Taking a cue from their land counterparts – the National Hot Rod Association – sanctioning body Lucas Oil shortened the runs for its professional classes from a quarter-mile to 1,000 feet.
The NHRA made its change to lengthen the runoff areas at all venues after a death last year. Mike Chastain, director of motorsports operations for Lucas Oil, said the reduction for the drag boats was made to reduce the number of engine failures and for safety.
“We’re heavily involved in NHRA and what we found after talking to car owners is the 1,000-foot helps keep parts more livable,” Chastain said. “We’re wasting fewer parts and it is making the courses a lot more safe. We thought it was time to adopt the 1,000-foot rule. The racers and owners like it, especially the owners, because they are the ones having to buy the parts.”
Chastain said the change has reduced the number of parts failures by 20 percent and it kept at least one boat from flipping.
With the shorter distance, the winning time in the featured Top Fuel Hydro Class in last weekend’s event in Augusta, Ga., was 2.722 seconds, with a finish trap speed of 209.147 mph. The top speed in last year’s event at Oak Hollow, the first since 2001, was 258.64 mph. Top elapsed times for the quarter-mile have been just more than 4.5 seconds.
“They can still run on up toward 250,” Chastain said. “The speed is still there. All the bad things that happen in drag boat racing, as dangerous as this sport is, seem to happen on the top end. This is giving the drivers more time to react.”
Chastain said he expects 80-85 boats, including 20-25 in the four professional classes. As of Thursday, four Top Fuel Hydro boats were in the pits. Chastain said a fifth was expected.
gsmith@hpe.com | 888-3519
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