ORIGINAL: bubbagates
Barry,
I'm privledged every year for the last 12 years to be a guest in a skybox at the racetrack for speed weeks in Daytona Beach and have flown/met several Nascar and Busch drivers/mechanics that fly anything from glow on up to GS as well as glow powered cars and trucks.
Eddie Hill, John Force and a few others from the NHRA also fly as well.
My point is in every case the planes were professionally built running tuned pipes and cans and they are aware of the need to have quiet powerful engines. A race car is a totally different thing.
I mean no disrespect to the NASCAR guys or NHRA guys at all. I know Eddie Hill flys. He has some videos out on the YS website. Looks pretty good actually.
My comments are not at the drivers, my comments are directed to the rules committee. NASCAR in particular has a habit of changing the rules basically continually. For instance if Jeff Gordon or Dale Ernhart JR. won 3 or 4 races in a row the rules people would evaluate why and make changes to his car. Either add weight or reduce the spoiler or something to bring him back to the field. And again I can think of no reason why you would use restrictor plates to reduce HP to keep speeds down (probably a good idea) and allow the cars to go on unmuffled. It is a proven fact, that if you introduce a rule...say to limit the DBA rating to 105 or something that the crews would design a muffler system that would still make the horsepower and be quieter. We went through that phase with the unmuffled 2 stroke motorcycle engines in the 70s. Everybody said if we quiet them down we just as well not race. The HP just won't be there. Well, it only took one or two years and the bikes were quiet and just as fast or faster than before. But NASCAR is even worse because they presently reduce the HP anyways. Yet they do it on the wrong end or the engine. If they just limit the sound the cars make to some more reasonable level it would immediately help with the restrictor plate races and eventually I'll bet they'd still have to use a restrictor plate to keep the speeds down because the teams would find a way to develop the HP even with muffled engines.
My belief is the same for NHRA. They often (at least in top fuel and funny car) detune the engines to meet traction. Rarely, if ever do they use all the HP available to the car. Why not make it quieter? And what's the big deal anyways if they only ran 305 MPH instead of 320 MPH. Would the racing be and less interesting? I don't think so.
Anyways, I didn't want to get on a soap box and I certainly didn't want to imply in any way that I didn't want NASCAR drivers or anyone else for that matter to not share our wonderful hobby. But my personal opinion is that NASCAR rules committees have do a lousy job on noise level, they are a disgrce to the sport and ought to implement a noise level right away.
But I'm sure all this will fall on deaf ears.
Thanks
Barry