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Danger in the name of Safety?
A Top Fuel car launches on what appears to be on a clean 4.5-second, 320-mile per hour run - that is until the 800 to 900-foot mark. An interesting scenario begins to play out. The familiar sight of white smoke begins to pump out of one pipe, then another and another until a lethal thump brings a mix of fire, oil and a mess on the racing surface.
This is a regrettable scene that plays over and over…in the name of safety. The NHRA has been faced with the daunting task of doing the one thing that has never been a staple of Top Fuel drag racing – limit speed. In a drag racing world where the most frightening three issues for the sanctioning body remain nitro, tires and insurance, a fourth problem is rapidly approaching the forefront. How do they maintain the three aforementioned items while limiting the performances the drivers achieve? A speed-limiting discussion in the formative years of the sport would have been deemed blasphemy. In today’s litigious society, the NHRA, some say, is doing everything in its power to limit their liability. The NHRA has been under extreme pressure since the death of Top Fuel racer Darrell Russell in St. Louis two years ago to deliver a safer tire and better conditions for their nitro-burning competitors. Such efforts have become a continual process with racers breaking in at least three new tire compounds since. Still the tires continue to malfunction and the cars keep going faster. a
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The NHRA determined that since the tires couldn’t keep up, a rev-limiter that kills cylinders would be the best way to keep things in check. It isn’t working, say the majority of the professional Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers and team owners. Don Schumacher, who owns five nitro burning teams on the NHRA POWERade tour, just doesn’t see the validity in the implementation of the rev-limiters. Multiple sources have pointed out the rev-limiter’s manufacturer, MSD Ignition, is at their wits end with the negative publicity that has been brought upon them by the NHRA’s experiment. MSD's Joe Pando denies any such friction. "We've been working with the NHRA continually," Pando said. "This is not a situation that is going to be rectified overnight. I think we are close to the end of this learning curve. Gainesville has us headed in the right direction. "Depending on the weather, Houston will tell the story." A track known for warmer than usual conditions, Houston Raceway Park has also proven to draw cooler than usual temperatures as well. A drop in the temperature could result in quicker and faster times - resulting in the potential for more teams to hit what Pando refers to as the "speed-limiter" instead of the rev-limiter. Regardless of the name, some teams are not happy with the NHRA's mandate. Bob Vandergriff, driver of the UPS Top Fuel dragster, was initially in favor of the NHRA's agenda, but has quickly fallen out of love with it. "I supported the inital concept of slowing the cars down because I did not see the need for the cars to go any faster than we were going," Vandergriff said. "Obviously the direction we are headed hasn't worked out as planned. The biggest complaint I have is that we shouldn't even be in this predicament. When we changed to 85% the plan was to slow us down, but then immediately after we were allowed to build bigger fuel pumps, spin the blowers faster, turn the ignition timing up, within a couple of races we were right back where we were before. "The NHRA was then forced to make a rule that combated the initial rule, which now we have had a couple of changes in that rule trying to fix the first rule. If the concept was to slow us down, we should have never been allowed to compensate for the 5% reduction in nitro. That would slowed us down right there. There wouldn't have been a need for the rev-limiter in the first place." This experimentation, which was implemented prior to last year’s Gatornationals, has left some teams weaker in the wallet than they’d normally be either by the cost of parts or monetary fines associated with oil being left on the racing surface. Ray Alley, director of Top Fuel and Funny Car racing, says the implementation of the rev-limiter has been tough on those using them, but has also been tough on the NHRA as well.
