could the resurgance of blown entries die away as quick as it came?

with the new od given to the blown cars at the end of last season there was much hope that the b/ad could be a viable championship winning combination. several new blown teams popped up this year, and the existing blown teams were hard at work getting a handle on the new od. after getting beat up pretty good the last few years, the blown cars finally got a bone thrown their way and the a/fuel cars were virtually left alone. what a great year for tad. however, there was a storm cloud over the horizon. how close to their potential were the a/fuel cars?

enter lucas's 5.12 in pomona. phenominal run. good conditions, but not really what you would call 'mineshaft' like we saw in virginia last year when the blown cars returned to the mid .20's.

all over the country, a lot of hope was lost for the blown contingent.

is this recent jump in performance a by product of the new digital ignition and electronic fuel timers? or did boggs just use some of his mojo? without a lot of money, none of us outside the lucas team will ever truly know. several a/fuel teams stepped up big time as well. new toys or new ideas? bottom line is the same.

if nothing else, lucas' 5.12 compels us to take a hard look at the parity of the class again.

so let me throw these two topics out there:

1. will the current a/fuel good air advantage be off set by a blown car 'regular/bad' air advantage during the middle of the year? what we're looking at is the front runners of each. support your response with facts.

2. will the top blown cars run equal to the top a/fuel cars in the warmer months?

3. under the current rules, what is the absolute best for both combos?

4. what justifications can be made for any performance-limiting regulations on the b/ad right now?

5. what can a b/ad run with a c blower at 128 od?

no bashing...no badmouthing the other side...let's just get some intellegent discussion going here.

here's my opinion -

1. there will be races where the blown car has the upper hand. there will be less this year as the a/fuelers get a handle on the hot weather. reichert won the championship last year kicking ass in the hot summer months. i'd say 2 national events and 5 divisionals. of those races you might ask the question...would the dominance been the same if a reichert/lucas/gallant, etc showed up?

2. given the current rules, no more than 3 nationals you'll see equal performances at the top of the qualifying list and on race day.

3. i don't think 5.0's are out of the question, and it may happen this weekend in houston. mid 60's at sea level. i think a 5.199 out of a blown car would be on par with a 5.099 out of an a/fueler. more realistically we may see another 5.11/5.12/5.13 out of the a/fuel side and a 5.22/23 on the blown side in a mineshaft. about a tenth difference.

4. based on potentials of the combinations, i don't see anything that justifies limiting the blown cars. i think the c blower needs to be legalized immediately.

5. i think a middle teen is attainable out of a c blower. at somepoint up the boost scale the amount of air the cylinder head can flow and the cid the b/ad runs at will be the limiting factor, not the supercharger. how close we are to that point is debatable.

federlin just crashed....will he rebuild in b/ad trim? perkins steps up to a career best 5.33 only to be two tenths back....they have a fc in the shop, will they stick with the b/ad? lee callaway still has a b/ad but has already moved to tafc.

who else may make the switch to tafc? or quit.

just remember blown alcohol dragsters help the class.

 

pro mod

one big difference b/t pro mod and tad is the nitrous cars have little or no restrictions....they're giving them all they got.

the c blower is sitting there waiting...

 

cheaper?

i've worked on both and ordered parts for both. in a perfect world, an a/fueler can be MARGINALLY cheaper at best...and you have to be comparing apples to apples. if you compare an a/fueler that isn't breaking parts to a blown car breaking parts, obviously the a/fueler is cheaper. you could swap that argument and make a blown car drastically cheaper.

some things are cheaper on the a/fueler, but most of those costs are offset. drum of nitro, double the ignition expense and at very least 50% more clutch expense. when you go fast, the goodyear tires don't last long. also look at how many heads the fast cars go through...burning valves and the like.

valve spring and rod technology has improved over the past few years to help lower the cost of the bad side. i don't know how many runs teams are getting now at the increased od, but valve springs are lasting close to 20 runs now, and many teams run the new style steel springs.

marginally cheaper at best when comparing apples to apples....if possible.

 

O'Bannon

O'Bannon is going TAFC...read the release in the news section...