i was just curious as to what the Index means on the time slips and on the Board. when they show it. is that what they expect you to ruN?

 

Fram http://www.musclemustangfastfords.co...ThePathToDrag/

"With the exception of exhibition machines, there are two basic types of quarter-mile racing: bracket and heads-up competition. At some events, a third style of racing is gaining favor, Open Comp. Here, you qualify your vehicle like a heads-up racer, and you receive an index based on your best qualifier (usually one-tenth of a second quicker). This index stays the same for the duration of the event."

Rich

 

In NHRA and IHRA Stock and Super Stock class racing they show the index of the class of each car during qualifying. They'll also use this number when there is a heads up run during eliminations, during class runoffs or if the car has no dial in posted. No car may dial a number higher than his/her class index. If no dial is on the car then the index is your dial.

 

Comp eliminator is similar however they launch at their index number and "HAVE" to run faster than their index. It's trickier because they have to run as close to .500 under their index or they get hit with a CIC penalty and their index gets lowered for the next round if they win. If they run quicker than .600 under their index, the get a permenent CIC hit on their index and they'll have a lower index for the rest of the season. Many times if they have a bad light, they will take the CIC hit just to get the win and move on to the next round.

The super class cars, Super Street, Super Gas, Super Comp (not going to name the IHRA classes) run on an index also. 10.90, 9.90 and 8.90. These classes have to run as close to they're index without running quicker, all day long. In a bracket car, as the weather conditions change, we just change the dial in on the window. In a super class car all the cars in the same class run the same ET or try to. They have to adjust the car during the day to keep running the same index. As an example a Super Gas car running 9.90 will usually have enough power to run low 9's if not 8's if the throttle stop was turned off.

 

so on my slips where it says index. one of them was a 26.00
and another was a 14.00
i was running low 15's
15.1 was myb est run of the night with lots of spin.

 

Not sure on the 26.0 but my guess is that your run in Street or Sportsman ET brackets. The cutoff is usually 14.0 so you can't run any quicker without moving up to the next class. It's probably there so the tower can see you have a 14.0 restriction and if you go faster, they'll notify you to either slow it down, move up a class or get any safety equipment required to go quicker. It all depends on how your track is operated.

Technically I have a 10.0 restriction under NHRA rules because I don't have a chassis certification or competition license to go quicker however under IHRA rules I should have a 9.0 restriction until a chassis certification is done then the car/driver has enough for a 8.50 IHRA restriction but I'm a long way from reaching that.

 

You answered it for me. it hink it was the safety thing then. so as long as i dont run under 14. then im ok. but if u go like 14.7 im still good? it hink its a helmet thing or something. although its always good to wear a helmet. i havent taken the time to invest in one yet. right now im waist deep in an engine/trans swap on my firebird then ill be getting a helmet. but when i run on sat ill prolly borrow a helmet. see if it changes the Index.