John Force has yet to hit the track in 2015 with his new Camaro Funny Car body, and already the carbon fiber shell has become a lightning rod of criticism from fellow racers and teams owners suggesting the 16-time champion circumvented the approval process.

Glen Gray, NHRA’s VP of Technical Operations, denies any notions that Force, who made the switch from Ford to Chevy, has done anything wrong to warrant the criticism.

John Force has yet to hit the track in 2015 with his new Camaro Funny Car body, and already the carbon fiber shell has become a lightning rod of criticism from fellow racers and teams owners suggesting the 16-time champion circumvented the approval process.

Glen Gray, NHRA’s VP of Technical Operations, denies any notions that Force, who made the switch from Ford to Chevy, has done anything wrong to warrant the criticism.

Gray told CompetitionPlus.com the Camaro which John Force Racing plans to run in 2015 went through the same approval process as the other cars presently competing in the Nitro Funny Car division.

“It was measured against the same specifications and requirements of all Funny Cars,” said Gray.

Currently there is an approved version of the Camaro in the Top Alcohol division, but up until Force decided to work on a nitro version, there wasn’t one in place.

“The Alcohol Funny Car and fuel Funny Car bodies do not have the same set of requirements from a minimum and maximum measure standpoint,” Gray explained. “Therefore there is no practical way to make an Alcohol Funny Car body into a fuel Funny Car version. With regards the fuel requirements, there’s not much of it that’s universal across all bodies. The specifications of minimum and maximum measurements mandate all approved bodies must fit within a certain box. Because of that, Funny Car bodies tend to look very similar.

Therein lays the rub for many. It’s how Force developed the Camaro body which has ignited controversy. The body John Force Racing will run in 2015 once saw life as a Mustang.

“They made changes to it and submitted it as a Camaro body,” Gray confirmed. “We took it through the process as if it were a new body. It met all of the requirements.”

Gray understands there will be a backlash of criticism over the NHRA’s decision to accept the conversion, but is quick to point out the series has been fair across the board in their approval process of all cars regardless of manufacturer. He’s also heard the rumors of JFR cutting off the front end of the car and grafting on Camaro bodylines.

“Absolutely not,” said Gray. “As strong as carbon fiber is, you just cannot do that. You have to make it as one piece or it wouldn’t be as strong. We wouldn’t allow that out of safety concerns. They have added some pieces to it to make it resemble a Camaro. The nose has been filled in and rounded to look like the Camaro front end. The side windows were modified to represent the Camaro. There have been changes to the side of the car as well. The indentation present on the Ford Mustang Funny Car was filled in as well.”

Gray said the car was modified to have the trademark Camaro shark gills, the three slots near the rear wheel well.

“When the car is wrapped, it will look every bit as much as a Camaro as the Top Alcohol version in competition.

Sources close to the situation have told CompetitionPlus.com Force’s current body is nothing more than a placeholder until a new body design is expected in 2016. Because of the last minute-nature of Force’s Chevrolet announcement, there was limited opportunity for JFR to start from scratch.

“It can take a minimum of six months alone for that process,” Gray said. “The new Dodge Charger was a one year process, which is pretty typical.”

Gray said the NHRA has been fair in trying to accommodate the manufacturers in the approval process.

“We do try to help the process every way we can,” Gray said. “When changes have to be made to the molds, it can be very expensive to the manufacturers. We try to eliminate any huge cost a manufacturer might have to incur to meet our requirements. We haven’t acted any differently in this situation than we have with any other manufacturer. We would have worked with them to make it work.”

Gray said with the standard aero specs in place for Funny Car bodies, the JFR cars offer no performance or aero advantage whatsoever.

“If you meet the measurements, it keeps the aero package pretty close across the board,” said Gray. “The performances of the three manufacturers have been pretty close in the last few years. You don’t see a clear performance advantage anywhere.

“If it’s made to look like a Camaro and fits the universal measurements, then what’s the harm?”

Gray said he’s fielded many calls over the Camaro controversy from both racers and manufacturers but feels those conversations yielded positive results once misinformation was cleared up.

“As long as the process is a fair and equal, and the car doesn’t violate the rules then it should be approved,” Gray said. “If this car presented an unfair advantage, we would have never allowed it. That’s the bottom line.”

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