As expected, NHRA officials announced Saturday a series of changes to the Pro Stock class to address the health of the class which has been on the decline the last several years.

The changes were announced at a meeting Saturday morning during the Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, Colo.

The changes will be mandated in two waves. Three changes will take effect at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals, July 31, 2015, while several others will not take effect until the 2016 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season.

At Sonoma, NHRA will require teams to back their Pro Stock cars into the pits and leave engines uncovered so that spectators have better accessibility to see the race cars and interact with the drivers and crew members.

A new rule also will discontinue the practice of crew members standing beside the cars to hold them in place as they begin their burnouts. Finally, NHRA will make it mandatory for teams to create automobile manufacturer identification headers visible on the racecars’ windshields up to a maximum of 4.5-inches high, but not smaller than 4.25-inches.

On Jan. 1, 2016, NHRA will require all Pro Stock teams to equip their cars with electronically-controlled throttle body fuel injection systems, making engines more relevant from a technology standpoint. In order to reduce and control costs for the race teams, an NHRA-controlled 10,500 Rev Limiter will be added to the fuel injection systems.

NHRA also will require Pro Stock teams to remove all hood scoops and reduce the length of the wheelie bars to a length specified by the NHRA Tech Department.

Veteran Larry Morgan, who has been running Pro Stock since 1987, respected NHRA for the way the sanctioning body explained the changes to the drivers and owners.

“They just told us how it was,” Morgan said. “They had the balls to stand up there and tell us how it was, and I thought that was good, but I can tell you it was like going to a funeral when we all left the room. They made a lot of things clear to us that it is going to be their way or the freeway and I respect them for that. They didn’t want to hear any bulls*** from anybody and they didn’t. You know what, it is for the better. Something needed to be done. It has gotten out of line, everybody hiding their s***, I think it is wrong. When we were kids going to the race, we went to go look at cars, and these guys are hiding everything from them. The engine deal, most of what goes on that makes power, is underneath the valve covers. Who cares about all that? For the most part, I think NHRA probably did a good deal. I’m glad they didn’t come out and say we’re going to have to run new bodies next year and 358 cubic inches, that wouldn’t have been good. Ninety percent of the guys in there (at the meeting) believe that they are trying to run the class out, but I don’t believe that. I think they want to put on a good show is what I believe.”

Richard Freeman, the owner of Elite Motorsports, which campaigns cars driven by reigning Pro Stock world champion Erica Enders-Stevens and rookie Drew Skillman also accepted the changes.

“Some of the stuff was a little bit not shocking, but I didn’t know it was going to be that much of a change,” Freeman said. “In NHRA’s defense, the last few years they have asked what needed to be done. To be honest, they made the changes they felt appropriate and so we are going to embrace it and work on our stuff and get ready for 2016 and try and finish up this year the best we can. We are in whatever they decide to do we are going to play as long as we can. You have to make a decision whether you want to play or pass and as long as we know the rules of the game before we start then we’re good with it.”

Several Pro Stock drivers did take one step Saturday at Bandimere Speedway, parking their cars in the pits so fans could see their engines.

“I don’t have a problem with the way they want us to park our cars,” Freeman said. “It’s kind of crazy, the secretiveness or whatever, but there are people out here who have their reasons for that, and that’s fine, but we all have to play by the same rules. Probably the biggest issue is the
(10,500 Rev Limiter) rule not so much for us, but there are other teams that are way higher than that. It’s kind of sad to see them because they’re going to have to revamp, it’s not just fuel injection for them, it’s more in-depth changes for them. Again NHRA made the rule and we’re going to do our job and try to do it the best we can.”

Enders-Stevens concurred with her owner.
”Richard and I have had meetings with the NHRA folks and the manufacturers who support us and we knew which direction it was headed,” Enders-Stevens said. “There were just a few additions that we weren’t necessarily anticipating. You have two choices, you can play or you can pack your stuff and leave. I’m not one for much change in any aspect of my life. I don’t like it, I never have, but if you’re changing something you’re not moving forward. Our class definitely needed a change to move in a better direction. I don’t know if you’re going to see a huge change in fan support, and I’m not sure because of the initial cost to change everything over that you’re going to have an immediate flood of people running to drive Pro Stock. In the long run, it will be better it will save money and make it more relative to the time we are in. You can’t buy a carbureted vehicle anymore, everything is fuel injected. It will be challenging, but I have the best team in the world and we have the best equipment and I feel like I’m one of the better drivers so the cream will rise to the top no matter what changes you make.”

