The NHRA Technical Department confiscated cylinder heads from three Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors – reigning world champion Matt Smith, Michael Ray and Hector Arana Jr.at the Four-Wide Nationals which were completed Sunday at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.

“The cylinder heads were confiscated as part of our now typical part examination process,” said Glen Gray, NHRA's Vice President Technical Operations to Competition Plus on Tuesday. “For example, after the Gainesville event, we also brought some Top Fuel and Funny Car cylinder heads back to our product evaluation laboratory in Indianapolis. Confiscating components for review in our lab allows us the opportunity to do a more thorough job.”

The NHRA Technical Department confiscated cylinder heads from three Pro Stock Motorcycle competitors – reigning world champion Matt Smith, Michael Ray and Hector Arana Jr.at the Four-Wide Nationals which were completed Sunday at zMax Dragway in Charlotte, N.C.

“The cylinder heads were confiscated as part of our now typical part examination process,” said Glen Gray, NHRA's Vice President Technical Operations to Competition Plus on Tuesday. “For example, after the Gainesville event, we also brought some Top Fuel and Funny Car cylinder heads back to our product evaluation laboratory in Indianapolis. Confiscating components for review in our lab allows us the opportunity to do a more thorough job.”

When the NHRA confiscated the cylinder heads the team owners Smith, George Bryce and Hector Arana Sr. didn’t take it personally.

“I went up there (to Indianapolis) because I sealed my box with my head in it,” Smith said. “NHRA gave me the option to seal up the box and they couldn’t open it until I got there. I took that option to do that. I flew up there and opened the box in front of them and I actually personally took the valve springs and valves out of the head for them. I didn’t see anybody else’s heads. At that point once I took the valve springs and the valves out of the head I had to walk out of the room. All the room had in it was a stock S&S cylinder head and a few measuring tools. They checked everything out and they called me back in and said put it back together and take the head with you and that’s what I did.”

Smith said he bought and paid for his own plane ticket and flew to Indianapolis, and he was satisfied with the results.

“For NHRA to give me the option to come up there if I wanted to and watch the process, to me it was worth doing instead of waiting two to three to four weeks for them to do what they wanted to do,” Smith said. “It was a 10 to 15 minute process. From what I understand, they are looking for some counterfeit heads that people are making themselves. I don’t have the technology to do that; I buy everything from S&S. I don’t think they (NHRA) came after me just because I was a world champ. I think they looked at this past weekend at Charlotte and the previous (Pro Stock Motorcycle) race (at Gainesville, Fla., March 13-16), and the best Buell teams out there are my team, Star Racing (George Bryce) and Hector Arana (Sr.), and they just took heads from each one of us.”

Bryce, a six-time world championship team owner, had his own thoughts about NHRA’s examination process.

“Since Glen Gray has come on board with NHRA it seems that he is trying to get the technical group to standardize the rules to make them simple and more even,” Bryce said. “I’m thinking in Pro Stock Motorcycle they are taking a snapshot of the top performing cylinder heads. They are setting standards where you have a minimum and maximum of allowable change from the original submitted part. I’m thinking now they wanted to grab like Hector Jr.’s head, Matt Smith’s head and Michael Ray’s head so that they could make some measurements and come up with some criteria for limitations for the future. I got an email from Tim White (Director of Engineering) Wednesday (April 16) and got my tracking number and he said the head is coming back double boxed and I was supposed to get it back (April 17). I think it is the right time to try and lasso or harness what may be going on and what may not being going on and put standards and limitations on that given what is running today.”

Gray was hired by NHRA in July of 2008.

“I don’t think they are going to get a bunch of heads in from different teams and say OK yours is good and yours is bad,” Bryce said. “I don’t think they are trying to find if you are doing anything wrong. I think they are trying to harness standards so the rules will be clear. I think if teams are doing something wrong or they feel like they are a little bit guilty and somebody tries to look at their stuff they (will) feel like they are getting picked on. If you are doing everything right and if you doing everything by the rules, then you don’t have any problem cooperating.”

Arana Sr. also wasn’t over-analysing NHRA’s confiscation of his son Hector Arana Jr.’s cylinder heads.

“I think they just want to make sure that everybody is doing the right thing,” Arana Sr. “I’m not too happy with it because I do not know what else they are checking and who is seeing it. Those are my only concerns, but I’m OK with it because we have to make sure everybody is doing the right thing.”

The only issue Smith had with the process was NHRA taking the cylinder heads back to Indianapolis.

“I told them with the Top Fuel and Funny Cars that’s OK to take them back like they are doing because those guys have plenty of parts,” Smith said. “They just rotate heads out round after round after round. They don’t run the same stuff. With Pro Stock car guys and bike guys I don’t think they should be taking the heads back to Indy. If their head guy comes to a race, then they can do it at race. That big, black 18-wheeler they have down there, they shut that thing down and nobody goes in and out of it and they can look at that head as long a representative of the team is down there to make sure nobody is going in and out of the trailer. I don’t care if it takes them from midnight to midnight, I would rather that be done than them taking stuff back to Indy. They said they would look into it, but they didn’t really comment on anything on that.”

The next race on the NHRA circuit for the Pro Stock Motorcycle class is the Summit Racing Equipment Southern Nationals May 16-18 in Atlanta.

The other NHRA pro classes return to action April 25-27 at Houston.

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