Record Run Prompts Rule Immediate Drag-Radial Rules Change
Is this last-minute rules change too tough on drag racers?
Ordinarily, race promoters like to celebrate when cars set records. But when the Bruder Brothers’ Roots-blown, EFI-fed Ford Mustang smashed the X275 Drag Radial record, they got the cold shoulder.
On August 6, the Ford-powered Mustang went 4.350 seconds at 164.37 miles per hour. That reset the 4.36-second record they’d broken earlier this year. In an ⅛-mile class with cars running on 275-millimeter wide drag-radial tires, the Bruders nailed it.
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However, class founder John Sears announced August 8 via the X275 Drag Radial Facebook page that the Roots-style supercharger with EFI would suffer a weight penalty for the rest of 2017. And an outright ban from the class in 2018. Sears later retracted the ban in favor of a minimum-weight adjustment through 2018.
You might look at these moves as the eternal cat-and-mouse game known as racing rules-writing. Organizers write class rules, racers find a loophole, organizers close the loophole, racers find a new loophole, et. al. In the mind of rules-makers (we’re guessing) they’re just trying to create a level playing field that produces good small-tire racing.
The X275 Drag Radial rules, as found on the class’ Facebook page, allow changes to the performance levels at any time. After the initial response included banning the combo for 2018, the X275 Drag Radial added on August 11:
[Yellow Bullet] Nats 275 Drag Radial Rules will show the roots blown combo 100 pounds heavier (and no provision for a lock up on that combo as well) than is currently reflected in the present rules and no ban for 2018. X275 rules will reflect the same until further notice, but as always we will adjust up or down as needed to keep EVERY combination competitive and make every effort to maintain a level playing field within the intent and spirit of the rules. Apologies to all involved on either side of the coin.
Community Response
To put it mildly, the doorslammer community was displeased with the decision. In their minds, generally, Rich and Nick Bruder had dug up the right tool — in this case a 10-71 supercharger commonly found in tractor-pulling — and built a ⅛-mile rocket from a Ford-powered Fox Body.
Nick Bruder responded via Facebook just a few minutes before the 2018 ban was lifted. His response, in part:
“There isn’t much time before YB Nats to test what they want to do with us or what they are even doing to us…I can’t imagine how hard it is for rule makers like John Sears to get bashed from all ends on any decision they make. But banning a combo that has been in the class for 5 plus years is just nuts.”
Cecil County Dragway in Maryland will host the YellowBullet Nationals in September. That means the Bruders’ Mustang will run for the first time with an extra 100 pounds less than a month after the rules change.
Is this handicap too severe? We’ll find out when the lights go out at Cecil County.