Happy New Year?

Project Stocker has taken a major setback as of mid December due to an NHRA decision to revisit the class indexes. For the 2010 year all stock eliminator and super stock classes have their class index reduced by 3 tenths. This means that the N/SA index went from 13.30 to 13.00. Even when adjusted for altitude at my local track the index would be 13.25 which is what I believe will be the maximum et potential my current combination can handle. Mix in some poor weather and I will just never get under the index.

For a well established class racer who has been at this game for a while and has a strong running car the index change mostly is an irritation. However, for the low buck crowd or those racers trying to get started in class racing the index decision is like having a door slammed in your face. The internet and work benches everywhere are stuffed with theories about why the indexes changed. Some accuse the NHRA or selling out to corporate interests while others argue the fault is with racers themselves for sandbagging quick cars. Regardless, the decision to reduce the indexes has a big impact on racers as it means they will need to spend a lot more money to be competitive. The scary part (IMHO) is that it starts to create a kind of country-club mentality in what is supposed to be a sportsman oriented class. The roots of local drag tracks everywhere can be traced back to the the "racing of the family sedan". The early stock and super stock cars helped form the backbone of bracket racing everywhere and have remained a staple of NHRA drag racing for 50 years. In fact, it is last class of racing in which a hard working and creative racer has an honest chance of building and racing at a National Event without breaking the bank. In the "big picture" of racing it just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Also, given the reality that car counts in stock and super stock are dropping in many divisions, how will lowering the indexes further help encourage more potential racers and index chasers to come out and race? Instead, many people might start asking themselves the question I'm wrestling with...why bother?