After drawing a hard line in the sand earlier in the season, NHRA officials confirmed Friday that they will take a relaxed approach with regards to the Super Stock/AH cylinder head rules.

The issue was the planned enforcement of a rule in 2014 where many of the Hemi 426 cars would have had their cylinder heads rendered illegal. The rule in question has largely gone unenforced in recent years as the popularity of the Hemi Shootout grew.

Reportedly, during the last two seasons, several engine builders had interpreted the rule book differently, leading some to carry out machining to the block that caused cylinder heads to have relocated bolt holes for the valve covers.

After drawing a hard line in the sand earlier in the season, NHRA officials confirmed Friday that they will take a relaxed approach with regards to the Super Stock/AH cylinder head rules.

The issue was the planned enforcement of a rule in 2014 where many of the Hemi 426 cars would have had their cylinder heads rendered illegal. The rule in question has largely gone unenforced in recent years as the popularity of the Hemi Shootout grew.

Reportedly, during the last two seasons, several engine builders had interpreted the rule book differently, leading some to carry out machining to the block that caused cylinder heads to have relocated bolt holes for the valve covers.

On Thursday during the NHRA U.S. Nationals, Dale Aldo, Motorsports Marketing Manager for the Mopar brand, broached the subject with the various SS/AH teams.

The NHRA’s planned enforcement for 2014 would have rendered the cylinder heads on 95-percent of the cars in competition this weekend illegal. To come into compliance would have required anywhere from a $20,000 to $50,000 investment.

Many of the teams protested, with some seriously wondering if the investment was worth the reward.

Jim Pancake, a longtime SS/AH racer and past Mopar Hemi Shootout winner, said the enforcement of the rule would have forced him to take a long hard look at continuing to compete.

“I’ll probably be done for a while,” Pancake said Thursday after the meeting. “I have to make my mind up about that. You’re looking at at least $20,000 for a set of heads to conform to the new rules. While they say these are the old rules, we have been running this stuff for over twenty years. I, personally, have been through tech for twenty years in setting records and winning, and have never had a thing said about it. In fact, I inquired about it early on, when we first got back into it. I said, ‘I thought you couldn’t get into that hole, and they told me, ‘oh, it’s not a problem.

“Now it is.”

NHRA’s Vice President-Technical Operations, Glen Gray, met with Aldo and various members of the community and made the decision to back away from the planned enforcement action. The modifications allowed this weekend will be allowed in 2014.

“We were going to start enforcing them rigidly beginning in 2014,” said Gray. “After talking to the racers and listening to their concerns, and after the impact to them technically and financially, more than just changing the heads and the additional things that would need to be changed, intake manifolds, pistons, etc., we just decided that was too much of a burden on the teams to start enforcing on January 1.”

Gray believes all too often what looks good on paper doesn’t always have the same effect in everyday life.

“That’s why you have to keep talking to the racers,” said Gray. “This allows you to see their side and understand the impact of what you’re doing to them, technically and financially.”

Aldo said on behalf of Mopar they are pleased with what has transpired in the last 48 hours to rectify what could have been a tough situation.

“All of us came to a better understanding of the situation as a result of that,” said Aldo. “I think everybody is walking away a little bit smarter than they walked up.”

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