LIGHT: 1000-FT UNLIKELY FOR TOP ALCOHOL CLASSES
So said Graham Light, NHRA's senior vice president, racing operations, in a Thursday morning interview.
Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver was killed last Sunday at the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceway in Kent, Wash. That came one month after Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Neal Parker died at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. In both cases, the parachutes detached from the cars.
The performance history of alcohol dragsters and Funny Cars over the last decade is the reason NHRA decided not to reduce race distances for those classes to 1,000 feet, despite two fatal accidents in a month.
So said Graham Light, NHRA's senior vice president, racing operations, in a Thursday morning interview.
Top Alcohol Dragster driver Mark Niver was killed last Sunday at the Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceway in Kent, Wash. That came one month after Top Alcohol Funny Car driver Neal Parker died at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. In both cases, the parachutes detached from the cars.
"If you look at the speeds of the cars, and I went through this exercise the other day, these cars, because of the moratorium we've put in place in engine development, on superchargers and transmission, they aren't going any faster today than they did 10 years ago," explained Light. "In fact, 10 years ago, the top speed of that year was 274 mph. I'm not sure any alcohol dragster has run that fast this year. They've run close, we've had 271, some 273s.
"Bottom line, these cars are not going any faster. And they haven't gone any faster in 10 years. With the way the rules are so confining, the likelihood of them picking up any significant speed is non-existent. So, I think we're comfortable at the (quarter-mile) distance we're running.
"I don't foresee any change, certainly, not in the immediate future."
