Okay. It's been done. Pat Musi has proven that you can compete with electronic fuel injection. He's been mid 5.90's at over 240 mph with today's "standard issue" 865 cubic inch nitrous engine. NOW......with that being said.......

WHEN IS THE NHRA GONNA GET RID OF THESE ANCIENT CARBURETORS AND HUMONGOUS HOOD SCOOPS IN PRO STOCK?????

I DARE someone to show me a Cobalt or an Avenger that came from the show room with a 500 cubic inch twin carbureted engine. I'm sick and tired of the cars looking less and less like the car it was modeled after. These hood scoops look like 18th century cannons these days. Nascar is finally starting to see the light and is thinking about implementing fuel injection in 2011. Why is the NHRA so behind on this? Oh wait, I know.....MONEY and FEAR. Companies like Holley dumping tons of money into the NHRA Pro Stock class. FEAR....well, fear comes from the crew chiefs who have years of carburetor data under their belts. And there's a general fear that the racing will suffer and there won't be any more close fields. FEAR that someone will figure out how to use traction control (MSD 7530T)? They have to figure something out, and soon. Pro Modified fields are starting to outgrow Pro Stock fields, and people are packing the stands to see them. To them, Pro Stock is supposed to be the creme de la creme of the door car world. Can we please step into the 21st Century???

I'd like opinions and thoughts about this. This is just a pet peeve of mine, and I'd like to know if anyone else would like to see flat hoods and fuel injection in Pro Stock. Please enter to comment.

 

The carburated prostocks in the NHRA will just about put the *** woop on any fuel injected door slammer on the planet. The tree they cut on u will most likely take care of the rest. And if u think an MSD box will make PS cars leave.....tell that to the old man setting up the clutch...

 

They have been using the MSD 7531's for YEARS NOW in NHRA ProStock. The 7530T does less.......
Traction Control or what ever you want to call it, doent make the cars faster it only slows them down.

 

i feel they should use fuel injection, bikes too...but the hood scoops evolve with the body, they still have to use a car body no older than 6 years old i believe. and the scoops look cool to me. They stated it gains them 100hp but it takes 80 hp of that to push through the scoops drag haha.

Sport compact had/had a pro stock class, and they sure as **** don't race with engine induction that came from the showroom that way.

thats what SUPER STOCK in NHRA is for or STOCK...but not PRO stock.

 

Okay, I wasn't sure if they were using the 7531 or the 7530. It says in the 2010 rulebook on page 15.9 of the Pro Stock rules under "Electrical" Ignition:

The MSD 7530T ignition system is the only accepted unit for NHRA competition.

Actually, under the General Regulations 8:3 Ignition, it specifically names the MSD 7561 and 7531 as completely prohibited from NHRA competition.

"The use of any multi-point rev limiter and/or a rate-of-acceleration rpm limiter, either by themselves (e.g. MSD 7561) or integrated into the ignition system (e.g. MSD 7531), are banned from NHRA competition."

So, are you right and people are using them illegally? I got all this from the 2010 NHRA rulebook sitting on my desk....I saw nothing in the rule revisions about this, either.

Anyway, back on topic. What about the rest of this topic? Is it possible to finally get rid of the huge hood scoops they can barely see over? If they have ignition systems that are the only one that can be used, why can't they do that with electronic fuel injection systems?

 

Okay, I kinda see your point, Matt. All the bikes are fuel injected now, and they're spending most of their time in the 6.90's now. Believe me, I don't expect these Cobalts and Avengers to come out here and run the same 4 cylinder engines they come with from the showroom, I would just rather they LOOK a little more like the car they're supposed to. I just want to see them ditch the hood scoops and use modern tuning methods. I'd be really interested in seeing what guys like Warren Johnson and Mike Edwards could do with electronic fuel injection on their cars.

Here's another thing I've been thinking: Where does the word "Stock" come into play with a Pro Stock car?

 

Stock headlights/taillights, that's about it.

 

I think you'll see NASCAR go to fuel injection before any of the major drag racing classes. The current formula works and any major change isn't going to be cost effective in a class that's already very expensive to run in.

 

i love the current prostock class

 

Im with you OP on the NHRA stepping up to Fuel Injection in Pro Stock. I think if NASCAR go fuel injection in 2011 as people are saying, I think we will see NHRA follow suit soon after. Hopefully, the up and coming drivers of our generation are pushing it and keep it an issue for NHRA. The old vanguard will soon be phased out so who knows. There isnt a car coming off the assembly line with carbs....

 

Have you seen Allen Johnson New Avenger. Looks like they cut the car and made it a two door.
Lilke you said theres nothing stock on that.
Guys like Mike Edwards definetely have a good handle on the car. If we do see changes to Fuel injection It would be a very slow process.

 

Pro Stock is nothing more than a class with rules. Call it what you want but in the reality of things its nothing more than that. Who cares what the cars look like or how modified the original body is. Its a class, these are the rules, play by them or pack sand- pretty simple, lol.

