<style><!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Times New Roman"; panose-1:0 2 2 6 3 5 4 5 2 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:Arial; panose-1:0 2 11 6 4 2 2 2 2 2; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:50331648 0 0 0 1 0;} @font-face {font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode"; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:none; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:.5pt;} p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption {margin-top:6.0pt; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:no-line-numbers; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:.5pt; font-style:italic;} p.MsoList, li.MsoList, div.MsoList {mso-style-parent:"Text body"; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:none; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:.5pt;} p.MsoBodyText, li.MsoBodyText, div.MsoBodyText {margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:none; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:.5pt;} p.Heading, li.Heading, div.Heading {mso-style-name:Heading; mso-style-next:"Text body"; margin-top:12.0pt; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:none; page-break-after:avoid; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:14.0pt; font-family:Arial; mso-font-kerning:.5pt;} p.Index, li.Index, div.Index {mso-style-name:Index; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:no-line-numbers; mso-hyphenate:none; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning:.5pt;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:56.7pt 56.7pt 56.7pt 56.7pt; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> To The Pure Stock Drags Participants, Starting with this year's race (2012), we will be implementing a 11.49 Rule where anyone going faster than 11.50 anytime during the event will be disqualified. Safety for our participants is the number one reason, but also we are honoring requests from the track owners that we limit the E.T.s since we do not allow roll bars in our cars. The owners of these cars will have to slow their cars down in a means acceptable to the event promoters. These cars will also be required to go through our heavy tech before being allowed to return to the next event. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause to some of our participants, but your safety is our biggest concern. Sincerely, The Pure Stock Drags Organizers
Safety? Really? So the PSMCDR's position is that it is safer for racers not to have roll bars and the belts that go with those bars than it is to have them? If you were concerned with safety you would allow safety equiptment. You guys think somebody can't get hurt in a 15 second car? It should be up to the racer to decide how safe they would like to be. I sure wouldn't want to be a event organizer against safety equiptment the day that somebody gets hurt. Say you don't want jungle gyms in the cars but don't say it is for the safety of the racers.
Looks like it is one of the reasons but not the only reason? The race may not be pure but a role bar you're talking about would be overwhelming to most participants. I guess race cars vs street cars will keep the class going. I guess Martin will be the venue for Factory Stock cars to go faster than the 11.50! Jim
Back in the day, none. Now, there are a few. Someone just spent big money on a Mopar engine to go faster than 11:49. He probably should have saved his $$ with the new rule.
Tim, That stuff can be found online on the NHRA website but in a nutshell, roll bar, 5 point harness, metal valve stems, and all the SFI stuff (balancer- flywheel). In Stock Elim they make all the cars back to like M/S have all the stuff for the reason being that while you could be sitting in a 65 273 Belvedere wagon that might run 13.9 the guy in the other lane could go 140 mph next to you in the traps.
with heads up racing no one is blowing by at 140mph well, not yet ---------- Post added at 02:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:26 PM ---------- to be fair, only two L88 Corvettes have done it at Stanton............... but adding a roll bar to the Pure Stocks would taint the event, the specialness of the event is the cars they way they were, even if we are breathing on them heavily under the hood.
If saftey is a concern then track prep should be way high on the list. last year during time trials i saw more than just the faster cars getting squirley past the 60 foot marker. whats it gonna take for someone to step in and get the track officials to prep and keep it preped for both days. someone to lose it at half track and hit the wall. ET restrictions should be down on the list of safty concerns when any car could lose control when the track isn't preped good.
