatic transmission that uses planetary gears and torque converter permitted. Pneumatic, electric, hydraulic, etc. shifters prohibited. Any gear change must occur from direct action by the driver.

Manual Transmissions: Any OEM or aftermarket transmissions. Any gear change must occur from direct action by the driver. Pneumatic, electric, hydraulic, etc. shifters prohibited. Add 150 lbs to listed base weight.

FRONT SUSPENSION:
All cars must retain stock suspension, aftermarket tubular control arms, coil over kits, or OEM front strut retrofits are permitted. But must be a direct bolt on, no welding modifications permitted. Aftermarket Racing Struts with spindle mounts or hub mounts designed for tube type front ends are prohibited. Stock wheelbase will be enforced on all vehicles.

Front End:
Stock frame rail from firewall forward required. Firewall to remain in the original location. Bolt-on replacement units allowed. This needs to be verified in tech that the bolt on factory mounting point are used with the bolts present.

REAR TIRES:
Maximum size: 30 x 10.5 Slick (No W tires) or 295/65R15 Drag Radial Tire

Exterior:
Body panels can be replaced with factory appearing bolt-on replacements.
No one piece front ends – Aftermarket front end that is all connected together (both fenders and nose).
No tube chassis cars

Interior:
Stock appearing interior required, including two front seats.

MUST MEET ALL NHRA RULES INCLUDING LICENSE AND CERTIFICATION