Since last June, NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers have not had the chance to earn 20 bonus points for setting a national elapsed-time record. The course shrank from 1,320 feet, or a quarter-mile, to 1,000 feet, and the sanctioning body chose not to keep records.

The NHRA didn't explain its reasoning, whether it was considering the 1,000-foot mandate as temporary. Nor did it explain in its Labor Day announcement why it will start recognizing 1,000-foot records.
 
But that's what it will do, using Tony Schumacher's 3.771-second pass last October at Richmond as the baseline for the Top Fuel class and Ron Capps' 4.023-second run this February at Phoenix as the Funny Car standard. Neither Schumacher nor Capps received the 20 points retroactively.
 

Since last June, NHRA Top Fuel and Funny Car drivers have not had the chance to earn 20 bonus

points for setting a national elapsed-time record. The course shrank from 1,320 feet, or a quarter-mile, to 1,000 feet, and the sanctioning body chose not to keep records.
 
The NHRA didn't explain its reasoning, whether it was considering the 1,000-foot mandate as temporary. Nor did it explain in its Labor Day announcement why it will start recognizing 1,000-foot records.
 
But that's what it will do, using Tony Schumacher's 3.771-second pass last October at Richmond as the baseline for the Top Fuel class and Ron Capps' 4.023-second run this February at Phoenix as the Funny Car standard. Neither Schumacher nor Capps received the 20 points retroactively.
 
The move is a popular one among the fuel-class drivers.
 
"It's great that we have the national record back, for sure, and it's something we need to have," Top Fuel points leader Antron Brown, driver of the Matco Tools Dragster, said. "It will add spice to it. When you run those record-breaking E.T.s, everybody leaves with a smile on their face."
 
Funny Car's Ron Capps (NAPA Dodge Charger) and Tony Pedregon (Q Horsepower Chevy Impala) gave the decision a thumbs-up.
 
"I think it's a good thing. I think it's good that we have something to shoot for," Capps said.
 
Said Tony Pedregon, "I would agree with that. It's something that we are all very, very accustomed to. And it seems that the timing is right, that it allows anyone the opportunity to gain some points that may make a difference going into the last couple of races. So I'm all for it. I think it's a good thing."
 
Schumacher simply called it "a good plan."
 
Schumacher forever will carry the distinction of winning a series title by winning the final round on the final day of the season in a do-or-die pass by setting the elapsed-time record in the process. Granted, he won the Top Fuel crown the next year by acing the final pass of the year. But as much as he relished the moment and being able to achieve that for his U.S. Army team, trying to lower the national E.T. mark is not on his agenda.
 
"To be honest, what we are going to do is show up at a race, try to qualify, and run fast to win the race. If we go out and win races, we are going to win the championship. It's easy to get distracted, but you go out and try to set a record at every race, you are going to lose championships. I think most of the crew chiefs know that," he said.
 
"There's a right place and right time to set a world record. It's not always out there. If the track conditions are not right and the weather conditions are not right, you don't go for a record and give up the three points you might get just by going fast," Schumacher said.
 
"I think we are going to have to be careful and there is strategy here," he said.
 
People watching the broadcast from home or even from the stands at he racetrack, need to appreciate that, as Schumacher said, "There's a lot more that goes into it. The fact is, you show up and you run every time as quick as you think that particular lane can go, every time. If you go too slow, you shift. And if you go too fast, you spin the tires. It's all about putting the car in the right place at the right time. To win a championship you have to stay focused. You don't show up at any given race for the reason of setting a record. You show up at every race, though, to win the race, and that's just the fact."
 
But will anyone, including Schumacher, have the right conditions in which to set the record? And if so, will that be the deciding factor in the fuel-car classes? Schumacher has taken a cautious stance on both topics.
 
"First, it's going to be tough, to set a new record. But there will be cars out there, and one thing we have proven year after year is you can find a way to go a little faster. We haven't made any drastic engine changes and car changes since we set those records. So it comes down to the timing, the pairing, the car, and the crew chief.," he said.
 
"Is it possible? Sure. Is it going to win you the championship? One car could run away with four or five races; it's been done before. And it could turn into the battle I expect it to be, where four or five or six different cars and go out and win and it comes down to those few points," Schumacher said.
 
"So, you know, again, you set a world record in qualifying Friday night usually, and you back up a world record sometime Saturday or last round on race day. So it really comes down to the person you are running against, timing, the car that's in that lane," he said, adding that he would love to predict that with authority but can't.
 
"The fact is, it's a timing sport. It's the right place, right time, that you set those records and the right people to, say the least. So we'll wait and see," he said.
 
Brown identified two tracks where a record-setting performance would be more likely -- Virginia Motorsports Park, near Richmond,  and Auto Club Raceway at Pomona (Calif.).
 
"Richmond, I think Tony set some (4.)70 runs in Richmond, and he also set that record, and he rand that 4.42 in Pomona," Brown said. "So we have two chances to break the record, and I think there's multiple teams that can get that job done. Tony is one, and I think Dixon and our team can, too."
 
Capps said he might have a handful of Funny Car competitors who can top his starting record, which he said "is a feather in the cap for Ace" (crew chief Ed McCulloch).
 
"I think it can be broken," Capps said. "There's a lot of (technological) advancements this year. I know Tony Pedregon has a car that can run hard and has shown it can run hard to set a record, and I know that obviously we have the record, so we can do it. You look at a guy like Robert Hight, who  got barely into the Countdown and that's a car that's capable. Anybody on any given day in this Countdown can gain those extra 20 points, and that's just one more thing that's going to make it exciting for everybody."
 
The question beyond this year's Countdown to the Championship concerns the permanence of 1,000-foot racing. Does this new announcement mean that the shorter course is here to stay?
 
The NHRA announcement included hardly a hint: "NHRA continues to evaluate and test combinations to reduce power in the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories. Only after testing and analysis is concluded will a decision be made on whether to remain at 1,000 feet or return to quarter-mile racing in the two classes." With no deadline, no details about who is conducting this testing and analysis, and no mention of where it all will be done or what are the criteria to be studied, it doesn't sound like an answer is expected soon.
 
"All of us would love to go back to a quarter-mile, and I know NHRA is working diligently to make that happen," Brown said. "But that's something both our class need, both at Funny Car and Top Fuel both, they need the record. Twenty points is 20 points."

Advertisement