The alternative to 97% - The C blower or more od an analysis

While I still contend that 97% is the best option for establishing parity, lets take a look at the alternative, speeding the blown cars up.

It has been cited that the A/Fuelers have had an upward technology curve over the past few years when compared to the blown cars. Most of that is due in part to restrictions limiting the development of parts for the blown alcohol combination. Meanwhile, the A/Fuelers have not had nearly the restrictions in their technology curve. The new heads, intakes and injectors are improvements that have happened over the past two years. This year has shown the normally aspirated motor likes the smaller runners. There was/is alot of room to play with making an intake runner smaller, but given the current restrictions on what you can modify on existing heads, you can't go much bigger, which would benefit the blown cars.

You can have the most refined combination in the world, but a good blower is at the heart of running well with a blown car. While over the years, slight improvements have been made to the D blower to make it a little better, those small gains are minimal when compared to the scale of advancements on the a/fuel side.

IF NHRA is to leave the A/Fuelers alone to speak, then the blown cars need the C blower. NHRA has long held the cost new equipment as a reason for disallowing it, but given the current situation the blown cars are in, investing in a C blower and associated equipment will be far less than switching to A/Fuel, switching to TAFC, or quitting altogether and liquidating your operation for pennies on the dollar.

It will cost a blown team around $15k for the new blower once you buy the blower for around $9000, make some mods to the fuel system and buy new gear ratios. Lets not forget some of this expense can be recouped by selling the D blower. On even a conservative estimate, it's going to cost you in the neighborhood of $100k on the low side to switch to A/Fuel and around $75k to switch to TAFC. If you don't want to do either, and say the hell with it and quit, you're going to do good to get $50k for a good running blown car with fresh equipment. That's a huge loss on your investment.

The point I'm getting at is even if the new rule is more cid and od which would require new engines, it's still cheaper than the alternative of inaction, which will slowly render a blown alcohol dragster nearly worthless. You'll be able to part them out and be stuck with an expensive shop decoration in the form of a roller chassis.

Let me reiterate, I think 97% is the best solution for the class in 2006. However, I did want to touch base on an alternative solution.