FE Power Forums
FE Power Forums => Non-FE Discussion Forum => Topic started by: machoneman on June 04, 2019, 03:59:04 PM
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Wow, in late 2017, those idiots at NHRA changed the rules that have been in effect since the very beginning of the class. Now, any engine make can be used in any body. Well, the first of these abortions made its 2019 debut at the Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, IL as Elite Motorsports fielded a BBC powered 2018 Ford Mustang.
The shame of it all! Only Chevies have won the title since 2012 (last time was a Mopar) and now many have already said they'd dump their Chevy bodies for the more aerodynamic Mustang. The horror! All those great Ford Pro Stock winners must be ashamed these days.
I guess it was inevitable as the NHRA's staff has messed up so much of this once fine sport. Outlawing Ford's 385 series block due to bore spacing in Top Fuel and Funny Car. The 1,000' rule. Unnecessary rules for lower class cars. No money payouts for all but the Pro Classes. And now this final slap in the face.
No more NHRA for me. No sir! Eff-em all!
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Don't think it's a big deal. The PS engines have all been pretty much the same anyway, very little resemblance to factory engines.
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Not new news and yes they did , when asked about it he said just not enough parts available to make the Ford engine competitive . by that I assume not enough choices in deck height , seems the GM guys have 5 different deck heights to choose from and Mopars have 2 different heights and Ford has 1 choice ….. the deck height affect the runner length and some lengths are better than others in certain conditions and in certain combos
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Just like top fuel and funny car. It's just a sticker on the body to say what it is, but all powered the same.
There is nothing FORD or CHEVY about any of these pro stock motors that anyone would be able to walk up and see the difference. 40 yrs ago, yes.
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Erica put out the Mustang with the "chevy" engine this weekend, so that resulted in some satisfaction here.
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Unless Elite changed the Mustang body Larry Morgan complained that Ford didn't do the minimum spec on the Body and was handicapped compared to the chevys , Ford could have made the nose smaller lower , narrower ,ect ect but instead made the body in the middle of the specs . GM supports its racers better than Ford or Mopar and always have , that's a tough combo to beat
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Ford said several years ago that it was getting out of drag racing and concentrating on road racing and endurance, so none of this should surprise anyone. That's the reason for the IRS in the latest Mustangs.
Pro Stock is anything BUT. A has-been class that few people are interested in anymore. I think they're the least interesting class to watch because there's no 'action'. It's like watching the middle of a Nascar big track race, where they're all bunched up, running all the same speed....except there's no crashes to keep people interested.
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Erica or Jeg or both could end up in the "new" mustang body before the year is out. Both the pro stock and funny car mustang bodies are completely new. Both are suppose to have a bit of aero advantage over the others at this time. In funny car it constantly changes as all the manufacturers are always trying to make improvements. A couple of the mountain motor guys are putting together the new mustang bodied cars now. PDRA is some great drag racing to see for the money.
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If they had done this in the 80's they'd all be in Boss 429 Camaros....
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looks like an egg :-\
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If they had done this in the 80's they'd all be in Boss 429 Camaros....
True!
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>Both are suppose to have a bit of aero advantage over the others at this time.
Why the chevy guy was using the Mustang body. I didn't catch who it was.
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Erica Enders, Elite Motorpsorts.
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Yep, owner Was driving the car.
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Erica Enders, Elite Motorpsorts.
No, Richard Freeman - she took out the boss. He out ran her but was late as hell on the tree. .004 slow at the 60', .001 quicker at the 330' mark on the track but .137 behind on the start so give that up.
LANE DRIVER CLASS DIAL IN RT 60 FT 330 FT 660 FT 660 FT MPH 1000 FT ET MPH OV/UN
Left Erica Enders WIN PRO -- .023 .979 2.760 4.222 166.89 5.494 6.566 209.75 --
Right Richard Freeman PRO -- .160 .983 2.748 4.217 167.34 5.488 6.560 210.24 -
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Hey, I get the lagging interest in Pro as it's become more like the SuperGas class. After the nitro cars run, more than 1/2 of the spectators FOR YEARS NOW head to the concession stands or the pits. Instead, they should have gone back to the early day rules much closer to stock cars one could actually buy. It wouldn't be hard to write new rules but the racers, as always, would take the hit with outmoded cars, engines, etc.
Just like NASCAR, I swear the idiots that run the NHRA keep moving in the wrong direction and alienate fans with rules like this. No wonder independent track events are gaining in popularity at the expense of 1/2 empty stands at overpriced NHRA regional events.