This goes well beyond personal disappointment for me. All three L88's at sometime or some track have gone well under the 11.49 ET limit. All three should be held to an exacting standard for doing so. All three also should have proper safety equipment allowed also. It is crazy that safety equipment is limited by the rules. It could potentially be a major liability if anyone is ever hurt. I can see the lawyers frothing at the mouth already. I have talked to Dan about this and argued that I do not care if it is my Judge, the HO T/A or even our 13 second cars. I think it is crazy that we are not allowing better safety devices for those who want them. I am one who desperately wants them. I personally am at the point where all the rule changes have wrecked the race for me. Dan is well aware that several people were spending hard earned money to compete with new cars this season. I even addressed my build with them before purchasing a car and spending endless amounts of money. Now that it is nearly finished we get this. They never once before I started suggested it might be even worth the wait so I do not burn up mounds of cash. I even offered to have my new build fully checked. Dan has been invited to the engine shop to review, measure, and do any other thing he wants with the motor including sealing it up with tamper proof items. We also went so far as to install a massive plug in the oil pan so at anytime the bottom end can be easily checked for legality. The compression rule made several of my cars fall outside the rules and useless even though I had spent tens of thousands of dollars having Dan build them. Now the new car is a virtual garbage scow that will be rendered useless if it actually performs to a standard that will easily meet the rules. I will not bring a slow car like last year, I will not bring a car that needs thousands of dollars worth of compression alterations, I will not bring the new car. I am done with this race. It changes rules at will and by the minute. This is not for safety as all the track owner wants is for the cars to meet the safety rule to run. Not a single change over the past two years has done anything but waste everyones time and money and cause many people to have burned up tons of effort and cash meeting a never ending moving target. I am so angry at all the time and money I wasted on my family. It is shameful what I have spent on this race. It could have sent all my kids through college and more by orders of magnitude. I feel screwed and cheated. Mark
Go to NHRA, & run 1 of the New Mustangs (Available through the Parts Dept:bglasses and run with the BIG Boys. 1 was @ Norwalk Last weekend. I believe it ran 8.70s!!!!! Never thought I'd see a Stocker or a Super Stocker needing a Chute!! JR
I've actually had that thought in the lanes before during qualifying...looking at last year's results there was a car that had a *best* mph of 79 versus the cars at the other end of the spectrum running 125mph...yikes. I had never had a track mention the valve stems until tech pointed it out to me @ Rt. 66 last year...they put a "12.0 limit" notation on my tech card. I'm almost due for new tires, and I'm considering putting in metal stems, which won't look stock and will look out of place, but being as our event is currently held at Rt. 66 and with a sincere HOPE that I find what the issue is with the Yellow Sub and it finally pulls itself again, I would eventually like to run <12.0s without getting booted... You would've if I'd have told you of all the goofy rules concessions and crazy light hp factors on those cars...
Mark , I feel your pain on a couple levels, But maybe not as much on the monetary level. And I'm not fighting with you or being a dick. I too have been frustrated over the years, Told to certify with NHRA LEGAL pistons- which limited ring size ,rod length and dome size and configuration. While others were allowed custom pistons -which can be ordered with any and many altering effects and combinations. CAMS Told I had to run a blueprint cam- while others were allowed to make what ever, and add the lash to the lobe .(example .520 lift +.026 lash+.002 percent rule .550-560 ) what about that is stock. grrrr thats bullshiLL. RollerTip rockers made legal- bought 2 sets , run them once .... guess what now not legal. PUT them on the shelf Aluminum flywheels - made legal- Bought one- made Illegal...... ADD that to the shelf MSD boxs- had them taken away from us because some jerkoffs where using them for traction control and electronic timing curves.ADD That to the shelf Pretty sure that never came on cars from the factory- atleast 1955-74 cars Lifters- us chumps ran regular lifters- some told they could run Schubecks. On there description they don't say light weight- they say ULTRA lightweight. One organizer says " nothing in the rules saying they can't run them" !!!! Really !!! Rules say NO light weight parts- and Valvetrain must be stock.. That's 2 rules against them ! None of these parts are or were every stock, never released from the factory on our cars. For some reason allowed, then taken away. Maybe cause they allowed other modifications to work, that normally wouldn't. Right now I'm trying to build a very competitive L89 396. Spent $1000 on a Callies magum crank, $550 bucks on a decent set of K1 rods, $950 bucks on a set of pistons -rings-pins. $1500 bucks in machine work to block and redo the heads. $450 bucks on cam,lifters, timing chain. Got every thing at home ,weighed the crank, it weighed 8lbs MORE than my stock one. Proceeded to return crank. frustrated. But heres the kicker. Add up all the money , and I fall WAY SHORT of some of the money being spent on some of these new motors coming out. Had a guy so proud, that he was showing me receipts in his motor totalling over 15k cause he wants to play so bad. I've been told and heard rumers of more like that totaling way more. How the F do you spend that kind of money on a STOCK motor when you are supplying the hard parts like block and heads and intake. With frames being cut to alter control arm locations, custom springs and shocks, coated ,plated, blah blah, blah. It's kinda got outta control. It's Been 4 years, that they have been warning us of impending doom, That the track was pissed , and that Bob and DAn wanted to fold it up. That these cars were starting to resemble FAST light cars, more than restored stock racers. If this much effort was put into a FAST car, It would be thriving . There would be people kicking Lane Careys a$$ all over the place. A couple years ago, everyone was willing to do whatever to save the race. Now everyone just wants to sue them for ruining ,their great time. Cars are like drugs, you get hooked. wanna go faster, spend more money, go faster, spend more money. But in the end you know that what your doing is illegal. If you get busted . No refunds. We all make our own decisions. Can't blame other people for bad ones. I think BOB and Dan are just trying to put a limit on How far someone is willing to go on a car, To save a little face with the race.To try and save the Race for a couple more years. Think of the lawsuits if they allow the cars to go even faster. Cars that can't even make it down the track without going guardrail to guardrail on tiny tires reaching for speeds above 124 mph. Watch the new race Video and listen to the crowd. Not to the announcers voice- but the crowd. They don't even believe it anymore. We were down 300 spectators this past year. and 15 cars. Pure has been a very abused word over the years. There Is always FAST class for people that aren't content...
