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NHRA Lowers The Boom On Nostalgia Top Fuel After Major Oil Down Delays At The California Hot Rod Reunion

General News

October 24, 2012
 
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Steve Gibbs of the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum has issued a memo to the competitors in Nostalgia Top Fuel following the 2012 NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion that addresses the concerns the organization has about the number of oil downs and down time generated by the cars. During the event, there were 14 N/TF cars and those 14 cars generated nearly three hours of downtime, according to the memo (which you can read below). If you watched our live broadcast of the race, you remember that it seemed every pair lubricated the track or caused the track crew to check for oil or other liquid on the surface. By contrast, there were more than 30 Nitro Funny Cars on the grounds and they generated a total of 31-minutes of down time over the course of the weekend. It seems as though the oil downs from N/TF were the last straw for the museum as this memo intimates changes that may be coming for the 2013 season, including a reduction in the size of the field from 16 to eight cars.

Darr Hawthorne of DragRacingOnline posted a copy of the memo on Facebook yesterday. Read it below:

To: Nostalgia Top Fuel Participants

From: Steve Gibbs

Re: Continuing Oildown Occurences

I hope you will forgive the blunt nature of this bulletin, but the continuing oil down problems leave no choice but to take firm action. This past weekend, at The California Hot Rod Reunion, we had 14 Nostalgia Top Fuel Cars competing, and experienced 2 hours and 44 minutes of downtime due to track cleanup caused by oil downs from cars in the class. (Nostalgia Funny Cars had 34 cars competing, and had a total of 31 minutes of cleanup time.) Sunday’s eliminations were concluded at 8 p.m., rather than the scheduled time of 5:30. This was detrimental to the event and cannot continue.

It is apparent that the class rules and policies, as they are now written, are conducive to parts attrition and we have been collectively unable…or unwilling to modify rules and/or behavior, as to improve the situation.

Track operators have been unable to agree on a uniform policy for oil downs, so we have continued with much talk…and little action. Please be advised that the following changes are under consideration for the 2013 California Hot Rod Reunion:

Nostalgia Top Fuel Eliminator – If contested – will be reduced to an 8 car field due to lack of participation.

Runs resulting in oil downs (as defined below) will be treated exactly as a centerline crossing. On qualifying runs resulting in an oil down, times will be voided. During eliminations, winning runs resulting in an oil down will be disqualified, and the opponent will be reinstated. Dual oil downs will result in dual disqualifications.
A violation is defined as any incident requiring the use of mechanical equipment (i.e. tractor, truck, sweeper, etc) to cleanup an oil spill. Spills or drops of oil cleaned up by hand are not considered violations and penalties will not apply. On occasion, equipment will be used to “touchup” the racing surface – such maintenance is not considered a violation. Depositing liquids other than oil (i.e. fuel, fire extinguisher) on the track surface is not classified as a violation and will not be penalized under this policy. An oil cleanup resulting from a crash will not result in a penalty unless the accident was a result of depositing oil on the track.
This policy encompasses the entire length of the track surface. Track surface includes the area where the vehicles are started, the burnout box, the starting line, the racing distance, and the shutdown area to the point the vehicle exits (including turnout area if cleanup results in delay of the race).This policy will be in effect for all categories at NHRA Hot Rod Reunion Events. Action will be imposed on teams depositing oil on the race track surface during any qualifying and/or elimination round (including final round).