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For Immediate Release
THE SCOREBOARD By Dean Murdoch, (Photos courtesy Guy Van Syckle, Dean Murdoch and Jim Kelso)
(John Haley is the quickest and the only 5.20 blown driver in 2004) After 55 of 59 events including the No Problem Divisional and Chicago National, the last two events run.
(Mitch Myers hold the distinction of being the quickest TAD in 2004 with a 5.211. Ashley Force below, is the Queen of the class in 2004 with 43 runs 5.399 and quicker) This recap is mostly stats based and offers some insight to the parity (aren't you getting sick of that word?), issue. I am not picking sides, just looking at the big picture, which is the success and growth of the class. As a person that does not have a vested interest in a car in TAD, but a person who knows the class about as well as any journalist in the business, I feel it is very important for both sides to look at the future and the future does involve both types of cars.
Don Hudson was the #1 qualifier at Pomona.
David Wells is the 5.30 leader for the BAD contingent with 21 hits in that range.
* Don't have the Divisional and National events separated.
Mike Gunderson (above) is #2 in the ET range this season and the MPH king with 2 275.65 blast and the only 280 mph shot in 2003. Mark Hentges (below) is the fastest BAD driver in history with three 270 mph clockings including a 271.06mph shot at Mission in May of this year.
Cars in competition
Note: * There are a possible 21 rounds left to be earned at 3 Divisional events. * There are 15 more rounds to be earned at one National event * There was one double DQ at a national event that had two A/Fuelers against each other (Also there is one less divisional event this season.)
Shelly Howard (above in both her A/Fuel and BAD), is one of three high profile drviers to switch to A/Fuel in the last 11 months
Steve Federlin has had his best performances this season but still no national event wins. The participation of the two types of
cars in the last two years has been very close to the same (actually
a 10% increse in BADs surprisingly) , and there was a rule change for
2004 in hopes of bringing the two classes closer together. In my opinion
the change did one thing only; it made the A/Fuelers more consistent!
Based on the stats, they won a As far as the ET disparity this season, it is around .10 even though it was equal for a few early national events. It has been as high as 15/100ths (a couple nationals) in favor of the A/Fuelers and at Vegas and Pomona it was basically even. The opening event this year at Pomona the best BADs where 2/100s quicker than the best A/Fuelers. Gainesville this season was a bit of a surprise with Art Gallant running so well out of the gate, after not running hardly at all in 2003. He may of had a car that was heavy in his championship year (2002) I don't know. Art Gallant (above) has improved his performance in the RT dept. this season and is one of the most consistent A/Fuelers out there. Duane Shields below (both of his latest rides) is the biggest name TAD driver to make the switch.
Jeff Wilson below is said to be switching over in 2005 (he has had an A/Fuel car for a year). He was going to switch between cars but most of his BAD stuff is for sale So, what is the NHRA to do to find more
parity? alot of ideas from many pundits have come to the forefront.
Firstly, adding weight to the A/Fuelers again. This one is likely to
not happen mainly because it probably is not safe to add any more weight
to these cars. Reducing pump size is not likely the answer and taking
a mag away would be too drastic a change. Changing the rear end ratio
from 290 On the other side of the equation, increasing
engine size to say 480-500 will help some, but the cost is a factor
that the NHRA has preached they don't want to do. Reducing the weight
of BADs (to say 2000lbs) is an option, but potentially a real costly
one as well. Allowing the PSI "C" (Gizmo) blower is in my
opinion the best option, but that is something I have had discussions
with some of the powers that be, and they have said they don't want
a minimum $10,000 cost for every BAD team out there. It is likely to
improve the performance by .05 to .12 depending on the team and how
good their tuner is. Personally I don't think any of the team would
bitch even a little about the extra cost, as they spend alot more money
revving the engine to the extremes in trying to get an extra 100ths
or more already and they end up with way I see 93-97% nitro in the tank as being the option that the NHRA takes. There is a concern to that though, as in talking to various teams everyone is running at least 98% right now and no one has tried a lower % since the NHRA asked a couple teams to try 94 or 95. The learning curve is probably big, and going to a bigger pump is way less likely to have success, because there is no blower to assist in getting the fuel to light. Morgan Lucas (above) has run well with two different A/Fuel tuners. Chris Demke (below) is one of the top BAD drivers in the NHRA
Jason Cannon (below) switched recently and went in the 5.30's already
They should hire some teams to test, since this is not a class where there is only one combination, and every team is in the same vote. There is two distinctly different cars, and you don't want one that is severely handicapped to start the season, because the BAD teams that go out hard to start, could have a huge lead before the season is six races old. Look for whatever the rule changes are, to be announced by Vegas.
Ken Perry above, is Canada's quickest TAD driver with a couple 5.30 passes. What do you think, fire us off an email and let us know your opinion!
