NHRA allows delay boxes in Super Pro. In division 4 (here) it's also allowed in Pro. They are not allowed in Pro (would then be a No Box class) at Pomona (termed "California rules"). Other than that, most divisions in both NHRA and IHRA allow everything in Top/Super Pro. Slew control is only part of it, check out starting line controls.
http://www.biondoracing.com/product/SLP.htmlBelow Super, you get No Box in all divisions and sometimes "Sportsman" which is supposed to be more footbrake. No Box allows most everything but the box- trans brake, two step, electric shift. However, tracks like ours that don't draw 200 cars on a weekend can't afford to run three big car classes, so it's primarily Box, NoBox, Jr, Bike and Street. Electric shifters are allowed in Street - every modern car only comes with electric shifters so why not. You don't see the younger set driving a stick car. Sorry, that's the way it is.
IMHO - having run as a footbrake car for 13 years years and being three time past No Box track champion, 6 times Summit Super Series champ, etc - all that junk means nothing unless you let it get in your head. On a good day I can bang lights right there with the Box cars and have no problem with fast door cars, roadsters, no box or box dragsters, etc. t-brake & two step is not an advantage, in fact after the t-brake was voted OK in Div 4 IHRA years back, lots of footbrake cars hooked one up - then later unhooked it or use it only to back up (pro brake). Why? Because they could not cut a light with it. The electric shift IMHO is a safety device - you can concentrate on driving, especially with a three speed. Once you get below around 7.50 in the 1/8, you need to be looking out the window and not at the tach. I'm building a RED 235" right now and plan to start out with footbrake. It came with a ProCube and we'll wire that up later after getting the car dialed in. I don't need fancy stuff to control my car, I use tire pressure, static timing adjustments, etc to work on reaction and consistency. If others think all the stuff is required, good - that sells parts.
I don't see any car counts going down because of all this, if the economy is decent they go up. 5 years ago, a "fast" footbrake car would be 6.50 or so, now there are plenty in the 5.50s. ProMods would run a blazing 4.50~4.60 here, now 80% of the Super Pro rails run that every weekend. And they don't tear down every race, they run like that all season. Takes a whale of a pile of cash to run 4.60s in a 1600 lb car. The Million draws a huge pile of cars, around here Noble OK, the Motorplex and us throw big money events that fill the pits with both box and no box cars. We usually draw about the same Box and No Box car counts and several run in both classes. You just have to pull the box out for No Box. Two run cards means more income for the track which is good if you want to take your high buck race car somewhere and have fun with it.
The biggest thing that will kill car counts here in the SW this year is the price of crude. Lots of these people work in oil field services and related industries - that has all been decimated by crude oil prices. Dollars flip over an average of at least 3 times, so one person idle can kill income for 2-3 others real quick. In an area where you maybe have 120,000 people in a 100 mile circle, that's a killer of everything.
