NHRA tech issues new rules aimed to bring parity to 3 classes

After a single race, the NHRA Technical Department slapped three late-debuting classes this week with rules designed to bring parity. The targeted classes were Pro Stock Motorcycle, Pro Modified, and Factory Stock Showdown, all of which premiered at the last weekend’s Amalie Oil Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla.

Some classified the changes as knee-jerk reactions on the sanctioning body’s part, a departure from its customary practice of watching a pattern of three or four events before deciding if changes are necessary. Three-time and current Pro Stock Motorcycle champion Matt Smith was aggravated that all V-Twin-powered engines must add 15 pounds of minimum weight to help the handful of Suzuki racers and any future Kawasaki riders.

He said, “Drag racing is about going fast and going as fast as you can and winning. Yet we get penalized for that because now we’re going too fast and one brand can’t keep up? That’s just not right. Why do we get penalized for working hard and doing our jobs?

“Our S&S bikes, the bodies that we run, all that stuff can be bought, right from the manufacturer. They can have it within two months’ time and build it and go just as fast as we can if that’s what they want to do,” Smith, who competes on an EBR motorcycle, said. “The problem is all these guys got old equipment. The Suzuki guys, the only one that’s got a new frame is Jimmy Underdahl, and it was built last year. Everybody else's Suzuki stuff is at least seven to 10 years old, the chassis. They’re not spending money. They’re relying on Vance & Hines to give them power. And they’re hobby racers because they just want to come and run in the pros. Yet they gripe and complain when they don’t run fast. And they don’t do their homework."

Suzuki racer Steve Johnson was elated to hear the ruling.

“It might make two or three hundredths. Every little bit helps, but this is our (the Suzuki riders’) way back,” he told Autoweek. Later Thursday, Johnson posted this Facebook message: “What a FANTASTIC day!!! While I'm traveling, I get a text (actually a few of them) saying, ‘NHRA changed Pro Stock Motorcycle rules.’ … Thank you NHRA. Waited 20 years for a rule like this. They added 15 lbs. to the Pro Stock Motorcycle Association Inc.  … It opens the class up to more people. 160 to 175 lb. riders that use to watch can now come out and race NHRA. Thank you again #nhratech. Thank you so much to all that pushed for this new rule.”

The Pro Modified ruling was designed to help the outnumbered racers whose engines are nitrous-aided. But turbo expert and class racer Harry Hruska said that doesn’t make sense in light of the Gatornationals results. He wondered why the NHRA reduced the minimum weight of nitrous-aided entries with a lock-up converter from 2,450 pounds to 2,425 pounds. He was especially perplexed, considering the three nitrous-powered racers — Bob Rahaim, Chad Green, and Khalid Al-Balooshi — performed well in qualifying, which is arguably harder than navigating the eliminations ladder. They were respectable midpack starters in a category whose DNQ list read like a Who’s Who of Pro Mod drivers. Minimum weights remained the same for the turbocharged and supercharged entries.

“I thought that the nitrous cars went pretty doggone fast. There were three nitrous cars, and they were able to qualify. You can’t say that about turbo cars. You can’t say that about blower cars. I don’t understand – there’s a lot of great cars that didn’t qualify. I thought the nitrous cars did pretty well,” Hruska said. I don’t understand why there needs to be change when they’re qualifying. In Pro Mod, if you qualify, anyone can win.”

He said, “That’s just a knee-jerk reaction because someone’s complaining that they didn’t do well at the first race. Historically, (the NHRA makes) adjustments after three races, not one race. I just think that, unfortunately, NHRA may have made a move on something (when) we don’t really understand the parity yet. The first race was a phenomenal racetrack that no one ever sees (otherwise), and we’ll probably never see that track for the rest of the year — or those conditions.”

Steven Whiteley, who races with a supercharged engine, noticed that the nitrous-aided contingent at Gainesville last week was small but said the three “qualified and fairly decent, I believe. Depending on the conditions, it’s a dance on which power-adder will be the top dog. Will it affect us? I guess we’ll have to see how Texas (Race No. 2 in the series, next month at Houston Raceway Park) goes. Managing all three power-adders will forever be a challenge. 

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