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Seems like anymore all you see is Top Fuel and Funny Car on TV , Pro Stock bores me too but I like watching Charlie Westcot slowly developing a Ford engine package in his Mustang . I have developed an interest in Pro Stock Bike the last couple years as my friend Flying Ryan Oehler has been starting to run good ( except last week) and matching Vance Hines , Arana’s and Matt Smith In MPH with a totally in house engine program with old used engines that been put out to pasture and they are only in their second season but first full season
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Yes, it really is not related to a BBC engine. The DRCE or whatever they call it is an iteration of Warren Johnson's prostock engine program started during his Oldsmobile days. Since these engines are all basically the same block architecture now, really not much difference to the eye. I talked with a gent a few years back, who designed heads for Prostock engines, he said he was contracted to do a wedge type and a hemisphere style design head. Ford for Jim Cunningham put up money for the design of both heads. The Chrysler guys decided on the hemisphere and Larry Morgan picked the wedge type head. I believe Jim Cunningham wanted the option to try both. Of course, as per NHRA the aerodynamic rules were not cast in stone , so Ford went with a body that NHRA would accept. Morgan felt that the NHRA was being anal, and had a body modified to what "he" felt was needed. That car tested, and was quite competitive, especially in the mph category, but NHRA ultimately did not approve it. After that, as we know Jim Cunningham passed away (cancer) and Ford Racing decided nobody was watching NHRA anyways, so pulled support from John Force, and thanked Larry Morgan, and John .
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"... Ford Racing decided nobody was watching NHRA anyways, so pulled support from John Force, and thanked Larry Morgan, and John ."
Ain't that the truth! And NHRA even handicaps the killer Cobra Jets now. Anti-Ford in all categories for 50 years now. Man, the Chevy money to the sport's Board is mighty heavy!
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The DRCE was allowed as a way to make GM competitive with Bob Glidden. NHRA allowed all sorts of stuff on he GM that other makes were not allowed, like wider bore spacing and heads that are much different in appearance. Then on the cars they allowed radical wheelbase alteration and longer front ends on the front wheel drive stuff which somehow stayed for the Camaro/Firebird.
Ford never got those advantages and poor Dodge either. At the time of the nitrous scandal they had to use 4.8" bore space and wedge heads. Afterwards they were using GM engines (20 years before the rules allowed) until the Hemi99 came out.
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GM had lots of help from NHRA and NASCAR for decades …. A simple deck height rule could level the playing field because cylinder heads are all pretty equal nowadays , I found it interesting that the 500 inch PS engine deck height falls between SBF and SBC according to Maskin
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The DRCE was allowed as a way to make GM competitive with Bob Glidden. NHRA allowed all sorts of stuff on he GM that other makes were not allowed, like wider bore spacing and heads that are much different in appearance. Then on the cars they allowed radical wheelbase alteration and longer front ends on the front wheel drive stuff which somehow stayed for the Camaro/Firebird.
Ford never got those advantages and poor Dodge either. At the time of the nitrous scandal they had to use 4.8" bore space and wedge heads. Afterwards they were using GM engines (20 years before the rules allowed) until the Hemi99 came out.
NHRA also saddled Glidden with 300 lbs more weight than everyone else...To make things "Fair" ::)
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Yes, I can't remember the fellows name but he said he deigned the "mirror" hemisphere head which the Dodge teams used, and was also to be legal for Ford, ( since he said Ford paid a sizeable part of his contract cost). He also designed a semi wedge head for Larry Morgan's use.
In my younger days the Chevy guys were a "pain". They were always complaining when they were beaten. I was on an oval track team and a fellow running a Ford called it the "Chevy mafia" LOL! But regardless of the series they usually got their "way". In this guy's case, the Chevy mafia got Ford Clevor engines outlawed along with Clevelands. They changed the rule to read "inline valve geometry" is allowed.
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If they had done this in the 80's they'd all be in Boss 429 Camaros....
and if they'd done it in the seventies, they all would have been in 351C powered Vegas... ;D
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If they had done this in the 80's they'd all be in Boss 429 Camaros....
and if they'd done it in the seventies, they all would have been in 351C powered Vegas... ;D
Yeah, good one! Yes, Chevy has had their way in too many pro race venues for decades. Yet, the decline in NHRA and NASCAR fan participation can somewhat be traced to this unfair edge. When the top Chevy drivers like Gordon and Earnhardt retired, they lost a ton of paying spectators. Johnson's imminent retirement (he's doing quite poorly this year) will further drive down attendance. Had NASCAR spent more media time on other, new rising stars, driving any make, than these three, they'd have salted the field with new talent the fans got behind.
As for the NHRA, those dunderheads did the engine change solely, as they stated, to revive interest in a lagging field. Fans as we have all seen head for the exist when Pro runs. And, if they think for a second a Chevy powered Mustang will bring Ford fans back into the fold, they are dead wrong....as usual.