Two hours of clean-up time at the recently completed NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle isn't enough incentive for the NHRA to reverse their no-oildown penalty edict handed down at the first of the season.

Graham Light, NHRA Vice President of Competition, admitted that he only had records accessible dating up until Englishtown.

“We haven’t seen a huge variance from last year to this year [at the same time],” said Light. “We haven’t seen a shift in either direction.”
Sanctioning Body Sees No Negative Variance of Oildowns With Lifting of Penalties …

Two hours of clean-up time at the recently completed NHRA Northwest Nationals in Seattle isn't enough incentive for the NHRA to reverse their no-oildown penalty edict handed down at the first of the season.

Graham Light, NHRA Vice President of Competition, admitted that he only had records accessible dating up until Englishtown.

“We haven’t seen a huge variance from last year to this year [at the same time],” said Light. “We haven’t seen a shift in either direction.”

The Alcohol categories amounted for an hour of delays in qualifying at the most recent stop on the 24-race NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series event. The nitro cars were down over an hour on Sunday after running clean for the first two days. The Alcohol divisions ran clean on Sunday.

“The heat just can’t produce the same kind of a racing surface that you could see in the spring or the fall,” Light explained. “The bright, sunny days like we had in Seattle cause the cars to spin the tires and that causes engine failures.”

The bright spot, Light conveys, was the NHRA O’Reilly Summernationals back in late-May, where there were no oildowns in either nitro category throughout the event.

“That’s never happened since we started keeping records,” Light beamed.

The NHRA first implemented monetary and point penalties in 2000 as a means of limiting the downtime spent cleaning up oil left by habitual offenders.

A souring economy and cash-strapped teams, in addition to a media and public outcry for relief, inspired the sanctioning body to offer discounted race tickets to fans, limit nitro testing and suspend the oildown penalties.

The oildowns of 2009 are on an even plane with last season, according to Light, but he adds there have been some races which have tested the mettle of the sanctioning body.

“We’ve had some events that haven’t been as good,” said Light in referencing the Topeka success.

One of those events was likely the first day of the 2009 NHRA Summit Nationals in Las Vegas when qualifying was cancelled after one Top Fuel dragster oiled the track from start to finish. The driver was denied entry for an indefinite time, pending proof of a successful test session.

The short-fields of 2009 has brought out the part-time teams to compete but those infractions committed in Seattle were largely by higher financed teams with a reputation of running clean more times than not.

Light readily points out an awareness that the NHRA is in the entertainment business and the clean-up delays can harm the value of the product that the sanctioning body delivers.

“Certainly any amount of oil is damaging to our show for the fans, sponsors and fellow competitors that follow in their tracks,” Light said. “It’s not fair to our fans and it’s not fair to our workers who have to go out in the heat and clean up messes. It’s something that we need to continue to work on.

“We don’t enjoy imposing penalties and would rather not do that. Our whole intent from the beginning was to find some incentive to clean up our act for the benefit of the fans, media and sponsors. For the most part I feel like the teams have done a good job of paying attention to maintenance.

“Our sport by its mere nature is to go as quick and fast as you can. That is a recipe for this kind of thing [oildowns] to happen. That doesn’t make it acceptable.”

Light concluded it is too premature to determine whether or not the oildown penalties will return in 2010.

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