Angus Nitro...quits

ANGUS GETTING OUT OF NITRO BUSINESS

The Agent has learned that on Nov. 14 or 15 the Angus Company, supplier to the VP Company official nitro supplier to the NHRA, will announce that it (Angus) will cease to deliver nitromethane for racing from its plant in Louisiana. A highly placed source in the industry told DRO that the Angus CEO has issues with the lack of security and control of the distribution of nitro brought in from China by Don Schumacher and distributed by Evan Knoll’s Torco operation. Supposedly control, tracking and sales of nitro are connected to this country’s terrorism and national security.

The Angus Company sells an enormous amount of nitro for use in industrial and agricultural business, and sales of the chemical for drag racing represents a very small percentage of their overall sales. Evidently they are afraid that they may come under a lot of Federal scrutiny if the Feds get the idea anyone can buy nitro in small quantities over the Internet, which allegedly someone at Angus was able to do.

The bottom line is that apparently the Angus folks want to control delivery, price and supply to whomever ends up selling the product and they evidently want Don Schumacher in particular out of the business. And if that doesn’t happen sources tell us that Angus may take actions that could result in the prohibition of nitro sales for racing purposes. [11-14-2006]

 

sounds like either a marketing ploy or a total crock of .... to me

 

there a little late out of the gate dontcha think? since Timothy Mcveigh bought three drums of VP nitro at Houston Raceway Park and drove right out of the track with them in the back of a pickup quite a few years ago.

 

Or, the how many rabbits can you eat syndrome,

 

Looks like all the A/Fuel guys better start getting blowers

Just kidding.

This is what happens when there is just one company that can sell something

 

Gee, maybe THIS is the solution to achieve parity in TAD!

But seriously (because this could be a serious issue for drag racing as a whole), what if there's no longer nitro available for racing? In effect, all existing Top Fuel / Funny Cars would have to become TAD/TAFC's - and probably crowd out many B/AD cars. Would fans want to see "just" alcohol cars at a national event? Could the Allan Johnson's and Austin Coil's coax out any more performance than the current top alcohol crew chiefs?

I think that IF this happens (no nitro) that it wouldn't be the end of drag racing. If the existing top alcohol cars were somehow to gain a tenth I think it would still be incredibly exciting even without the nitro. And as a bonus because they'd be slower, NHRA wouldn't be quite so hung up on safety and might not bring in more draconian rules (eg: tires, rev limiters). Maybe with all the "extra" cars from the 2 former classes we'd be able to have 32 car dragster and funny car fields.

Just a bit of off-season musing...

 

How long do you thing the big names sponsors would stay in drag racing if there was no Nitro. How many of you T/AD and TA/FC get millions of dollars.

I know back in the 70's they did a way with nitro and it was not the end of drag racing


AA/FCN and AA/TDN blown Alcohol with 3000hp Nitrous now you talk about a bomb

 

Theres always hydrozine. LOL LOL

 

Do Away With Nitro!!!!!

Sure Enough Nhra Banned Nitro At On Point In Time But It Didn"t Take Them Long To Realize The Error Of That Decesssion

 

Hmm... but would that necessarily be a bad thing without the big name sponsors? Yes I know that racing in any class is very expensive and making big power needs big sponsors, but it's also been argued that the presence of big-time sponsors has led to some decisions that weren't in the best interest of the sport.

I'm not even sure that there'd be a mass defection from drag racing without nitro. They're not sponsoring a Nitro Dragster or a Nitro Funny Car, they're sponsoring a top-level, professional racing team. What kind of fuel the top-level, "king of the sport" burns is of little concern to them.

Would blown alcohol w/nitrous even be possible? What kind of numbers do you think it'd run if it didn't blow up? For me as a fan I'd be happy with low 5's and the occasional 4 to make me not miss the nitro.

 

I don't know if it would work. I know that NHRA will not let you run Nitrous and a blower. We run a 572 chevy with a Bird catcher on alcohol and with 300hp Nitrous it picks up 3 to 4 ths in the 1/8 mile. If they could get 1500 to 2000 hp of Nitrous on a good TAD I would think it would pickup 5 or 6 ths or more

Lanny

 

As an old, and I do mean old, alcohol racer from the '70s', I hate the treatment you guys in the Alcohol classes get. To quote Rodney Dangerfield, "I can't get no respect". When you look up in the stands right after the TF and FC's have finished their laps, the crowds are leaving. It's stupid on their part, but that is just the way it is. They miss some of the best side by side racing on earth, but it just isn't as noisy and as large a crowd draw as the blown fuelers. I fear that if the fuel leaves the crowds will too, and we'll wind up with bracket racing. YEEEECCCCHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
Henry

 

IF angus/VP fuels stops supplying nitro to NHRA, wouldnt that be a breach of contract? if so then TORCO could step up and sell to NHRA. Angus doesnt control ALL the nitro.

 

Yeah, I agree - I couldn't believe it when everyone started leaving after the fuel classes made their runs. I hope we don't end up in this boat if/when nitro goes away, but I guess it's hard to say exactly what'll happen.

If there is no more nitro in drag racing, I believe that eventually fans will adjust to a quieter, somewhat slower drag race. Might take a year or two, but if xHRA opens up the rules (i.e. NOS, weight, etc.) and the cars gain a few tenths, the fans will be back. I love close racing and it's nice to see a 4 second run but for me I can't tell much difference between a 4.50 and a 4.70 run. Lift some restrictions on TAD/TAFC, add some power, and have a combined field of 32 in each and it would be awesome.

 

Couple weeks ago ET Raceway had a mud drags and one of the cars had a blower and was using 1000 hp Nitrous on it, so it looks like it will work


Lanny