“We had to do it to slow down the ever-increasing speeds of these cars,” Alley, a former Funny Car racer and crewchief, said. “In an effort to maintain the horsepower that gives us good side-by-side racing we had to take an altogether different approach. We never ever faced this type of a situation before. We are all stepping into this a little at a time.” Such small steps are testing the resolve of team owners like Schumacher. “This rule has caused the race teams to oil down the tracks and to do it more often,” Schumacher said. “They have gone in the wrong direction and it is creating chaos and havoc as well as downtime. I think Phoenix was one of the highest oildown-oriented events they’ve had in a long time. It’s really because of the rev-limiters.” “It has cost Melanie 20 points and the team $2500,” Schumacher said. “This is not caused by poor tuning or bad assembly of parts. It is the rev-limiter.” a
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Alley pointed out that Troxel’s crewchief Richard Hogan contacted him to clarify the cause of the team’s explosive showing in Phoenix. “Given a week to think about it, Richard called me to say that he was convinced that it cross-fired,” Alley said. “It had an explosion in the intake port. That’s what blew the port out of the head.” Alley pointed out that Hogan agreed that teams have lost three and four cylinders and still haven’t suffered detrimental effects such as what Troxel did in Phoenix. He isn’t so naïve that he doesn’t realize the Troxel incidents left many with grounds for speculation. However, when Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com talked to Hogan, he denied that he cleared the NHRA mandate as being the cause for the parts attrition. Hogan says the explosions were a direct result. “It was all the result of changing the timing because our ignition systems in the car aren’t designed to do that,” Hogan said. “It all starts with a retarded ignition. “It all starts a chain of events and the end result is something finally gives up. Yes, it cross-fires, but it is because the engine is retarded so much and the cylinder pressure is so high. When we drop a cylinder the spark goes somewhere. The engine doesn’t stop firing and the coils don’t stop working. The spark is going somewhere when a cylinder is out.”
The NHRA has made adjustments to retain the integrity of the program by increasing the rev-limiter maximum and on the Sunday of Gainesville issued a memo titled “Oil Down Prevention Notice” which announced increased measures for the lower containment devices, which is commonly referred to as the engine diaper. Starting in Houston, all nitro cars will be required to have their diaper cover the oil pan, both sides of the cylinder block and oil pump. In other words, some say, if we can’t stop blowing them up, we’ll at least contain the oil and debris. Vandergriff says the teams were already doing a good job of containing the broken parts. "I don't think the publicity of fewer oildowns means the cars are blowing up less," Vandergriff said. "I think we are just now doing a better job of containing it. The reduction in nitro hasn't lessened the blow ups. It has just shifted around the cost of running the car. The amount of runs we get out of certain parts now has decreased dramaticlly and if anything the cost is the same if not more than before." In 2004, the driver penalized the most for oildowns had 8. One year later it increased by one. Frank Pedregon is the leader thus far in 2006 with 3 after only three national events, but the most intriguing is Top Fuel point leader Troxel at second with two. “The adjustment seems to be working in Top Fuel,” Alley said. “We will try it in Funny Car when we get to Houston.” a
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Alley confirmed the teams are experiencing a bit more parts attrition when they activate the rev-limiter but he says the level of competition is also forcing them to strain them as well. “Even when they aren’t hitting the rev-limiter, they are still using up parts,” Alley said. “The life of the crankshafts just isn’t what it used to be.” The jury is out for some crew chiefs as to whether the increased rpm limit will have a positive effect. Jon Oberhofer, crew chief for David Grubnic, says time will tell as to whether this will be a solution. “I am not sure how effective the increase will be, only time will tell,” Oberhofer said. “Different crew chiefs do different things with their engine combinations, which I am sure when the rev limiter hits, will make that engine combination react in different ways. We have hit the limiter as early as 4.1 seconds on Hillary and Doug’s car and 4.0 seconds on Grubnic’s car without the major damage that we have seen on some of the other cars.
Bruce Litton, part-time racer on the NHRA POWERade tour, hit the rev-limiter twice in Gainesville and has already felt the sting in his wallet. He said he gets the feeling that Top Fuel cars are now like Super Comp cars with “stutter boxes.” The technology Litton refers to is a device on index-pro-tree cars which limits performance by randomly killing cylinders for a limited amount of time. Such technology is not applicable in the nitro ranks. “It blew the hat and the blower off,” Litton said. “When it hit it, the boost and everything immediately fell off and then came back in. This is worse for the engine than pedaling one will over be. “You can’t blame MSD [manufacturer of the rev-limiters] because it’s not their fault,” Litton said. “I think there’s a way the NHRA can do this without trying to limit something that is as volatile as a bomb.” Following Gainesville qualifying, Funny Car driver Whit Bazemore immediately voiced his negative opinion in the media center following his final qualifying attempt. He pointed out that he enabled the rev limiter twice in four runs. “As a driver, it’s real tough because you lose all feel for what is going on. All of a sudden you’re dropping cylinders and you don’t know if it is the rev-limiters or something else. You just know that your g-meter is falling way off and you have major problems. What do you do on Sunday? “I think we need the team owners to step up and make something happen. We all saw what happened to Melanie in Phoenix because of it.
