NHRA SPORT COMPACT TECH COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES FUTURE PLANS FOR PRO FWD CLASS

GLENDORA, Calif. (Sept. 21, 2005) – In a move designed to enhance the level of competition in the championship ranks of the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series, while reviving the classic front-wheel-drive versus rear-wheel-drive rivalries that served as the foundation of modern-day sport compact drag racing, the Pro FWD and Modified classes will unite to form one championship class in the NHRA Xplod Series beginning with the 2007 season, the NHRA Sport Compact Tech Committee announced today.

During the transition to class unification, Pro FWD and Modified will remain separate, stand-alone championship classes for the remainder of 2005 and through the 2006 season of the NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing Series. NHRA will restructure the PRO FWD guaranteed purse to vary by participation within the class at each event in 2006, as outlined in the chart below.

“Combining PRO FWD and Modified into one championship class is expected to create several benefits,” said Josh Peterson, general manager, NHRA Xplod Sport Compact Racing. “First, it will create a compelling championship class with front versus rear wheel drive technology. Second, it will help ensure full fields and exciting side-by-side racing. Third, it will help enhance television and media exposure for the championship classes.”

The early announcement of the class revision provides ample time for all parties involved to properly plan for 2007 and beyond.

“I believe that the Pro-FWD class has proven to be the most expensive and technologically challenging out of all the NHRA Xpl?d Sport Compact Racing classes,” said Ed Bergenholtz, the current points leader in the Pro-FWD class. “Although it is an exciting class and has undeniable links to the foundation of sport compact drag racing, parity, reliability and participation have proven difficult to achieve in Pro-FWD.”

“With this inevitable evolution for Pro-FWD performance, I think the NHRA’s decision to merge Modified and Pro-FWD in 2007 is a great idea and would create a rivalry that mimics the foundation of sport compact drag racing. Further, I am confident that this would create some great side-by-side racing, fan excitement and also push the limits of sport compact drag racing technology.”

The NHRA Sport Compact Tech Committee also announced it is reviewing the possibility of expanding the field of competition from an eight-car to a 16-car field after the merger, giving the new class four rounds of eliminations instead of three.

“The memorable rivalries that developed between racers with front-wheel-drive cars and those that preferred to be behind the wheel of a rear-wheel-drive vehicle became the grassroots of the sport and inspired the sport compact drag racing movement in its infancy,” said Peterson. “Although front-wheel-drive based cars remain popular with today’s consumer, there has been a steady decline in the number of cars competing in the Pro FWD class due to the cost to go racing and technology.”

The melding of Pro FWD with the Modified class is expected to enhance the competitiveness of the fields and produce more entertaining side-by-side racing action, which is hoped to increase the exposure for the NHRA Xplod Series and expand the possibilities for overall growth for the entire sport compact racing industry.

NHRA also announced a revised purse structure for the Pro FWD class in 2006 with a guaranteed payout for the top four finalists in the elimination rounds. At events where up to four Pro FWD vehicles participate, the winner’s take will be $2,000, with runner-up receiving $500 and $250 for each semifinalist for a total payout of $3,000. If more than four vehicles participate in the Pro FWD class at an NHRA Xpl?d Sport Compact Racing Series event, the payout will double to $6,000, with $4,000 going to the event winner, $1,000 to the runner-up and $500 for each semi-finalist.

 

Oh hell another storm just rolled in.

 

Oh it won't be that bad. Us FWD guys just gotta step it up by 2007. Gives us one year to figure it out.

 

They should limit the modified class to the same size tires as the fwd cars, that'll slow em down!!!

 

This should make for some good racing i 07. Everyone has a full year to get thier cars sorted out and I'm sure rule changes in 06 will help get things as even as possible for the coming year.

 

that is one way to make a full class

 

thats cool if they will let us big tires cars take some LBS off

 

that could possibly happen

 

 

this is going to get juicy

 

You can only get down the track so fast with a certain amount of traction. I think allowing the fwd cars big tires and having a limit closer to the fwd limit could make it a very competitive class. 33x15 max maybe for both classes?

 

i think many people could sense this coming....

let's hope that some of the pro fwd cars that were in development still come out next year, and the year after! Jojo, rado, rhodes, kubo, hoyos, jason hunt, others...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Slapshotnerd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think many people could sense this coming....

let's hope that some of the pro fwd cars that were in development still come out next year, and the year after! Jojo, rado, rhodes, kubo, hoyos, jason hunt, others...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Im sure Kubo is out of the scene at least for SC. This will create good side by side competition. Nothing like FWD vs. RWD. But could they possibly stick AWD into this equation too??

 

off the top of my head i can think of a gaggle of profwd cars

1. hoyos
2. ladwig
3. ed and ron
4. mopar neon
5. rhodes
6. rado
7. pat and leevon
8. lisa or jasons old car??
9. jojo reworking his rsx?

thats nine and i remember there being others. I mean even if half the field shows up each race plus the rwd cars...that makes for a good size field....now imagine if everyone showed up from both sides of the coin

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid-Performance.com &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Im sure Kubo is out of the scene at least for SC. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats funny how there are some many stories on her. I hear from another source that her and neslon's deal is still on. A really good source. I argued with him on it and told him about that article with Cruz. He still said her PRo Rear car is still getting built. Go figure.

 

i heard the same thing

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Turbo Ric &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I argued with him on it and told him about that article with Cruz.</TD></TR></TABLE>

She's a nitro funny car pilot in training with FRANK Pedregon, not Cruz.

