The Evolution Of Class [Feature]

Over the years, the landscape of class eliminations at the U.S. Nationals has dramatically evolved. With the introduction of new factory produced cars, NHRA has worked to establish the level of parity that we see today. That parity didn’t come without a struggle though. From the days of experiential classes like BB/SA and AAA/SA, we’ve finally come to a class structure that seems to be relatively fair and stable.

The following data shows historical class eliminations data from the U.S. Nationals throughout the past decade. Only classes that have had at least two cars from 2008-2017 are listed. E.T.’s are based on the winning class eliminations E.T. If that E.T. was deemed to be uncharacteristically slow- perhaps due to an opponent redlight-, I’ve replaced that winning E.T. with the qualifying time from that winner.

As you analyze the following data, you’ll see a few big dips that signal the introduction of new factory stock cars. Although I’ve excluded most Factory Stock classes that those cars now compete in-due the the 10-year data constraint I’ve established for this post-, I’ve still included FS/XX as the last class in this post. I’ve done so because this class seems to really be the proving grounds for Factory Stock cars each year. I’m truly a fan of the class and look forward to seeing it grow beyond its already impressive involvement.

NOTE: Class winners are not always the fastest car on the property- anything can happen in Drag Racing. For example. Joe Martens won A/S in 2016 and didn’t even qualify for the main event. Caleb MacFarland was .001 red in that class final and ran 2 tenths faster than Martens. Ergo, take this data with a grain of salt.

Enjoy.

-Justin Hutto