There are no speed restrictions. Fuel cars unlimited. Well over 300 in 1000 ft.
Only "restrictions" are in bracket racing where you are categorized by times. Pro, Super Pro, ET and the like.
I have read many years rule books and built cars to those specs. What is your point?
You are also restricted to speeds depending on the level of safety equipment. Or you think a track is going to let you run 9s with no roll cage?
Roll cage. :lamo
How many cars on the Autobaum doing 190 mph have a "roll cage?"
That's an example of "only slow cars need apply" at NHRA tracks and why I point it they really are for racing antique cars that probably need roll cages since once past 50 mph they are basically death traps.
But, then, it is called the National HOTROD Association, so I suppose having it for old hotrods fits the title. It's like the National Association of COLORED people. Old people living in the past.
I do want to overstate what I am claiming. It simply is that modern state-of-the-art high performance cars in fact will go into the 9s with very little modifications and while still in DOT, EPA and full dress with all options street legal form. A couple decades ago, no such manufactured car existed. Now they do.
There are some folks I'm on forums with - super car forums - for which they basically get 1 try at a drag strip (virtually all are NHRA) for which they lie about what they think their car can do. At the end of the run they get cursed out and banned for doing a high 9 or surpassing 150 mph.
The difference in terms of performance (I've been to may drag races at tracks, never in one) is the "bracket racers" with huge tires, super low ratio rear gears, and lightened up with plex and stripping it inside and out ready hit it coming off the line. Street cars can't because they lack the tires. But what modern street cars do is the are come-back kids. Most non-pro track-only cars are 0-90 kings. Modern cars are 60 to 150 kings.
Without cracking open the motor and even with full cat-convertors and 3 full mufflers and full exhaust, the only question on the CL65 she/we are working up - a full size luxury car with a curb weight with 1 driver and half a tank of gas will be right at 5,000 lbs. The question of the ET will be whether it is 10.2 or 9.9. And over or under 150.
On street tires as it sits now? An identical car in every way EXCEPT the other one is down 50 horsepower and down about 75 ft/lbs torque does 10.27 at 138 mph.
When the Mickey Thompsons go on, the launch control reprogrammed for those, and the tranny tweaked some, it'll be close. 9.9 and 150+ is her goal - because her goal is to best the new ZR1 - and that's no easy trick. BUT this Merc ("Mercedes" now has the "Merc" name, not Mercury anymore), will be entirely street with all that comes with that including all luxury items.
Modern performance cars are increasingly FAST, particularly since do now come with turbos and superchargers. Nearly ALL are greatly downtuned by the manufacturers for warranty reasons - and tires traction limited mainly do to needing to get at least 25,000 miles out of them. It takes very little to turn them into 10 second cars, with 9 seconds not the far off or difficult to obtain.
While those are costly cars (no, not $500,000 as you suggest), their prices fall used like everything else. She'll/we'll have less than the price of a new Camero Z28 - and that includes having it completely taken down body-wise for a showcar repaint and some body customization - and it's going on 9 years old. It was a watershed design in '05, one of the models leading to the next generation super-cars - all of which are at least 11 second cars and become 10 second cars merely by reprogramming - and very low 10s if the go to performance tires and other very modest upgrades.
My point is the NHRA is behind the times on safety. The roof structures of modern high performance cars likely exceed the protection of a "roll cage" - and unlike the boxy, simplistic interiors of the past do not lend themselves to installing a roll cage without severely gutting the interior, inhibiting entrance/exit, and inhibiting visibility - plus people aren't going to do it to their street cars for obvious reason.
Each year is going to bring faster high performance cars and each year is going to add another year to those already made being used cars.
The NHRA should rethink it's safety rules in relation to modern cars' structural designs and the modern cars' safety features, unless they want amateur drag racing to increasingly being just old guys driving old cars.