Bazemore’s stop in the media center ironically occurred when arch-rival John Force was involved in his post-qualifying press conference. Bazemore was searching for Director of Top Fuel and Funny Car racing Ray Alley. Immediately following the meeting, Force walked out but not before uttering, “I have to go with Bazemore, this might just be the one thing we both see eye-to-eye on.” “I believe it is a huge issue for the Funny Cars,” Bazemore said. “We hit it in Phoenix while testing. The rev-limiter kicked on 900 feet into the run. That’s a long way before you get to the finish line. It just gutted the car.”
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Bazemore pulls no punches when he blames the device for the parts attrition teammate Troxel encountered in Phoenix. The early Top Fuel points leader was issued a monetary fine as well as points forfeiture. The NHRA has actually adjusted the rev-limits twice since Gainesville last year. The first adjustment was after Tony Schumacher ran 337 mile per hour in Brainerd. It was adjusted again this season after the repeated parts failures from Phoenix. Team owner Schumacher realizes the NHRA is trying to make adjustments. He pulls no punches in his criticism. “They have not come up with a way to do it that makes any sense financially,” Schumacher said. “It is so detrimental to what we are doing out here. I can’t say that they haven’t changed to make it work because they have tried. It has been really detrimental to the parts. “It has been a disaster from the day they put it in and it hasn’t gotten any better.” Many of the drivers Torco’s CompetitionPlus.com has interviewed revealed the NHRA is slow to adjust to the changing technology. However, their opinions vary as to what will be the safest and most cost-efficient way to solve the problem. Suggestions from those close to the sport have suggested reverting to a single magneto combination while others have suggested fining the teams that exceed pre-imposed speed limit. Another suggestion has been a decrease in downforce.
Oberhofer wonders if the rev-limiter is the best solution after all, but is not so sure that fining the teams might be the most effective. “I don’t know if there is a better solution than the rev-limiter,” Oberhofer said. “I think there are a lot of different ways to slow these cars down, but each would require the teams to spend a lot of money and time to make those happen and there just isn’t enough of either. “I don’t think it would be such a bad idea for NHRA and Goodyear to come up with a speed limit of lets say 335-mph and treat it like the oil downs. You get 1 freebie over 335 and after that you start getting fined or lose points. I think that way each team could come up with their own way of slowing the cars down that work for their combination. I am not a big fan of slowing these cars down but I do understand that there are limits within the construction of the current Goodyear tires and the facilities we race at.” So does the NHRA have a secondary plan if the rev-limiter is scrapped? “We have a Plan B if this doesn’t work,” Alley said. “We’ve actually revised it about three or four times. MSD ignition has been very gracious to us in working on this program.” Alley is adamant that NHRA takes the blame for any shortcoming and MSD shouldn’t have to. “They were good to us when they helped us to develop it,” Alley said. “They have been good about making changes for us. I want to make it perfectly clear that this is an NHRA project.” Bazemore points out that the team owners are going to have to take a stand unless they want their drivers subjected to those kinds of incidents such as the one that befell Troxel. The tire problems of the past are secondary these days. “On a Funny Car, we don’t even need it,” Bazemore said. “I’d hate to drop two or three cylinders and hydraulic the engine. It’s crazy and senseless.” “Personally, I don’t like the rev-limit rule,” Bazemore added. “I have had tire problems to deal with and I’ve had tire problems with it on fire. I’d rather have a tire failure without the car on fire. With the rev-limiter the car will be on fire at some point. We’ve had a lot of cars on fire already because of the rev-limiter. We’re going to burn the tires of it anyway then, so then what’s the point?” Pando, while understanding the plight of the race teams, has a few questions of his own. "All of last year they ran with it and we heard hardly anything," Pando said. "Now all of a sudden they run and now there are problems? Why? "They answer is they have learned to step on it more. They are doing their jobs. Their job is to go quicker and faster."
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