I can probably shed some light on the thinking behind the regulations.
It might come as a surprise to some but there are still a few people that fancy the challenge of running nitro. Of these potential candidates, some dismiss it citing "the cost of the fuel" or "they're always damaging stuff", some just can't bring a crew together with sufficient experience, there's a million reasons not to do it. However, in spite of the difficulties, a few people are up for it and I'm fortunate enough to work with two of them.
From the outset we could see it would be an uphill struggle. Nitro disappeared from 'sportsman' racing a lifetime ago and there's precious few people left around that know much about it. Nonetheless, four years ago we had dialogue with some of the relevant parties at Santa Pod regarding the potential for a nitro Nostalgia Funny Car class and the response was one of 'cautious' approval.
Fast forward four years and we've started. Paul and Wendy have been pounding away for a while now and it's nice to finally join them. To the best of my knowledge neither they or the guys I work with own an oil company, they're all '9 to 5ers' so to speak. Since our cars debut, the discussions I've had at Santa Pod with James Forster have centred around how the class should look in two years time. Speaking on behalf of our team I indicated that we built the car to race other nitro cars not methanol cars, I have nothing against methanol cars but if we had wanted to race with methanol cars that's what we would have built.
The proposed 'Nostalgia Funny Car' class has not come at the expense of anything. If people have built methanol cars to run in a methanol NFC class then they should continue to do so, I personally think it's a great idea and for most people is a far better option. During the next two seasons the few nitro NFC's that exist will be mixing it with AA/FA's, AA/A's and BB/FC's. If there's enough interest in the NFC's and they can make two to three runs a day without throwing engine parts everywhere then we'll have a class, if not we wont, it's a simple as that.
For people that just want to run fast in a Funny Car with the least amount of grief, build a methanol car. For at least 15 years, Pro Mod style Hemi's have been powering 2,700lb cars into the fives using a readily available 14-71 blower with only 19% overdrive, a typical Funny Car is probably 400lbs lighter, it's a no brainer. However, if you fancy the challenge that nitro brings, strap on a pair and step up to the plate.
See you at Easter
Rob Loaring, Garlick - Antoniou Apache Funny Car
