NHRA Restricts Exhaust Header Angles On Fuel Funny Cars

Following speculation over the weekend that a potential ruling may be handed down, the National Hot Rod Association made official this week an amendment to the rulebook for the Funny Car category, outlining specific guidelines for the layback angle of the exhaust headers, which have played such a pivotal role in the barrage of record performances over the last year.

The new ruling will limit the angle to which teams can position the headers, serving to, as NHRA Vice President of Technical Operations Glen gray shared with us, maintain safety of the drivers and control costs.

This change is being made for safety reasons and to help control teams’ development costs. – Glen Gray, NHRA

“Effective immediately, the minimum header angle will be 32 degrees. Additionally, there will be a maximum header pipe O.D. of 2.75 inches as well as the I.D. must remain constant beginning 8 inches below the header flange to the exit of the header (i.e. stepdown headers not permitted),” Gray states. “This change is being made for safety reasons and to help control teams’ development costs.”

It was one year ago at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals that Jack Beckman stunned the world with a record-shattering 3.92-second blast, .03-seconds quicker than the previous national record. It wasn’t long before other teams began to employ or take notice of what crew chief Jimmy Prock had done with the angle of the header pipes. Since then, the angles have become more extreme, and with it, the performances in the class, which have now seen a drop of nearly one full tenth of a second in the national record in 12 months time.

The ruling, from the NHRA’s perspective, will limit any additional extremes being taken with exhaust angles, which might provide an advantage for more well-funded teams with developmental resources. As well, it has been duly noted by several drivers that the ‘new normal’ in exhaust angle (which provides several hundred pounds of thrust/downforce) has caused the cars to become increasingly difficult to drive at speed, perhaps forcing the NHRA’s hand to limit potential for accidents.

Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster