NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light and his staff will reevaluate the sanctioning body’s testing policy at the end of the season and determine whether adjustments will need to be made or if there is a need for one at all.

The NHRA banned testing at their national event facilities in 2008 after a nitro shortage and in 2009, limited the amount of testing a nitro team could make to four days. A test was anytime a nitro car ran outside of an NHRA Full Throttle event.

Questions regarding clarifications in the testing policy and race teams criticizing and pushing loopholes will send the NHRA back to the teams following the 2009 season to gauge interest in continuing the testing limitations for 2010.

Light believes for the most part, the policy has served its purpose but cautions the testing limits were never intended to be of benefit to sanctioning body.

NHRA VP of Operations Graham Light and his staff will reevaluate the sanctioning body’s testing policy at the end of the season

and determine whether adjustments will need to be made or if there is a need for one at all.

The NHRA banned testing at their national event facilities in 2008 after a nitro shortage and in 2009, limited the amount of testing a nitro team could make to four days. A test was anytime a nitro car ran outside of an NHRA Full Throttle event.

Questions regarding clarifications in the testing policy and race teams criticizing and pushing loopholes will send the NHRA back to the teams following the 2009 season to gauge interest in continuing the testing limitations for 2010.

Light believes for the most part, the policy has served its purpose but cautions the testing limits were never intended to be of benefit to sanctioning body.

“It’s of no benefit to us at all,” Light confirmed. “It was never designed to be that way. It was designed to help the better financed teams somewhat control costs because they always felt that if one went to test, they all had to go test. They are perceived to be behind the eight ball if they don’t go. They go and test all over the country chasing each other and spending lots of money. That’s what the policy was designed for.

“From that aspect, I think it has worked well.”

Many of the teams didn’t learn until after the NHRA Carolinas Nationals when the Kalitta Motorsports team tested a sixth time that a fifth test violation and loss of points generates four new tests. Knowledge of this procedure might have led some teams to pursue a different testing schedule, especially those teams that clinched a solid Countdown to 1 position.

Light doesn’t believe that knowledge would have likely changed much of the way teams tested because of the value of positioning within the Countdown to 1 bonus points awarded by position. He also added that some of the multi-car teams could be out “testing the wheels off of the car” now but aren’t.

Light believes that despite the criticisms, the NHRA has done well in treading uncharted waters.

“This is [our] first shot at a testing policy,” Light said. “We’ve never had one. I think it accomplished what the teams’ goal was and that was to reduce the amount of costs and events they test at. I think we achieved that.

“At the end of the season, we will talk to the teams, especially the ones that it affects, and see if we even need to continue it. If so, we’ll see how we need to tweak it. We will better define it after the season is over.

“If they’d just as soon do away with it and go testing the wheels off … this is of no benefit to us. It doesn’t affect our lives at all other than it may create some healthier teams out there.” 

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