Div 6 and 7 Standings TAD Division 6 01 Steve Federlin 358 8 TAD Division 7 01 Chris Demke 357 6 Funny Car TAFC Division 6 01 Bucky Austin 299 6 TAFC Division 7 01 Doug Gordon 317 6
Oct. 9, 2004 Division 6 Medford The Top Alcohol battles in both classes are huge to end the season. Steve Federlin leads Mitch Myers by 33 and Myers needs this one badly if he wants any chance at the Div. title and/or the world title. He needs to win here and win a National event at Pomona to have any chance at the championship. TAFC is also tight with three cars having a chance. Bucky Austin is in the dirvers seatr leading John Weaver by 22 points. Clint Thompson is in third place 54 points behind the "Hitter". Here are the fields after two rounds of qualifying. Complete results from Medford are
here.
Oct. 6, 2004 A huge gallery from Chicago is now up. The TAD story is here and TAFC is here. Wow, what a race at Chicago!!!! TAFC was unbelievable, even without Frank Manzo on the premises. Jackie Stidham became a bonefied hitter (ya I know he has run well in Div. 4, but he never has been a 5.50 threat before and he ran 265 mph (that one is a little suspect). Jay Payne was only .02 away from a 5.40 pass, and an Converter/Lencodrive drivetrain won the race. Many other had career bests in the class. In TAD, Mitch Myers ran a second best in 2004, a 5.211. Shelly Howard went 277mph and BAD driver John Haley, went 5.299 at only 252 mph. The bump was an outstanding 5.399 (how long before that ever gets topped?), and a blown car won the race from the #14 spot in the quickest field ever. Hitters such as Morgan Lucas, Chris Demke, Art gallant and Todd Datweiler never qualified, and Russ Lindert ran a 5.53/259 without a rear wing on the car. For all the results go here for TAD and here for TAFC. (the results will be up on the two pages Thursday). The scoreboard will be up Thursday as well. Sept. 30, 2004 O'Reilly Fall Nationals-----------Dallas Texas. Columbus divisional results as well. TAD results------------- TAFC results
Billings Montana photo
gallery from Lucas Oil event.
For the Top TAD drivers of all time go here For the Top Tuners and Innovators go here For the quickest runs in history by TAD and TAFC go here
May Archives are here. April Archives are here. 2004 Alcohol TV coverage is here
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2004 Lucas Oil Top Alcohol TV package 2004 Alky Zone archives 2003 Alky Zone Archives 2004
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The
overall disparity in the two types of cars in TAD is way more evident
at National events due in mostly in part to optimum track prep. There
has been 58 runs (9 Div runs and 48 Nat runs) in the 5.20s and the A/Fuelers
have made 57 of them. There has been 199 5.30 runs at National Events
and 139 were made by A/Fuelers. At Divisional events, there has been
77 5.30 passes and 55 were made by A/Fuelers. The biggest determining
factor in the parity issue this season is one of round wins. Last season,
the BADs had a total of 199 round wins at divisionals including 59 wins
against A/Fuelers and 110 round wins at Nationals including 43 against
A/Fuelers. The A/Fuelers had 97 Divisional round wins in total including
60 against BADs. At Nationals, they had 127 round wins, including 72
against BADs. This year there has been 26% less round wins at Div races
for BADs with 10% more BAD cars competing. (the
story continues after the stats below)
alot
more side by side races that may have ended up as tire smokers in the
previous years. Also a telling stat is this; in 2003, the BADs raced
each other 199 times in Divisional competition, a stat that helped pad
their overall round win record substantially. This year with 21 rounds
left to compile, they have only raced each other 86 times. They will
conceivably race each half the times they did last year, meaning the
percentage of A/Fuel cars that qualified is higher this season (sorry
don't have the 2003 qualifying stats). 
to
320 on the injected cars is an potential option, but the higher RPMs
may give the potential for more oil downs, something the NHRA wants
to try and cut down on already (mostly from the BADs). Higher RPMs could
mean more fuel going through the motor and a more likely chance of more
grenades. 
to
much carnage. The other factor is that the NHRA is actually concerned
about the speeds of these cars already (mostly at 10-12 marginal division
tracks) and they feel slowing the A/Fuelers down is THE BEST
option. A four second ET and 300 mph run out of a sportsman class is
the last thing the NHRA wants to see, mostly because they are actively
trying to slow down the Top Fuel class. 
So
how much will say 95% slow down these cars. I am guessing close to 2/10ths
at first and maybe by the middle of the season they will be only atenth
slower. If that is the case then, it is a good move, but I still think
the "Gizmo " is the answer. Come on Norm push for that change.
Don't just push for slowing the A/Fuelers down. It is counterproductive.
If the A/Fuelers get more laps in the 5.1's or quicker then they can
start to slow them down. If a lower % is the decision by the NHRA, then
they better tell the teams quick, and they also better assist them in
testing by virtue of having at least a half dozen of the best out their
being paid something to experiment in what will be a tough learning
curve. 