Drag Week rule changes for 2018

[squirrel]

Ed Crowe has his high 8 second Vette out on Speedway Blvd last weekend. There are a few, but not many, and you usually have to go to big city to see them.

I'm not too worried about the rules....it's time for me to build a (slow) unlimited car anyways, so it don't matter.

[c2xejk]

Tire size is a tough one. Plenty of guys going way way fast on a 275 tire. Going smaller to a 255 or 235 probably won't slow them down a lot, but would definitely make them more sketchy.

I still think not allowing parachutes in the street race classes would make the biggest difference. How many cars do you normally see on a Friday or Sat night cruising around with a parachute? Zero.

Wouldn't "no parachute" just end up with a very similar index class problem? How quick can they go without hitting the MPH limit because of NHRA tech rules... And if you are worried about "sketchy", then cars going down that the track on the hairy edge of needing a parachute but not having one would seem to qualify as "sketchy".

One more point, how many cars that run a parachute at Drag Week drive between tracks with the parachute in position on the outside of the vehicle? Cruising on the street, very few people have a parachute... I would say that most of those that do have a parachute on their car on the street don't need it...

[BlueCuda340]

Something that MoparBilly posted on his Drag Week 2017 story over on Moparts.com, really makes sense.

Most of us have grown up with the NHRA,IHRA, NMCA, PSCA, NSRA, UDRA and a dozen more alphabet soup and local sanctioning bodies throwing rules in front of us. Most of those rules regarding classes are designed to try and present a level playing field for all competitors, and it's tough to do, but paramount to building successful classes with solid car counts. In drag racing, if one popular combination is 2 tenths slow or another one dominates, the class quickly falls into disarray, and the rules must be adjusted. We grow up trained to pick the rules apart and look between the lines for any advantage or slight infraction.

This is exactly what David Freiburger was tired of in 2004 when he and a couple of close colleagues dreamed up Drag Week. "No Rules...let the road miles sort them out!"

It's about proving you have a legitimate street car, first and foremost. Then showing the world how fast your street car can run on the track. It's what he wanted with the "Fastest Street Car" format of the late eighties, early nineties but that quickly spun into just another race series and lost his interest.

He knew that if Drag Week were to ever work it needed a strong leadership, someone to handle the day to day operations and someone to police it with a gentle but firm approach. He turned to his land speed racing partners and East Coast Timing Association veterans Keith and Tonya Turk for the help he knew it would take to get this off the ground.

Keith would only sign on if the event took on characteristics that more closely resembled LSR racing. The classes have NOTHING to do with a level playing field, and were NEVER intended to have cars built specifically to the rules, they are only there to divide the field up and give more people a shot at a plaque or jacket. KEITH TURK is the reason Hot Rod Drag Week doesn't have payouts! He told DF from the beginning that he would be out if that happened. IT IS AN ADVENTURE, it's supposed to be fun, it isn't about winning and losing!

On this next statement, let me be as clear and precise as I can. KEITH and TONYA TURK ARE HOT ROD DRAG WEEK! Without their involvement and guidance this event would have ceased to exist years ago. Regardless of the sponsor money, regardless of the magazine and participant support, regardless of the contributions of another dozen or so very talented and dedicated people, they are the glue, and the energy that has drove this event to the popularity it now enjoys.

Now, if David Freiburger doesn't like rules, and Keith Turk or Lonnie Grimm aren't comfortable with beating people over the head with them, why does DF talk about them so much on the live feed?
Legitimate question.
David's "precious", that thing he clings to the most from Drag Week, is that it is the ultimate test, the crucible, the true mark of a real street car to survive it. So any rumors that they are lax on the rules of the drives, or that some competitors have large pit crews, or take short cuts and circumvent that "test" in any way, drives him absolutely crazy!
If you look at DF's career in it's totality, through Fastest Street Car, to Power Tour, to Pump Gas Drags, to Drag Week, and now Road Kill, the one principal he has always promoted and stuck to is this: Get those cars out of the garages and museums, off the show fields, and private collections, and DRIVE them, use them as they were intended and let the next generation see them out on the road! The interaction between the people we meet in small town America as we cruise from track to track is easily the most rewarding and memorable part of this deal, and something the live feed doesn't convey.

[v869tr6]

I would like to see a 62 plus year old staging lane!

[BBR]

How long until Hot Rod decides Drag Week needs to be a no-prep event? Because everybody knows only *real* street cars run no-prep events. Haha (Note: heavy heavy heavy sarcasm contained herein)

[six-pack]

How about enforcing the tech rules for participants that consistently run under their allowed times. At each track you would get one "warning" and on the second violation you automatically receive the 24 second default time for the day. This would loosen up the 8:50 index class know as SRSBPA. It does seem that Hot Rod has encouraged participants to violate safety concerns for ratings/ viewer's on the live feed. The "SRSBPA Shootout" was a prime example!

[BlueCuda340]

It would probably just make it like an 8.55 index then, those guys are good.

[BBR]

That's why putting a 150 mph cap would be better. It takes the index out of play unless you are genius at dumping mph in order to run an 8.50 @ less than 150 mph. While it is possible, it would be much harder to accomplish.

[petej]

Is it just me or am I the only one that thinks it's awesome that we are debating the topic of having too many street cars that can run 8.50X dead on.

To me as it is for many Drag week is about the journey and the pride to say "I did it" or in my case this year "I sure as hell tried".

A good place to look for how they define a street car is in the Optima Street car challenge. Add in things like a small penalty for "non factory dash", "non functioning radio", "non factory" seats etc. Doesn't have to be big but knock off a few hundredths off the average for all the little things.

The one thing I would like to see is more of a real street class, including street tires etc. Run all the "slick/DOT radial" cars out, re-prep the track and then let all the XXX + tread wear cars go, they do it at tracks all the time without any issues.

[squirrel]

That's a neat idea, but would be a bit of a challenge to do it, with how the schedule works....it seems that some of the really quick cars end up running late in the day, and the "real street cars" would probably like to be on the road a little earlier.

Being a "two lane blacktop" fan, I have no problem with guys bolting on slicks to go racing. I put over 4000 miles on my street tires this year to/on/from drag week, and only six runs on the slicks in all of that. Real street cars run a street tire that lets them drive safely on the street, and the easiest way to do that, and go quick at the strip, is to swap tires.

[Roadent56]

I would like to see a 62 plus year old staging lane!

Great Idea
If you meant driver I could get in that lane Thursday and Friday of 18!
I you meant car I'll have to wait 11 more years.

[Scooter]

I saw on another board that the 2018 rules, locations, and dates are to be announced tomorrow at PRI. Anybody else heard this?

[200kss]

Power Tour cities and venues will be announced at PRI, hadn't heard about a DW announcement but I would look for at least some kind of info.

[Red Light Ross]

I saw on another board that the 2018 rules, locations, and dates are to be announced tomorrow at PRI. Anybody else heard this?

Yes Philip Thomas posted it. You can watch a live feed of it on Hot Rods facebook page. 2:30 pm Dec7.

[squirrel]

that's tomorrow, folks! Should be fun....