 

I think it's about time NHRA did this. When the two classes were combined years ago, and I use to race my Supra, it was usually Steph and I in the final round together. I'm sure if you asked Steph he enjoyed the class when it was like that. I remember it was close everytime as well. I would go through the traps at 165 MPH and Steph would fly through at 181. I'm sure if the 1320 grew to 1321 he would have won a few of the races that he lost, that's how close a lot of them were. Pepe Loco used to have his car in that class too and I am sure he could tell you about some close races with Steph as well.

I remember a lot of the FWD guys complaining that they needed there own class at the time and I would always voice my opinions that they shouldn't be seperated. You know how good it will feel when you guys beat a big tire rear wheel drive car? That day will make it all worth the while.

Now, I remember when I raced in the class I had to weigh 2800lbs and Steph had to weight 1500 lbs. That makes up a big difference. I don't know how light Steph actually was back then, I am pretty sure he wasn't that light but I think he was in the low 1600 lbs. range.

I think a lot of the rules having to do with the Modified cars need adjusting though, I have voiced my opinion at this as well. I don't think that the answer is in teh turbo size either. I think you have to come out with some very strict rules about how the actual cars need to be built. I think the rules are to far out of hand making it too expensive to build a Modified car. I don't know anything about the costs involved to build a Pro FWD car but I know that they are very high. The costs to build a competitive Modified car are very high right now as well. I think that they need to build rules that significantly lower the build costs of these cars and lower the costs to run one of these cars as well. This way the teams can invest a little more money into going to some more races.

My ideas for the Modified cars are this. Rear wheel size should be limited to 15" diameter, no 16" bead lock wheels allowed in this class. Limit rear size to 9" , 9.5" ring gear (you shouldn't need one with a 15" diameter wheel anyway), consider eliminating the sequential transmission, at least eliminate the use of a slipper clutch in one. Make some rules that stop people from building these tube cars with sheetmetal on them. At this point you may as well build a Pro RWD car.

I rememebr my Supra used a Powerglide transmission, had a factory floor that was never modified, used the factory frame rails and had a boxed steel chassis connecting the four-link and the front frame rails together. The car was super consistent, easy to maintain, and it was very quick. This class needs to be where someone can take $20,000 and invest it in there car and have a rolling chassis ready to compete, not the $50-80,000 that you need now.

There are quite a few cars that can compete in this class right now that are already built and there would be a large influx of people ready to build cars if they were comfortable about what they were getting into.

I know that everyone keeps talking about all these Pro FWD cars that are being built right now and for the last two years everyone is saying that the class is going to be great but the fact remains that these cars are not coming out to compete. I know how expensive it is to race these days and I also know how hard it is to find a retuirn on the investment that you make and I think that a lot of these cars that you are all talking about have fallen victim to economic woes. If NHRA can build some more excitement in these classes there may be a greater investment from outside to help the sport grow, I just hope that it's not to late.

I think there are other areas that the NHRA needs to address to get more involvement from the racers too but that is another story alltogether. I hope that this comittee that NHRA has put together brings positive changes to teh sport because we are in some dire need of some major changes if we want to flourish in the future. I wish them the best of luck and hopefully you turn the ship around and I'll come racing with you again too if you can.

-Paisley

 

Paisley,

I remember looking in your car in 2001/2002 and saying "Look at that he's still running a VPC/GCC.
Oh how the times have changed.

John

 

oh ****...here we go. this such be interesting.

 

i read this thing yesterday with the email that was sent out overall I think it is great idea to bring the class back together. Just the rules have to pair the RWD fairly with the FWD and we should have very good competitive racing. Isnt that what its all about. 2001-2002 racing was fun back then when you would see paisely vs steph and many others the class was always full

 

We built our imports back in 1988 to run against the Mustangs, Camaro's Etc. at the street races for the sole purpose of beating the rear wheel drives. It should bring back some nostalgia from the Paisley-Steph days as well as the FWD vs. RWD era on the streets in the late 80's.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bergenholtzracing &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We built our imports back in 1988 to run against the Mustangs, Camaro's Etc. at the street races for the sole purpose of beating the rear wheel drives. It should bring back some nostalgia from the Paisley-Steph days as well as the FWD vs. RWD era on the streets in the late 80's.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yup same thing we all did back in the day. it was all about fwd vs rwd. It will be nice to see a complete class At least now we know that NHRA sport compact is not going anywhere any time soon

 

no guys , she is in powerade for next year.........frank pedregon had the announcement on nhra.com....but if i know Lisa and gary..youll be seeing them pop up from time to time..im sure of it...ya never know..........congrats once again Lisa on the nitro deal.........and congrats to ed for taking the pro fwd championship..or at least locking it down for now.....

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by fearless4 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">no guys , she is in powerade for next year.........frank pedregon had the announcement on nhra.com....but if i know Lisa and gary..youll be seeing them pop up from time to time..im sure of it...ya never know..........congrats once again Lisa on the nitro deal.........and congrats to ed for taking the pro fwd championship..or at least locking it down for now..... </TD></TR></TABLE>

I believe she is training for next year, they are still looking to finalize some deals to make everything happen from what I read. Hell Frank just recent got his own deal finalized to finish racing this year with Toyo.


“Basically, Lisa’s in training with me as the driver of a possible second car,” Pedregon confirmed. “This is all part of the diversity program I’m creating that will all mesh and gel with another announcement I’ll be making in the near future. I have so many deals in the works right now.”