NHRA is not going to ditch the hood scoops and carbs because, wait what was your reasoning again? Technology? There have been many sportsman racers who have the ability to run fuel injection instead of the conventional carburetor setup and they all end up ditching it because its not consistent. If the crew chiefs found out that this cars could pick up more ET because they switched over to fuel injection, trust me, they would all be in a line whining and complaining about it. Also, that hood scoop is serving a big purpose other than being an eye sore. Your reasoning for ditching them sounds like a 16 year who wants to put a body kit on his mom's Accord lol.

These cars get faster and faster each year, following the same set of rules and still remain a very competitive field. These cars are still very impressive with the guidelines they have to follow. Your worried about a stock Cobalt on GM's showroom floor having a 500" motor in it- what about the fact that the whole chassis isn't even a "stock" chassis, maybe the extended wheel base or how about the huge slicks, oh and don't forget the lexan windows.. Get my point? It just a class with rules and regulations, period.

Pro modified is a bad comparison to Pro Stock.. take your example:
Pat Musi has proven that you can compete with electronic fuel injection. He's been mid 5.90's at over 240 mph with today's "standard issue" 865 cubic inch nitrous engine
Your talking something that is 73% larger in CID with a power adder and they are only picking up 1 second in ET vs. a 500" N/A Pro Stock car? They are bringing a crowd to the grandstand because they are just going faster. I bet 1/2 the people in the grandstand don't even know the class rules lol.

Point proven. Good point on the tree too!

 

x2 !!!! Who gives a crap what it looks like as long as you can race it and it is fast !!! If that is truly the way you feel about it, then go put your car in the car show, were it can be judged on looks

 

Pro Stoch has to have a dash that resembles the stock dash, they have to have the stock headlights in them...im sure they dont have to work. they have to have the stock tail lights in them. and its a PRO category so its going to be a tube chassis, with a body on top. What pro class have you heard of that still uses the unibody or stock frame and body. I love the pro stock cars, but pro mod is just to much fun to watch with the big *** turbos and ****.

 

Fuel Injection will be faster even in pro stock cars...

Look at pro stock motorcycles. There much faster now that they are injected..

A carb makes more power but an injected car will make more midrange torque.
In between gear changes will make a big difference in injected cars. Carb's don't work to well in between gear changes..

 

i dont think the bikes run Fuel Injection, and if they do its not all of them for sure that do.

 

Like I said... if fuel injection was picking up ET.. they would be in a line whining and complaining "why can't we run FI... why can't we run FI..."

 

But Titan, AEM, Bullish, etc have gone as fast as pro stocks years ago with less displacment and a power adder on fuel injection you that argument is kind of stupid.

Personally I think it will all eventually come around to using Fuel injection and NASCAR will do it first. Pro stock is fun to watch so I don't see a reason to change it in one off season. If they want to change it they should do it slowly

 

I can't believe ppl r bashing prostock ....the most exciting side by side racing you'll ever c. Wake up!!!!!

 

having been around prostocks and comp eliminator cars that are just like prostocks most of my life, they have more technology in them and advances in technology then most of any other racing class

 

One thing I've seen as a trend: NHRA usually follows suit with whatever Nascar does. If Nascar says they're thinking about fuel injection, NHRA will not want to be left behind. For those that don't know: every Pro Stock Bike is using fuel injection. Most of them are using Motec M4's. Pro Stock Bike has picked up their performance CONSIDERABLY since changing to fuel injection. Remember when they couldn't run 6's in great weather? Well, now they're doing it in not so great weather with fuel injection. What is it going to hurt by going to fuel injection? The bikes went to it and nobody noticed anything other than the fact that they were going faster than they were with carbs.

 

Sooooo......
You're saying that guys with lifetimes of experience building, fine-tuning, and selling a carburated engine would just jump right into building and tuning EFI engines, and they would be begging NHRA to make that change to their entire racing program?
Ask any one of the experienced PS engine builders which would be quicker/faster, and they would all agree that an EFI engine would be better.
There's no way you can compete with the limitless possibilities of EFI. Just look how the F1 cars evolved even after they took away the turbos. The problem is you would have to cancel the current PS racing programs of all the pros, as well as the racing industry itself. The costs to run the class would also probably escalate out of control if they weren't kept in check. It would be financial suicide.

The only way it could work is to create a new Pro EFI class, where the class would develop on it's own and the current crop of PS racers could get involved without sacrificing what they have now.

 

i dont see how ending carburation and switching to EFI would cause all of those problems in the class. There is no reason why they could not get a year in advance or even 2 years heads up to start working on it and just make the switch.

 

What does an entire carb influenced racing parts industry do when they have no pro class to support and endorse their products?
What do the engine builders and racers with 30-40 years experience with carb engines, do when they have a year or two to develop an entirely new engine, fuel system, and possibly new chassis, for running EFI?
What makes you thing they'd want to switch and sell off their entire engine program and start from scratch? It would be similar to what happened to Pro Stock Truck.

 

I appreciate the responses, guys! Thanks for keeping it civil and everyone getting their thoughts about this out there. I have always been curious as to whether or not I was crazy for thinking the way I do about this topic. I probably am, I just want to hear what others think about it.