NMRA SUPER STREET OUTLAW TO GET A MAKEOVER IN 2013

 

Trey Capps, national event director of the NMCA says the proposed adjustment to the rules are closer than they ever have been and should become available for review by August 1.The face of at least three major divisions in the street legal drag racing scene will change in 2013.

The NMRA’s Super Street Outlaw and Drag Radial divisions will merge into one unified quarter-mile eliminator and the NMCA, also owned by Pro Media will adopt these rules into their Drag Radial division.   

According to officials from street legal drag racing’s largest race series, the proposed changes have been bantered around in secret over the past few months. Trey Capps, national event director of the NMCA says the proposed adjustment to the rules are closer than they ever have been and should become available for review by August 1.

“What we’ve learned as a company is that our rules process can sometimes be slow and cumbersome,” Capps told CompetitionPlus.com Sunday afternoon during the NMCA/NMRA Super Bowl event in Joliet, Ill. “We want to get ahead of the curve before everyone gets behind and can’t order parts and be in time for the season opener.

“We want to move ahead by getting some preliminary rules out earlier to our racers or potential racers who might have a combination which will fit within the new rules. This way if they need to order a crank or something, this will enable to get the parts in time. We wanted to speed up our rules process.”
Capps said Super Street Outlaw has been a strong backbone eliminator for the NMRA series for many years but with the demise of many touring series’ around the country, a lot of the places where a regional racer could run a purpose built car has disappeared. Case in point, this weekend’s event at Route 66 Raceway only attracted three entries.

“It affects the traveling associations such as ourselves if we say we are the only one left in this market,” said Capps. “It’s hard to find purpose built cars to travel. We needed to step outside of our normal rules and look at what is around the country.”

Capps said the NMRA/NMCA has been monitoring the regional trends nationwide and implementing subtle changes to their programs within their 275 Drag Radial classes.

“We’re essentially looking at the pockets where these racers are,” Capps admitted. “With Super Street Outlaw becoming such a nice class. We believe its run its course as a staple within NMRA with participation.

“Not to say those racers aren’t important to us, they are. They have helped make NMRA what it is. We want to help the series and organization grow and expand. We are going to take those classes, and their rules – modified them and take the 275 rules we have and modify them, and bring in a more unified set of rules to fit the country, as a whole, better.”

Capps said the goal is to attract more of those regional racers to their shows.

In doing so, Capps said the rules package will essentially create a new division which will be universal between their NMRA and NMCA properties. He believes the best course of action will be in combining the three divisions.

The new division, which is rumored to be branded as Street Outlaw, will be a three power adder combination. Racers will have the option of running a nitrous engine in both small and big block configurations.

Likewise Capps adds his group hopes to add the option of allowing lighter front-ends with no core supports.

“Every excuse that anyone has ever used to not race with either organization, we are looking to alleviate that,” explained Capps.

Furthermore, Capps pointed out, the new class will be on a true 10.5 tire, 28-10.5 or 275 drag radial.

“We’re providing no excuse for the Super Street Outlaw guys who have the tire and are used to running on it,” Capps said. “We have done extensive racer research at this event and outside, to put heads in the industry together … those who race these classes and know. The ones who can counsel us on this being a good direction to follow in standardizing a set of rules nationwide. Hopefully we can pick up five to ten new racers in addition to those we have who will follow the series.”

Capps said for those regulars who frequent the tour now should have very little challenge in confirming to the new rules package.

“If you’re a present Super Street Outlaw guy, the only change you are looking at is a power adder,” Capps said. “They would go from a 98-mm turbo down to either a 94 or 91, depending on which one we decide. They would go from an F3 to an F1X. The nitrous combination actually opens more for those guys because they get to open up to a second stage for a big block whereas today they are running a single stage now.

“There’s not much of a monetary move involved unless maybe they wanted to go with a different crank to increase engine size. That might be one but right now as it stands, their car is legal. Power adder wise they are available. The level of expense depends on how fast they want to go.”

Capps is adamant Super Street Outlaw didn’t need saving but did need an adjustment for its long term future.

“Super Street Outlaw has been band-aided enough over the years to the point some wholesale changes needed to be made,” Capps admitted. “The disparity is getting to the point where it is 300 – 400 pounds. It has become hard to manage between power applications and power adders.”

And as Capps points out, change isn’t always a bad thing when something good can come from it.

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