Friday’s announcement of a moratorium on all nitro testing at NHRA national event facilities came as an acknowledgment by the NHRA of a situation they’ve largely avoided commenting on – an impending crisis facing their official supplier.

The traditional P.R.O. test session the week before the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis has also been canceled.

Friday’s announcement of a moratorium on all nitro testing at NHRA national event facilities came as an acknowledgment by the NHRA of a situation they’ve largely avoided commenting on – an impending crisis facing their official supplier.

The traditional P.R.O. test session the week before the NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis has also been canceled.

The NHRA’s decision to limit testing will not completely stop teams from testing but will force them to travel to such venues as Valdosta, Georgia or Martin, Michigan to get in those laps. Most of the team owners CompetitionPlus.com spoke to regarding the issue said they’re not up in arms about the situation.

"Other than the fact we probably would've run here if we could have, it's not really going to have a big impact on us,” said Del Worsham, whose CSK-sponsored team missed the cut in Topeka. “With all the racing we have coming up this summer, we hadn't planned to test until the pre-Indy session anyway.  We had a bad couple of days here, and it would be nice to just go make a lap to be sure we had it all sorted out, because we weren't that far off here, but instead we'll just pack up and go to Chicago. 

 

The only person it's going to benefit is Larry Morgan,'cause he's going to sell a lot of tee shirts. - Ron Capps on the testing ban. 

“I'm a little sad they canceled the Indy session, because that was always a key test session for us, but at least this is a level playing field.  We can't test, but no one else can either, so we're all in this together.  Basically, it's like spilled milk right now.  The situation is what it is, so there's no use crying about it.  We just deal with it."

John Force has utilized many of the post-event test sessions over the years and he said he understands the decision and will abide by it.

“Basically they (the NHRA) made the rules because there is no nitro,” Force said. “We don’t know for sure how much there is going to be and I don’t make the rules. If Graham Light says we don’t test I just tell my people. If you look at the economy diesel fuel is going up, gasoline is going up and nitromethane is going up. This isn’t the NHRA; they don’t handle the nitro. Whatever rules they hand me is what I’ll abide by.”

Don Schumacher has been a big part of the nitro controversy for the past month. He understands the NHRA’s stance but can’t help but feeling it’s one they shouldn’t have to take.

“I know the NHRA is trying to conserve nitro because of the concerns they have as far as supply,” stated Schumacher. “I wish they would make business decisions that allowed the teams to do what they needed to do in order to perform in this difficult environment; that need to test and go out and take care of their sponsors.

“I think there are other things the NHRA could decide to do but that’s my personal opinion. They are doing the thing they think is the best for the sport to hopefully have enough nitromethane through the season.”

The real issue for many of the teams CompetitionPlus.com spoke with is the combination of the new Goodyear tire and a new chassis mandatory by the Denver event in July.

“It’s not just the new tires coming in,” Schumacher said. “Come Denver, there will be a new mandated chassis for the Funny Cars and I don’t believe all of the teams have transitioned over to the new chassis. With the new tires, it will be doubly tough. Teams are just going to have to deal with that.”

Schumacher declined to say whether or not he will test at alternate facilities but did say the IHRA national events have become an option.

“We haven’t decided as to what we want to do yet and we are putting out calls to some track owners,” Schumacher said. “We could very well end up in Budds Creek, Md., at that IHRA event because of the need to go out and develop some things. There are so many things you need to test and it’s a lot better to test them in a test session than come to a national event and be uncertain of what will happen.”

Schumacher has enough nitromethane to supply the test sessions, but the NHRA has taken a hard line stance they don’t want team owners or racers distributing the fuel. The NHRA has clearly drawn a line in the sand they have no interest in working with Schumacher outside of brokering a deal between him and VP.

“I have a substantial amount of nitromethane at my facility now but I have to say that business considerations may cause me to divert that product elsewhere,” Schumacher said. “You can only sit on this product for so long before you start to look at what is best for you on a financial basis. As I’ve told NHRA and the teams, I did not get into the nitro business to sell nitro to VP. That isn’t an option for me. We’ll just see what transpires in the next few weeks. Hopefully there will be a positive move on NHRA’s behalf to get another distributor; that makes sense being able to supply the sport.”

Funny Car driver Ron Capps said he's little torn on the testing moratorium. On one hand he's like to spend more time with the family and on the other he knows testing is vital. His take is shared throughout the pits by a number of drivers CompetitionPlus.com spoke to.

"The only person it's going to benefit is Larry Morgan," Capps said. "'cause he's going to sell a lot of tee shirts."

The shirts referenced by Capps are those Pro Stock racer Larry Morgan had printed up after his famous comment on the timing debacle that plagued the NHRA years back. These shirts were solid black with the moniker "You can't fx stupid."

Morgan was given a cease and desist order to cease printing and selling shortly after they became public by the NHRA.