Where does the NHRA go next?

Yogisd1

Yogisd1

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Last week at Sonoma, Robert Hight went 339.87 miles per hour. Mighty fast indeed. Now comes the hard question. Once the cars reach the limit of the tires, what will the NHRA do. Goodyear will only guarantee their tires to 350 MPH. After that, the materials that make up the tires cant hold the centrifugal forces, and the aerodynamic forces that deform the sidewalls. The cars need flexible sidewalls, so they can get "up on the tires" in order to get those speeds. They have already shortened the quarter mile, to 1000 feet, so shortening the track further is not an option. If they try that, they may as well award the wins to the quickest reaction time. Goodyear doesn't want to forge ahead with tire research, because there is no other application that can use the technology. That makes the research cost prohibitive. Only drag racers need tires to perform the way they do. If they knew how to make them, they would be upward of one hundred thousand dollars per tire. (Just a guess, possibly more.) Neither myself, nor anyone else I have discussed this with, has had any suggestion as to what to do. They might reach the limit next year. It would seem the only option is to slow the cars down, but I'm not sure how that would go over with fans. This problem is unique in sports, in that they have reached the limit of what is physically possible. So what is next?
 
This is a tough one but if tires is what everyone is truly worried about, they should be working exclusively on a better tire solution. The 1/8th mile is an option I guess but that would destroy what modern professional drags is all about.
 
I'm old and a drag strip is supposed to be 1,320' = 1/4 mile. Period. So absolutely don't shorten it any further, in fact stretch it back out.
 
Johali said:
I'm old and a drag strip is supposed to be 1,320' = 1/4 mile. Period. So absolutely don't shorten it any further, in fact stretch it back out.
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I agree. 1320 feet. I'd be OK with a radical step down in speed and horsepower. I don't claim to be a knowledgeable drag racing fan, just on the fringe, but I feel the nitro classes have gone too far and it has impaired the racing. JMO.
 
LewTheShoe said:
I agree. 1320 feet. I'd be OK with a radical step down in speed and horsepower. I don't claim to be a knowledgeable drag racing fan, just on the fringe, but I feel the nitro classes have gone too far and it has impaired the racing. JMO.
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Put it back to a 1/4 mile and they'll either slow down, blow out a lotta tires or figure it out. Either way is fine with me.
 
Here are some pics, so you can see the aero forces on the tires. The sharp bends at high speed is what's pulling the sidewalls apart. The hard part is how to keep the tread bonded to the sidewalls.
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With all the advances made to the automotive industry with credit going to NHRA and NASCAR and all the others, We should break into the electric vehicles and start stepping away from the "Reciprocal", Just my 2 cents as a fan.
 
John Barnett said:
With all the advances made to the automotive industry with credit going to NHRA and NASCAR and all the others, We should break into the electric vehicles and start stepping away from the "Reciprocal", Just my 2 cents as a fan.
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I've proposed a NASCAR electric "Dash" Series where they develop an electric car and run it at Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, one of Dover/New Hampshire/Phoenix. I think it would be something cool to implement. I mean, I think I'd rather watch Formula E over F1, but that's just the anti-F1 in me talking.

I think some of the electric technology is cool, but those things are quieter than quiet. You think NHRA fans want to hear nothing?
 
I believe it is unstoppable, eventually we will be forced to step away from petroleum, Fossil Fuel powered vehicles and switch to whatever becomes the new standard.
 
Remove the wing from the top fuelers and make the funny cars...less funny looking. Aero is king. Just like in Nascar. But they keep messing with the engines...
 
It is a big reason I only watch Street outlaws, most of the NHRA classes have lost most of their sparkle with me. But what can they do, the automakers have been making blah cars for years. And that is another political issue in itself.
 
AuzGrams said:
I've proposed a NASCAR electric "Dash" Series where they develop an electric car and run it at Bristol, Martinsville, Richmond, one of Dover/New Hampshire/Phoenix. I think it would be something cool to implement. I mean, I think I'd rather watch Formula E over F1, but that's just the anti-F1 in me talking.

I think some of the electric technology is cool, but those things are quieter than quiet. You think NHRA fans want to hear nothing?
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We would lose the traditional fan base and start gaining the Nerd fan base that is watching Battle Bots, Computer operated, Battery powered, NASCAR would be working on less pitting and weight reduction, while NHRA would be working on transmission and G-Suits (lol).
 
At the start of the 2018 season NHRA decided to change the track prep formula a little so that it wasn't as sticky and that definitely helped slow the nitro cars a little. They are discussing making a rule that would restrict the performance of the super charger for 2019. Big Daddy Don Garlits has been testing an electric dragster for few years. He wants to be the first to go 200 mph. I think he has been 184 mph so far.
 
KTMLew01 said:
Remove the wing from the top fuelers and make the funny cars...less funny looking. Aero is king. Just like in Nascar. But they keep messing with the engines...
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I don't think you would like the performance. Why would you want to slow the cars down to the times they ran in the 1960's? All they need to do is slow the cars down enough to eliminate some of the extremely high cost of racing so that we can get more teams out here racing. We can put 8 to 10 runs on a crank if we run 3.90's in a funny car, but to run 3.80's you will be lucky to get half that many runs on a crank. When you turn the wick up on these motors you burn the heads, blocks, pistons, and stretch the rods a lot more.
 
KTMLew01 said:
MPH is the main issue. Only matter of time till we kill another driver that blows thru the shut-down area.
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That is always a major concern. NHRA has a tough job trying to keep the racing interesting for the fans while trying to keep the drivers as safe as possible.
 
Nitro Dude said:
That is always a major concern. NHRA has a tough job trying to keep the racing interesting for the fans while trying to keep the drivers as safe as possible.
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It's a helluva balancing act that I wouldn't want to be involved in the decision making.
 
All I've been able to think up as an idea is something similar to those tracks they use to test rockets. But there are several issues with that idea.
 
KTMLew01 said:
MPH is the main issue. Only matter of time till we kill another driver that blows thru the shut-down area.
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On aircraft carriers they use arresting cables to stop the planes when they land. The resistance of the cables are set for the different types of planes, depending on their weight, and landing speed. Some tracks already have catch nets at the end of the strip. By integrating the arresting cables for the aircraft into the top, and bottom of the nets, it could stop the cars smoother, and more gradually, than the nets they use now. It would also be able to stop a car that has been damaged in a crash. Using solid supports at the ends of the net, and between the top and bottom cables, this would keep the net from getting tangled around the car, preventing the driver from escaping. Some R&D would have to be done to adapt it for the track, but the system has already been proven to work. If speeds continue to increase (and they will) something along these lines will be a necessity, if we don't want to see more fatalities.
 
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