Winternationals in Pomona this week saw a record set during qualifying in Stock Eliminator. A new group of classes were introduced this year. All the newer cars running fuel injection now have their own classes. Since these cars are also more aerodynamic, it puts them in a class of their own anyway. Al Corda of Elk Mound WI drives a 2002 Firebird in Stock Eliminator in the new class of A/FIA. 348 CID so it must be the LT1 engine but I'm guessing on that. In his first round of qualifying he ran 9.974. The fastest class used to be A/SA and A/S each running low 10's and only in the last couple of years have they hit high 9's. These are the 1970 Hemi Cuda, 1964 Hemi Savoy and 1969 Camaro with the aluminum 427 engines. Unfortunatly being the fastest doesn't make you the best. He was eliminated in the first round.

NHRA is also doing some other changes this year.
The timing system is being changed so that a perfect light is now .000. That way it doesn't matter if you're running a .500 full tree or a .400 pro tree, the perfect light is still .000. It will be up to your regional track if they decide to adopt the new timing system. Most should.

Also at Pomona, the NHRA is using LED lights for the 3 amber lights on the christmas tree. They're doing this to remove the chance of light failures due to vibrations caused by nitro cars shaking the lights. This will reduce the amount or re-runs due to faulty lights. The LED lights eluminate quicker than incandecent lights so drivers will have to readjust to the quicker lights. There's no word yet if they'll eventually change the green and red lights to LED.

im really amazed with these type of classes.ive seen hemi running into the mid-9`s all motor.how do they do that?? now thats a good question.some people think they have a hidden nitrous oxide system, or using some other fuel like nitromethane,maybe their cars frames are swiss cheesed.i wish my 350 na would propel me into the deep 10`s.i guess its possible but how?? certainly these super stock guys wouldnt tell.

dave

Although those cars "look" stock, they're far from it. The engines alone are worth more than my whole car is.

2002 Firebird (WS6, Ram Air) according to NHRA

LS1 350 rated at 325hp. NHRA calculates that the engine can produce 337hp under the strict Stock Eliminator engine build rules and they're usually not far from being wrong. The TransAM model is considered the fastest with a weight break factor index of 9.04.

The minimum weight allowed for this car would be 337 x 9 + 170(driver weight) = 3203 pounds. It has to weigh at least that much (with driver) at the end of the run.

Now getting 337hp to move 3200 pounds into the high 9's isn't as easy as it looks. It's weight transfer, gearing and suspension that gets it down the track that quick. Strip out all the excess weight and parts that you're allow to remove and add the weight back where you need it.

i doubt that this vehicle is making only 337hp.as u know it takes x amount of power with x amount of weight to run a certain time.gearing and suspension alone would not get u to high 9`s with a 337hp motor.

dave

Unfortunatly I don't know the MPH of the runs. MPH is the best indication of HP.

9.947 in a 3200 pound car means you need at least 640hp. Not bad for an LS1.

Also the reason why they went with the LED lights for the ambers and green is becuz of the old filamint bulbs took awhile to warm up and now with the LED lights the come right on, no waitin for the filamint to warm up inside the bulb.

they explained it on ESPN2 wheile they showed the winternationals. i think its a better way for lightin the tree up and also they LED's are brighter then the old bulbs so u can see them better.

Big Al Corda's A/FIA Firebird has in the past gone 9.8's in Top Stock trim. What this means is that he had to weigh 3400 lbs in that class. This time was record in testing by him earlier last year. The 9.97 was accompanied by a 132.x mph trap speed. He is only second driver in legal stock eliminator trim to put an actual 9 sec time on the board. The first was Bobby D'Armond with his A/SA 69 Camaro with the 427 motor. There were 2 other "factored" 9's by a Mopar 426 wedge car and a Ford. Neither of them have ever been able to put a 9 on the board at equal air sea level tracks.
Big Al's combo was a primary reason behind certain guys pushing for splitting the injected cars from the carb cars in stock. NHRA has not seen fit to properly factor the horsepower rating on the LS1 motors but Big Al is apparantly trying his best to get that fixed, lol.
The real reason the amber lights were changed on the Nat'l event trees was due to the beating the fuel cars put on the filaments in those bulbs. They were changing as many as 15 ambers per event. Those bulbs would be hurt by the vibrations put out by the fuel cars and there was no predicting when or if a particular bulb would blow. That would cause numerous reruns during the sportsman rounds due to the bottom amber going out.

When LED lights started coming from the factory on new tractor trailers a couple of years ago, I was already thinking about having them on the christmas tree. Because they operate on a square wave on/off racers will have to re-adjust to how the lights come on. When you're sitting on the start line and concentrating on the tree, you can actually see the light come on, get bright then go dim as it goes out. Racers time themselves to different stages of the light's brightness. Most wait until it's at it's brightest. Now that there's no time delay between when the light starts getting bright to when it's out, racers will need to adjust their reaction times. Older bulbs could take longer to light up which could slow down your reaction time. Now there's no excuse for cutting a good light

It was only a matter of time before NHRA started to use the LED lights. I'm glad they're improving the light system.

How about day vs. night brightness? The incandecant lights will appear differently day vs. night because of the filament warm-up/light-up discussed earlier.

The Bandimere racer's meeting is this Wednesday. I'll have to ask about these two items (R/T, LED) if they don't bring them up.

Oh, if you go to a 0.000 perfect reation time, the display/printout will have to be changed to include a minus (-) sign for redlights.

I've also heard guys talking about not wanting redlights to be an automatic foul. Not sure what I think about that.

If you look the Pomona results you will see negative numbers for reaction times.

The automatic foul red light debate is still ongoing. What they want is a second chance. Since bracket racing doesn't have both cars leaving at the same time what they want is "the worst red light" to lose.

If my 10.99 car goes up against an 11.99 car, my opponent will have a 1 second head start. If he red lights by cutting a .490 light, I have a second to react to my light. If I saw him red light I could just wait for the green to come on, get a poor reaction time, and go race down the track. If I was trying to cut down the tree to get a good reaction time for lane choice or bye run or if I flinched when he red lit and got a .470 light, the way the rules are now I would still win. They way they want it rewritten is the worst red light would lose so since my red light was worst I would have lost. If the rule ever gets into the rule book, you'll just see people just sitting at the light waiting for the green if their opponent red lights.

Last year in Yakima when I bent some valves, I was still able to stage the car. My opponent was a slower car and left first. He red light and gave me the win. I backed out of the lights and went back to the pit. I didn't have to go down the track. A win is a win.

From talking to some of the racers who ran at Pomona, the led's appear the same in both day and night conditions.

Regarding LEDs- Take a look at some of the P/S reaction times. A good P/S RT last year was in the .420 range, these guys were running .402s-.405s all day, now listed as .002 lights. Why it took NHRA so long to implement both systems (LED lighting and net reaction times) is beyond me.