Skillman, whose father Ray Skillman’s car dealership sponsors his son’s Camaro, isn’t sure these new changes will impact the bottom line for car dealerships like the one his father runs in Indianapolis.

“We sell Chevrolets, Ford, GMC, Buick, Mitsubishi, Hundi and Kia,” Drew said. “That sticker in the window is not for us (the car dealerships), that’s to keep the manufacturers happy that they are getting money from. They are trying to keep them more interested in staying in the sport and I’m fine with it. Do I think it’s going to help sell Camaros? No. Do I think it’s going to help sell Dodges? No. But, it gives them a little more reason to be here, they are getting a little more advertising and I get it, they should. I think the big thing is if a sticker is what makes people understand it’s a Camaro, maybe we should make them (the cars) look like a Camaro. That’s up to them to decide and we can do it one step at a time and we are here to race, and that’s what we are going to do.”

While the Elite Motorsports group was fairly receptive to the Pro Stock revisions four-time world champion Greg Anderson (2003-2005, 2010) wasn’t.

“I’m not happy with it,” Anderson said. “It’s going to cost me a ton of money.”

The announcement by NHRA also left Vincent Nobile searching for answers.

“Don’t get me wrong, I love Pro Stock, but I love this kind of Pro Stock (before the changes),” Nobile said. “I don’t know if I’m going to love the new Pro Stock. There’s other things to race and I’m not overly bummed out about it. I’m a pretty optimistic person and I’m going to roll with it and see what happens.”

Chris McGaha also wasn’t embracing NHRA’s tweaks to Pro Stock.

“I knew the rev limiter was coming, but I didn’t figure it would 10, 5,” McGaha said. “I’ve wanted EFI, but I don’t want it to be one system. That’s only good for whoever is selling them and whoever is sponsoring NHRA. Turning the cars around (in the pits) is kind of funny. What people are going to see, maybe it will make them feel better, but the real secrets are down in there and they ain’t going to be able to see the real secret. It really doesn’t make a lot of sense when you are told your racing is boring and then they implement a bunch of rules to make it even more boring. It doesn’t make any sense.”

Allen Johnson, the 2012 Pro Stock world champ, also wasn’t overly happy about NHRA’s changes.

“I don’t think they thought through a couple of the changes real well,” Johnson said. “Like doing away with the hood scoop and fuel injection because you can’t put fuel injection under the existing front end. It’s going to have to be raised or something. I also think the rev limiter (10,500) is absolutely insane. If they were going to do that, they should have done it with a rear end. They should had just said everybody has to run the same rear end instead of putting it in the engine. I don’t agree with that at all. Change has to be made to save class, but I don’t think they went far enough. I think they needed to look at a newer engine configuration that lasts longer and lowers cost and may be a more corporate body that manufacturers want. I don’t think they conferred with us enough on that, but we will take the changes and work with them the best we can, and hopefully over the next couple of years they will look at the other changes and keep doing it to where we end up with something that cost less to do, and bring participation up and look more like what corporate America wants us to look like.”

Chris McGaha acknowledged he isn’t thrilled about having to don a sticker to display the make of his car.

“I think the sticker on the car is my rule,” he said. “I have a problem with it. I’m the only guy who doesn’t have Chevrolet on my car, and being forced to put Chevrolet on there, I’m a little sour about that one. Chevrolet hasn’t done nothing for me just like Dodge never did nothing for me. I’m just running their car. Maybe they will do something for me in the future, but they haven’t up to this point.”

McGaha has been running Pro Stock since 2011, and he knew what he was getting into when he joined the class.

“My family wanted to run Pro Stock for 20-something years, but we knew we didn’t have the money to do it, so we stayed in comp, stayed where we were supposed to stay until we got the opportunity to do it,” McGaha said. “We knew the expensive coming over here and the expense isn’t keeping us away, but it is nice to justify. We all said if they would’ve paid $10,000 a person to qualify this weekend there would be 25 to 30 Pro Stock here just to break even.”