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Ready or Not, Here They Come…
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It’s AA/FD versus A/FD and
the IHRA is billing it as the fight of the Century…
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By Bobby Bennett, Jr. Photos by Roger Richards |
They may not have qualified a single car in the eight-car Top Fuel field, but the presence of the A/Fuel Dragsters intermingled with the conventional blown-nitro entries at the Hooters IHRA season opener made a statement. Only four injected-nitro entries made the journey to San Antonio Raceway, but from all accounts they were welcomed by the fans. The gearheads knew these were refugees from the NHRA’s Top Alcohol Dragster division, but to the average fan, they were just another Top Fuel. Absent were the oildowns that have plagued this particular breed of car in competition, however, and present was the feeling that the 20 total Top Fuelers on the grounds signaled that maybe that number would increase as the season went on.
The more the merrier say some Top Fuel drivers, while at least one thinks bringing in the much-maligned combination is nothing more than the beginning of the end for the class. Anyone who has been around for at least 20 years in the IHRA will recall on at least two occaisions the sanctioning body has taken a few controversial roads to improve their show. Case in point, in 1985, when the IHRA’s only bastion for the Funny Cars was Modified Eliminator, then IHRA VP of Competition Ted Jones made it acceptable for Ernie Wrenn to compete with his nitrous-oxide equipped alky Funny Car in the Nitro Funny Car division. One year later, Jones also approved Buddy Ingersoll’s twin-turbo six-cylinder machine for competition in the mountain motor Pro Stock division. Neither inclusion brought forth the results hoped for. Wrenn’s program eventually fizzled out and he sought greener pastures, while Ingersoll’s bid ended after he reached the final round at one race. Today, however, IHRA officials are excited about the possibilities that the injected-nitro cars can provide. While most of the participants clearly overlook the new kids on the block, the injected-nitro guys are very much out there to win. One of the first drivers to publicly commit to running an A/Fuel
Dragster combination was longtime runner Dave Hirata. He realizes
that the hot topic among the blown nitro Top Fuel contingent is
how embarrassing it will be to lose to racers like Hirata. They
say it’s not personal - it’s just the fact they say
a blown car should run circles around the injected cars. That doesn’t
bother Hirata.
“I’m not out here just to qualify and take home the qualifying money,” admitted Hirata. “We might be out here at a disadvantage mechanically, but we’re out here to win. We’ll have a new motor ready by the time Rockingham comes around. For Texas, we just grabbed the largest engine we could find - we’ll get better each time, you’ll see.” The one thing that kept most of the cars from making an impact is the fact that the liberal rules afforded the combination have not really been tested yet. At least three of the cars were running engines in the 421-inch range at San Antonio, but many are upgrading to 500-inch motors for the rest of the season, which should put the cars into the 4.8-second range. Veteran A/Fuel Dragster tuner Dave Settles has even gone on record by commenting on Dragracingonline.com that these cars could be in the four-second range in the near future. With the cars tipping the scales at 2,000 pounds with no rear-end gear limitation and liberal clutch perimeters, the mythical level playing field could be close to reality in the near future. The hoopla surrounding the A/Fuel cars being admitted to the exclusive IHRA fraternity is something that doesn’t impress former NHRA Funny Car competitor Todd Paton, who made the switch to IHRA Top Fuel a couple of seasons ago. He was never sold on the idea of the two combinations being on an even keel.
“We know the A/Fuel cars are very powerful, even under their standard rules,” Paton said. “They are very capable of running 5-teens and lower. With the lock-up clutches and all, they make awesome amounts of torque. We are only running 1320 feet, so torque is king. If it was a long-distance race, then horsepower would be king. Then there is the reliability factor. Once they get them dialed in, it would be a lot cheaper to run one. I don’t think the class really needed it. “We saw it happen a few years back when the IHRA let Billy Austin run,” Paton added. “An A/Fuel Funny Car was just like a BB/FC, and where are they at now in IHRA? The writing is on the wall. I don’t understand how you can bring a combination in and tell them the only rules they have is have 90 to 100-percent nitro.” Drivers like Hirata don’t mean to create a stir among the drivers. But he does like the idea of a Pro Modified themed Top Fuel division.
“This could turn into another Pro Mod-type issue,” he said. “I think a good controversy always stirs interest. I've always liked the Pro Mod deal in IHRA - you always have some feud or controversy stirring. Maybe the IHRA officials don't like it, but it's good to have. I hope the fans are going to be curious as to what will really happen. It's a whole new deal. The nitrous and blown cars in Pro Mod have been going on for years, but this is a whole new entity in the world of Top Fuel drag racing. I think we can create a lot of interest with the fans.
“The first car in the 4s, at 300 mph, that is kind of the big thing all the injected fuel cars will be after. But how fast and quick we can go, no one really knows.” Defending World Champion Clay Millican thinks the new addition to Top Fuel will be welcomed. While he admits to bearing no ill will towards the new combination, a rubber chicken was spotted at the rear of his trailer in Texas. Its head was wedged in the door and the rubber bird was wearing a cape labeled “A/Fuel.” “I think as a whole, they will be welcomed,” said Millican. “If it causes everyone to step up it will be a good thing. The bottom line is that no one wants to get beat by one. Nobody wants to get beat by a car that they should beat.” Paton clearly didn’t see it in the same light. He questioned the need for additional entries when there were at least 8 – 12 conventional cars on the grounds in San Antonio Thursday. “How many cars do you need for an eight-car field?” Paton asked. However, rumors are beginning to circulate that as future events produce fields of more than 16 entries then an upgrade to 16-car fields are very possible, with the first round being run on Saturday night. Millican, who ran the quickest elapsed time in the first session of qualifying in Texas, which turned out to be nearly eight-tenths of a second quicker than the leading A/Fuel Dragster, doesn’t see him as a bully. He added, “I know those guys are there if I ever smoke the tires.” “I really don’t care. It’s just another car in the other lane. If it makes a better show, I’m all for it.” In this day and age of ego, Paton considers a loss to an A/Fuel Dragster to be somewhat like an eight-year old boy getting beat by a girl. Or, in his assessment, it could be the ultimate ego-killer. “It would be worse,” added Paton.
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