NMRA Mid-Season Rule Changes to Have Immediate Impact

Each NMRA racing season, adjustments are made throughout the year to keep a level playing field in each class. Sometimes adjustments are made to try and garner more racers in different classes based on current drag racing trends. The rule changes the organization recently made cover both bases.

Starting with the entry-level Factory Stock class, non-DOT front tires are now legal in competition. The NMRA thought that with the speeds the class has been able to attain, and many competitors pulling the wheels at the launch, going this route increases the safety of the racers. Also in Factory Stock, automatic combinations are allowed to deduct 100 pounds off their particular combination’s base weight. The 5.0-liter Coyote combination now carries a base weight at 3,275 pounds.

Pure Street and Coyote Stock each saw electronic changes made to the rules. Pure Street racers using factory electronics may deduct 50 pounds from their original base weight, and if EFI users choose to do so, aftermarket standalone systems are now legal to help keep up with the increased RPM capabilities of these combinations. However, the aftermarket EFI standalone systems do not get the weight break, The weight break only applies to those using factory electronics. In Coyote Stock, using any kind of rev limiter down track is now prohibited. You could hear many racers bounce off the rev limiter going through the lights, but now the NMRA will be listening to make sure that’s not happening.

In the Renegade category, pushrod combinations using a .550-inch lift camshaft may deduct 50 pounds from the base weight. Plus, a 650-inch lift camshaft is now legal for supercharged pushrod combinations. Nitrous combinations within the Renegade class also lost weight, and more lightweight exterior components are allowed to help racers get down to the new weights.

In many people’s eyes, the biggest mid-season rule change comes in the NMRA’s premier class, Street Outlaw. With 6-second elapsed times and speeds of over 200 mph, and the current trend in drag racing, the NMRA Street Outlaw class will now be run in an eighth-mile format instead of quarter-mile. With so many eighth-mile races across the country, the NMRA saw this change as an effort bring those racers in the fold to go against the NMRA’s best.

These changes will have an immediate impact on each of these classes. It will be interesting to see how these changes pan out as the 2015 season comes down the stretch.