There was talk all winter of the track clamping down of the faster cars .It shouldn't be a shock to anybody.I think its a good idea and support the rule and applaud the guys for making a tough somewhat unpopular decision.It was bound to happen when the envelope got pushed to far.There is still martin to race at or cheat at
I think this is Hilarious and Ironic-- Bob and Dan started the Pure Stock Drags because big money and cheating Ruined NMCA drag racing. Guys like Donnie Chapman that handed BK his ass in the finals , not by a little, alot. Then NMCA passed him in tech. The crowd goes wild !!!! Used to love that series - then it sucked. Guess everything is a big circle and now it's come full. History has proven that it always repeats itself! Or here is a even funnier thought, People go with the angle of " It should be our choice if we want to run a roll bar for safety " or "your denying me a safety option" So they let you make a choice if you want to run a roll bar. And still say goodbye at 11.49 - booted -goodbye , now that would be funny.
In case your wondering... We are not telling anybody they can't run safty equipment, if you built a razor sharp max effort *legal* pure stocker or a 14 second convertible we don't care. We are simply not equipped to handle the legal ramifications if someone gets hurt. I do see what their trying to accomplish, but if a car is built with-in the written rules it's hard to swallow. Maybe just make the class more "stocker", start with the easy stuff.... No H or X pipes, no mandrel pipes and the exhaust must be the same size the factory had it.. Any car that breaks 11' s or has ran 11' s has to comply. If that doesn't do it go to the next thing, make the class more stock and make it harder to hit the 11.49. Just a thought.
Tim you may have just expressed my point better than I did for myself. We have several AMC's, Chevy's, Mopars, Pontiac's and Ford's between Larry and I that when we restored the cars we did so with an eye towards them all beign raced eventually. Now I have cars that will run 12 and 13 second times but they are not legal due to compression rule changes. We have at least a dozen cars that fall into that catagory. Many of which Dan built the engines for or helped out on the projects or did the complete restoration on. That is the pile of money I am getting at. We have the good fortune to own several cars but now most cannot be raced and I hate to keep pulling restored cars apart as sooner or later something tragic will happen. So I finally give in and go out and buy a car that is not the real deal. I am finally willing to just go the clone route and do a dedicated car that the real world value has no bearing on what it does and how many times it does it. Take something that will cause less stress worrying about damage etc. Run it up the PS flag pole, make sure we are doing all the right things by the rules and with any and all supervision Bob and Dan may want to have and now that it is weeks away from being ready to test and tune I might as well have dumped the money in a fire pit and watched it burn becuase if the car performs in a manner that may be possible it will see the light of day for one pass. Legal, illegal, expensive or inexpensive it does not matter as at any and all rates it was a huge waste of everyones time who has been involved, a dissapointing waste of my families money and I am getting punished for picking a car combination that had promise and fell inside all and every PS rule. Yes I am exceedingly angry. And my understanding with the ownership is that we meet their sanctioning body and insurance mandates they must live by and it is not at all about us going 11.49 it is about us going 11.49 without proper equipment. We should not be going 99 mph with 40 year old lap belts, or maybe worse a Chinese replacement belt and a skinny steering wheel just waiting to crush the chest of the first person who is unlucky enough to put a PS car into the wall. We have lived on barrowed time from my perspective as a racing group. We have had no major incidences yet and have been seriously misguided in safety issues. Safety harness or a roll bar if that is what makes an owner feel safe is not what makes people think our cars are unrealistic but a few fans might notice there are a few people who went the extra mile to ensure they always go home to their families at the end of the weekend. Mark
